JESUS LOVES YOU
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. (James 4:8, NLT)
Think about this question for a moment:
Where would you be if God had not been by your side?
God is with you. As a matter of fact, He is closer than anything you could ever think of. I have known this since I was a little boy that a Christian can’t be lonely because God is always with His children.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. (Psalm 127:3 NLT)
God gave you to your parents as a gift, a gift that He never takes His eyes off. That was why David said that even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. (Psalm 27:10 NLT). He loves you and cares about everything you do. He knows that without Him, you can do nothing. He is your strength in all your endeavours.
God has promised that He will never leave nor forsake His children. He is with us but often we go astray. We feel very restrictive when we are close to Him. That is because he wants us to shine or be different everywhere we go. We cannot do what others call fun and this causes the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. When the spirit dominates the flesh, we stay close to him and do what His Word tells us to do. On the other hand, when the flesh dominates the spirit, we do what He does not want us to do which draws us from Him.
God never forces us to stay close to him. He has given us freedom to choose what we want to do. So when we go astray like the prodigal son did in Luke 15, he stays and waits for us to come back to Him. He has stretched His arms to welcome anyone who comes home. As the day goes by, Our Father wait to see His children who have gone astray make decision to come back to him. If you are doing thing(s) that is/are contrary to what the Word of God says/say, then there is a gap between your Father in Heaven and you.
If there is, know that God is waiting for you to bridge that gap. Because he wants you back, He sent Jesus to die on the Cross so that He can have relationship with you. It is not too late. He is waiting for you with open arms so run to him while there is time and say that “Father I am sorry for following my own ways. I have sinned against you. Please forgive me and lead me through your path of righteousness. From today, I choose to say No to the desires of the flesh. I have come to your presence once again and there is no turning back. Be my strength from today in Jesus’ Name. Amen”
Be encouraged to close the gap because without Him, there is nothing you can do.
I will close with this:
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:8, NLT)
I am writing this piece to encourage you, who have been suffering from addiction, that everything’s gonna be alright. God hates sin but He is patient waiting for you to come to repentance.
It’s easy to be judgmental or critical when we see someone repeating the same sin, habit, or mistake over and over. What we fail to understand is that something led that person into such sin, weakness, habit, or mistake. I was once addicted to certain habit for over 10 years so I know what I am talking about. It took the Grace of God, His help through discipline to come out of that habit.
My message for you, who is struggling to stop or quit bad habit (like jealousy, pornography, gossiping, drinking, drugs, quick-tempered, masturbation, sexual immorality, greed, homosexuality, etc) is that do not think or believe that that is how or what God created you to be.
God created you in His image and likeness. Know that everything about God is perfect. In the scripture, there is a story about a farmer who went to sow good seeds in his field but an enemy came to sow bad ones at night. In other words, God deposited good things in you. However, Satan came to sow bad ones in you at night. Night refers to those times when you were far from God. That is when you were not taking your prayer life seriously, when you did not spend enough time reading His word, or you were dormant.
The good news, however, is that God knows you are in that situation. Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy to set you free. You can get up on your feet once again. You can be made whole again. Paul said “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
What I will encourage you to do is that keep moving forward. Keep taking one step ahead of the other. Do not quit. It does not matter how many times you fall down, what matters is your zeal to change from that habit. I will liken this to a little child who is learning to walk. Each time he falls down at an attempt, he says to himself that “I will try again”. That child may fall down a thousand times but at the next try, everything turns to be alright for that kid. I believe you can make it.
Commit yourself to prayer and fasting, and learn to discipline yourself by staying away from doing the little things that lead you to sin, that habit, or mistake. Remember that God has not destroyed you yet because he does not want you to die in your sin.
I remember what changed my situation was that I made a bold decision to quit. I fasted and prayed and started saying No to thoughts that led me into that habit. I exercised self-control. It was not easy at first but as I kept moving one step ahead of the other without looking back at the many times I fell, but looking up to Jesus, I dominated that habit.
God will be your strength as you make decision today to quit in Jesus’ Name.
I know you can
I will conclude with the words of Bishop Clarence E. Mcclendon;
Keep on moving forward
For God is going to what He said
As a matter of fact
Even if you failed the first time
Get up
And do it again
And this time it’s going to work
Because this is the hour of visitation
Uplifting Christ 