Daily Devotional for Sunday March 20, 2011

Over the Past 12 Years of Writing the Daily Devotional I Really Hit Hard the Issue of Sin in Our Life

(1 John 1:9)

Over the past 12 yrs of writing the Daily Devotional, I have really hit hard the issue of sin in our life. To some extent, I am affected by the over 40,000 emails that we get each day hear at Liveprayer. I get my daily report of those prayer requests, and actually answer about 60-70 myself each day. Many of the problems in the lives of those who send in their requests, are as a result of sin in their life, or the life of someone they are close to.

I come down hard on the issue of sin because I see first hand every day how it destroys lives. I also know that with the power of God at work in our life, we can overcome sin, and avoid many of the problems that we experience when we give in to it. My purpose today is to encourage you in this battle. To tell you NEVER TO GIVE UP. GOD CAN AND WILL LEAD YOU TO VICTORY IF YOU WILL FOLLOW HIM.

When I was about 5 years old my family went to a county fair and there was a pony ride. Even though it was a pony, to a 5 year old, that animal looked HUGE! The pony had only taken about 4-5 steps, and somehow I slid off. My parents wanted me to get back on, but there was NO WAY I was getting back on that pony. To this day, I have never rode a horse because of that experience.

Sadly, many Christians do the same thing in regard to our daily struggle with sin. They fall off, and instead of getting back on board with God, they give up. God is a God of victory, and a believer has already won the greatest battle, our eternal home, so we MUST never give up and keep fighting on even when we fail.

You see my friend, when we are saved we begin a climb on the spiritual ladder. The longer we walk with God, the higher on that ladder we get. But let me be perfectly clear. No matter how high you may climb, there are ALWAYS more rungs above you, and at each level, we have things in our life the Holy Sprit shows us, that we need to battle and overcome. NOBODY is immune to sin in their life, and EVERYBODY has something in their life that they need to clean up.

In our efforts to overcome whatever issue that we may be facing at this particular moment, there are times when we will fall short, when we will fail. My word to you today is to DO NOT ACCEPT FAILURE, GET RIGHT BACK WITH GOD, AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

God has given us such a precious promise in 1 John 1:9 that if we will simply confess our sins, He will forgive us, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All God asks when we fail is that we humble ourselves to Him, confess our sins, accept His forgiveness and cleansing, and MOVE FORWARD. Nobody gets victory standing still. Victory is won by moving forward!

I love you and care about you so much. I know there have been may Devotionals in the last few days that have been difficult to read. I write what I do each day because of my love for you, because I care about you. My job is to share the truth from God's Word, point out what God says, and then pray that you will open your heart to receive it.

We live in a world full of evil and sin. As Christ told His disciples, we will have trials and tribulations in this life. That will happen regardless. But by living our lives in accordance with God's Word, we can cut down on those trials that we bring on ourselves by rebelling against God. He also told His disciples to"be of good cheer" because HE has overcome this world.

THAT is why I say to you today, when you fail, don't quit. Go to God, confess your failure, accept His forgiveness, and get back on track with God. I will be praying for you today, that whatever it is you are battling in your life, no matter how many times you may fail, that you will never give up. The songwriter said it best, "THERE IS VICTORY IN JESUS!"

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller