"Thoughts are actions of the mind"
Kris Ruth Reese
So many people believe they are not sinning because they have not spoken a sinful word or done a sinful deed. They do not understand that the thoughts in the mind can send a person to hell even when there are no words or deeds.
It is our sinfulness as a human being that sends us to hell, not our words or actions. The way we think determines our words and actions.
Our words or actions reveal our character but it is our thoughts that drive everything.
As God indicates in His word, trials reveal our character, the very reason we need them to show us what needs prayer and a work of God in cleansing.
If we fight the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerning our sin we will not grow in holiness. If we continually walk in sin without a conscience then we were never born again.
When we have trusted Christ He changes the WAY we think which will change the way we speak and behave. However, we are trapped in a sinful body so our plight is to battle the sin in our bodies.
Romans 7:23-25 "…23 But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind, I serve the law of God, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin."
Even though we are trapped in this body of sinful flesh we are not given an excuse to continue in sin.
Romans 6:6 "We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin."
Romans 6:1-5 "6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Those who say our sin is under the blood so it doesn't matter if we sin anymore, are repeating a lie of the devil. Eve fell for this lie when the devil told her God lied to her, she could be just like God and free to ignore His commandment to not eat from the one tree in the garden.
The devil is telling the same lie over and over again today as many people live in sin, boast about it and claim God is alright with them.
Romans 8:7-17 "Romans 8:7-21
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
If you are born-again and you sin feeling a sense of shame and guilt over that sin then the thing to do is confess that sin to God asking Him to cleanse you of it. If you do this you will be cleansed and the desire to do that same sin again will leave you. The devil may tempt you from time to time but you have the power of Christ in you to resist. When the devil passes you the ball of temptation let it pass into the hands of Jesus Christ. Do not ponder it or indulge that sinful thought, let it pass through.
As a child I was taught this principle; "we cannot stop the birds from flying over my head but I can stop them from nesting in my hair."
The devil will try to influence us but the Holy Spirit in us is stronger than the devil and our own flesh. Hallelujah
