February 25: Sin

I don't know about you guys, but I seem to stumble into sin a lot. I know that everybody has sinned, and that noone (except Jesus) is perfect (Romans 3:23), but it just seems like I sin at least twice as much as any other person around. The thing about it is, I seem to sin, and sometimes to intentionally sin without even thinking about the consequences. What I need to be thinking about are the next consequences that will help you and I avoid sin the best we can.

The consequence of sin is that distances us from God. We're already apart from Him far enough it seems, we should always be wanting to get closer to God rather than distance ourselves from Him. It also creates an even bigger separation between you (and me) and God. Isaiah 59:4 says, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. That right there should be reason enough for us to strive to life a life free from sin.

When we sin, it not only affects our relationship with God, but it also affects the relationship with others around us. I know that when I sin, I can sense kind of a shortness with my peers. Call it me getting frustrated very easily with people. I know that they don't mean anything by what they do, and it's only because I've hindered my relationship with the One who provides all happiness and patience. And that's why I lose sight of the happiness and patience that I experience with my peers.

The good news about his comes from 1 John 2:1b "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world."

So we need to always look up and see the example that was set by Christ. Live a life free from sin, because Christ has freed us and released us from the captivity that we were in when we were entangled in sin.

"Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of one's faith produces endurance." James 1:2-3 God does not Himself tempt us with sin, but he does allow us to be put through trials in order that we can be filled with righteousness. (James 1:13)

And the encouragement with this subject comes from 1 Corinthians 10:13 which basically says that God will not put us through more than we can handle, and anything we do go through He always provides us with a way to endure and to escape what we are going through.

So my prayer is that this entry has helped you, (I know it has helped me just typing this) realize the consequence of sin and what it does to our relationship with Christ. I hope this has encouraged you to live a life that you were called to live when Jesus died on the cross.

February 23 1 John 1 memorization

I started to read 1 John the other day and the Holy Spirit really convicted me of some things. The way it talks about our sin and if we sin, then we have no fellowship with God. That hurts. So I did some intense prayer and I felt like God wanted me to begin the process of memorizing this book. So, here it is, I am not looking at my bible at all right now, you'll just have to take my word for it. I am reading out of a New American Standard Bible.

"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, and what we have heard concerning the Word of Life. And the Life was manifested to us and we have seen, and testify, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and is now manifested to us. What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and His son, Jesus Christ. These things we write to you so that our joy may become complete.

This is the message we have heard from the beginning and now proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him, there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we deceive ourselves and lie against the truth. But if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we will have fellowship with Him and the blood of His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we do not Sin, we lie and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all righteousness. If we say we do not sin, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us."

OK, that is all of chapter 1. I do admit that I had to look at my Bible a couple times in order to get started with a couple points of that chapter, but I am still working on it. Hopefully I will have it perfected sometime soon.

If you are trying to memorize something, I want you to feel free to comment or write something on my blog. Feel free to even quote to me what you have been memorizing, I would LOVE to hear it. "I write Your Word on my heart, that I may not sin against You." Psalm 119:11. That is my prayer tonight for me and for everyone out there trying to memorize God's Word. Thanks again for reading my post

Beginning Post

Hello everybody. My name is Travis Ward, and I have created this blog in order to keep myself accountable to getting into God's Word more. I will be posting periodically (hopefully at least once a week), about what I have been reading and my thoughts on the scripture. Feel free to let me know your thoughts and/or comments. I look forward to hearing any kind of feedback, positive or negative. Thanks a lot!