Isaiah saw this in the spirit and prophesied that when the world is full of darkness and the minds of men are in total darkness that is when the glory of the Lord is going to be seen upon us as Christians.
As the world gets darker and darker, then the church will get brighter and brighter. That means that you and I have a responsibility. We have to stand up and be different from the world.
We live in a world that is constantly trying to get us to compromise our stand. Satan wants us to yield to this perversion so that he can prevent us from walking in the fullness of blessing.
Be Holy
Are you living a godly lifestyle or have you accepted the world's standards for moral conduct? Leviticus 11:44 says, "...and ye shall be holy; for I am holy...." Many people do not like that verse. It is not in their confession packet because "be ye" requires something. It requires responsibility. It requires examining your lifestyle.
Have you noticed how difficult it is to find a television program that is not promoting the world's low standard of moral conduct? It is becoming more difficult to find a television broadcast that does not use foul language.
There are now words used that were never spoken in public and you surely did not speak them at all if you were a Christian, and now they have become every day, acceptable language. The same is true with using the Lord's name in vain.
How many times have you heard "Jesus Christ" said in vain? That grieves the Holy Spirit. Titus 1:12 says, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." And 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (AMP) says, "Abstain from evil [shrink from it and keep aloof from it] in whatever form or whatever kind it may be."
Our disregard for God's standards for moral behavior has everything to do with not experiencing the fullness of the blessing like God intended. You simply cannot compromise God's standards and expect to live in the fullness of the blessing.
Don't Miss The Mark
The word "sin" in the Greek literally means "to miss the mark." It is also described as falling short. Do you want to fall short of God's best? What if you lived your whole life just barely getting by, living from paycheck to paycheck. Then just before you were about to die you found out that you had a rich uncle who left you an inheritance and you did not even know about it until the day you were dying. Wouldn't you be a little perturbed? To know that your whole life you had been struggling to make ends meet only to find out that an inheritance was waiting for you all along.
That is what sin does. It causes you to miss the mark or to fall short. Paul was saying this in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." What is the glory of God? It is the manifested presence of God. We do not want to fall short of His presence. We want God's best. We want all He has promised us. We do not want to miss out on our inheritance.
I have traveled too many miles, preached too many sermons, slept in too many hotels, flown on too many airlines, stayed in too many other countries, and prayed too many prayers to blow it all now. Sometimes I go to meetings and start talking about holiness and purity and they say I am old-fashioned. Well, if that is what you want to call it that is fine. But the blessing is increasing in my life because I keep my life pure. If you do not keep your life pure then you limit how much of God's best you can enjoy.
Deal With It
If you have blown it and feel like you have missed the mark, then confess it to Him. We have an advocate (one who will intercede for us) with the Father, even the righteous Jesus Christ. He says that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and give us a fresh start. He also said He will remember our iniquities no more.
So if you have been involved in something that was a mistake, do not condemn yourself. But don't just sweep it under the rug. Deal with it scripturally. Ask God to forgive you and then work on correcting it and do not be so easily tempted the next time.
That is what resisting the devil is all about. The Bible tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. We have to resist every opportunity that he presents to us that is designed to get us to compromise.
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Dr. Jerry Savelle was an average, blue-collar man who was struggling and needed God's help. While he considered himself a "nobody," when he became a believer God told him not to worry about it because He was a master at making champions out of nobodies. God has since taken Dr. Savelle from being a constant quitter to a man who knows how to stand on the Word of God until victory is experienced. Because of the life-changing combination of God's faithfulness and Dr. Savelle's "no quit" attitude, his life is totally different than it was thirty-eight years ago.
