Tag Archive | sin

Not My Fault

Jul29

Yet you said, ‘I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Jeremiah 2:35 NASB

Isn’t that our first inclination, to put blame elsewhere? God’s judgement upon the world is not “my fault”. And yet the decline in morality, salvation, growing churches, is not because of disobedient believers, is it?

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 3:25 NASB

Did God not instruct all believers to go make disciples?

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19‭-‬20 NASB

Could it be our disobedience to God that we see the world in mass chaos?

“For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
Jeremiah 4:22 NASB

Where does your mind wander when you look at the turmoil around you? Does your mind turn toward your own self preservation so that you will do whatever it takes, including evil, ungodly action for yourself? Or is your spirit stirred within you to turn toward God where you will find true preservation?

What is the solution?

Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts Lodge within you? Jeremiah 4:14 NASB

My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me; I cannot be silent, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. Jeremiah 4:19 NASB

Are you listening?

O Lord , do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.
Jeremiah 5:3 NASB

Are you ready to turn back to God and follow Him in obedience?

🌹Repentance is necessary for restoration.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Words Of My Mouth

Jul22

Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey? So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.
Isaiah 42:24‭-‬25 NASB

Because lawlessness is increased,  most people’s love will grow cold. Matthew 24:12

God does not take lawlessness lightly. He has called His saints to be holy. He has called His saints to be upright, obeying the law. He has called us to be light to the darkness of the world. He has called us to freedom in Him.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  Galatians 5:13

My heart is so heavily burdened with the response of “God’s people” to the events happening in the world today. We are so self focused, worried about ourselves and the injustices we see all around us. Making known our own opinions about what is right in our own eyes. Taking our freedom of speech so far as to bring dishonor to God’s name.

I believe God is using the events of today to call His people back to Him. To repent of our sin, the greatest of which is:

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Revelation 2:4

🌹Repent. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your words to bring life to the unsaved and glory to God.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Clutter

Nov12

A friend was writing about piles of clutter in your house. The longer it sits around the more it just becomes a part of the decor, it blends in and becomes unnoticeable.

This reminded me of sin. If we aren’t aware of sin it piles up so much that we don’t notice until we are so deep in the muck and mire that we can’t see our way out and wonder how we got there.

Focusing everyday on Jesus, being in His Word, talking to Him, and putting action to His commands and ways can keep the clutter away.

Set you your mind on the things above; keep seeking the things above. Colossians 3:1-3

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

20/20

Oct9

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” — Exodus 20:20

Most people have had their eyes tested at least once in their lives. Seeing 20/20 is a good thing. If the test has you seeing less than 20/20 you will probably find yourself with a prescription for glasses to improve your vision.

I found it interesting that this verse is 20:20. God desires us to see the sin in our lives for repentance and for avoidance from, to give us a reverence for Him and a real sense of judgement for sin.

The Israelites were tested in the wilderness because God wanted a humble nation whose heart was turned toward God in obedience and trust.

 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  — Deuteronomy 8:2

God loves you. God wants the best for you. Testing is to make you more aware (help you see 20/20) so you may fear, revere God.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Slavery

Feb11

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 6:20-23

We are all slaves to something. We choose whom we are enslaved to. Enslaved to sin, free from righteousness, resulting in death or enslaved to righteousness, free from sin, resulting in eternal life.

Who do you choose? I choose Jesus!

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Real Salvation

Feb10

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. — Romans 6:12-13

Salvation is not the end all. As some have called it “fire insurance”. Sin is still in the world, all around us. Before salvation we could be found in the depths of sin. Salvation brings us from death to life. So take a look around. Are you still dabbling in sin? Are you still exposing yourself to sin thinking you are safe from it because you are saved? Many whom Jesus healed He told to go and sin no more.

Seek the Lord and His righteousness and watch His transformation in your life as He takes you from unrighteousness with its unrighteous acts to righteousness and its righteous acts. Live in and for Jesus. That is real salvation.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

All Have

Feb4

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, — Romans 3:23

No exceptions, no excuses.

Yesterday’s devotional referenced Exodus 20, the ten commandments. Did you pass God’s standard? I know you didn’t, just as you can be sure I didn’t either, for “all” have sinned.

Face it. We are all sinners, in the same boat, headed to judgement.

But don’t give up hope. Stay tuned for a choice option that can change your life.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

As It Is Written

Feb3

 as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one; — Romans 3:10

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” — Romans 3:18

because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. — Romans 3:20

Take a good look at the ten commandments written in Exodus 20. Have you ever broken any of those commandments? That is God’s standard.

Thank God for His Law that makes us aware that we are unable to meet His standard, revealing that we are sinners. Without the realization of a problem we won’t seek to resolve the problem. Sin is a problem that all flesh is faced with.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Uncommon

Dec6

Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”  — Acts 10:15

“Unholy” in this verse literally means “make common”. So, if God makes us uncommon what is common?

Common is the state in which we were born. Born into sin, separated from God. Loving the things of this world. Not acknowledging God as our Creator to be worshiped and adored and loved with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Accepting Jesus as our Savior — confessing, repenting (turning from the ways of the world to the ways of God), and surrendering our selfishness to allow Him to transform us into a holy state. That is the uncommon.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; 1 Peter 2:9

I love the King James version in this verse that says that we are a peculiar people. Peculiar, what the world would consider different, odd, uncommon.

So, if you are cleansed by Christ you are no longer common. You have been set apart for the work of the Lord God Almighty. You are set apart to bring Him glory.

God make us to be uncommon, peculiar people in this world of common people. To You be the glory forever. Amen.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

 

Heart Condition

Dec4

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” — John 8:12

There is a lot of media from television, radio, Facebook, newspapers, on and on about the color of someone’s skin. The “talk” seems to be focused on the color of your skin igniting anger, resentment, hate that is increasingly growing until it becomes a fire that may take decades to put out.

The problem is not a skin condition but a heart condition. Sin is the disease that needs the healing Light, Jesus Christ. Looking at only the symptom we can misdiagnosis the disease and the needed treatment for the condition.

Jesus loves us. Our prognosis is not dependant on the color of our sin but on the condition of our heart.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon