By Pastor Michael Benjamin

Sometimes we find it difficult to come to God because of our sins, mistakes and failures.  However, these 3 must never hinder us from experiencing God’s presence in our lives.

The first sin of man was recorded in Genesis 3.  Here, we can see that God provided for them by giving them garments of skin, foreshadowing that someone would offer Himself as a sacrifice, to cover man’s nakedness, to die and effectively restore us to God.   The Almighty choose not to disinherit mankind but choose to provide reconciliation instead.  Indeed, when we sin and fall, restoration is made possible through the cross of Calvary, holy lives were restored by our Lord and Savior.

King David’s life demonstrated that; from being a shepherd to a musician, from a musician to a warrior and from a warrior to become a king, he has weaknesses, made wrong decisions, committed wrongful acts and have sinned against God.  But despite his weaknesses and transgressions, God called David, a man after God’s own heart.  Why? Because David, when confronted by Nathan, readily made known his penitent heart and contrite spirit.  This reminds us that we, with the same penitent heart and contrite spirit as David, can still come near to our God despite our sins, failures or wrongdoings.

Trials and temptations are part of human life.  Remember that temptations are not only limited to sexual desires. People can also be tempted to rebel, to cheat, to do something for selfish reasons, and in many areas of life.  Trials are normal and are allowed by God, but temptations are different, man allows temptation in their lives and it comes in a pattern. First it will only cause you to desire. To desire something is normal but wrongful desires gives birth to sin.  Second, you dwell on wrongful desires and you begin to delight and enjoy the pleasure it offers.  Third, such desire then will be converted into a decision to act on it and finally, it will destroy you, fulfilling the devil’s intent to drive you away from God and His righteousness.

The things to be aware of to overcome temptation:

  1. Complacency:  Complacency is to be negligent. Sometimes knowing our capabilities makes us forget that we are our brothers’ keepers. Some of the entry points to sin: when one is alone, bored and lonely or hungry, angry and tired, or disappointed, depressed and oppressed.  If and when we indulge ourselves in these entry points, we expose ourselves to temptation.  Because of these perplexing feelings, we often neglect God’s words, prayer, worship, and fellowship eventually making us weak in the spirit and easily fall into the devil’s trap.
  • Conformity: David had a chance to get out of temptation, but he let his eyes linger on Bathsheba.  Eve gave her conformity to the serpent by allowing herself to be enticed with appealing words. Eve then became interested with the serpent’s reasoning which ensnared her and cause her to disobey, and eventually enslaved her. Let us always be careful.  What we need is God’s truth so as not to conform to evil.  When we encounter pleasurable things, ask these questions to yourself:  What is good and what is evil? Is it pleasing or acceptable to God? Am I violating God’s commands or will it violate the right of another? Will it cause others to be hurt or to be grieve? Is it the perfect timing or the perfect situation?
  • Compromise: Compromising is when you are already missing what is God’s best in your life. Sin will always drive you away from God’s best.  We reap the consequences of our sins and we cannot choose the penalties of our disobedience. This time, you can no longer claim that everything is well.  You cannot even dictate what people will tell or think about you.  But God will not allow you to continue to live a sinful life.  Like Saul, if God has to make you blind to stop you, He will. The Father loves you so much that He cannot just pardon you without the appropriate disciplinary action to mature you as sons and daughters of the Most High.
  • Callousness:  David tried to ignore his sin and tried to go on living as though nothing had happened. He became stubborn and hard-headed. But God’s will is not to let sin harden our hearts. He will send the man of God to confront you and bring you back to His Righteousness.
  • Critical: If we continue to live a sinful life, we will later on find ourselves complaining about anything and everything. We will develop a judgmental mind with very high expectations. Sometimes, to criticize is fine but a critical spirit must be examined. We can never find a perfect church because people will always be magnifying the negatives.  Let us learn to appreciate the goodness of God and affirm how He work in our lives making all things work together for our good.

David restored His faith by being:

  1. Willing to undergo sanctification – Sanctification requires you to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit from within.  Are you willing to be cleansed, washed and be pure again?  To keep you on track and focused on learning and doing things necessary to sanctify yourself?
  2. Ready to start again – The hardest moment in a Christian life is when you are no longer happy and bereft of joy in your faith. Be ready to bring back the longing and the fierceness you have before and to renew your mind and regain the fire you once have.
  3. Excited to serve once more – Are you willing to live a life of sacrifice again? To live our lives that is pleasing and blameless before the eyes of our heavenly Father and King? Every second of every day was driven by purpose and filled with purpose that is divine but do you want that?

Conclusion:  Everything depends on the choices you make and the actions you take. You have what it takes to create a better future. You have all of the gifts and talents and qualities of success within you. What you need to go to the next level is a clear action plan to release the divine Restoration that is made available for you.