“Neither give place to the devil.”

Ephesians 4:27 — King James Version

by Ken Pullen

ACP

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

Neither give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:27 — King James Version

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Galatians 5:13 — King James Version

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 — King James Version

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

1 Corinthians 11:31 — King James Version

 
 
I am the last person to instruct another person on how to live. I fall short of the mark, I sin, each day in this fleshly body. I do not desire to sin, yet I do. I live on this earth in its present realm, I am flesh and spirit, and while still flesh I sin — it is inevitable no matter what someone might think or say. We all sin — which is to fall short of God’s righteousness. Fall short of God’s RIGHT-NESS.

Some might then say, “How can you have this website and all you say here? Are you not telling others how to live when you aren’t perfect yourself!?”

There is no perfection of flesh or anything on this earth — we are only perfected in spirit when we believe upon Yeshua, Jesus the Lord and Saviour and Messiah and strive to live each blessing of time we are given according to His will, His word, to please Him and to serve Him and to obey Him and make Him Lord of our lives.

And I know, I for one, am unable to do that 24 hours a day 7 days a week on this earth.

My spirit my be perfected in His grace and mercy, in His salvation through His shed blood and resurrection — but I still am part flesh, still in this realm in this present world and all it is. Although I don’t partake of the world’s view, its beliefs, its rituals, its practices, and most of its habits and behaviors — I still sin.

I strive to be an instrument of God’s service always turning to His inerrant word as the guide, the course, the way — not my way, not my words, but God’s way, will, words of instruction for living a life right in His sight.

To sin is to miss the mark. Fall short of achieving God’s righteousness.

And to be honest, as a true believer must, I miss the mark, I sin many times in every single day I am blessed with by God our Father here on this earth.

But I do not beat myself up about this. We as true believers cannot — for I am of the mind that to become distracted and obsessed about a sin we may have committed is the handiwork of the devil attempting to get in us and work us and have us serve him rather than the Lord.

Our heart, our mind, our spirit informs us when we fall or fail. Our heart instructs us as to who we are really serving. We must judge ourselves objectively, honestly, as only we ought as true professed believers of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God!

We know right from wrong.

There are no gray areas. No gray zones. It is always clear. It is always either right or wrong and no variance no matter the time, the age.

When we fall short — when we know in our conscience that we have not been diligent enough, we may become a bit — or a lot lazy when it comes to our prayer life, our reading and meditating upon the word of God — in serving the Lord and going to His word for our daily instruction and spiritual nourishment — we need to acknowledge these matters, ask the Lord to forgive us, tell God where we have erred even though He knows more about us than we know about ourselves [trust me, you have no clue how many hairs are upon your head among myriad other parts, aspects, things God knows about each of us we do not even know ourselves — His thoughts are not our thoughts] and ask forgiveness.

Repent — truly repent — which means DO NOT CONTINUE TO REPEAT THE BEHAVIOR OR ACT and to LEARN FROM WHAT HAPPENED.

Grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Grow and mature as a true believer and disciple of the Lord’s.

Grow!

Learn!

Discern!

Move forward on the path towards God and Jesus on the right hand of God at God’s throne! Boldly approach the throne of God!

Move forward not backwards. Do not backslide. Do not remain stagnant and become lukewarm and flaccid and impotent. Move forward! One step at a time! But move forward!

Mature. Grow. Stop making excuses. Our hearts convict us even if one should vainly attempt to lie to themselves!

We all sin in this flesh — do not sin greatly. Do not sin repeatedly. Do not sin so much you lose your way and enter into darkness.

Repent and ask the Lord’s forgiveness and then get up, stand up, act like a knowing person, act like an adult and stoop acting like an excuse laden spoiled child and move closer to God and away from this world and all its sin and evil and abominations.

Do not give the devil any place within your heart, your mind, your spirit — your ways, your life.

Do not give the devil his place in your life.

It is your life — you choose whom you serve and whom you allow to take place in your life.

Do not allow the devil his —

but give God and Jesus the Lord all of Theirs in your life!

Always in all ways.