Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

Choosing Not to Sin

"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things [necessary to] life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: [Through this knowledge and revelation] are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might [partake] of the divine nature"--the divine nature of love, this ability to esteem others better than ourselves, this servant's heart of Jesus (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

This divine nature is not of you. You say, "I have to love other people." No, you can't love; it is impossible. In me, that is, in my flesh dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). Without Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). We need to understand, beloved, that it is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us. If the life that we now live, we live by the faith of the Son of God, then the divine nature is already working. We are not trying to get some extra power to somehow enable me to love. It is working in you, but you keep it from working by your choices. Many of us think that we have to try to walk in the spirit and try to do good. The good is in you, but you suppress it by your choices.

Which choices are we talking about? You pray. You fast. You walk in the spirit. You study to show yourself approved unto God. You give. You seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these other things will be added unto you. You lean not to your own understanding, but in all of your ways acknowledge God; and He will direct your path. Our lives are to become habitually set on course to do what we know to do.

The deck is stacked for you to be victorious. The devil has convinced us of just the opposite, that the deck is stacked against us, that our flesh is so powerful and so dominant that there is no way that we can control it. You say, "I've tried so many times to stop coveting for a bigger home and a nicer car. I've tried to stop lusting after women and after food."

Have you tried to glorify God that the work has already been done? Have you tried to be thankful for the finished work of Jesus Christ that has taken place in you? Have you declared it done? Have you reckoned yourself dead indeed unto sin? Have you acknowledged and declared who you are in Jesus Christ? How about just going around and telling people all the time how good God is? "I used to be in bondage, but I'm not any more, praise God. My flesh still wants it. I just choose not to yield my members as instruments to sin."

"How can you do that? You can't just choose not to sin."

That is the only way you cannot sin! Don't you know, Romans 6:6 says, "that our old man is crucified with him, the body of sin [has been] destroyed, that henceforth we should no longer serve sin"? He that is dead is freed from sin (6:7). "Reckon [put to the account, acknowledge, declare] yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ...[Do not let] sin...reign in your mortal body..." (6:11-12). You choose to let not sin rule in your mortal body that you should obey it. Choose it. "Neither yield ye [neither choose to offer up, don't allow any thoughts, decisions, to involve] your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield [choose to obey, give yourself by choice] unto God as those that are alive from the dead" (6:13).

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