From time to time, I will reach into the archives of my past writings and pull out a time-specific subject that will help us today.
This teaching is from January 2012, and it had a great affect on my mindset and how I wanted to live for God. I have made very few changes to it to leave it in its original state. With that said, it’s longer than most teachings I have been posting on this site, so grab a seat and settle in for a very thought-provoking example from God’s witness, Joseph.
Your Sin is Against God, Original post-January 2012
I talk with many people, and everyone deals with many different things. One thing is for sure; everyone must work out their salvation with fear and trembling. There is a real devil, and he is at work among God’s people. His works produce the sin in your life that will destroy you; to hurt you so that you never recover. His actions are violent, even if they don’t seem violent sometimes. His ways are deceptive and destructive. What I mean is that his methods are so seducing that you can easily fall into traps made by him that will keep you in captivity, locked up away from the promises of God.
I realize everyone struggles; everyone has things in their heart that they must overcome. Some people are tempted in one way, while others are tempted in a very different way. It can be the same spirit tempting both, yet sometimes it may only be seen by others in its manifestation. While the temptations are very real in each of us, the greater question I have to ask is how do I escape the temptations that work in my heart?
The apostle James taught us that we are drawn away into temptation because of our lust. Lust is our desire, a factor when trying to escape temptation. If you cannot overcome the lust that works in your heart, you will not overcome the temptation that works there as well. Falling into temptation will not be a problem if there is no lust. This is why James also pointed out the warring that takes place in you. Lust is present when a person is at war and not in peace.
That said, dealing with temptation is not easy, but it is not impossible either. Our only hope comes from God and nothing else. I have learned that while things in our hearts are not always easy to deal with, there is a way of escape. The love of the world causes us to continue to fall into temptation through lust; this lust is something we must rise above.
It has become apparent that most people cannot discern the difference between love and lust. When the people of God linger too long around the filthy conversation of the wicked, it’s easy for the soul to get vexed in believing what they see and hear. It’s not long before you are under the influence of wickedness and start calling evil good and good evil. What we are experiencing in our world today results from having no fear of God at all in man’s heart.
Because of this, there is a massive rebellion against God and His righteousness. People love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. There is a love for sin that God wants to deal with in your heart. Do not be surprised as the wickedness of people increases in manifestation among us.
As the true word of God goes forth and discerns the false prophecy that works among Christianity today, devils will be manifested all over the place in the church, including ours. I hope that we are all ready to let God manifest everything in us that is rebellious against the true God and King.
The lust that leads you into temptation must be dealt with in everyone, or it will conceive sin, and sin, when it finishes its work, will bring death in you. That death is a complete separation from God and His kingdom.
So then, what is it that will keep you from falling into temptation? The answer is very simple, yet it is a true revelation of the Spirit and has to be revealed to you through your experience in Him. It is the first and the greatest commandment of all. It is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.
Loving God is the answer to all questions. (And I mean every one of them.) It is the one thing that has to fill your heart above all other things. It is the one thing that will keep you from falling into temptations because of your lust.
It’s interesting how lust causes you to get your thoughts off of God and onto yourself and what you think you deserve. What a deception! What you deserve is damnation because of the sin that works in your hearts. But instead, God has shown His love to you by forgiving you. With His life, He took all our iniquities upon himself and made us free from sin. We are bought with a price, and we owe our lives to Him and Him alone. After salvation, if we think we deserve anything other than a life with him, we are deceived and will continue to lust for worldly things while falling into one temptation after another. It’s a repetitious cycle of death.
One of the greatest sayings in the Bible!
I was thinking about the man Joseph; he was the beloved son of one of the Bible’s greatest patriarchs, Jacob. Joseph was sold off into slavery by his brothers, who were jealous of him because their father loved him so much. Later he would rise to power in Egypt because of God’s divine plan. But the journey for Joseph was not an easy one. Though he was well favored by the Lord and prospered everywhere he went, he had his times of hardships being in many opportunities to fall into temptation. These situations are places where he would be tested in his love for God.
One of the greatest sayings in the Bible came from Joseph. It was at a moment when he had received great favor from Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh; he was the captain of the guard. Potiphar had put Joseph in charge of his entire house, and he kept nothing back from Joseph.
At this moment is where Joseph had everything to lose. He had been faithful when his brothers wanted to kill him. He had endured slavery and still honored God in all things. Through all of that, he had gained so much, and his rise in position was before all. The only thing he was not allowed to touch was Potiphar’s wife. And rightfully so; after all, she belonged to another man, right? But it was still deeper than that. Joseph was about to be proven in his love for God beyond what man’s eyes could see.
And wouldn’t you know it, the one thing that Joseph could not have was the one thing that wanted Joseph. And when his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, she let him know that she wanted to commit adultery with him. But Joseph refused and said to his master’s wife, “my master has committed all that he has into my hand, and there is no one greater in this house than I, and he has not held back anything from me, except you, because you are his wife.”
Those are some big words from Joseph, and while he spoke those words first to her, he merely covered the obvious things. You cannot have another man’s wife; that’s obvious. You don’t need a big revelation from God to know that. But what is so interesting about these comments is that many people can see the obvious and yet still disregard doing what is right. This is where we get to the heart of this teaching.
My point is that many people in this world, including those that call themselves Christians, can see the obvious right choice in front of them, yet still fall into temptations because they have no regard for others or themselves. The times are getting much worse when it comes to respect and morality in this life. People don’t care about other people’s lives or their possessions. It is becoming a brutal self-centered world that we live in. This is because the abomination that makes desolate is working in the hearts of many today.
With Joseph, he had regard for his master and his house. But that wasn’t the answer to why he didn’t give in to the seduction; there was still more to it. It is what Joseph says next that is one of the greatest sayings in the Bible. It’s the one thing that will save you from every temptation you face. It’s what fuels your desire to walk clean before God. It’s in your heart when no one is looking; it’s there when things are good and pleasant and when things are really bad. It’s not partial to situational gratification but always seeks to do the right things in the eyes of God, even when no one is looking.
I’m still talking about your love for God and your fear of him, above everything else, including your desires.
Joseph said to her; how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? (Wow!)
That is one of the most powerful statements in the whole Bible. (How can I sin against God?) Let’s all let these words sink deep into our hearts today.
If we have this perception in our hearts, then in every situation in life, we will do what is right before God. Our manifestation in life will be to please God in all things. This is because our hearts will be after him, and our thoughts will be in truth.
Falling into temptation is easily done when God is not sanctified in your heart. How easy would it have been for Joseph to focus his eyes on the image of the woman that he could see instead of what he couldn’t see?
I say it’s time for the servants of God to stand upon the true conviction of the Spirit, deny impulse and lust, and walk by the faith that pleases God. This life on earth is not about you. It’s about the salvation of God! Whenever we do not fear God and deny His love, we fall farther away from His saving grace and closer to eternal damnation. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Joseph had the right perception of sin. He knew that the sin would be against God. He could also see the wrong it would do to his master, and he pointed that out. But once again, many people can see the obvious, but we also need to fear God. In not fearing God, we accept the consequences of the wrong choice because of situational lust, not realizing the real consequence is before God Himself.
Joseph chose to love, obey, and fear God even when his master wasn’t there to know what he was doing. It is crazy today how people can live two lives by hiding the abominations in their hearts. You may be able to hide your little dark secrets from your spouse or your friends, but you will never hide them from God.
God sees you, and when the day comes, and your sins have been hidden from others, God will be your judge, and there will be no hiding from Him! It’s better to be honest before God and suffer loss now than to hide iniquity in your heart and suffer later in the judgment of God.
What also made this so powerful for Joseph was that he was in a foreign land, separated from his family and his freedom to be his own man. Even with his position and power, he was not free as a man. Yet his heart was faithful toward God, making him a free spirit. Joseph was not afraid to lose his position; he was afraid to sin against God. Sure he was mindful of his master and his house, but his greater responsibility was to God first.
Joseph was not afraid to lose his position; he was afraid to sin against God.
Temptation can be a fierce thing that works against the child of God, but there is no excuse for falling into temptation. Anyone who falls into temptation does so because they follow their lust and justify themselves in it. Especially since God said, He would make a way of escape for us who believe.
I gave one example of how lust can work to sin against God. But there are many works and manifestations of the flesh work by lust.
My final words
I know this has been a long teaching. But if you have decided to read this far, I want to finish by saying this to you. The sins you commit are not what you do in this life. Those things you manifest are the actions of your heart that rebelled against God long before they manifested into this life.
Don’t get me wrong; you can absolutely manifest sinful actions into this life that you live. We see it all the time. It’s just that by the time they find their way into your daily life, it’s because you have not discerned the work of sin in your thoughts. That’s what God wants to help you with. He wants to speak words of truth that will work in your heart and reveal wrong thoughts before they manifest in your life. (Before you put action to them).
Imagine all the suffering you could escape if you could discern sin in your thoughts before you committed sin in your life. Your life would be completely different.
For this to happen, you must fervently love truth and be willing to give everything to be clean before God. This even means you cannot be scared to lose all in front of others. You cannot be afraid of what people think about you. This part is very important because your sin is not against people. Your sin is against God!
Love God with all your heart, and He will save you from the wickedness that works to keep you from God.
God bless you and be faithful to God.