Fleeing Total Destruction

"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool God anytime... If you think you can fool God, you are just fooling yourself. God knows exactly what is going on inside of you." - Lest Ye Fall by Rand Hummel

In my last blog I talked about how God really got a hold of my life in the past several weeks. Now I am going to start focusing on the things the Lord convicted me of and how He is growing me to be more like His Son every day in those areas. I am by no means anywhere near completed and I won’t be until I go home to be with my Savior. But I am striving every day to change to not be as I was but to be more like Christ daily.

I named this Fleeing Total Destruction because the first thing God convicted me about in my life was that I had to repent for my struggle with the Lust of the Flesh. Many people cringe when they hear this topic brought up, but it is something that I am addressing in my life and it is a very real thing we should not be afraid to talk about today. Before we go any farther we must define what Lust is. Lust, can be defined a couple of ways. It can be an intense sexual desire or appetite, or it can be defined as a passionate or overmastering desire or craving (non-sexual). Lust is not something that only men struggle with, men and women today struggle with a form of Lust in some way or fashion, whether it be sexual or not. That is not to diminish the power of the term Lust in any way, on the contrary it just shows it is so strong and can affect anyone. Yes, today when we hear the word Lust we think of the very real struggle that men deal with today. And yes, I too as a man struggled with this. Now many people could run to conclusions as to what I am referring to in my own life, and no I am not going to go into detail for that is not needed. But I will say that God spared me from so much I am thankful. Was I addicted to porn or viewing porn like so many that struggle with it today? NO. And for that I am so grateful. My struggle with lust was not controlling my thoughts to honor God at all times. I justified myself by saying I wasn’t that bad compared to others and I never manned up and dealt with this vile sin as I should have.

Then God took some things away from me and it jolted me awake and made me very aware to my revolting sin. I saw plain as day my abominable sin before me and what it had done to me and others close to me in my life that I care about. It had so much influence in my life and it aided in corrupting me as a godly leader, as a godly friend, and as a godly man. The Lust of the Flesh is no joke. It absolutely can and will destroy your life. James 1:14-16 says, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren." As scripture states here lust/sin can and will absolutely destroy your life, it ONLY leads to destruction. I have started to taste this truth for I believe I was slowly being destroyed from within by my own sin. By God’s grace and mercy He revealed to me the wickedness within my own heart and how that was slowly destroying my life and my relationships with others. It is a cancer that slowly, methodically, and deceptively enters our lives and starts destroying us from within without us noticing right away. And sadly in many cases not until it is too late. But I praise God, my almighty Father, that He hit me like a semi showing me my abhorrent sin and convicted me to true repentance of my sin, tuning instead to follow my Savior.

But what is true repentance? A definition of Repentance is to turn from evil, and to turn to the good. Throughout scripture repentance is displayed when God’s people were convicted of their sin and turned from their evil ways and turned to God. Repentance should be a vital part of any true believers life. Why you may ask? Because as a believer we are still sinners, we sin every day and we must repent of our sin. This does not mean you say, “Oh I am sorry” and move on. No, Repentance requires action, and in my opinion it requires drastic action and change. This action is turning and Fleeing the evil that was in your life. Fleeing like Joseph did in Genesis 39, leaving everything behind and getting away no matter the cost. So what does that mean? That means if you are struggling with bad friends you should leave those friends. That means if you are struggling with your computer you should stay away from it or have someone else take it. True repentance will have drastic action, or as I learned at the Wilds for so many years ago it will require a Radical Amputation of from sin in your life. You have to cut out what is hindering you from glorifying the Lord.

In my own life, I have been focusing every day on fleeing lust and God has given me so much victory. It is not because of me, it is all the Lord helping me and transforming (completely changing into something new) every day to not focus on my desires but to focus on His. Ultimately what is the root sin of Lust? It is selfishness. When dealing with lust as a man, it is so easy to focus on certain desires and in giving into to those desires you are being selfish because it is all about what you want. There is no thought of others or how this will affect them and that is so wicked and ungodly. Ultimately, if you are living for your flesh and being selfish, it shows who you love the most, YOU. You can fool yourself like I did and say you love others more than yourself, but in the end your actions will speak louder than your words. I was that hypocrite, I said certain things and didn't do what I said. I was no longer a man of my word and for that I am ashamed. But I am thankful that God has forgiven me and He is helping me to be a man of my word now and no longer be controlled by my desires and to have godly discipline in my life. We must, and I know especially I must, change these desires and behaviors and be following the Lord and pleasing Him in all things. As I Cor. 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” No matter how small or how little something may seem, something we may even take for granted like eating or drinking because we really don’t think about it, we just do it, we must glorify God in all things especially the details.

In my life God has been showing me and working in me in all of these things. I praise Him for helping me change every day and see the victory I need in my life. I need to continue to be victorious because I want to be a godly leader making wise decisions. I want to be a godly man that can impact others for Christ. I want to be a good example to others that I invest in or even those that are unsaved and need to see Christ above all else. This sin of not handling lust in my life has been a huge wakeup call and I have seen just how much it really had affected me, my relationships with others, and my spiritual life. I will be transformed into His image, which means I will be changing every day for Christ giving up what I want (my selfishness) and letting Him mold me to be the godly man God wants me to be because He truly loves me.

So where do you stand with God today? Are you letting sin creep into small details of your life? Yes, I am speaking about lust with men and women here but not only lust but any sin as well. Are you being selfish in your life? Are you indulging in your own passions because it feels good? I have been learning that ALL sin has consequences and we must choose to honor God in all things. As a believer sin is a choice, it has no chains or control on us anymore (Read Romans 6). For our chains are gone and we have been set free from sin. Truly evaluate your life right now. What are you letting slip through the cracks? We all sin and must repent of it to be in right standing with God. So what is holding you back? Why not change today? Living a life for God is the biggest and richest blessing anyone can ask for. I am thankful for the Lord waking me up to my sin and that He is working in me daily through His Word and others to change me.

So Be of Good Courage, there is hope! You can have victory and win! God has always given us a way of escape as believers and He will never give us anything that is too hard for us. (I Cor. 10:13) No matter what you have done, God forgives and He is ALWAYS faithful to do that.You must be diligent and purposeful to change. You must be willing to be unpopular and ridiculed. You must be willing to face hardship and trials and trust the Lord through them. Listen, it will not be easy. Fighting sin is hard, but we must take up the armor of the Lord (Eph. 6:10-18) EVERY DAY and go to battle with our flesh. Memorize scripture, have lots of true challenging accountability and be in the Word EVERY day! True change only comes from the Lord and His strength. If you think you can handle it or that you know how to do things you will fall every time, just like I did. I thought I was ready and could handle this on my own and oh how wrong I was. But just as God is changing me every day and letting me live purely and acceptable to Him you can do the same. Surrender it all to Christ, leave your burdens (sin) and troubles at the cross and follow Him. You can do it only with His help. So Be of Good Courage, Flee Total Destruction (Lust), you have a God who cares and will help you and sustain you while you strive to change for Him.

See the link below for the song East to West by Casting Crowns, and also see the Lyrics I am pointing out from the song below. May it be a challenge and encouragement to you today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyoVJfADlwo

I know you've washed me white
Turned my darkness into light
I need your peace to get me through
To get me through this night

I can't live by what I feel
About the truth your word reveals
And I'm not holding onto you
But you're holding onto me
You're holding onto me

Jesus, can you show me just how far the east is from the west?
Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been
Rising up in me again
In the arms of your mercy I find rest
You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other

In Christ,
Mark Cannon
Ps. 27:14