Destined To Reign - Part 4 - The Secret of Godliness

Dear friends,



I would like you to have a life full of victory over sin. I would like you to live a life of godliness and exhibit more Christian characters, such as self-control, kindness, goodness and other fruits of the Spirit. Please read and meditate on what is written below.



The Secret Of Godliness

Knowing that you are completely forgiven destroys the power of sin in your life. I know how this revelation has changed me and transformed my life. Jesus himself said that those who are forgiven much will love Him much. Those who are forgiven little, or correctly, those who think they have been forgiven little, will love him only little. Luke 7: 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But, he who is forgiven little, loves little.”



The more you realize that you have been forgiven much, actually, all of your sins, the more will you love the Lord Jesus. Forgiveness does not lead to a lifestyle of sin. It leads to a life of glorifying the Lord Jesus. The only reason people don’t love Him much is that they do not understand how much they have been forgiven. Therefore, we cannot boast on our love to God, but we should boast on God’s love to us because the Father takes pleasure in seeing His Son to be crucified and die so that He can draw us near to Him. 1 John 4: 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.



Many preachers are telling believers that they have to exhibit more Christian characters, more self-control, more godliness and more brotherly kindness. I totally agree that all these qualities and good and necessary, but the question is, how do we develop them? How should preachers help believers to exhibit more Christian characters? When asked for the solution, most people would say, “Discipline! We need to focus more on the Ten Commandments and develop discipline, and then self-control, godliness and brotherly kindness will come.” While they sound very good, that is not what the word of God says. 2 Peter 1: 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. It is clear that if a person lacks good Christian qualities like self-control, godliness and brotherly kindness, it is not because he lacks discipline, but because ha has forgotten the main clause of the new covenant. The secret of every godly man and woman is their belief in the truth that they have been forgiven. Their godliness stems from a revelation of their forgiveness, which leads to victory over sin.



How Are You Forgiven Of Your Sins?

We do not have to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. We confess our sins because we are already forgiven. Confessing our sins is about being open with God and talking to God knowing that we have been forgiven. Confession in the new covenant is just being honest about our failures and our humanity. Fellowship with the Father is not broken because our forgiveness is not contingent on what we do, but strictly contingent upon the finished work of Jesus at the cross.



There are preachers who teach that unless we confess all our sins, we would not be forgiven. Some even say that if someone dies without having confessed all his/her sins, he/she would end up in hell. Such teachings made the forgiveness of sins man’s responsibility, instead of something that was dependent on what Jesus’ blood has already accomplished. Such teaching can put you in severe bondage. Such teaching was built on the following verse: 1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. People have taken this verse and built a whole doctrine around it when actually, chapter 1 John1 was written to the Gnostics, who were unbelievers. For us believers, the moment we received Jesus, all our sins were forgiven. We are not to live from confession to confession, but from faith to faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.



If you really believe that you need to confess all your sins to be forgiven, do you know what you would be doing? You would be confessing your sins ALL THE TIME! How then can you have courage before God? What if you forget to confess just one sin? You cannot have the boldness that you are righteous. How can you have liberty as a child of God? I tried it, and it is impossible.



Let us not build a whole doctrine based on one verse. If confession is vital for your forgiveness, then Apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, has done us a great injustice because he did not mention it even once – not once – in any of his letters to the church. Confessing our sins all the time will make you only more sin-conscious. But knowing that you have been forgiven for all your sins, in the past, present and future, will keep you forgiven-conscious. And knowing that you are forgiven for all your sins will give you the power to reign over every destructive habit and live a life of victory!



The Consciousness Of Jesus' Finished Work Brings Victory.

Once you believe that all your sins are indeed forgiven and that God does not hold anything against you, faith will spring forth. Faith will be there for healing. Faith will be there for prosperity. Faith will be there for restoration in your marriage and family. Jesus said to the paralytic man, "Son, your sins are forgiven you, " before He said, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Why? Because Jesus knew that unless the man had the assurance that all his sins had been forgiven, he would not have the faith to be healed. This is what people need to hear. This is what we need to teach in the church. The devil's strategy is to make you feel like you are not qualified to enter God's presence. He will give you a thousand reasons why you don't qualify for God's blessings. The truth is that the blood of Jesus qualifies you to have constant access to the Most High God.



Amen!





Dedo Suwanda

PS. The content of the article above was extracted from the book "Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince.