From The Crucible (by Assoc. Pastor Linda Pugsley)

Sometimes, in our struggle with the sins that so easily beset – envy, anger, bitterness, outbursts, jealousy, gossip, slander, etc. – we struggle with the struggle! It’s a sticky predicament that Satan wants to happen over and over. But God has made a way out of this struggle…it is the risen life of Jesus in us. As we pray and praise, forgive and repent, seek and seek and seek, we find. And this new life He promised, rises in us.

Oswald Chambers states, “when I am born again from above, I receive from the risen Lord His very life…His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not our old life…when once you have seen Jesus, you can never be the same, other things do not appeal as they used to…Have I made this decision about sin that it must be killed right out in me?...not curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified? Take time alone with God…make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death…I cannot reckon myself dead unto sin unless I have been through this radical issue of will before God.”

So don’t struggle any longer, it’s not your job to change your inside – that’s God’s job. For only He can do this. What we must do is worship, pray, praise, repent, go to fellowship, read the Bible in His light and obey His direction. All the rest comes as God completes each new phase of His project in us. So have faith, have patience and wait…with yourself and with others. God’s good work in you will come to pass…”He who began a good work in you will perfect it.” (Philippians 1:6)

Hmm – “Let go and let God” should take on a whole new meaning for us: He loves us…let us love one another. Endure the fire: it’s producing pure gold!

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