Why Do I Still Live Bound If I'm Free From Sin?

First let's begin by explaining what Sin is. Sin is any lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either active or passive, whether in act, thought or disposition. Hamartiology is the study of sin. This tells me if a study is devoted to sin it must have some importance. According to the Christian Bible reference site the word "Sin" is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. This tells me that God thought it was important to speak on it so often. Therefore if there is a study devoted to it and God says its important then I need to understand it to know what it means to be free from it.

Sin the old ball and chain

God created this world sinless. The world was a place of utopia (heaven on earth). Humans were able to talk to animals without fear. Animals ate vegetation, they didn't desire flesh and blood. Can you imagine petting a lion without fear of being eaten. Can you imagine cattle not worrying about being eaten by us. We too had no desire for flesh. All of our food grew on trees. We had no need for clothes because we were clothe in the righteousness of God. This had to be amazing to never feel guilt, shame, fear, low self-esteem, lust, rage, etc. The only feeling were those of peace, joy, serenity, kindness, love, truth, godliness, worship, etc. Just stop and think for a second how different the world would be. There were no religions. It was just God and his creation. We knew who our creator was because we had an intimate relationship with him. There was no interference or competition. Then entered Satan our enemy and God's enemy who was once one of his most treasured Cherubs. 

Bound By Sin

We can't talk about sin without talking about the cause of it. Satan wanted to be like God so he rebelled and took a third of the angels with him. These angels are now called fallen angels. Satan hates us because he has no chance to repent, he will never inherit the kingdom of heaven. His inheritance is to be locked in hell with his fallen angels. Therefore he wants to make sure we never inherit it either. When Adam made the decision to eat the fruit sin entered the world. Having knowledge of what sin was meant you had to choose sin or godliness. We are now all born into sin because of Adam's choice. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. God looked down through generations and saw that the law he created with Moses couldn't be kept. There could never be enough animals sacrificed to totally cover our sin. So God sent the ultimate sacrifice, his son Jesus Christ the Messiah. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16 This broke the chains of sin on our lives. Instead of being mastered by sin, when we believe and accept Jesus as our Savior we are mastered by righteousness. 

Walking in the Newness of Life

Paul asks a question in Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? In layman's terms Paul is asking " So do you think it's o.k to sin since we are now covered under Gods grace?" "Should we sin so his grace can increase more and more?" So before we answer that question let's talk about grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is God showing his mercy, patience, and kindness instead of our just punishment for sin which is death. Grace isn't earned, it's a part of God's character. Remember "For God so loved the world", his heart toward us is to give us a choice to choose him and be free. Now back to Paul's question. In Romans 6:2 he answers his rhetorical question. His answer: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Again in layman's terms, Paul is saying " God refuses to allow us to walk in sin after his ultimate sacrifice for you to free. Why would you want to live in sin after being freed from it?"

The problem is that Sunday after Sunday we here we can never live up to God's standards. This doesn't mean we should live carelessly. We hear REPENT but we don't hear change and turn. Therefore we cry at the alter repenting but never changing. We get baptized but never open the book on how to live. We barely pray and often don't understand what prayer is. How can we live free from sin when we never open the manual (Bible)? Our mindset should be to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, not for what he can do but for what he already did. When we have a love for God like this our desire changes from a sinful nature to wanting to please God. We have a zeal to read more about him and his standard(will) for our lives. We begin to talk to him more and get to know his character. Then chains begin to fall off because we begin to say GOD I CHOOSE YOU! He already chose us with his sacrifice, now we must choose him to be able to walk in total freedom. We must take the power back from our enemy. Romans 6 (read full chapter) tells us that we must die with Christ and be raised with him by the glory of God . This means that our old sinful nature must die in order that we walk free from sin. Walking free from sin means we no longer serve sin but the father who loves us. We have the victory through Christ's death. We should live everyday manifesting our resurrected life free from sin's control. 

 Now that you know what sin is, where it comes from and what God did to free you from it, Here are some steps you can take to walk in the newness of God and become a servant of righteousness.

• Read your Bible daily. It doesn't have to be a whole chapter. Start where you are and increase as the spirit leads you.
• Pray daily, morning, midday and before you sleep. Very important to pray before you sleep. Prayer is just talking to God, nothing fancy.
• Try to connect yourself with other believers. You will be able to strengthen and encourage one another. In addition, they are seeking the same thing you are which is to live a righteous life. Ungodly people will never steer you towards God and his desire for your life.
• Always ask God to give you wisdom, knowledge and understanding so you never put your own interpertation  to his Word.
• Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit which will lead and guide you in God's truth. 

As you begin to implement these steps in your life God will begin to reveal himself to you. He will begin to show you the areas that need cleaning. This is what he did for me once I asked him instead of trying to do it on my own. I found that I can only do what God wants through his power. Through him we can do all things. Nothing is impossible with God. The Joy of the Lord will be your strength. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section. I look forward to hearing your testimony. 

God isn't a Religion: He is our Creator

God isn't a religion. Many are turning from God because of religion. We are putting the two together and it should not be so. God stands alone, he can't in any way be put in a box. Religion can. God isn't an institution of belief or organized system based on man. If no one believed in God he still would be God. God doesn't exist based on our belief in him.

Who is God?

God is the creator of all things. He was not born and will never die. He is not subject to time. He exist outside of everything we know to exist. There was no time before him. He isn't affected by time, space or matter. Nothing was created without him. By his word everything was created. Read Genesis for God's recap of the beginning. God is a spirit being, he doesn't have flesh like we do. He doesn't sleep or get tired. He is everywhere at once. He knows all, sees all, and he is all powerful. There is no power greater or equal to his.

God is Love

God is love. He's full of mercy and grace for his children. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God's will for us all is to have eternal life with him. Through Adam, sin entered the world and caused us to be separated from God. God is holy so he cannot be in the presence of sin. The penalty of sin is death and there is no remission of sin without blood so he sent his son to do what we couldn't because we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.(Romans 3:23) All of us like sheep have gone astray , each of us has turned to his own way; But God has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Jesus.(Isaiah 53:6) Even though mankind has turned from God in so many ways he still loves us and pleads with us to come to him. 

Attributes of his Spirit

Kindness, Meekness, Long suffering, Just, Self-Control, Patient, Gentle, Good, Joy, Peace

God is unchanging, His word stands, He doesn't rewrite it, His word is life to our being. He sent his word to teach, rebuke, correct and train us in righteousness.  He is holy, there is no sin in him. There is no darkness around him. He is also a God of judgment. Eccl 12:14 For God will every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing whether good or bad. Our thought, motives, actions and words will all be accounted for. He even knows every hair on our head. He is amazing, almighty, magnificent, and though him we have our being. 

Don't allow anyone to put God in a box through religion. It is very important to read your Bible, Pray without ceasing and fast. Always equip yourself with the Armor of God Ephesians ch.6. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ. There is no belief in God without believing in his son. It is Jesus blood that justifies us. Don't listen to people who say there are many paths to God. It is not. This is a lie from satan because he wants to steal, kill and destroy you. This has been his plan from the beginning. He knows if he can keep you from Jesus, he has kept you from God because there is no other way. God is not a religion, he is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. HE IS THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. Colossians 1:16 For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers and authorities. All things were created through him and for him.

Bad Company Corrupts Good Character: You are who you hang around

As a little girl I always wanted to be liked. I always wanted to be with my friends. I followed the crowd and adapted well. My original personality is meek, mild mannered, quiet, kind hearted and compassionate. This person didn't always show up. She was hidden at times. My character was compromised a lot growing up even to my adult years. Most people that connected themselves to me were strong willed controlling people and I followed very well. I was always a follower growing up. My mother was a drug addict and my siblings were in foster care. I felt alone. My grandmother raised me with very good morals but I always wanted to belong somewhere. I always was who people wanted me to be instead of who I really was. Finally I found myself about 30 yrs old with no idea of who I really was and why was I even here. I had spent a life of trying to please everyone but myself. I felt void, empty and lost until one day my friend invited me to church after I poured out my feelings to her. This is when God pulled me away from everything and began to illuminate my true self. He showed me that he created me to be a leader and not a follower. He showed me that he created me to be strong and not weak. He showed me that he didn't create me to live in lack and uncertainty. 
From years of being connected to the wrong people my character was shattered, not just to the world but to myself. I had no idea who I truly was. When God pulled me from the world's influence and put me in the midst of his people, my character was on the road to reconstruction. I stopped drinking. I was never a big drinker because I can't tolerate much but I did drink at times. I also dabbed in weed some and I stopped that. I couldn't really tolerate that either. I was a what you call a light weight😂. I stopped going to clubs and parties. I was in church at least 4 days a week. I was at prayer on Mondays, Bible Study on Wednesday, Choir rehearsal on Thursday, Kids rehearsal Saturday and church on Sunday and I loved it. The company I kept was totally different. They wasn't perfect but we were all trying to live a life pleasing to God. We were having clean fun now with no consequences. I begin to learn how God wanted me to live as oppose to how I actually was living. 

Sowing and Reaping

Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

I'd spent a lifetime of reaping from bad decisions I made. I was in debt because of poor money management. I can't tell you how many times my phone was cut off. I always owed more on my rent. I was basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. God dealt with my husband and I in this area. We paid off our credit cards. We paid off every bill we owed. We stopped spending mindlessly. All our bills were now current. This wasn't easy. I went about a year of not getting my hair professionally done. I had to do my own hair which I really don't like to do:) There was no manicures and pedicures. We didn't eat out often. We bought groceries and cooked our meals. We also had to work on being to our jobs on time, no calling off unless for emergencies. We became responsible adults.

Forsaking Relationships

Proverbs 9:6
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

The funny thing is when God begins to bring you into the light your relationships begin to fade. Usually people feel that you're different, you think you're better than them or you're acting funny or weird. This causes people to pull away from you because you are no longer living like them. They can usually see your change before you see it. Notice the scripture above says Forsake the foolish and live, You can't really start living until you let go of foolish things because they keep you in bondage. It's like chains are on you and you can't break free when you are in the counsel of the ungodly. God had to pull me from among them to show me my purpose, to give me a life and that more abundantly. I don't know where I would be today if I'd not excepted that invitation to church. Now I surround myself with people who are going or have gone where I'm going. I don't compromise my character nor do I put myself in situations that would cause for it. My life is peaceful. I'm not skirting the mountain year after year with the same problems like I once was. 

This Doesn't Mean you Can't Have Friends

The Bible says Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." emphasis on Bad Company, God wants us to have righteous people in our circle. God wants people around that will edify you and not pull you down with them. If you are going through a tough time check your surroundings. If you continue to have lack and stay stagnant check your surroundings. It's not wise to get counsel from people that haven't been where you're trying to go. Why would I ask a nurse how to become a teacher? Why would I ask a drug addict how to kick the habit? Why would I ask an irresponsible person how to be responsible? I shouldn't because they will only pull me down because they are still living in error. Therefore I would have to change my group of people I surround myself with. Proverbs 13:20

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Wise people help to enhance your character, The foolish helps to corrupt your character.

You are blessed when you allow God to pull you from among people that are not good for you. The best way to do this is to build your relationship with God by reading your word and talking to him. Instead of drinking when you are stressed call him, instead of calling that person who means you no good, call God. Tell him your feelings, he won't make fun of you. He doesn't think you're stupid for dealing with that guy who really doesn't love you. God knows the hurt and pain you have and wants to relieve it. He wants you to be successful, peaceful, joyful, and filled with love from him. Forsake the bad relationships in your life today and begin to see what life God intended for you. Be blessed. If you have any questions please leave them in the comment section. I would love to talk with you.