Lord ~ I’m Sorry

I hear all to often ~I feel it and must say it all to often! “Lord, I’m sorry!”  We as Christians walk with the Lord, we serve Him, we study the Bible, we pray, and then before we know it, our thoughts and maybe our behaviors are in the slim pit and we say as the Apostle paul, “O Wretched man that I am!”  Have you ever been there? Are you there at this very moment? In the last few weeks several people have mention to me this very type of situation. “I can’t believe I said it,” “I feel so dirty,” “What was I thinking.” Well, if this is the way you are feeling, well then Praise the Lord. The Spirit of God is at work! You see we as born again believers are positionally perfect in Christ. As we stand in the presance of the Almighty we are perfect. The problem is that experentially we are very imperfect. That is, in our day by day walk with the Lord here on earth, we are not at the point of perfection…in fact we are a long way from it.  The fact that we fail is a reminder of how far we have to go. It is a reminder that we cannot live this Christian life in our own strength.  The answer ~ keep pursuing  what we are in Jesus Christ, positional perfection and then the experiential will slowly but surely gravitate toward that ideal!  Know for certain my friend that your blunder that has left you defeated, plagued with guilt, depressed, or even caused you to feel dirty did not come as a surprise to our all knowing Savior!  Sometimes its a great thing knowing that a new day is only a few hours away…for with each new day His mercies a brand new (Lam. 3). So lift up your head your shoulders and arms oh feeble child of God. Endure the discipline that comes from the Lord and submit to those things quickly that He is teaching you! Here are some ideas to help you to reach new heights in your Christian life.

1. Read the Bible!!!

2. Spend time in prayer and fasting! Some victories can only be won when prayer and fasting become regular in our Christian walk.

3. Don’t stay away from church! You need other beleivers…we have been made for relationships

4. Get over yourself and get filled with the life of Jesus

5. Never give up, never, never, never, never give up! God blesses persistance!

6. Don’t think ill of others who are experiencing this struggle. Be aware that all the Children of God are going through these things in some way or another…wether they know it or not.

7. Keep serving the Lord! Don’t use the cop-out that I cannot serve until I get this straightened out. The point is that you will struggle with these thing until you are in the holy presence of the Almighty in heaven.

8. Ask for forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus.

9. Ask God to reclaim the territory of you life that you have yielded and surrendered to the adversary. Those strongholds in our lives that Satan seeks to dominate.

10. Renounce those intruding thoughts through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Those thoughts that flood your being at times when it is the craziest…he, the adversary is very strategic.

There are many more things to say about the matter! But know if you are pursuing the Christian life and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, it will be a struggle at times, but it is so worth it when you reach a new level in your walk with the Lord.

Some of you may say, “pastor it is easy for you to say these things, you don’t know what it is like! Well, may I remind you and I am made of the same flesh that you are and I have some of the same struggles that you do. These things that I have mentioned  are things that I have learned because I am in the same boat as you…I do understand. But I also have been able to experience many victories in my life , all praise to the Almighty! But, I still have many more battles as do you! So march on my friend! You will day by day learned that His grace is Sufficient!!

Wendell Bishop

very helpful books to read:

 ”The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee

“The Bondage Breaker” by Neil Anderson