The Drowning Voices of Sin Sound Like…

Written By @3130beloved
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…just a little more…

…I’m just looking + just one time + just one episode + only one small lie + just a click on this one website + only one drink, etc”. My pastor preached how sin enslaves us by being DECEPTIVE. Sin takes something in our flesh that is already destructive to us and plays with our mind by making it appealing. Sin tricks us into believing we can’t live without it, and blinds us of the consequences of it. Our flesh reminds us that sin is a condition we have that makes us want things that we know are bad and unhealthy for us. In Galatians 5, God says, “…works of the flesh are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and Things Like These." For me, I see sorcery and cross myself off the list l thinking, “At least I haven’t done that”.

BUT!!

Sorcery IS REAL. It’s explicit in Los Angeles with psychics + cults + gossip + slander + jealousy + & “things like these” Acts of sexuality show we’re being driven by the innate need for security and intimacy outside of God’s boundaries, which he gives us bc he LOVES us and to protect us. His design for intimacy and sex was to be shared in a safe place secure under a covenant. Restful and relaxing knowing that this person chooses you and chooses to LOVE you every day for the rest of their life even when they may not FEEL like it. Drunkenness means you’re under the influence of something other than the spirit and the way you live your life. It doesn’t matter what the substance is- pain killers + wine + weed + drugs + and things like these, you are BLOCKING God’s love in drunkenness. Gratifying sin only opens the door for the enemy to grasp a stronghold on us using that sin against us. Scripture does not say stop doing bad things & start doing good things. It says, “WALK BY THE SPIRIT.” Only the Holy Spirit changes us from within for our hearts are the WELLSPRINGS of life. They either produce Fruit of the Spirit - OR - Works the Flesh. The gospel either takes root in our hearts for the spirit to bear fruit in our lives OR SIN reigns in our hearts and the flesh produces brokenness. They are both CLEAR reflections of exactly what we love. Too often we end up working so hard on fixing our behavior or, but get confused when we’re still a mess inside, am I right? What I’ve come to learn is that what happens externally is also result of what’s truly going on internally.

But take heart, where we have need, He has abundance. Where we fail, He succeeds. Where we are weak, He is strong. We belong to Jesus and we get to find courage when we’re discouraged. We entrust and surrender all to him because all he has is ours. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than any person or institution or anything you could ever imagine in this world and by faith, he dwells with us. In Christ, the same spirit of God dwells within US! The flesh is present, but it’s lost it’s power. Sin is still present but the power it has over our lives is destroyed! We often want God to use his power and change the situation when actually he wants to use the power to change within us. 

We walk TOGETHER.

@3130beloved

I’ve always hated these, “Bio” or “About me” sections— so awkward.

But… after living 25 years lost in my agnostic world chasing my own fame, glory, comfort and will I was brought to my end. After the death of my mom, ending the most manipulative & emotionally abusive relationship, a lifestyle of drug addiction, 2 abortions, and finding myself empty while standing in the middle of what the world says is “bliss”… I reached the end of myself and the beginning of seeing Jesus’ light beaming down on me.

I met His Holy Spirit for the first time at a Halloween rave called, “Day of the Dead.” To this day, I still think this is one of the darkest places to be on our planet. I raved and popped pills to numb my pain, to avoid my fears and to suppress my sadness. I was in the middle of bobbing my head and raising my arms to the electro house music blasting in my ears when images of skeletons came on the TV monitors and the weak spirit within me has a knee-jerk reaction to put my arms down. “Whoa! I don’t worship that!”, I thought. “Wait, what do I know about worship?” Now looking back, there God was! The beginning of my site for Him.

A year later, I followed my brother (his good looking friend) to church (@realityLA). I don’t remember the sermon but I heard God for the first time when worship began singing, “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me.”

I LOST my mind.

It was an overwhelming & LAVISHINGGG upon me of, "Hi precious girl. I see you. I know you. I’ve been here. I know your pain. I know your loss. I know you are lost. I know you’re angry, specifically with me because you lost your mom and you think your life is unredeemable but my beloved, I’ve been coming after you because you are mine.” I cried the hardest I’d ever cried in my life because my entire being just knew… This. Is. God. This. Is. The. Master. Of. The. Universe— and He wants me? Broken, selfish, ugly me?

I soon followed this good looking friend of my brothers to a community group. There is where I met the love of God through His people as they accepted me, fed me, welcomed me, and took me in as family despite my lifestyle that rebelled against everything they believed. One year later, I said, “Fine. I’ll follow until you fail just like everything else has.” Well… He hasn’t failed nor broken any promise yet. ;) My choice to accept Jesus as my Lord, savior and new identity has brought me more freedom than I could have ever fathomed. I didn’t know what I was living for or aiming at but God truly lit up every shadow, broke down every wall, shattered every lie and came after me.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

As the world kicks and screams trying to shout their way to justice, peace and unity on their own terms right now, may the roots of our identity in Christ grow deeper each day together as one body; as one family.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.”

https://3130beloved.com
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