Are you sick and tired of the habitual sin in your life?

 

Have you tried to fight and win against sin but feel like you just can’t break FREE from the annoying cycle of sin-confess-repent?

 

Maybe your quest to mortify the habitual sins in your life have been fought on losing grounds like most of us have at one point, and not where the scriptures teach us to fight!

 

Here is what I mean…Sin runs really deep. So deep in fact, that it runs to the throne of God where He sits. No not above us. The throne He has decided to take is in the place of our hearts. If we are going to fight and mortify sin, then we MUST fight our sin from sin’s first point of contact. The Bible reveals that, sin’s first point of contact is aimed at the desires of our hearts! The first strike of sin is at that level and, THAT, is where believers need to fight sin to win. In this article, we will see in the book of James how sin progresses in a believer’s life and that it is at the “desire” stage where we must learn to fight our battles against ALL our sin. Let me say that again because it is crucial to our maturity in Christ and in our spiritual warfare: If we are to truly experience the blessedness of freedom found in Christ and His fullness in any season you are currently living in or will be soon approaching, then we need to fight for a life freed from the dark grip of deceiving desires which wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2: 11, James 1:12).

 

So, allow me to take you through Sin’s Progression found in James 1 and show you the secret to NEVER being enslaved to sin again!

 

Not “if” but “when”

The progression of sin we see in James is ruthless and it is a direct assault against our souls. Due to the fallen nature of man, it is not a matter of “if” I will be tempted but “when” I am tempted. This assault is inevitably going to happen to us whether we want it or not but there is a way out, so you and I do not need to become its victims! I’ll say it again so you can hear it loud and clear: there is a way out of this deadly cycle, and it is by the rescuing, merciful hand of God through the cross of Christ. We have access to receive this mercy and grace to overcome in the power that the Gospel brings into our lives and in every season we experience.

 

Take courage! Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of His might! Know that your God is with you and for you in your quest to mortify sin. When you wrestle against sin remember that the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead lives in you! And when you are in those dark hours of temptation, when deceiving desires begin to flood into your mind and tempt you to turn away from the Living God onto idolizing the things (or people) of this world remember that, you are no longer a slave to sin but a child of God and you have been given the power to say “NO” to sin and “YES” to righteousness.

 

With this marvelous reality in mind now, I want you to look at what James says about this deadly cycle of sin’s progression from the blood-bought standpoint of victory and not defeat…

 

James 1:14-16 “But each one is tempted when he is dragged away, enticed and baited by his own desire. Then when the illicit desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death. Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters.”

 

Have you ever had that feeling of wanting something so bad that you are willing to sin a little in order to get it? That first niggle is the first stage of sin’s progression into our lives called desire that this passage in James warns us of. The sin lures us in. This lure can be likened to what happens when fisherman get together to catch some fish. When you’re fishing, and you want to catch a particular fish, you have to use a specific type of bait to get that fish. Not all fish are lured in by the same bait. There is a certain lure that heavily tempts the specific fish you want to catch. And this is how Satan works against us.

 

It is such a savage and discomforting act of the evil one that the writer found it necessary to use hunting terms, to help believers get a visual of the assault of sin against the Bride of Christ—YOU. The Holy Spirit inspires James to write the words “dragged” and “enticed”. James says that one is dragged into sin and enticed. That word enticed involves all forms of deception and the goal of that deception is to trap and then to control its victim. This is where we find the second stage of sin’s progression which is Deceit. There is always deception involved in wrong desire. Once we bite into the deceptions of our evil desires, it causes us to sin.

 

Proverbs 6:27 “Can a man take fire to his chest and his clothes not be burned?”

 

What you flirt with you will fall for. The fish flirt with the lure of their bait. They do not swim straight into it though. They first examine it and swim around it. The longer they stay the more they become deceived. Can a man play with coal in his laps and not get burned? Once we have bitten into it, it is already too late. As people, we have flirted intensively with the desire of comfort. The male readers may resonate with this desire often leading to masturbation and porn in order to find relief. A shameful, often secret reality even in the Church. But once you are there and have pressed the play button, that it is almost impossible to just switch it off and stop. It is so incredibly rare for that to occur because it is not just comfort that it offers but it is false intimacy. 

 

On the other hand, the female readers may resonate with a desire that is less spoken of, it is often silent and rests in the mind of the woman at hand. Women love to be loved and cherished by their husbands. The verbal affirmation and quality time given to each woman are common love languages shared. Sexual intimacy for a woman is enhanced by result of the consistent love and attention given by their husbands. Without this build-up of affirmation, it is difficult for a woman to sexually connect. Without this sexual connection, a husband feels disconnected and so the vicious cycle begins. Out of this, a woman may look elsewhere for attention and affirmation. Often times, especially in the church, a woman is not looking to get laid at all. She is looking for validation. As this thought process rises consciously in a woman’s heart and mind, she MUST be aware that these thoughts are equally as dishonoring as the act toward porn and masturbation. These are only two examples that represent all the other situations we experience of the attack of sin against our hearts.

 

So, how do we stay clear from the deadly lures that can so easily hypnotize and deceive us at our desire level? The way we can begin to do this is, we must commit to asking ourselves questions like the ones I provided below.

 

We must commit to asking ourselves this when we sense the first hint of temptation trying to capture our heart’s affections and commitments:

 

 

1. 1. What is my lure?

1. 1. What am I looking for right now that I cannot find in Christ?

1. 1. What am I wanting at this very moment? Why do I want it? … Why? … Why? … Why? …

1. 1. I want _____________ more than anything right now!

1. 1. What truths about God am I failing to believe if I act on this desire?

 

The Heart

It is a matter of the heart, where the battle is raging. Our hearts are the control center of our entire lives, the enemy of our souls is fighting to sit on its throne and rule you and me through the deceiving desires we bite into, and we must learn to fight sin at the desire phase if we are going to fight and win. 

 

The Bible teaches us that our hearts were made to worship and shows us also that our hearts are always worshiping, but the question is “who” or “what” is our heart worshiping? If our hearts are worshiping and trusting in God, then as a result we will walk in the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh. On the flip side, when our hearts long for and desire something or someone more than God, than we will find ourselves moving down the slippery slopes of sin’s cycle – and FAST! Here is where we can conclude, that, when we struggle with any sin, whether it is an occasional sin or a habitual sin, it is not a behavior disorder, but a worship disorder instead. 

 

Here is why – If I genuinely believed that what I am longing for can be found in God, then why would I run to anything or anyone else? The fact that you and I DO run to somewhere else for what we are longing for in our hearts shows that we have exulted that something or that someone over and above the Eternal God Himself, making that thing or that person god over our lives instead. It takes worship to do something like this and the Bible calls it the Idolatry of the heart and these idols are fighting for our affections that should only be given to Christ and Him only.

 

It’s A Fake and A Look-A-Like!

Romans 1: 21-25 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

 

Imagine for a moment, I walked up to you and offered you a 10-pound pure diamond and said “here you go! Take it, It’s yours!” and you look at it for a moment, pull out your phone and take a few pictures of it and say “Thanks! I got it!” and walk away feeling great about the picture you took, leaving the 10-pound diamond behind. You’re probably thinking to yourself “That’s foolish!” and it is because when that diamond is sold it can make millions, but the sad news is that this is what mankind does to the Living God when the exchange of Him for created things occurs. This is what we do, when we choose to find our rest and the answer to our deepest longings in other things other than in Christ. We have been offered all we could ever need in Christ, but we instead choose to settle for something else; a look-a-like that holds no true value and means nothing because it’s just a fake! A worthless fake that holds no true virtue or value whatsoever and will leave you empty and void.

 

Just like the picture of the diamond, Sin always promises but never delivers on its promises. When our desires have deceived us into thinking that what we need in any given moment can be found in something or someone else other than God, then that is when we move down the ladder of sin’s progression to Disobedience and disobedience always brings Death. As followers of Jesus Christ, we must notice and come to grips with the fact that our deceiving desires have never led anywhere else except to disobedience and death. My prayer for those who read this short article and those who do counseling with me is that they begin to see the futility of sin, which is found in selfishly desiring what we want for our lives rather than submitting to what God wants and has promised for us.

 

Death

After “sin” James then moves on to explain is that from sin comes death. There are no two ways about it. Death can be explained from four angles:

 

 

1. 1. Death to our conscience. When the heart gets seared it is no longer as sensitive as it once was to the convictions of the Holy Spirit.

 

2. 2. Death to sanctification. We kill a God-ordained moment that was meant for good. The God who rules the world with compassion for those who think they will ever be in control and enjoy it! God’s glory requires sanctification. It is to walk blamelessly as God and man as Jesus perfectly showed us. Out of your calling to Christlikeness comes the secondary callings of your personal life. This is truly the path to a life fulfilled!

 

3. 3. Death to our relationship with God. Sin separates us from God and the Holy Spirit is grieved when we sin. What a sad thought. Repentance is so crucial and if only we could see the face of the Holy Spirit in His grieving and see the deep pain and heartache that it causes Him. Our sin grieves Him so much because of His great love for you and me. We want to grow in the power of the Holy Spirit to be strengthened against our weaknesses, temptations, and conquer them with laughter.

 

4. 4. Death to spirit. If we go on sinning, we are living apart from God and for the devil. Practically, we are living in worship to the devil through the false gods we have erected in our hearts. If we are not gaining insight and knowledge from God, then we must be gaining it from another place. God wants to bring true life to our hearts and minds.

 

So, what does all this mean for us? This means that we all need to learn how to slow down sin by bringing to light what sin really is: An evil plan of deceit that wants to turn our hearts away, from the Living God and what He wants to be for us and placing our affections and desires onto the things of this world which always lead us to futility and death at the end. I say “slow down” because before we know it, what was just a thought at one moment has turned into full fledge disobedience in the next moment. This exchange of the Living God for other things and the cycle from Desire to death can happen in the blink of an eye – literally!

 

Worship, then, is the secret to lasting change and the weapon for true victory!

 

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who is steadfast under trial and perseveres when tempted; for when he has passed the test and been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

 

By: Angelo Shamoon

 

If you or someone you know is struggling to make these truths a reality in your life and need counseling CLICK HERE to get started!