A neighbor once told me that he was free to have an affair any time he wanted to. I asked him if this was fair to his wife or if the wife was free to do the same. He said that though he himself was wayward, his wife was faithful to him and he didn’t expect her to cheat on him.
Several scriptures came alive in my mind but the following verse stood out.
Galatians 6:7 (ESV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
I had the privilege of knowing the family and they were not happy as a couple. It was sad that through deception, the devil had stolen happiness from this family.
Happiness is not found from the bodies of other people. Our true happiness comes from the breath of the Creator through the Holy Spirit. Sexual immorality, adultery and other pleasures of the flesh are forms of idolatry. They creep in to replace the efforts of seeking God’s joy as the only source of true happiness.
God is very loving and patient but hates idolatry because it leads His precious creation (us) into the enemy’s slaughter house. Personal or family joy is slaughtered! Your future is slaughtered! Your marriage is slaughtered! It can lead to separation, divorce or deaths in the family!
Colossians 3:5 (NIV) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
It doesn’t take forever to start reaping the fruits of idolatry!
How do you know that you’ve started reaping from the seeds of idolatry?
The answer is easy. True joy, peace and harmony starts eroding or ceases in your environment! On a personal level, addiction takes root ushering in dark forces of idolatry! The forces lead us into dark alleys sometimes to a point of no return!
It is important to note that in such a case, the reverse is true. Once faithfulness is sown and restored in a family, true happiness starts flowing! Unfaithfulness does not have to be physical but even emotional state (like preoccupation with another flesh as a source of pleasure) will affect your life.
Since most issues we face come from deception. I have compiled the following thoughts to help you overcome deception and start living in victory bearing good fruits of repentance.
Thanks for reading this far. I pray that God will richly bless you as you meditate on His words!
I recommend that you make enough time and get a quiet environment to study the remaining part of this article!
Deception is real. Deception makes our mind twisted and we then start believing in a lie.
Living a fruitless life of spiritual deception and bondage is not God’s will for you or me. Matthew 3:8 (ESV) Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
God is love and His task is not to condemn you but to give you freedom. John 3:17 (NIV) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Unfortunately, the lifestyles we lead can expose us to evil. We befriend and partner with what is evil hoping to harvest happiness but instead end up sad, depressed, feeling condemned, inadequate and hopeless.
Evil comes to us in all forms and establishes a stronghold in our lives, making us prisoners of our own or other people’s actions. It traps us in a cycle of spiritual oppression that we find hard to shake off. Happiness then becomes a mirage.
John 8:36 (NIV) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
We have a way out from our prison of sinful habits. We can receive spiritual sight and be set free from the continuous oppression that hijacks our true joy of living. Luke 4:18 (NIV) “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free” .
Many of us can identify with the above statements and agree that we’ve lived in our prison or other people’s prison of oppression. We are oppressed by the dark forces of evil and lacking in true joy though claiming to see but are actually spiritually blind.
In reality, there are many types of legal grounds that give evil the right to establish a home in our lives. The most common ones are spiritual ignorance, pride of the flesh, and seduction by idolatry. All cases of idolatry affect our emotions negatively, and therefore cause depression.
Human’s way of obtaining true inner joy was not intended to be idolatry.
A common example of idolatry is the worship of sensuality or what we call “sexy”. We waste so much time and resources trying to get to this level. We pay to watch and bask in anything ‘sexy’. All as a means of trying to fill the emptiness inside us!
Another good example is getting rich! We worship wealth and the wealthy! Those already rich know that true happiness is not found in riches. It’s common knowledge but it does not stop persons pursuing riches not to become emotionally addicted on the way to obtaining them.
Being healthy is good and so is being financially independent! But it should never be attained through the path of worshipping the process or worshipping those who have already attained them!
Start Living In Repentance
There is need to repent (turn away) from gratifying the flesh by not indulging in acts of idolatry. Colossians 3:5 (NIV) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Confession
Its important to know that repentance is not the same as confession. Confession is good, its the first step towards repentance. Confession is owning up to fellow human or to God. Confession therefore helps appease the other party who may be aware of what is happening against them. Confession also gives you a chance to share with a genuine human who can pray for you or with you. James 5:16 (NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Confession helps expose your “dark spots” to avoid getting into some secret pact with evil to hide your sins. Hiding sins affects your overall prosperity; health, emotions, relationships, provision, true happiness, etc. Proverbs 28:13 (NIV) Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Although confession is good, it doesn’t really resolve anything and can end up serving as a lip service to others and to yourself. Therefore, be careful when worshiping in an environment where confession is used as the only way of dealing with our habitual sins. It is not effective and trying to shake off a bad habit that way may not succeed.
Repentance
On the other hand, repentance is the real deal. It works. It is God’s will that we have a repentant heart. Repentance involves renouncing, turning away from, and hating your sinful habits. It also involves making a conscious decision not to ever do a particular thing again. It’s forcing your mind to stop and think of never ever repeating the act or thought. It involves having a “meeting” with yourself and with the Creator in the privacy of your home or room. It can take minutes, hours or days.
Repentance is a process besides being a decision or change of mind. It is hard to convince yourself to repent your decision when the action look harmless, pleasant, gratifying and more so when the agents of evil look friendly and “loving”. Remember that evil always comes in a human form. John 10:10 (NIV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy… Evil comes to destroy your true joy, your family and your future.
You will certainly know when repentance is working in your life. The gloomy state of condemnation in your mind will lift and a flicker of inner joy will start glowing in your heart.
[Article By Joseph GM]
Live In Victory 