The ONLY WAY to Overcome!
“Behold, as for the proud one,
(The Book of Habakkuk 2: 4 NASB)
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous will live by his faith.”
- Let us not be ashamed of the gospel.
- Let us walk and live by faith.
“How are you doing today?” This was a simple question voiced as I stepped around the classroom, speaking with each student, calling them by name, and hoping each one realized they were seen and heard. “Caedyn, how are you doing today?”
“Not well,” he replied in his beautiful accent. “Ms. New, it’s a really sad day, and I just don’t understand.”
This conversation occurred on the day the world remembered 9-11, a day now twenty-four years removed, but nevertheless, a day that will live on (in infamy) for those who were touched, who were affected, who felt the attack and the pain.
We live in a time, a season, and era of hate and sinfulness. Yes, we live in a fallen world, one where “sin is crouching at the door;” waiting to pounce. SIN.
- SIN desires to entice us.
- SIN seeks to destroy, mislead, kill, and to lie to us.
- SIN pounces and death follows.
THE LORD KNOWS SIN EXISTS, FOR HE CAST THE DEVIL, THE DECEIVER, OUT OF PARADISE. &
SATAN CAME TO EARTH TO DECEIVE, TO KILL, & TO DESTROY.
HOWEVER, THE LORD KNOWS THE DEVIL’S TIME IS BRIEF.
The devil knows this too, so he wastes no time—DESTROYING—everything he can:
Our Reputations, Homes, Marriages, Identities, People, and Immortal Souls.
We live in a world where evil resides. No, it was not birthed today, yesterday, last month, two years ago, or even a decade ago, for IT was present from the beginning. Satan has been at work since the first days when Adam and Eve were in the garden, when they were lied to by the devil, and when they SINNED. Their SIN led to a fallen world, one where mankind was born into SINFULNESS, and this cancerous venom affected their first-born sons Cain and Abel. Consider how SIN begins in a person’s heart, spreading to his mind, his thoughts, and eventually permeating out to his actions.
“Then the LORD said to Cain,
(Genesis 4: 6-7 NASB)
[the first-born son of Adam;
the son who became angry at his brother, the one who brought his offering to the LORD;
the one who was enraged so much that he murdered his brother Abel]
“Why are you angry?
And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door;
and its desire is for you,
but you must master it.”
Yes, assuredly, we live in a fallen world, one where people are destroyed.
HOWEVER, if you are a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ, then the Spirit of God lives within you, SOMEONE WHO helps you encourage those living and working near you, those who are hurting, those who are in pain, and those who are in agony.
- Through JESUS, our fear of death is cast away and our eternal assurance is secured.
- Through JESUS, the ONLY WAY to Overcome!
- Through JESUS, the ONLY WAY to “master it [SIN].”
Believers in Jesus, we cannot make someone’s cancer disappear, nor can we change a person’s life-choices. Followers of Jesus, we cannot make pain disappear, nor hatred, nor the evilness we hear in the news and see in our world. Christians, we cannot heal a single soul—BUT WE KNOW THE ONE WHO CAN!
- What is better than fame and fortune?
- What is more precious than silver and gold?
- What is much more valuable than life here on earth?
JESUS CHRIST!
HE sacrificed HIS life to pay our debt to sin, that debt we could never afford to pay.
“When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple,
(The Acts of the Apostles 3: 3-6 NASB)
[“he” was a man lame since his birth]
he began asking to receive alms.
But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said,
“Look at us!”
And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you:
In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”
“How are you doing today?”
A simple question voiced, while stepping between my students, taking attendance.
“How are you doing today?”
A small question spoken to each student, as I worked to call them by name, prayerfully hoping each one realized they were seen and heard by the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
“Caedyn, how are you doing today?”
“Not well. Ms. New, it’s a really sad day, and I just don’t understand.”
Silver. Gold. English Composition. Literature. Sports. Social or Mass Media—I had nothing to give and really no other reply, other than to share with them about the grace and mercy of JESUS, WHO CAME TO TAKE AWAY SIN & WHO IS MAKE THE ONLY WAY TO OVERCOME!
“I do not know why evil exists,” I said to my students, “or why God allows evil to persist like this, but evil is definitely real. This I know to be TRUE—As you open your heart to JESUS, HE can give you peace, HE will be your refuge and strength.”
“God is our refuge and strength,
(The Psalms 46: 1-2a NASB)
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, . . .”
JESUS. YES, JESUS. GOD’S ONLY SON—JESUS!