Just
like all men I too get tempted. I wish that I could be completely and totally
free from all temptations/sins (this we can only keep hope for when Jesus
returns).
The
other day while I was feasting I was lead to this verse in Hebrews:
Heb 12:4 NIV In your struggle
against sin, you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood.
This was an eye
opener for me. As I had to ask myself do I always resist temptations? The
answer is no. Then I had to ask, if I do sin, how much more could I have fought
to remain pure or free from sin? From reading Heb_12:4
we see that some (primarily me) have not fought/resisted temptation/sin hard
enough. I often say "it's just too hard, I am not strong enough to
resist." then... I sin. This is showing just how weak my flesh is (or
truly how strong the lust of the flesh can be). We should be disciplined enough
to resist even to the point of shedding our own blood.
I then was reminded
of Jesus, and when sweated blood.
Luk 22:42-45 NKJV saying, "Father,
if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but
Yours, be done." (43) Then an
angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. (44) And being in agony, He prayed more
earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of
blood falling down to the ground.
(45)
When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He
found them sleeping from sorrow.
Though we are not
told he was being "tempted" we can clearly see that His flesh was
putting up one "hell" of a fight. So often my flesh seems to put of a
fight to strengthen me to sin (Gal_5:16-17).
We are even told in Rom_13:14 to put on
Jesus, and make no room for our flesh to fulfill its lust. So when we see Jesus
(in prayer) bringing His body into subjection/discipline (1Co_9:27) and resisting what His flesh wanted to
do even to the "point of shedding blood" we should be encouraged and
lifted up to see such an example of victory. Looking to Jesus here, we see just
how to resist even to the point of blood.
I also want to take
a quick look at what Jesus was doing the whole time. Please take a look again
at Luk_22:42-45. We see that He went to
the Father in prayer. So many times I find that when my flesh/sin/temptations
spring there little ugly heads up "prayer" is that last place I want
to go. But we find that there in prayer we can be and are strengthen to endure
to the point of blood... one last look at His prayer. Notice how even after He
started praying He was in "agony?" This did not cause Him to stop praying,
no it drove Him to pray even more earnestly!
We have seen that
though we are tempted we must not just sit there, and take it. Nor should we
stand there and just try to say "no" I will not sin. We have seen
that we are to be active in our fight against it. That we are to resist to the
point of blood.
Every night I read
the bible to my son. Here recently I have had the desire to read Judges to him.
It is there in those times of feasting that I often hear their Father speak to
me too. Well the other night we read
Judges 3, and this jumped out at me.
Jdg 3:1-2 NIV These are the
nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced
any of the wars in Canaan (2) (He did this only to teach warfare to
the descendants of the Israelites who had not had pervious battle
experience.)
And again from the
Message version.
Jdg 3:1-2 MSG These are the nations that GOD left there,
using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite
wars. (2) He did it to train the
descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art
of war.
As I
briefly mentioned above in Galatians 5:16-17 our flesh and Sprit war against
each other. We also know that our enemy wars against us too. So when I read
this verse it hit close to home with me. I thought it a wonderful thing to see
that our Father wants to, and will teach us the art of warfare in our fight
against sin/temptations. But He goes about it a bit differently then I would
expect. I often have been taught in a class room setting. I would first learned
the task, then went outside to apply hands on training, then maybe, just maybe
I might get to use it in real life. But
our God has allowed us our enemy to remain to teach us the art of war. What we
get is the "in your face, real life" fight as our instruction/hands
on application..... But this should not get us down, or discourage us. No it
should lift us up and encourage us. For during those time our Jesus is ever
close to us. For it is Him who is our strength. We saw in Luke that it was an
angle that strengthen Jesus, how much more is our strength when it is the Holy
Spirit Himself who is with us?
Heb 13:8 NKJV Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Seeing that Jesus
is the same always we know that just as He delivered the enemies of God's
people into their hands, He will deliver our enemies into our hands. Let this
be a hope to us.
Knowing this and
seeing how He fought for God's people, leads us to ask how are we to fight?
Eph 6:12 NKJV For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Again
in the Message version
Eph 6:12 MSG This is no afternoon athletic contest that
we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps,
a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
Then if our enemy
is not of flesh and blood then how do we war?
2Co 10:3-4 NKJV For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war according to the flesh. (4) For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
This
brings us back to our original look at resisting to the point of blood. Our
enemy is the devil. It is through him that our flesh was tempted into becoming
fallen. Now we have a flesh that desires the ungodly things. It wars against
the Spirit. We have tongue that is set on fire by hell (Jas_3:6). It
seems that every where we turn there is a fight. Oh how that can get
discouraging!!!! But let us not lose hope. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith! Let us begin to live in the Spirit so that we
may remain strong in the fight of our lives. Let us turn to Jesus so that we
may be taught the art of our warfare.
Psa 144:1-2 NKJV A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains
my hands for war, And my fingers for battle—
(2)
My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower
and my deliverer, My shield and the One
in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under
me.
Again in the
Message version.
Psa 144:1-2 MSG A David psalm. Blessed be GOD, my mountain,
who trains me to fight fair and well. (2) He's the
bedrock on which I stand, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight, The
high crag where I run for dear life, while he lays my enemies low.
WOW!!! Not only
will Jesus teach us how to fight against sin, He is our strength, our hope, our
source of life, and our victor who destroys our enemies!!!
In the example that
Jesus showed us in Luke, we saw that He turned to the Father in prayer, so we
too must turn to Jesus in prayer. He must be the one in whom we "run for
dear life" so that He may "lay my enemies low."
Men, brother! I
know more than anyone just how hard it is to remain pure and free from sin.
This fight against sin/temptation is an ongoing battle in my life. That’s is
why I find such strength in His word when I read that He will teach me how to
fight, knowing that if I remain in Him He will deliver all my enemies into my
hands. Let me encourage you to begin obey this:
1Th 5:17 NKJV pray without ceasing,
Learn to live in
prayer, learn to run to Jesus in prayer, learn how fight in prayer! Follow the
example Jesus has showed us and find a new strength to fight against
sin/temptations to the point of shedding your blood.
Now there are times
(for me all to often) that we do and will sin. And we know that when we sin we
must go and seek forgives. Think about this for a minute..... What enables us
to be forgiven of all our sins? Jesus' finished work on the cross!
Php 2:8 NKJV And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross.
We know that our
payment for sin comes only through the blood Jesus shed for us. So when we sin,
not having resisted to the point of blood, then go back to the Father to seek
forgiveness, what are we doing? We (mainly I) are requesting again, and again
the use of Jesus' blood to cover where we could not resist (in the flesh) a
passing pleasure.
Oh what grace we
truly have in Jesus!!! For He knows (and Knew) that we so desperately needed
Him and His finished work on the cross. It was in the Fathers love that He sent
Jesus for us. It was in Jesus' love that He was obedient even to the point of
death. This was all done so that we might have life (free life) in Jesus. This
was done so that we might be reconciled back to the Father, and be one with Him
as Jesus is.
