I absolutely LOVE today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers!
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. — 1 John 1:7
To mistake conscious freedom from sin for deliverance from sin by the Atonement is a great error. No man knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced on Calvary. The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. It takes the last reach of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the impartation of His absolute perfection, to make a man know what sin is.
The Holy Spirit applies the Atonement to us in the unconscious realm as well as in the realm of which we are conscious, and it is only when we get a grasp of the unrivaled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” This does not refer to conscious sin only, but to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Ghost in me realizes.
If I walk in the light as God is in the light, not in the light of my conscience, but in the light of God — if I walk there, with nothing folded up, then there comes the amazing revelation — the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin so that God Almighty can see nothing to censure in me. In my consciousness it works with a keen poignant knowledge of what sin is. The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To walk in the light means that everything that is of the darkness drives me closer into the centre of the light.
So many times well-meaning Christian parents have unintentionally given their children a sin-consciousness when they SHOULD be training them in being God-inside minded! For the born again believer, sin is no longer the problem! Yes, born again believers still sin, but that sin will never keep us from the Heaven of the Bible! Jesus paid the price for OUR sin by BECOMING sin, when He had none of His own! The sin that Jesus took upon Himself was MINE and YOURS! When He took that from us and paid the price for sin that was required by the Law, He delivered us FOREVER from that penalty! We no longer have a sin nature! We are recreated in the image of God with HIS nature in us! That is speaking of the spirit man (we ARE spirits, we HAVE souls [mind, emotions and will], and we live in human bodies while on the earth). In our souls and bodies we still must contend with the nature of the flesh which can, and does, still sin. THIS sin will NOT separate us from God! When we understand this TRUTH, then it will become easier to stop sinning in those areas. Our "remedy" for known and unknown sins after the New Birth is found in 1 John 1:9:
9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
When we who have been born again confess the sin that we know we have committed, then His forgiveness goes into affect for that sin AND for any other sin we have committed in thought, word or action! THAT is how 1 John 1:7 works!
7 But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].
AMEN! So, stop getting down on yourself for your weaknesses, short comings, missteps, falls and failures! Simply get yourself back up, go to 1 John 1:9, RECEIVE by faith what HE has already provided for you, and then get right back into fellowship with HIM! This is how we continue to grow up to where we stop sinning in all of these ways and begin to look more like JESUS! This is also how we keep our LIGHT shining bright that draws people to HIM! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "Children of the Light" to remind you just who YOU are, IN HIM! Refuse to let the enemy steal that from you ever again!
Shalom in Him!
