Breaking the Chains: Confronting Personal Sin for True Spiritual Revival
1 Kings 9-10; Romans 7; Psalm 133
I’ve been thinking about the struggle. The real struggle to get free from wrong mindsets, from our brokenness, from the patterned pain of relationships. And this is good. It tends to be where I land most of the time.
But considering the moment we are in, and what God is bringing to light regarding the prayer movement, I feel certain that part of the correction for all of us, maybe me most especially, is to address the real killer: personal sin.
Addressing sin head-on has never been popular. It’s dangerous business. People have lost their heads, been sawn in two, been nailed to crosses for addressing sin.
Maybe we’ve read too many books on leadership and making friends in the marketplace. Maybe we have all bought into the deception—no, let me say it as clearly as I can—the lie that the church is supposed to be profitable, successful, and popular. Soft music and gelled lights, coffee stations, and nothing!
We’re so relevant we’ve lost the plot!
We’re so popular, even Jesus is on the outs.
The Gospel is good news because it addresses our main issue: sin. We aren’t alienated from God because of our past pain. We are alienated from God because we are sinners! We need reconciliation because we have all chosen estrangement.
No one here is innocent. We’re all guilty!
Paul once said, “I’m the chief among sinners!” Well, me too! Many of you know my story, but for those who don’t, when God came for me, I was immersed, through my own choices, in the greatest of darkness. I was a bartender, lost in my sin. I was selling cocaine. I helped people drown their sorrows and forget their pain. I aided people in dulling their senses so that they could continue to abuse their bodies with promiscuous sex and all that goes with that lifestyle.
I came to Jesus a sinner.
I can’t claim bad parents. In fact, I had two of the best!
I can’t claim that I had no knowledge of the Gospel. I had been radically saved in high school.
I chose sin. I chose alienation.
And God still came for me.
He loves us! He loves you!!
Maybe you are a backslider, a prodigal far off today. I know you remember His love. I know you remember His previous kindness to you. That’s part of the torment.
Friend, it’s time to come to your senses.
Today is the day.
I don’t care if you’re a senior pastor, a successful business leader, or a kid selling cocaine out of your bar, the Gospel is good news because it deals with our real issue: personal sin.
You can be trapped in personal besetting sin as a pastor or spiritual leader, just as easily as you can in “the world.” I’ve done it! We’ve all done it.
It’s time to stop the game. If there is anything to be grateful for in the exposure of what is happening in the global prayer movement, it’s this: God is restoring the fear of the Lord.
We’re not going to get away with our sin. We’re not going to get away with preaching reconciliation while we live apart. No more!
And thank God. Thank God!
Because isn’t the point, isn’t the entire point of revival, to live reconciled?! Isn’t this the message?
What is the anointing about? If we can’t discern, and apparently we can’t, I can’t, the difference between the crescendo of a powerful message and the true anointing, then what does that say about the condition of my own heart?
This thing has gutted me. Thank God! I want it to do its work.
I keep asking why I confused the anointing of God with something so clearly dark. I think it’s a question we should all be asking.
The “push delete” model of dealing with personal sin is attractive for many reasons. Namely, it lets us off the hook to do the actual command of Jesus: Repent and confess.
Recently, I was meeting with a young woman, and she was telling me a bit of her testimony. She shared about being trapped in sin as a believer. She was hooked on pornography and had been since she was very young. She hated it. She hated her sin. She knew it was sin. She wanted to get free.
She shared about being at different conferences over the years where pornography was addressed, but the altar call was then always only for men to respond. She felt embarrassed already and didn’t want to be singled out publicly.
Anyway, she was desperate.
One day, in a small group of young women, she felt prompted by the Lord to confess her sin. Her heart started racing. She felt clammy. But she did it!
And you know what happened?
She got free!
She confessed her sin and got free!
Not only did she get free, but some of the other young women in the group confessed to the same besetting sin, and guess what? They got free.
The secrecy behind the “push delete” model of the prayer movement has been exposed for what it is: heresy.
Are you trapped in some besetting sin? Are you in agony because you can’t get free?
Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 7:
24 What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? 25 I give all my thanks to God, for his mighty power has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned with the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God’s righteous principles. (TPT)
Don’t focus on your own perfection. This will only lead you into more darkness. More despair.
You are not the answer to your own freedom. Your strength of resolve to not hate, to not control, to not lust, to not covet, to not detour, is not the answer.
Jesus is the answer. What He has done is the answer.
Romans 7 : 4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, the same principle applies to your relationship with God. For you died to your first husband, the law, by being co-crucified with the body of the Messiah. So you are now free to “marry” another—the one who was raised from the dead so that you may now bear spiritual fruit for God. (TPT)
Yes, look at Jesus, consider Him on the cross. But there’s more. See yourself as being co-crucified with Him there. Experience this death with Him.
As you do, as you fellowship with Him there, taking with Him that final breath, don’t you know, you will also experience with Him the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Dead to sin, alive to God!
Jesus came to save us from the alienation of our sin. He came to reconcile us to God!
The power of sin and the law is not greater than the finished work of the cross. If you are caught in sin, repent and confess. You will be set free. It’s true! This is the good news.
Deepening Faith: Reflective Journal Prompts
- Personal Reflection on Sin and Reconciliation: Reflect on your own journey with personal sin. How have you experienced the tension between acknowledging sin and embracing God’s offer of reconciliation? Write about a time when confessing and repenting brought significant change in your relationship with God.
- Understanding the Cost of Sin: Considering the gravity of sin as discussed in the post, meditate on the cost of Christ’s sacrifice for us. How does recognizing the depth of Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins affect your daily life and decisions?
- The Role of the Anointing vs. Emotional Stirring: Reflect on experiences in your spiritual life where you might have confused emotional stirring for God’s anointing. How can you seek to discern more clearly between emotional responses and the true presence of the Holy Spirit?
- The Fear of the Lord and Personal Sin: The post mentions the restoration of the fear of the Lord within the global prayer movement. How does the fear of the Lord influence your view of personal sin and holiness? Write about how this reverence can lead to deeper repentance and purity in your life.
- Breaking Free from Besetting Sin through Confession: Inspired by the testimony shared in the post, think about a besetting sin you struggle with. How might the act of confession to a trusted community or individual lead to freedom? Consider the steps you can take to bring this into the light and experience God’s liberating power.
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