I started this topic a few days ago in regards to health and how we are a reflection of what we eat. Its common knowledge that our body will reflect the food we ingest. Lets say your daily routine is a morning coffee and a doughnut for breakfast, pizza or burger for lunch…cant forget the coke, and some sort of pasta dinner, along with some cake for dessert. How long do you think you can keep up this routine before it will reflect to your hips. A month or two, maybe a year. Even for the skinny breed, cholesterol would go through the roof….So you aren’t fooling anyone.

We have to remember that our body was designed this way on purpose. Think about it, imagine if you could eat absolutely anything….like cake in the morning, ice cream sandwich for lunch, and a whole pizza for dinner, and not have any side effects. How many people would eat healthy? I mean, I wouldn’t! Who are you kidding, we all know that fat taste amazing…bacon…some of them Cheetos..some cheesecake. Well, we get the drift, the reality is we wouldn’t be able to control ourselves. Food was created by God for our livelihood but also as enjoyment. We all love to eat, and if you don’t then your’e a liar….

Similarly to our physical food, we also need spiritual food. We are what we eat, if you spend 8 hours a day in front of the screen watching movies, or Youtube videos..how well do you think you will do in the spiritual world? How well do you think you will be able to resist sin?(considering that you  have been actively feeding yourself with worldly garbage- watching people make fun of God, mock God, provocative propaganda, anti-Christian shows and movies and so forth….) Well, I can guarantee you not very long. Most of us expect that one Sunday a week will feed you Spiritually for the entire week, wrong! That might just get your beak wet. For you to fully be able to withstand temptation and avoid sin you must always walk in the light.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”― C.S. Lewis

Lewis had a very good grasp on the idea of temptation. He knew that the only way we can ever truly defeat temptation is with the power of God (through the constant presence of his word). Many young people these days are peer pressured to drink, smoke, have sex, and whatever else is hip- and they simply give in. Then they tell themselves – the temptation was too great. We are never tempted beyond what we can handle. This is true, many people confuse this with- God won’t give you more than you can handle- which is false. God will always give you more than you can handle, however, he will not give you temptation above what you can handle! Huge difference.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (Corinthians 10:13).

So next time you lie to yourself because of Satan’s deception, remember this verse.

Okay, So why do I always sin? Like I try so hard and I still sin…? Well, first off, no matter how hard you try, you cannot ever conquer sin on your own. And we are in fact not called to do that.

How many people knew that in the Old Testament it was practically impossible to not sin. Only people that had the Spirit of God were able to withstand sin (and this was a selected few). Yes, this is exactly why people were so wicked, so perverted, they allowed their nature  to devour their hearts. But when the Jesus came, he changed all that. He gave everyone the chance to conquer sin!

God gave us the Holy Spirit to aide us with this. We as natural humans cannot do this alone, but through the Spirit we are able to be victorious over sin in our life. When you repent you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. You are called to worship God, and you are only able to do this through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We see in Galatians chp 5, that we are called to walk in the Spirit. This means, that we have to listen to that inner voice telling us what to do, that is the Spirit paving the way. However, to be able to actually always hear that voice, you must first be filled with the Spirit.

How many of you think a car will run without gas? Sounds like a very stupid question doesn’t it? Well, its not that far-fetched, because many people are similarly naive about their walk with God. They put nothing in the tank and expect results. To be Spiritually filled you must fuel the tank. This is done through prayer, worship and the word of God.

This is where it becomes very important for us to be obedient. I remember as a child I would often tell my parents when they asked me to do something, “I don’t want to, I dont feel like it”….I would commonly use these phrase, this is no different than your walk with God. How many of you do the same thing- you might not say it, but your’e thinking it- whenever you have to stand on your knees and pray, you have these thoughts -oh I’m too tired- or when you need to read the Bible -I’m too busy- How many people would expect to grow a six pack without going to the gym? Uhm…I’m hoping none of you. To see results you must put in the work, we must practice obeying the Holy Spirit and do this through our daily discipline. Once you are able to discipline yourself to listen to the voice of the Spirit then you will be able to see results, then you will be able to overcome sin.

I’m not any different, I still have days were my discipline can use work. I still have days were temptation is beyond control. However, I have noticed, that on days that I actually try to read the Bible, pray, worship, speak with Jesus- are the days I am able to easily conquer Satan’s lies. Its when I am lazy, or too busy to strengthen my faith when I am conquered by sin, or temptation. Keep in mind, Satan often times purposely makes you so busy you have no time for God, and that’s when he swoops in and slaps you around with all his deceptive temptation.

I challenge everyone reading this; take notice when are stronger and can actually conquer sin- when you have fresh text on your mind (Bible text)? Or when you haven’t cracked the book open for days? When you are pouring out all your frustrations to God, and he actually hears you? Or when you stand in front of God and actually forgot how to pray? This should be obvious, yet people are constantly being pulled into the same traps…

Sin—>great fall—>shame/guilt—>repentance

Break this chain by simply following a daily discipline and you will be victorious over sin guaranteed. I didn’t say it, Jesus did.