Letters to Christian: The Grace of God in the Battle for the Future of Your Soul

By Douglas A. Weigent

The most important combat experiences of your life will be spiritual battles for the destiny of your eternal soul. They are between God’s will versus your will, sin versus holiness, and whether you are saved or lost. God’s plan for you to defeat the world, the flesh, and the devil is not by trying harder and making more resolutions or doing good things. God’s plan for you is to behold his presence by learning his truth and discovering his grace. In Letters to Christian, the author turns to your heart and conscience, where decisive spiritual insights take place, to share the glory of God. You will learn the necessity to protect your soul in battle by digging truth out of the scriptures. The letters describe God’s sovereignty, assurance, and the importance of perseverance to help you become victorious in Jesus and to understand your Christian life. You will learn what God thinks about you and how to equip and protect your soul with his armor of truth. The Letters to Christian is not about religion but relationship and will allow you to discover God’s work of grace in your heart, proving Jesus Christ is being formed within you. Amen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973649298

Douglas A. Weigent

Douglas A. Weigent earned a B.A. degree in biology from Western Washington University and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in micrology and immunology from the University of Washington. His postdoctoral work was conducted at the University of Minnesota (Hormel Institute) and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. His faculty work was conducted in the departments of Physiology and Biophysics and Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama. Although he has no formal religious education, he has had a strong personal interest in church life and Bible study for many years. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, Diane, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have one daughter, Rachel, and one grandson, Christian.

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Copyright © 2019 Douglas A. Weigent.

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Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4928-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4927-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4929-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018914895

WestBow Press rev. date: 1/17/2019

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Battle for Your Soul

Hearing the Voice of the Lord

Spiritual Life

Healing of the Disease of Sin

Victory in Jesus

God’s Grace in the Soul

Peace with God

Gift of Assurance

The Sovereignty of God

Be Strong in the Lord

The Loins Girded with Truth

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Feet Shod with the Gospel of Peace

The Shield of Faith

The Helmet of Salvation

The Sword of the Spirit

Prayer in the Spirit

Perseverance of the Saints

The Future

Invitation to Receive Jesus

Selected References for Additional Reading

Acknowledgements

In writing these letters, I have been helped by a handful of Christian authors that have written previously about the Lord. In some cases, they have guided my thoughts and provided hints. They confirm my spiritual journey. Helpful authors include Thomas Brooks, William Gurnall, Watchman Nee, Arthur Pink, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Charles Spurgeon. The most helpful has been The Whole Bible Commentary by Matthew Henry. After some consideration, I decided to omit references. But, of course, some books have been consulted and these are listed in the back as selected references for additional reading. The vast majority of scripture quotations in this book are from The New American Standard Bible (The Open Bible, 1977). A few scripture quotations are from the King James version of the Bible. I have written from my memory, and lessons I have taught in Sunday School and in the jails. I have included thoughts from sermons I heard in various churches I have attended (i.e., University Baptist, Bluff Park Baptist, and Church of the Highlands) over the years. I share my understanding and experience in the Lord over the past 50 years. I gratefully acknowledge the typing of this book by Diane Weigent. I gratefully acknowledge Harold Chaplin for reading the book and offering constructive comments. I believe I have been led by the Lord. To God be the glory. Amen.

Introduction

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith (I Pet. 1:3-5).

Dear Reader,

When I started out to write this book, it was for my 9-year-old grandson whose name is Christian. I was encouraged by his mother to share some thoughts about the Lord Jesus with him in the form of letters, hence the title Letters to Christian. I would add that love for Christian and the call of God to share the lifesaving truth of Jesus with him also compelled me to write these letters. Shortly after I began writing, it became abundantly clear to me that God intended the letters to help both believers (i.e., all Christians) and nonbelievers when they are older and experiencing a time of warfare with sin. The topics are spiritual, serious, and deal with eternal life. The most important battle you will have in life is spiritual, and it is the battle for your eternal soul. It will be between God’s will versus your will, sin versus holiness, heaven versus Hades, and it will be in the mind. I believe the most important letters I can write to you are how to recognize and defend yourself against your adversary, the devil. I want you to know the Truth. I want you to be set free from the penalty and the power of the temptation to sin. I want you to know the love that God has for your soul and the great joy that accompanies being a true Christian. I want you to realize your purpose in life and I want the word of God to nourish you to have Jesus feel at home in your heart. I pray that you will hear from God, discover God’s purpose for your life, and worship God in reading them.

These letters are directed toward your heart and mind and conscience where decisive spiritual activity takes place. God turns to your heart to speak to you about love, faith, hope, sin, purpose, forgiveness, and the future. Having God’s truth in these areas are the only true riches and blessings of life. They are gifts from God and are only found and realized in Jesus. It is not religion I write to you about but a relationship. It is not just duties and performances, orthodox opinions, or joyous affections. It is a union of your soul with Jesus. It is not natural but supernatural. It is Christ formed within you (Gal. 4:19); it is a life hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). It is a life rooted in faith in Jesus. This book to you is meant to be an instrument of knowledge, conviction, encouragement, and praise unto the Lord Jesus. It is a discovery of God’s mercy, patience, grace, and love. It is a warning about sin and that the only way of escape is in Jesus. This book will not save you. Jesus saves. Amen. I think you will find true faith in Jesus by the discovery of the grace of God working in your soul for your salvation and service to God. I pray that He will soften your heart to receive the riches, give you the strength to bear them, and allow you to trade with these treasures into other men’s souls.

I can confidently say that writing this book has been hard work, it has also been a great worship time, and has been daily in my heart for almost five years. In all this time, God drew me along with help, strength, nourishment, and encouragements to continue. Amen. This is a book about being captured and arrested by the heart of God. It is a book about being amazed and awed by the grace of God. It is a book about the armor and weapons God provides to protect your soul for spiritual battle and victory. A main focus has been the great passage in the book of Ephesians on the armor of God (letters #10-18). To me the Christian course has been a warfare. These letters help equip you for spiritual battle, and at the same time allow for the sharing of the major doctrines and themes of the Christian experience. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). To be careful and more complete, this topic required additional letters on God’s grace, spiritual life, and the sovereignty of God among others (letters #1-9, 19). Each letter is different and can stand by itself. At the same time, each letter is an important part of the whole. Therefore, read the whole book. The style I have taken has been talking to you by way of conversation about the Lord. We must learn to put on the Lord Jesus to be saved, survive and serve. God protects the soul. It is a book dedicated to God. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). To God be the glory. Amen.

The Battle for Your Soul

Letter #1

The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly (John 10:10).

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:16-17).

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world…our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:4-5).

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage. I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, be for all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 24).

Dear Christian,

We are living in a time when the Christian religion is being both misunderstood and marginalized in our scientifically enlightened culture. The lack of value for the worship of God and devotion to faith is widespread. We have become a secular people, and it shows up in our thinking and lifestyle. We are in spiritual danger, and it is not showing up in our minds. A lot of people are ignorant, blind and deaf to the word of God. The consequences are that we are lost to God and living in a dangerous world. Our present and eternal lives are in peril. We are at war.

The battles in our soul will be the most important combat experiences of our lives. We can be assaulted physically by thieves, disease, bullies, and wars. We can be assaulted mentally by our passions and the world’s ideas. We can be assaulted spiritually from the challenges to believe and trust in Jesus. We live in a selfish world that is on fire for ourselves; our passions, our hopes, our desires, our flesh, our talents and our way. We do not plead for Jesus and the result is sin and spiritual adultery. We are fond of the world, give it all our attention and have been unfaithful with God. Our souls have become a war zone. The battles are a spiritual war between our sin and God’s unmerited virtue or grace for our life. The outcome of the battles will determine whether we will live with freedom guided by God’s truth or Satan’s lies in bondage. The battles will determine whether we will walk by the Spirit of God or our flesh and the world’s ideas. The battles will result in our enjoying spiritual life by the grace of God or suffering separation from God and spiritual death. The battles will enable us to know whether we are saved or lost and whether our destiny is Heaven or Hades. The God who made us is all grace, and He is on our side, Christian. We need Him. Amen.

The main problem is that we live in a world of sin that separates us from God. The Bible declares that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us have turned to his own way (Isa. 53:6). The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God (Rom. 8:7). Sin is missing a target or taking a wrong road. Sin is disobedience of God’s law. Sin demands justice. Sin brings guilt and requires a payment. Sin is coming short of God’s purpose for our lives. Essentially, sin is selfishness and is directed against God. Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Thy sight (Ps. 51:4). It is a violation of what God’s glory demands. Sin dishonors God and blocks our passage to heaven.

I believe the scriptures teach that sin was found in one of God’s greatest and most powerful created angelic beings (i.e., Lucifer) who desired to be God himself (Ezek. 28:1-19; Isa. 14:12-17). You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you (Ezek. 28:15). Satan may have been the heavenly worship leader before he became the first sinner in our universe. I think Lucifer had free will in his perfect creation and that he exercised it in a wrong direction, even to the point of influencing other angelic beings (Rev. 12:4; 2 Pet. 2:4). They were punished, and all cast out of heaven where they set up a kingdom of evil and darkness. After God created the world and man, the forces of evil determined to destroy it. The devil tempted man, he succumbed, and we have the fall of man (Gen. 3). By this action, man became a slave of the devil and under the power and dominion of Satan, sin, and evil. Instead of being a spiritual man, man became a natural man.

The act of disobedience in the soul of man was sin and denied God the worship and love of which His majesty and grace were properly worthy. The origin of man’s sin was the heart (Matt. 15:19). Man was made to be loved and for fellowship with God, Christian, but after sin he dreaded an encounter with Him (John 3:20; Gen. 3:10). Man’s mind changed, and he experienced fear and shame (Gen. 3:7). God’s attitude toward man changed also. Sin elicited God’s wrath and displeasure and man was cursed and expelled from the presence of God. A holy God cannot deny Himself, Christian, sin had to be punished. The wages of sin were blindness (John 9:41) and death (Rom. 6:23). Sin became an event in the realm of the human spirit, and it resulted in separation from God (i.e., spiritual death). The fall had a similar effect on all the natural descendants of Adam and Eve. Man is not born spiritually alive and has no clue about his lack of depth for a true spiritual experience of Jesus. Sin in fact had repercussions in the whole of creation and broke the earth (Rom. 8:22).

The blame for our great heart error in judgment and conduct because of sin is entirely our own. We are completely responsible for our sin. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (James 1:13-15). There is nothing in the person of God or whatever He does that the blame of man’s sin could ever be charged to Him. Man that is born into the world is called a natural man. A natural man enjoys sin and does not understand the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Men loved the darkness rather than the light (John 3:19). The natural man’s mind, Christian, will blame anything or anyone, except himself, for his sin. Adam blames the women (i.e., Eve) for his making the wrong decision and indirectly God Himself because He gave him the woman to begin with. Even if we blame sin on our situation or our biology we in effect blame God, because He has power over our affairs and personal creation. God does not in any way participate or turn us to sin. God may allow particular trials and/or afflictions into our lives. However, the purpose of God is to draw out, grow, and mature our graces and never grow our corruptions and passions for sin. God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). The evil and temptation and lusts for sin are in our own hearts. Outward causes may promote sin in our lives, but this gives us no excuse. We are enticed to cleave to corrupt inclinations and go away from God. We lust and covet something in or from the world and to be away from God. We are seized upon and compelled (i.e., drawn away) by the deceitful powers of corruption. A great deal of violence (i.e., war) is done in our minds by sin. Sin appears fascinating, exciting, fulfilling, and a good time. Sin grows our desires into consent. Sin gets conceived and then can grow and become more mature. Sin can have a life and gain an imagination, become a habit, and bring forth death as its finished product. The devil wants you to love sin. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He will steal your heart and affections for Jesus and your understanding and trust in the scriptures. He will try to kill and destroy you by persecution and murder. Be careful. Every good and perfect gift is from above. Sin can get forgiveness. Jesus satisfied the justice of God and makes our payment for sin. Man can get forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God. Sin means war and God means peace. Amen.

In our lives, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is from the world (1 John 2:16). The whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). We all have gone astray with our minds, feelings, bias and prejudices following after sin. The evil, danger, disease, bitterness, and burdens of sin are the reality of this world. We are natural men who are stubborn and willfully disobey God’s will to serve our corrupt appetites. The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4). Thus, the power of the devil keeps men in the dark about spiritual things by ignorance and prejudice. The devil keeps us in the dark by distracting and numbing the conscience for God’s truth. It is the purpose of Jesus in the gospel to bring men to the light about spiritual things by revealing God’s grace and mercy for salvation. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Our character initially is as an alien to God in this world of sin, and we need to be rescued. The grace of God wakes us up, takes off the blinders, and brings us to our right senses. The grace of God shows us that the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6). The grace of God shows us, Christian, that the sacrifice of Jesus took away the sins of the world by taking them upon Himself. This gospel is good news and clearly established God’s love for our souls. The Bible says: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12). The revenge against God and the mischief against man that Satan planned was destroyed by the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God chose to love, forgive and save man instead of judging man alone in His wrath, hating him and condemning him to eternal death. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous (Rom. 5:19). Amen. Thus, in the gospel, sin is pardoned, and the sinner accepted as righteous. This is the world of the grace of God. By the blood of Jesus, we are forgiven, saved, and reconciled back to God. Though we live in a world of sin, we are free. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (i.e., sin) (Gal. 5:1). But you have an enemy. The world is a dark place.

There are forces of evil which oppose God’s word and His work in our souls and against His church in this world. The devil puts up a great fight. The devil is a person, not just a force or influence. Though he is bigger, stronger, smarter, and greater than man, he is not divine. He is a created being (Ezek. 28:13). He is the powerful god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). He is a great red dragon (Rev. 12:3). He is our adversary (1 Pet. 5:8) and accuser (Rev. 12:10). The devil makes war against the saints (Rev. 13:7). He is a liar (John 8:44). He has a kingdom (Luke 11:18). In his kingdom, he has principalities, powers, and rulers which may be thought of as servants, emissaries, and followers (i.e., demons) which surround him and do his bidding. They act as agents to try to darken and defeat the light of truth that comes into your mind during spiritual growth (2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:1,2). His plan is to produce confusion, trouble, chaos, and influence our passions for sin that prevent man from knowing God, from obeying God, from worshipping God, and living to the glory of God. The devil loves to have his demons cast doubts into your mind, especially about the work and love of Jesus for your soul, about the veracity of the word of God, and about the fearsome consequences of following Jesus. A believer may be strongly influenced by a demon, but not controlled or possessed by a demon. Demons cannot stop our prayers from getting to Jesus, but they appear to be able to delay an answer (Dan. 10:12,13). Demons are personal beings (Luke 8:27-30). The devil wants you to believe a lie and accept false Bible teaching. He will plant evil thoughts and imaginations about your future, family members and lies in your working relationships. He will fabricate stories in your dreams to make you unhappy and angry against the ones you love. These thoughts will come flying into your mind suddenly and make you upset and angry, discouraged and depressed or even prideful. He will rouse your lusts. He will use these wiles to weaken and captivate you and control and separate you from God and His work and glory.

The devil’s main goal is to destroy the work of God in you; he wants to mar the image of Christ in you. He tries to attack and defeat God through the children that He deeply loves. The devil wants to ruin the body of Christ (i.e., the church). I believe the devil takes a special interest in believers and works very hard to defeat them. The more Christ-like you become, the more aware you will become of the conflict and the sharper the attack. The devil is subtle and deceptive and looks for the best time and way to attack (Gen. 3:1). I think the devil leaves unbelievers mostly to themselves and does not have to pester them to choose self before God. Do not forget you are fighting for your life against a more powerful foe, but remember especially, that you are not alone. The devil can threaten you like a monster or beguile you as a friend. The devil would love to have you join a cult, and certainly is glad when you belong to another so-called great world religion. You must always be on the watch for the devil’s attack, examine yourself, pray and read the scriptures (Luke 18:1; 2 Cor. 13:5). Keep the vision of Jesus before you. Amen.

It is God who has or will deliver you from the power of darkness and will translate you into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13). Forgiveness of sin and deliverance from the power of darkness is only by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8-10). Notice what Jesus said to Saul on the road to Damascus. For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness…to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the domain of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me (Acts 26:16-18). When God opens the eyes of a man, Christian, the man understands himself in the way that God does regarding sin. The man becomes willing to appreciate the gospel in Jesus and receive it into his heart as his greatest interest. God’s grace is mighty; not only will you know the truth, but you will bring your life into conformity to God’s directions from the Holy Spirit (see letter #6). I believe it is in this conformity to God when His love to us becomes more graphic. The mechanism that drives the new creation in you to fight against sin and usher in obedience to God is God’s love. The darkness we escape by God’s love was primarily, I think, a result of our ignorance and thus blindness about God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him (1 Cor. 2:14). We have not and will not and cannot come to our senses about God and salvation in Jesus. We must be born again (John 3:3), and about this experience we are sadly clueless. We know nothing of God and do not seek His righteousness and kingdom and have little from Him added to our lives (Matt. 6:33). We know little about the soul and spirit and even ourselves. We know little about death and what happens after death…i.e., judgment. We know little about and fail to see the unseen evil rulers controlling the world’s affairs. We know little about wrestling in the spiritual realm but rather wrestle against our own flesh and blood. The natural man has a bias against the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). The man born again has a bias for the Spirit of God (Eph. 4:23, Rom. 12:2, John 3:3).

It is a struggle to be separated unto God (i.e., holiness). You will experience fear, shock, sorrow, and helplessness. Thus, you will be in a war about sin with yourself (Rom. 7:21-24). You will experience an attack on your heart and feel your will being influenced, undecided, and/or forced. The good news I have for you is that God knows all about this; He knew it was coming and exactly what you would need to survive this holy war. God’s way is not for you to fight the battles in this war for your eternal soul without Himself involved. He does not want you to fight in the flesh or according to the law. God wants you to engage the enemy with Him at your side, in the Spirit, and with His gifts of grace. Amen. The flesh is not your buddy, and you are not a debtor to it to the extent you must feed it and live upon it. The Bible says, if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live (Rom. 8:13). God’s way for you to succeed in battle and be delivered from the power and attractions of sin is for you to defeat the natural man with a new heart. To do this, you must be born again and become a new man in Jesus (see letters #3, 4, 9). To be saved by God is knowing in your heart that you are sincerely trusting and living upon the love and merits of Jesus for the future welfare of your soul. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17). This part of the battle is not optional. You must live upon the very presence, spiritually speaking, of the risen Jesus Christ. A new man acts from new principles and rules which are realized from Bible study and being with God. This new life crowds out the old ways, thoughts and practices, but I have got to tell you, that the influence of the natural or old man is always formidable. The old man is dead in a believer, but his influence has defiled your soul.

The battle or experience of war in your mind is to control your will. The devil wants you to follow your will from your emotions being gratified through fulfilling the desires of the flesh. The lusts of the flesh might be about money, drugs, sex, fun, work, and/or relationships. The battle is essentially with your moral principles and practice (i.e., ethics). The devil wants your feelings and your performance to drive your thoughts about yourself and not godly principles. It is a wrestling match for which we begin at a distinct disadvantage because we are born dead spiritually, and from which we must be born again (John 3). My prayer is that you will discover the heart of God by grace and not live and serve the baser elements. Most of the time I think people hear themselves (the flesh), the world, and the devil which all together constitute a great racket or noise in the mind that prevents or drowns out the thoughts of godly wisdom. The noise can be deafening such as one might hear at the bottom close to a waterfall. The devil’s voice is demanding, relentless, and selfish. The Bible gives the picture of him crouching like a lion at the door ready to pounce upon its prey (Gen. 4:7) and with a voice like a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). Therefore, be alert and of sober mind. I have found God’s voice to be quieter, clearer, and much more patient to speak. God’s voice makes my mind stand up. It comes with a profound sense attached to it, completely rational and a power and influence with it that is convincing without demanding my decision and behavior (see letter #2). The devil’s voice is strong, more frequent in its demands, fierce, greedy, and cruel and against my better judgment. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). The devil will steal from your mind by lying to you about sin. He will tell you that sin is a pleasure and not inform you of its misery. He will try to fool you about the truth and authority of the scriptures by planting doubts and misunderstandings. He will tell you it was written by men and not God and that the church is only interested in putting your money in its pocket. The devil will steal the truth about God’s love, grace, spiritual battle and judgement and leave you without faith and hope in God’s power, goodness and faithfulness. A mind gets muddled in its thinking when it does not know the love of the Lord. The sinner has dug a pit and hollowed it out and has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head (Ps. 7:15, 16). The devil wants you to try to thrive in this world war with sin whereas God knows your survival can only be with His free grace. The devil wants to steal anything and everything that would influence your heart and mind and affections for Jesus. The idea is to destroy and kill you spiritually and eradicate your ability to love and be loved. We were created by God’s love for love. The result of losing love is absolutely devastating to the purpose and joy of living not only in this life but in the one to come throughout eternity.

Sin in this world is a disease of the soul. It is insidious, terminal and carries with it eternal consequences. The person that sins shall die (Ezek. 18:20). The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment (Heb. 9:27) (see letter #19). Dying is a matter of comfort to a Christian but a real terror to the wicked, who die alone in their sins and face God. Sin disturbs the conscience. Being separated from God by sin can bring into your soul the storm of war. The thought that judgment is coming is unsettling to most people. I think God allows the disturbance, so man may take a serious pause about sin. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light (Luke 8:17). For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden whether it is good or evil (Eccles. 12:14). All men are deceived when they think they are getting away with some sin at some time. Eventually, they learn the guilt, misery, and danger even of secret sins. Your conscience will tell you that all this is true. Sin is too strong, particularly as a secret and must be realized and cast out.

The Bible says in James 4:6-8 that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Submit your understanding to the truths of God that are learned in the study of His word. Accept the lights of His wisdom and righteousness that shine in your soul via the loving kindness of the Holy Spirit. Submit your will to the will of God. Submit yourself Christian; your affections, time, talents, plans, purposes, pleasures, possessions, cares and anxieties. Submit through fear (i.e., awe) and love (He first loved us [1 John 4:19]). He made you. This submission and acceptance of God and resistance of the world and self that you exercise by faith has a power that the devil must flee from. Faith is a shield that the devil’s power cannot penetrate (see letter #14). This is the secret working of God’s grace. Be careful, this is not a work that you can glory in or receive merit. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2). When the heart surrenders to God in sincerity, the work of grace matures. God acts at the right time in the right way to fulfill His great purposes. We find ourselves drawing near to God in Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and obedience. We know God is drawing near to us by the weakening of our desires and passions for sin. Our very hearts and affections are raised up above the trouble. We understand the scriptures more clearly and experience a pleasure in faith about Jesus. We are being delivered from the addictions of sin and at the same time living in gratefulness for the mercy, love, and the holy ways of God. Amen.

The miracle of grace in a believer’s soul is convicting and humbling. Freedom to live comes in and sin falls away in God’s time. This reminds me of the man born blind whose sight Jesus restored (John 9). In an effort to discredit Jesus, his enemies questioned the man that was healed and his parents about how and why this had taken place on the Sabbath which was unlawful. The healed man had no satisfactory answer for the Pharisees. He stated the fact; whereas I was blind, now I see (John 9:25). Gradually, a true Christian grows to see that life is not about themselves but about Him (i.e., Jesus). It is about God’s forgiveness, healing, faithfulness, and finding us and saving our souls. He becomes everything, and we come to know His love. Our relationship becomes more intimate and trusting and not one only experienced in guilt. Our church experience becomes less and less about being reminded of our sins and more and more about worshipping the One (i.e., Jesus) who washed our sins away. The consideration of going to church does not consist of a consultation with flesh and blood, but rather becomes an occasion for joy, worship, and gratitude of our great God and Savior. Amen. Religion is not a duty but a delight.

I guarantee you that the battles against your soul will strike every day, numerous times, and continue until you die. You will always be assaulted spiritually. Sin will never quit trying to overcome and defeat you. Sin will hide God’s purpose from you in this life. You must be serious about this disease. The disease of sin may initially show its presence by trying to build a stronghold and spread (i.e., skirmish) by disturbing and then numbing your conscience. The conscience is the place where God expresses His holiness, thus it reproves of sin and approves of righteousness. It corrects and reprimands us and takes away our peace when we consider following something else besides the glory of God. It can act before, during, and after we have sinned. Before we stumble, it summons us to be watchful, and it will protest immediately if we are making the wrong decision. Please be attentive to the voice of conscience and humble yourself to its leadership according to the word of God. This voice is the grace of God designed to call you away from this world of sin. Your mind will marshal arguments to justify not listening to this voice. This is the experience of war. There is this picture of an angel standing on one shoulder whispering thoughts of godly behavior into your ear. On the other shoulder stands a demon whispering thoughts of selfish and sinful behavior into your ear that he says are more fun. This depiction may seem silly, but you will hear both kinds of thoughts in your mind and experience the pressure to decide. Here you find out just how tough a taskmaster sin is by rationalizing the sin (commission or omission) or arguing for another response or behavior (i.e., disobedience). You will come to know that your conscience in war only bears witness to right and wrong and never argues or reasons. The revelations of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit are sensed by our spirit (i.e., a teaching to a believer) where the knowledge is discerned by the voice of conscience. The soul (mind, emotions, will) because of this spiritual activity becomes informed (see letter #3). God does not participate in a discussion with sinners seated around a table (i.e., on a level playing field) informing and persuading us about His hopes for our lives. No measure of hope or deduction, I believe, gives us the knowledge of God.

I know my efforts against sin failed me and I learned that I needed the Lord. Fight the battle by following Jesus. To follow Jesus is to learn the truth, to be on the narrow path, to be in the love and mercy of God and to know and use your gifts. Out of selfishness, ignorance, and fleshly desires, you will sin against God, yourself and others that leaves a mark in your soul that becomes an awful kind of baggage. We must not enjoy sin or forget sin but rather deal with it by coming to Jesus. The word of God tells us, to Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:28, 29). This does not sound right: how can I take on another yoke and find rest? Sin is burdensome and depressing, makes us sick and worrisome. Sin is painful and dangerous, but by the grace of God, sin can bring us to our senses (Luke 15:17). The burdens of our sin are a heavy yoke to bear. The yoke we bear from Jesus makes our yoke lighter, because it carries the burdens of sin (i.e., guilt) away. Burdens are lifted at Calvary (John Moore). God’s yoke fits us very well and helps us pull in the same direction with Him unto God’s grace and salvation. Amen.

We are made thirsty and reach out for God from our battle wounds against sin by the love of God (Isa. 55:1). I remember being worn out from defeat by sin, disappointed by the lack of progress I had trying to defeat it, feeling helpless yet by God’s grace, I continued to believe in the importance of success over it. At times I was fearful what my life would become unless I escaped the grasp it had over me. I felt dead on the battlefield. I was my own demon. I gave sin a ride in my soul, and now it wanted to drive. For a while I thought there was something I did not know, and that knowledge was the answer to escape sin. I read as much as I could afford about defeating the devil/sin in my life. Looking back, I realize learning was good, but it did not alone quench my thirst. My heart needed to more deeply experience the Lord (see letter #3, 4) and His victory (see letter #5, 6). I needed to be transformed by God and be content in His victory. I needed to have the peace that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13) (see letter #7). I needed God’s mercy and grace. I needed the Lord on my side in the battle against sin. God considers this self-knowledge and struggle as a blessing in this life, because it eventually results in the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11).

The devil was always attacking me with suggestions that undermined my peace, understanding, and appreciation of God’s grace. I was living by the law and learning its way of failure. For whom the Lord loves, He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights (Prov. 3:12). It did not appear to me that I was being strongly corrected and, therefore, God did not love me. It was taking too long to get right with God. The Bible says that If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). The message for me because of sin and disobedience was that I did not love God and God did not love me! Further, the Bible says, that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, he hears him (John 9:31). The message for me, because of my sin, particularly against some of the knowledge I had, was that God did not hear my prayers! I thought that unless I was obedient, I was lost. I was honest about all this with God, I knew I had no excuses to explain my situation. I knew just enough about the Bible to live in torment, but not enough to be free from sin. I was always wounded and being carried back on a litter from the war zone. Then, by grace, God sent me further into His word to more deeply know Jesus and begin to live sincerely with Him and upon Him from my heart (see letter #11). In God’s time, I know that His grace moved out the desire, strength, and passions for sin and substituted freedom. The grace that taught my heart to fear was the grace my fears relieved (Amazing Grace, John Newton, 1779).

The whole experience of sin in the soul (i.e., war) may be difficult to know, understand, and manage, but this mystery is not without purpose. There will be a suffering in the sacrifice of the acknowledgement of the living Christ in your soul. Amen. In your suffering the belief is being born that Jesus is the Christ. God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Remain calm in your heart and trust that He has complete power and perfect holiness. Though He may allow discipline, He is love and mercy and loving kindness, forgiveness, and salvation. This will be in His glory that will shine forever. It is true that believing arms you against sin. You must be serious and diligent in this for it contains your deliverance from sin, your salvation and complete happiness. Better to have God’s plan and God’s things working for good in your life than another plan utilizing your perceptions and worldly opinions feeding off your flesh. My concern is your eternal welfare, your happiness, and that you pay great attention to God during this fierce fight in your soul for God’s glory. I believe you came from Him and will return to give an account of the stewardship of the soul He gave you. Though you work like it is what saves you, it does not! A Christian leans upon Jesus and goes forward in a complete dependence upon the grace of God. The grace of God gives the inclination to work, the expertise for the work and enables the opportunity and performance of the work (Phil. 2:12-13). Thus, God gives the ability and gets all the credit, and we most importantly and truthfully can claim no merit (Isa. 26:12). Remember this, the righteous shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4) in Jesus.

Satan will try to control your heart through sin. He wants you to take care of your sin and feed it like a baby and love it as an idol. Satan wants to establish firmly your identity as a sinner. In this lifestyle, you will prefer another god than the true God and thereby practice idolatry. Be serious and careful; the sin of idolatry is putting something above God in our affections. Idolatry is the expression of unfaithfulness to God and calls for strict judgment (Exod. 20:4-6). Satan wants you to lose control of your life and get stuck in a hopeless addiction. Satan’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). In this life, you will learn of his presence, power, and malevolent designs and the consequences of sin. But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, we can wake up and be rescued and saved by putting Jesus first in our hearts by the grace of God (Prov. 23:26, Matt. 22:37, Eph. 2:8). This is really important; God shows up in the soul against sin (i.e., idolatry) and demonstrates His love for us in Jesus. The Bible says, that the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the Law (1 Cor. 15:56). When we sin, the deed jumps up in our minds and is noticed (both God and the person are witnesses). It is noticed as a sting. Christ by dying has taken out this sting and pardoned and forgiven us when we receive Him into our lives. Christ by dying conquered death, and when we have faith in Him, we share in His victory and are justified before Him (Rom. 3:24), just as if we never sinned (see letter #14). Thanks be to God. The second part of this verse where it says the strength of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56) tells us that the law plays an important part in the strength sin has in our lives. I think that a lot of folks, even though they are believers in Christ, still live by the law. That is, they judge their position and place before God and the peace in their relationship with God by their performance or behavior and not only by trust in His merits alone. They let their mind and emotions dictate what they believe is truth and thereby judge themselves by law. Since they live by the law, they are sick and dying by the law in their spiritual growth. The net result of this in practice is repeated failure, because it is not empowered by God’s truth. The strength of sin is maintained, because they have been deceived to believe and understand their situation by the law (Gal. 3:10). The law is a curse, and it remains. We get out from under the strength of the law by receiving the free grace and love of God made available to us in Jesus (see letter #12). Amen.

Let me give you an example of what comes by believing. Abraham was given a promise by God that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 12:1-3). Though he struggled with this idea because of his age and made a bad mistake with another woman in his house, he eventually believed God. The Bible says that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3). Today, God does not deal with us exactly as He did Abraham, but He does deal with us with the life of Jesus described and explained in His word. When we believe in Jesus, He becomes our righteousness. Amen. When we throw up our hands and surrender and die to self for Jesus’ sake, then we enter into a special relationship. In surrender, we do not lose the war, but we win the war and the spiritual experience follows. Look, it takes years sometimes for people to get out from under the law to be free and realize that what they have or bring to God in support of their acceptance by Him or contribution to salvation is nothing but a filthy garment (Isa. 64:6). We are saved by grace, yet the devil and man’s mind continually attempt to conceive of how man contributes or earns at least a part of it. Our decision to receive Jesus has been orchestrated by God; it is called His righteousness. We do not have a righteousness of our own; we have Him. Amen. We do not choose Him and thereby set God in our debt or by our decision of faith earn credits toward salvation. Faith is a gift (Rom. 5:1-11; Eph. 2:4-10; John 6:29; Rom. 3:1). Justification is of God by grace through faith and not of ourselves and work (2 Thess. 2:13,14). Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2), and we are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation (1 Pet. 1:5). I believe that it is impossible to come to faith or belief in Jesus except the Father grant it (John 6:37). God spiritually moves us to come to Christ (John 6:44). You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16) (see letter #9). I think the basis of the struggle to accept letting God be God lies in our sense of pride. The Bible says that pride goes before destruction (Prov. 16:18) and that God is opposed to the proud (James 4:6). Thus, pride with God is a clear recipe for disaster no matter how well a campaign may be planned or practiced. Man clings tightly and strongly to his own understanding. He thinks his mind is free of bias/prejudice and that he is open and tolerant and is worthy of a discussion or acknowledgement. Admittedly, the possibilities of a man’s contribution sounds like a logical and fair perspective from the human viewpoint, but Christian I believe it is the devil’s great spiritual deception fraught with dangerous eternal consequences. Amen.

The Bible tells us that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). It also tells us that those He foreknew, He predestined, called, justified, and glorified to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29-30). We may know very little about how God foreknows and predestined an individual, but we certainly experience His call in our conscience (Rev. 3:20) about getting right with God in Jesus (i.e., justification). The word also tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 that all that are chosen for salvation are chosen through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. The road to Jesus and with Jesus is not separated from holiness. God tells us that the way into His heart is through His Son (John 14:6). We are encouraged to enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it (Matt. 7:13-14). The broad way is one in which you do what you want, when you want, to whomever you want according to your heart’s desire. You serve your flesh. Conversion to God through faith and sincere, serious godliness by being born again (John 3:3) is the small, narrow gate that has fewer people on it that leads to life. There must be a new heart; you must become as a little child and put off the old man of sin. Self must be denied, daily temptations resisted, and duties performed. Conversion to God is hard work, but it is not impossible if we strive (Luke 13:24). This is not a work of striving for salvation, but rather a working out of your salvation with fear (respect and humility) and trembling (healthy fear of offending God); for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). Thus, be diligent and use great care as you continue, always dependent upon the grace of God (see letter #18). Your commitment with Him is the prerequisite for present and eternal joy, blessing, and usefulness.

Every true believer in Jesus wrestles with his sin; the battle can be quite fierce and difficult, but we must carry on. Do not be careless or lazy and you will walk and not stumble. Be constant in your prayers. Your hope and love of God will open a deep place in your soul releasing desire and pleasure from being alone with the Lord in prayer. Prayer can be a place where we are convicted of our sincerity for Jesus and learn God’s truth and mercy. Prayer is where we experience His strength against our sin and His comfort after we sin (see Letter #17). Amen. God knows your battle and knows you need Him and that your success lies in His Spirit not your flesh and by His grace and not law. God wants to conquer the sin in your life now and remove you from its presence forever. In the future, you and I will stand in the presence of God and experience judgment. A time when every eye will see Him, every knee will bow before Him and every tongue acknowledge His glory, grace and greatness (Phil. 2:10,11). Like the lawyer stands by a criminal in a courtroom, imagine Jesus standing by you at judgment. We are presented as being faultless in Him bearing His righteousness. You are standing with your hope in Him and you will know it for eternity and rejoice in His holiness. By this I mean you are standing on His promises, His word, and His character, a God who cannot lie (Heb. 6:18). A God who knows how to fight and never has or will lose a battle. A holy God. Amen.

God’s grace keeps us from falling into sin in this world and makes it possible for us to stand before the presence of God’s glory, faultless and with exceeding joy (Jude 24). I want you to never forget that in spiritual war, you need God. You need God to fulfill your life’s purpose for which He chose you (Rom 8:28-30). You need God to keep you faithful to Himself. You need God to keep you in the truth and from accepting errors of doctrine or bias. You need God to spare you from false judgment and the lies of prejudice, racism, sexism, and cultural bias. You need God to prevent you from dabbling with and falling into sin. You need God to keep you from neglecting His word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers and worship in services. You need God in all circumstances, especially over your own heart. The list is long, the danger is real, and our need is great. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever (Ps. 121:3,7,8). In today’s vernacular, God has His eye on you 24/7 to secure your interest for eternal life from this world war between sin and grace.

The methods that God may use drawing you to Himself in battle are decisions from His wisdom and not necessarily the methods you would have chosen for your life. Although we might prefer a quick little teaching of the truth to keep us from stumbling, sometimes God may allow something more difficult for us that we might more deeply understand, accept and appreciate about the cost of freedom from sin (i.e., Jesus). For example, getting us off the streets by going to jail can turn out to save our lives; being slowed or blocked in traffic turns out to avoid a traffic accident; having some kind of physical blemish that without it you may have developed an alarming vanity; and/or earning less money which keeps you from the root of a lot of evil. Some of these more difficult occasions are allowed by God to turn us to Himself, and we also can learn something about sin in ourselves. In this way, tribulation can work for salvation. The fact of the matter is that some knowledge is not gained by hearing from your parents or smart people or reading great books, even the Bible, but by experiences. You will find that sin may be fun, but it is not worth it and that something that disturbs the place of sin in our lives may not be particularly enjoyable, but it may be profitable. In God’s wisdom over us, He knows when and what we need in the heat of battle to mature (1 Pet. 1:6). Even David in the Psalms wrote that it was good for me that I have been afflicted (Ps. 119:71). Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10). God makes us fit by His mercy to fight and survive in spiritual battle for His praise and glory (see letter #18). Amen.

The word of God says "Trust in the Lord with all