A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY
🌷🌷🌷 August 20 🌷🌷🌷
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
No man can give up the desire for worldly pleasures by himself. Only when the Lord Jesus Christ enters into his heart he will be delivered. He is the One Who can set us free from our bondage. His mighty hand can deliver us from all worldly attractions and from the devil. On the other hand those who try to escape by their own efforts will soon be drawn back again into bondage. After hearing an inspiring sermon a smoker may say, “I will give up tobacco”. Then by a great effort he keeps up to his decision for three or four days. After that his stomach begins to plead with him, “Dear Master, I want smoke. Good food, milk and sweets will not satisfy me.I must have smoke. I long for smoke. Please give me smoke. I will die without smoke”. At last he gives in and he is drawn back into his old habit as deep as ever.
It is only by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ working in us that we can be delivered from our sins. He has conquered the world, sin, death, hell and Satan. In Him and by Him and through Him, we are victorious. Paul says, “l can do all things”. How? “through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). Some people are not slaves to tobacco, but they are slaves to filthy books and immoral magazines. What a vast number of publications in the market are full of filth! Sometimes the titles appear decent and attractive but the filth is the same, the result is the same, the punishment is the same. Other people are slaves to money. They will tell any number of lies and do dishonest deeds to get more money. Yet others are greedy for power and are prepared to exploit the lives of others. When Christ enters their hearts, He will deliver them from all this bondage by His mighty power.
From my own experience I can say this is true. No one ever spoke to me about salvation. One day I heard the voice of God and I was saved. The Lord Jesus came into my heart. That very moment my bad desires disappeared one by one. They became repulsive to me. Christ Himself gave me a fervent hunger and thirst for divine things.
