Category: Interior Life

sorrow for sin cry

Sorrow For Sin Produces Growth

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If we choose to have sorrow for sin when we sin we can continue to grow spiritually. Perhaps you realized you gave yourself false freedom, and you followed your destructive passions instead of a disciplined heart. Make it a practice to ask God for a holy heart, and for sorrow for sin. After Paul corrected the Corinthians he wrote: “Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal.” I Cor. 7:11 (NLT). Don’t descend into self-rejection; look to God’s open arms and enter them with sorrow. In the future, be careful not to take unholiness too lightly. Do not laugh when you should mourn. Remember the words of James: “your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow for sin Continue Reading →

solitude prayer

More Benefits Of Solitude

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At first, solitude may feel monotonous or like a heavy burden. If you patiently practice it, in time you will know the benefits of solitude; it will be close friend. Then your soul has developed an important spiritual affection. If we don’t persevere in solitude until it becomes natural for us then it will always feel like an unpleasant task. One of the important benefits of solitude is that we learn to take our sins seriously and view them as God does. If we tend to overlook our sins, solitude gives us time to feel the proper remorse. Every sin is a sin against a relationship. Should God grant us spiritual sweetness if we are not remorseful about our sins? In solitude we remember that the distractions of the world will all turn to dust. In solitude we have time to fully absorb God’s word. Solitude and the word equip Continue Reading →

exercise

How To Gain More Willpower For God

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Do you find that you lack willpower to make the godly choices you want to make? Do you find yourself repeating the same fault over and over? If you want more willpower perhaps it needs some exercise. When God gave us a new birth this included a new will because it was created in God’s image. Ephesians 4:24 says, “Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (ESV). So, just as our new mind and new affections should grow spiritually stronger so too should our new will. We should have more willpower to do good. Every part of us should grow more Christlike. If we sharpen our resolve to overcome the Enemy and to control our destructive desires, then we will soon find victory over temptations to our flesh. In this battle it is helpful to avoid wasteful activities and instead make Continue Reading →

patience patient

Be Patient With Others

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We should be patient with the faults of others as well as our own faults. If we want to learn to be patient with others, we can pray that God will give us strength to be patient and kind. We can remind ourselves that others have to bear with our faults. We can remember that we usually cannot correct our own faults without great effort; why should we be impatient with the habitual faults of others? Besides, human faults are an opportunity for us to allow our character to be refined, especially learning to be patient with others. If it is our place to say something about someone’s fault, and we have mentioned it more than once then we should not nag someone so that we get into a dispute over it. We can just fulfill our proper role without becoming angry or aggressive. We should not take the situation Continue Reading →

temptation

How To Resist Temptation – Part 2

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This is the second of two posts on how to resist temptation; the first one can be found here. All temptations stem from our unstable passions and from lack of trust in God. When we do not stick to our convictions we are like a ship without a rudder tossed around by a storm. Instead, temptations should refine us like a fire refines gold. Temptations should be resisted as soon as they knock on our door. We must not let them into the home of our heart, but rather go outside door and prevent them from entering at all. This is the first key to resist temptation. Once they enter they start to grow. A poet has said: In the beginning You might have won It’s past your skill now No more can be done Temptation progresses from a suggestion and moves into our imagination. Then we have thoughts of its Continue Reading →