Living Hope Fellowship Church

FEELING GUILTY

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

FEELING GUILTY

AND

HOW TO OVERCOME IT

Preface

(overcoming condemnation)

          Romans 7:18 says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”  Verse 24 says, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

          The way to get victory over the flesh is to pray in the Spirit, and it will crucify your old nature.  Pretty soon you won’t be double-minded, and you will go on with God.  You won’t be wretched anymore!  Condemnation will leave, and you will have confidence toward God.  When you pray, your faith will be ready, and God will reward that!”

This sermon, Feeling Guilty and How to Overcome it,  was preached December 9, 1998.  It has been transcribed and edited for publication purposes.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

                                                                  FEELING GUILTY

AND

HOW TO OVERCOME IT

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

IN MY FLESH

          The Bible says in Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

          Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:11, “. . . in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”  First he was the chiefest of sinners (see 1 Timothy 1:15), and then he was up with the chiefest of the apostles.  How did God take the chiefest of sinners and turn him into the chiefest of Apostles?  You will find out in Romans Chapter seven.

          Romans 7:18-20 says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:  for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”  If we know that in our flesh is no good thing, why are we serving it all the time?

          Romans 7:21-24 says, “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:” [The new man in Christ, in other words] “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”  [In other words, I start out to do right, and before it’s over with, I’m doing just about opposite of what I aimed to do.] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

          Paul is not talking about physical death.  He’s talking about a sepulcher of death.  We are somewhat alive, but we are walking around in a bunch of coffins!  Daniel in the lion’s den is a type of it.  He was cast down there with a bunch of lions.  Liken that to a bunch of pulls, and tugs, and jerkings.  Only God could deliver him, and He did.  He can deliver us today. 

          Paul was the chiefest of sinners, but God began to deal with him on the Damascus road.  Jesus struck him to the ground, and blinded him, and Paul began to realize what a wretched man he was.  As Paul sought for the law of the Lord to be done in his life, he found out he had more and more trouble.  Every time he tried to do something, he did almost the opposite of what he aimed to do.  However, we see the progress of Paul from being the chiefest of sinners to being the chiefest of apostles!

          You may have said, Oh, I’m going to go on deeper for God! and next week you are more carnal than you were last week!  Paul said in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  Wretched means “unable to attain that which is desired.”  Paul could see his own condition.  This is the condition of the true church of God now!

YOU MUST OVERCOME

          You ought to look at the list of things that God has promised to them that overcome!  In Philippians 3:14 Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

          Jesus did not sin.  He makes us new creatures so we can cease from sin.  If you can stand in the place that 1 John 3:9 talks about, you won’t want to, and you cannot sin:  “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”  You can get to the place where sin is not able to operate in you.  Jesus said in John 14:30, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”

          God wants that for every believer, because He commanded in Ephesians 4:27, “Neither give place to the devil.”  Then the day can come when the devil has no place in you, and you will cease from sin.  However, before you get to that place you are going to suffer in the flesh!  I Peter 4:1-2 says, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 

          Peter knew about suffering in the flesh.  Paul knew about suffering in the carnal flesh and mind, because it’s not getting what it wants.  He wasn’t talking about the beatings, shipwrecks, and all those things that happened to him, because those were basically persecutions.            Romans 8:7 says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

          You are going to have to transform your mind.  You can’t do it on your own; you have to yield over to God and let him turn you inside out.  God gave us the ability to discern between good and evil, right and wrong.  Sometimes you might think that you are fighting against wrong, when actually you are fighting against right.  How do we know the difference?  God had given us the truth, and He is the final authority to tell us what is right and wrong.  We can choose blessing or cursing.  We can cease from sin, and go on with God! 

          The devil will try to get at you, but you will find that you have strength against him when God intervenes in your life, to bruise his head, and later to bruise him under your feet (see Genesis 3:15 & Romans 16:20).  However, you have to know what is wrong.  Then you have the power of choice, and along comes lust.  Then comes all manner of evil concupiscence (lustful things).  That’s when people say, Well, I know I need to do good, but doing bad feels so good.  That’s why many people choose the good, but they do the evil.  That is what Paul was talking about.

          Hebrews 11:25 tells us that Moses made a choice.  “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”  

          It is like this:  I’m going to bless my enemies, but before I get done I’m ready to beat them in the dirt.  We are supposed to pray for them that despitefully use us, and persecute us.  However, sometimes that’s hard to do.  We know to do right, but we do it not.  James 4:17 says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” 

LOST SOMETHING

          We lost something in the garden of Eden.  It was more than free meals and no worry about clothes.  When man fell we lost our fellowship, and communion, and even visibility with God.  When we lost those things God put enmity between the devil and man.  Even wicked men can resist the devil on some points.  All people are capable of every sin, but most do not ever commit murder, or burglary, or blow up a building with people in it.  They have the ability to resist the devil on some points, but they are not born again.  The Bible says in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  God wrote down His law, and told us to follow it.  It will not only tell you what is wrong, but it will tell you what is right. 

          Look in Romans 7:8-9:  “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” 

          I was without the law once.  The age of accountability is one factor of that.  The other is that before man ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he wasn’t to be blamed.  Man came under condemnation when he sinned.  John 3:18-19 says, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

          The scripture said sin revived.  Have you ever told somebody to do something, and he did the very opposite?  Have you ever told somebody that he can’t do something, and then watch them go do exactly what you told them not to do?  It is like someone telling you, “Don’t do that.”  “You can’t get by with that.”  Pretty soon that’s the one thing that you want more than anything.  There is something about us that wants to fight God.  The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee. . . .”

          That is how we sin, and fail, and come short of the glory of God.  I’m talking to sinners, but mostly to Christians.  We know to do good, and thank God for the Word of God, but to obey the thing!  Paul said in Romans 7:10, “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.” The commandment was supposed to give us life.  It was supposed to give us the blessings of God, the keeping power of God, and the anointing of God in our lives.  The very commandment that would give life, Paul said he found to be unto death.  Yet, if we obey God’s commandments, then God’s blessings will come upon us! 

LORD, SANCTIFY ME

          We tell the Lord, Oh Lord, sanctify me.  He gives you an unction from heaven, and begins to show you scriptures, and you know He’s talking to you.  Then you start praying, Oh God, not that; anything but that.  I want to be sanctified, but don’t take that away.  It is the very thing about which you said, Oh Lord, whatever it takes, set me free.  Lord, I’ll follow you unto death.  Peter said it.  Jesus looked at him and told him that three times he’d deny Him before the cock crowed twice that night.  When he did it, he turned from the presence of the Lord, went away, and wept bitterly.  Satan had a hold of him, but Jesus said in Luke 22:31-32, “. . . Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” 

          When we press on with God, we’re sifted like wheat, and our true motivation comes out.  Why do we serve the Lord?  Why do we seek to be deeper in God?  Is it because we want to be smarter in the Word?  What is our true calling and desire?  Is it because we want to see people saved, healed, delivered, and set free?  Is it because we want revival in the land in this last hour, and because we desperately need it?  What is the thing in our heart that we really want God for?  As you press in, and on with God these things are revealed to you. 

          One of the things that we lost in the garden of Eden after the fall of man was the presence of God about us.  Man started to make his own way.  Later on, we see where Cain made his own religion.  This is the regression of humanity in a lost state.  The Bible says in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  We lost the presence of God, being able to talk to him and walk with him in the garden in the cool of the day. 

          We lost all of that, but Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law, and to get us back in right standing with God.  We can stand before God without sin again!  Not only that, we can heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils!  This is what God has called us to do, but we have a time getting there. 

          Have you read about the exceeding great, precious, and wonderful promises of God in the Word, and say, Oh, that is mine!  I’m going to have that!  Right then you start striving in your heart to go on with God.  You start making up vows in your head and say, Lord, I’m going to fast about this.  In the coming days I’m going to read about this more.  How long does that zeal last?

          God cast the first man and woman out of the garden, but he didn’t cast them out of the earth.  We still have an opportunity.  We have a Savior who has come, and his name is Jesus.  He sent forth the Holy Ghost to bring forth the power of God in our lives, if we will believe God for it.

          The very commandment that is ordained to life, is the very thing that God tells you in the Word, and by his Spirit, that kills you.  The very thing that God wants, in order for me to be like Jesus, is the very thing, sometimes, I hate.  The Bible says in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” 

          In the garden of Eden we lost our liberty and sanctification.  Many men are like beasts now because of the devil possession in their lives.  God says we can get back what we lost, but we have to get it His way.  John 14:6 says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  As Christians press in, God shows us how to be more like Jesus, and how to do the works of Christ.  This is what it’s going to take to bring real revival. 

          It’s no fun being like Jesus, when it comes to carnal thinking.  However, my spirit just soars at the thought of knowing and believing God’s Word that I can do the works of Christ.  Jesus said in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” 

          We should be shouting hallelujah.  However, there are some things that we are going to be crucified to, if we are going to follow Christ.

FAITH 

          Acts 26:18 says, “. . . them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”  If you are going to be sanctified, you are going to have to quit your doubt.  In the garden of Eden faith was not necessary.  Everything was provided, and it was right in front of them.  Righteousness was their clothing; they were not ashamed, and it was plenty enough for them.  There was no faith needed in the garden of Eden before they sinned.  They knew God, they saw God, and it was a paradise.

          Adam didn’t have to believe Him for anything, because it was already there.  Men have to believe God for something now, because something was taken away.  They couldn’t get it back by the natural; they had to believe God to bring it back by His power as they yielded to him. 

          Remember, faith is a gift of God.  That’s why people can’t get saved just any time they mentally know that it’s time to come to the Lord.  Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  God gave every man the measure of faith so he can believe when God calls him, and can receive Him as Savior and Lord. 

          Jesus said in John 17:15, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”  God wants to keep you from the evil. 

          Paul said in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. . . .”  Yet there is something good dwelling in a Christian.  It is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory! 

          There’s a hope, a blessing, and a glory waiting on whosoever will. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  Paul said he had wrestled with this thing and realized the further he went in God, the less of God he had.  He began to realize the degradation of man, and how far we have fallen short of the glory of God. 

          We are one of our biggest enemies.  I have said this many times.  The devil can lie to you, and you can choose to believe and obey it, but there is no way that the devil can make a real Christian do anything.  It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 

          Jesus said in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”  You can willfully choose not to read your Bible, or fast, pray, and seek God.  Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” However, if you let your mind stray into the things of the world, then your mind is not stayed on God, and your peace and joy are going to start slipping away.  Consequently, your strength is going to slip away.  You will start getting sick, down, worldly, indifferent, and agnostic.  That venom can go into a Christian just as fast as anybody else, if they reject the council of God.

          Folks, I don’t want to reject the council of God, yet to obey God is a trial.  I am convinced and believe, according to the Word of God, that the deeper in God I go, the more ammunition, armor, and girding up in the Lord I have to have to fight those bigger battles. 

          Kids now are killing kids and adults.  I remember one young man who went to visit his brothers in the military, and took them a great big lunch.  When he got there a giant was defying the whole army.  This young man said in 1 Samuel 17:26, “. . . who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  This little boy, instead of pulling out a pistol and shooting all his classmates, pulled out a sling, and dropped the devil in his tracks.  That is the kind of youth that God is looking for!  That’s the kind of people God is looking for: someone who will defy the devil and say, This far and no further; I’m taking back what you have stolen from me!” 

          God made a way, after we lost our place with God in the beginning, for us to get a hold of God again.  That way is through faith, and it is for all generations to follow.  Listed in the hall of faith in Hebrews, Chapter 11, are people who did mighty things through faith such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, and others.  By faith today, you and I can do the same things.

GUILTY 

          In Leviticus we find that you can be guilty and not know it.  Leviticus 5:2 says, “. . . and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.”  He’s guilty, but he doesn’t know it.  The law came in and let him know about it. Leviticus 5:3-4 says, “. . . whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.”  [When he knows about it he starts feeling guilty.] “Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.”

          You can be guilty knowledgeably, and you can be guilty in ignorance.  Thank God for making a provision to set us free from the things we don’t know we’ve done wrong, as well as the things we do know.  As you press on for God He will show you things that still exist in you (hid from you, yet you are guilty of them) that have been stopping the miracle working power of God in your life.  Every one of us would have to confess that there is something that is keeping us from the power of God like it should be, or else we would be doing what the first church did! 

          When you press on with God, He shines a light on your path and shows you things.  You will see your pet sins.  You didn’t think that there was too much to some of them, but when you shine the light of God’s holiness, you will find how big a hindrance and a stumbling block they are to furthering the ministry of the Lord.

          Isaiah 43:12 says, “I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.”  We are proof that He is God.  He can prove Himself through His people.  However, people are too worldly, too carnal, and too bound up in the things of the natural, and even of the devil in some cases, to be able to prove God to other people around them. 

          Every time I press on with God I start getting more discouraged.  How many can say that with an honest heart? James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. . . .”  Jesus is the light, and as he draws nigh to you, the light is shined upon your ways.  He begins to show you what is in you.  David said in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

          There is a wicked way.  Whenever you find out about a sin you’ve done, you are guilty.  You feel that condemnation, and then you can’t have confidence toward God.  We have confidence toward God, simply because we’ve done those things that are pleasing in his sight.  However, when we discover something wrong, we have to rid ourselves of that sin.

OVERCOMING 

          Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  Then in Romans Chapter 7, Paul tells us all the trouble that he had getting there.  There are times that you have to look the devil in the face and say, I’m not going to do it!  I’m not going to compromise to you!  I’m not going to do a little bit of that, and then go pray about it later!  I’m not going to do it. You need to kick the devil in the mouth and say, I’ve got another word for you.  You can’t make me do it!  I can get by without it;  I’m not bound to it.  I can serve the Lord, and be happy, and strong, and whip you!  Praise the Lord!

          Thank God for revival that brings forth souls into the kingdom, and that will keep them in so they can go through the gates of glory!  He’s able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him.  He’s able, but the church isn’t so able.  We get them saved, and then we go off and behave like the world.  Then they say, That’s what I used to do.  Do you mean that was all right?  Then you have to answer them.  Oh, some of the answers that Christians give today . . . instead of confessing, Dear God, I’m wretched! 

          Paul was unable, and cried out in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am. . . .”  In other words, he knew that there was no way he could attain what God had put on him, but he couldn’t stand to live any other way!  There was something in him working, dealing with him and drawing him.  He said in 2 Timothy 1:12, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 

          A man gets to feeling guilty when he discovers what his position really is, what he has lost, and why he can’t attain what God has called him to.  He begins to cry out.  Remember the enmity that wars in our members against us.  When we know we should fast and pray, we argue. 

          Ephesians 2:13 says, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”  By the blood of Jesus we are washed, sanctified, set apart, and ready to approach God.  Eventually Christ can do a work in our lives to where we can come before him face to face.  Jude 1:24 tells us that Jesus is, “. . . able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”  Hallelujah! 

          Jesus can turn you into a son of God.  Hebrews 2:10 says, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”  He wants to bring many sons unto glory so he can send them to bring revival throughout the earth. 

          Ephesians 2:14-16 says, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”  What does it mean? 

          You’ve got your old nature, and after you are born again, you’ve got your new man.  He takes the two (twain) and transforms them into one.  Christ is in you, the hope of Glory.  Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

          Christ is living in me, and all things are possible.  That is what the Bible calls being saved to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25).  It doesn’t mean that you are more saved, as far as making heaven, but you are more sanctified to do the works of God through Christ in this world.  The Bible isn’t talking about when you die and go to heaven.  All these promises are on this side.  What good are promises on that side?

          Ephesians 2:15, “Having abolished in his flesh [he lived without sin, crucified his flesh, and nailed it to the cross] the enmity [the thing that fought between you and God], even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” 

          We are two people, and in James 1:8 it says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  It says in Ephesians 4:14, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”  If you are carnal right now, the world can get your attention, and anything can sway you, but if you stay in the Spirit, you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.  Then God can convert you from being double-minded into one body and one spirit.  He can make you a son of God, totally redeemed.  That is better than Eden. 

          Ephesians 2:16 says, “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:”  Jesus Christ slew the enmity, and He slew your resistance.  The Bible says in Romans 14:23 that, “. . . whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”  We lost our place in God in the garden of Eden.  Faith brought us back.

          He’s talking about being sanctified, and crucified with Christ to where there is no opportunity for the devil to use you any longer.  There is even a place to where you have no desire to serve self.  Many people today get saved, and they think they can get rich on God.  Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 19:23, “. . . a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  There’s a possibility that he trusts in his riches more than God!  Jesus told a rich young ruler to give it all away if he really wanted to serve God.  Jesus tried him, and He found out what he trusted.  Don’t be caught that way.

TRANSFORMED

          We are wrestling.  Where is my strength to overcome?  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Romans 8:11 & 13 says, “(11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” 

          You can mortify (kill) or cease to operate the deeds of the body, the lusts of the flesh.  How?  By the Spirit of God.  Jude 1:20-21 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

          Not in self, but by praying in the Holy Ghost build up your faith.  Keep yourselves in the love of God.  Prayer is the key, and the Spirit will mortify the deeds of the body.   If you aren’t saved, you need to get saved.  Be born again by the Spirit.  If you don’t have the Holy Ghost, you need to get him. 

          As you pray and seek the face of the Lord, He begins to transform you.  It says in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” 

          Jesus died for every man, but not every man receives it.  He will sanctify every Christian, but not every Christian receives that.  He gave a ministry to “whosoever will believe,” but not every Christian will go for that, either.  These are exceeding, great, and precious promises to all that believe.  You can have anything the Word of God promises you, if you meet the conditions. 

          The way to get victory over the flesh is to pray in the Spirit, and the Spirit will mortify and crucify your old nature.  Pretty soon you won’t be double-minded; you will be single-minded.  Your eye will be single, and you will go on with God, and you won’t be wretched anymore.  The condemnation will leave, and you will have confidence toward God.  When you pray, your faith will be ready, and you will believe God.  God will reward that!

          Father in heaven, we know that your Word is true, and all these promises are “Yea” and “Amen” to them that believe them.  You said that these signs shall follow them that believe.  Lord, if there be any wicked way in us you said you would expose them to us.  If we be otherwise minded, Lord, you said that you would reveal it to us.  God, touch every heart and convict them to go on in God.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghope@hughes.net

www.livinghopefellowshipchurch.org

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.