This morning was "Worship Wednesday" at the office. Whenever it's my turn to lead I usually bring my guitar and play a couple tunes -- one of which this morning was Always, written by Kristian Stanfill and Jason Ingram. I love this song. It's biblical. It's powerful. It's singable. I think any great worship song has to have these 3 elements. In preparing for the morning of prayer, I found myself humming the line "My foes are many..." thinking... Do I really have any "foes?" It doesn't seem like I do, on the surface. But looking deeper, I see a battle within my own heart that I sometimes think doesn't exist. A battle against apathy, jealousy, selfishness and many other things that could generally be categorized under one issue: sin. Ahh yes. I do have a foe, one that I often tire of fighting. It can be tempting to think that we as followers of Christ shouldn't need to fight sin as much as we did before. That once we have access to the Holy Spirit, we won't have this daily battle between what we want to do, and what we actually do (Romans 7, anyone??) For much of the fall, I've been contemplating holiness and the battle against sin in my life. At times I feel guilty that I've not "progressed" more in my faith. It seems like the same obstacles keep coming back again and again. A big one is my desire for others to approve of me, because I place my worth in what others think of me instead of what God thinks of me. How many times will I need to learn this lesson!? In his book Holiness, JC Ryle is careful to clarify that sanctification does not prevent a man from having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict: "A deep sense of the struggle (within the heart between the old nature and the new), and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified...a true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within." I think this was highlighted this fall by my realizing it's been 10 years since committing my life to Christ. I found myself thinking ...Really, Lord? Is this all the farther I've come? But the truth, this side of heaven, we will always have a battle before us. We have a foe. And whether or not we feel like we are overcoming it, the mere awareness that the battle is real is half the battle itself. How much worse off we are when we are complacent! "I shall never hesitate to tell people that inward conflict is no proof that a man is not holy, and that they must not think they are not sanctified because they do not feel entirely free from struggle." - JC Ryle, "Holiness"
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Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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