A wall between men and God.

[Robert Cragg]

I know this can be hard to admit to but, alot of us including myself have those secrit little sins. I feel they could be stopping us from a true one on one relationship with the Lord. We all know what they are. I suggest we do not try to hide them from God the way Adam did besides God knows what they are but he is waiting for us to admit these things and then He can cleanse us completely.
God Bless,
Robert

[Ruth]

I know this can be hard to admit to but, alot of us including myself have those secrit little sins. I feel they could be stopping us from a true one on one relationship with the Lord. We all know what they are. I suggest we do not try to hide them from God the way Adam did besides God knows what they are but he is waiting for us to admit these things and then He can cleanse us completely.
God Bless,
Robert

After having been down this road so many times - I know that this line of thinking can have its upside and downside.

On the upside - we all need to confess our sins and be cleansed.
As this is healthy and keeps the lines of communication open and helps us to continue to become more like Him.

On the downside - we can get so obsessed with overcoming something and confessing it adnauseum that we forget to walk in freedom.

While we will always sin and have sin in our life and will battle it until we are taken home - we also cannot let it rule our life - or the guilt over it steal our joy.

We are not under the law but under grace. And just like our own children - we love them even when they mess up - we don't want them fretting constantly but to know we love them and go out and love God and others above themselves.

[Robert Cragg]

I'm talking about a deep down sin some just do not want to deal with. That sin or obsession that we put in place of God.

[Ruth]

I'm talking about a deep down sin some just do not want to deal with. That sin or obsession that we put in place of God.

You mean something that we still have on the alter of our hearts that we have not given up to die for Him?

I guess I am confused about what you mean. When we are born again, we die to self. We comit all of our lives to Him and count the cost.

How could we be a new creation and still have something between God and us? He is indwelt? I'm sorry - I am not following you beyond what I posted earlier.

[Rmf3175]

I know this can be hard to admit to but, alot of us including myself have those secrit little sins. I feel they could be stopping us from a true one on one relationship with the Lord. We all know what they are. I suggest we do not try to hide them from God the way Adam did besides God knows what they are but he is waiting for us to admit these things and then He can cleanse us completely.
God Bless,
Robert

I'm pretty sure I know what you are talking about....IMHO the first step for a person to face this is to confess it, and ask God for the continuous conviction, and the strength to acknowedge it as sin. Also a geniune desire to have a pure heart before Him so He can deal with it.
A good way of relating to this is how the Lord comes into a person's heart and starts cleaning up just as a house is cleaned. If we allow him to clean certain rooms but not others, the house is really not a home to Him. I know I kept my own rooms for a long time off limits to Him. That was my space, and a place for me to hang out. What He taught me was that it was pure selfishness. To often people ask Jesus to come in, and make Himself at home, then try to lock Him in the closet.

To really be in a close relationship there has to be nothing hidden otherwise it's just a superficial one that's sugar coated. The experiential part of having a relationship with the Lord is one of sanctification, and this is the core of this subject.

When born again we are new creations, raised to life from death. In the physical at that point we are just babies capable of very little, but expressing the joy the lord has placed in us. I know in my experience, I loved God as much as I was capable of, but in looking back......it wasn't much. He will truely take you as far as you are willing to go in experiencing His truths......I still haven't found the end of them, showing how completely dependent I am on Him. To be a diciple of Christ we have to allow ourselves to be diciplined by Him, and this requires a willingness to surrender, and pick up the cross that was assigned to us individually. If the weight of the cross doesn't conflict with our relationship with sin.......a red flag should be recognized. Afterall Jesus didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners, so that His strength could be made evident in our weakness by using this sin to draw us closer to Himself, and IMHO the closer a person is to Jesus, the less, and less sin there will be as a result. Light cannot have fellowship with darkness.

If there is anything between ourself, and God then by definition it's sin, and is only there because we allow it to be. By doing nothing about it (not lifting it up to the Lord to deal with) we are allowing it to exist. Same thing as keeping the door locked to that room, or rooms.

Hope this helps:)
YBIC,
Ryan

[Adopted Son]

I will ask God as soon as I am done typing, to show me any sin that the Holy Spirit has not either yet shown me, or I haven't heard Him yet. I am so excited about the forgiveness, I don't want to waste any of it.

[raptfor56]

I'm pretty sure I know what you are talking about....IMHO the first step for a person to face this is to confess it, and ask God for the continuous conviction, and the strength to acknowedge it as sin. Also a geniune desire to have a pure heart before Him so He can deal with it.
A good way of relating to this is how the Lord comes into a person's heart and starts cleaning up just as a house is cleaned. If we allow him to clean certain rooms but not others, the house is really not a home to Him. I know I kept my own rooms for a long time off limits to Him. That was my space, and a place for me to hang out. What He taught me was that it was pure selfishness. To often people ask Jesus to come in, and make Himself at home, then try to lock Him in the closet.

To really be in a close relationship there has to be nothing hidden otherwise it's just a superficial one that's sugar coated. The experiential part of having a relationship with the Lord is one of sanctification, and this is the core of this subject.

When born again we are new creations, raised to life from death. In the physical at that point we are just babies capable of very little, but expressing the joy the lord has placed in us. I know in my experience, I loved God as much as I was capable of, but in looking back......it wasn't much. He will truely take you as far as you are willing to go in experiencing His truths......I still haven't found the end of them, showing how completely dependent I am on Him. To be a diciple of Christ we have to allow ourselves to be diciplined by Him, and this requires a willingness to surrender, and pick up the cross that was assigned to us individually. If the weight of the cross doesn't conflict with our relationship with sin.......a red flag should be recognized. Afterall Jesus didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners, so that His strength could be made evident in our weakness by using this sin to draw us closer to Himself, and IMHO the closer a person is to Jesus, the less, and less sin there will be as a result. Light cannot have fellowship with darkness.

If there is anything between ourself, and God then by definition it's sin, and is only there because we allow it to be. By doing nothing about it (not lifting it up to the Lord to deal with) we are allowing it to exist. Same thing as keeping the door locked to that room, or rooms.

Hope this helps
YBIC,
Ryan
+1

[mattfivefour]

It is true. Some (many?) Christians have areas in their lives that contain secret sin. They are still His ... (if so be that they have truly turned to Him as Savior and LORD, not just out of some attempt at "fire insurance") ... but that sin interferes with their surrender to Him and therefore hinders the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. This, in turn, hinders a person's walk ... and also a person's work.

We all need to RECOGNIZE (accept as fact) that we are dead in Christ and are raised into newness of life in Him and therefore should not yield our members to sin. If Christ is our master, then sin cannot be. If sin is our master, then Christ cannot be.

This is the process of sanctification. It is ongoing ... and will be ongoing till the day we go home to Glory. But in it we show that we are true Christians by our heart's desire and obedience to Him ... or we show we are not truly His because we have no desire to obey Him.

[micah719]

Corrie ten Boom had a walk with the Lord that puts mine to shame.....just finished reading one of her books, something she said came to mind reading this post. I guess I understand the subject here seeing as how I too am subject to the same temptation, I'll share what her advice was.

Corrie traveled the world as an evangelist and pastor, and some of the folks she was priveledged to lead to the Lord confessed to her that even though they'd turned to the Lord completely, some favourite sin would continue, and this caused them a lot of trouble.

Firstly, Corrie gave the analogy of a person ringing a bell, even after they stopped pulling the bell rope, the bell would still give a couple of rings. As christians, once we accept the Lord, the Holy Spirit moves into our heart and seals us as belonging to Christ. So the devil and his minions can't come in any more, but they can stand around outside and shout through the windows.

And secondly, the Lord promises to cast our sins in the depths of the sea, and to forget them. So, if He forgets, who are we to dredge them up? Of course, the defeated enemy can and will hold up our sins in an attempt to hurt us and our walk, but this is where we need to remember God's promises in Scripture. So, we pray daily for the Lord to expose our sins, we repent of them, and when they come to mind yet again think of the Lord's promises. Corrie had an interesting way of putting it, she said when the Lord casts our sins in the depths of the sea, He also puts a buoy there with a sign, saying NO FISHING.

Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have beset me and shut me in--behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.
6 Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.
7 Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me,
12 Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.
19 If You would [only] slay the wicked, O God, and the men of blood depart from me--
20 Who speak against You wickedly, Your enemies who take Your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved and do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; they have become my enemies.
23 Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Micah 7:19
He will again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]--then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent.

Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions, and like a cloud your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

1 John 1:8-10
8 If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].
9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
10 If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts].

[MikeD]

In reaching a point of COMPLETELY selling out to the Lord, it became quite evident, there were/are things in my life I found I didn't really WANT to give up. My prayer became:

"Father, I confess "these" areas of my life that, to be truthful, I really don't want to give up. I ask for your forgiveness in my not being willing to lay them down. Father, begin a work in me by Your Holy Spirit to CREATE a never ending desire to truly GIVE UP ALL THINGS TO YOU AND FOR YOU! Father, I confess, I CAN NOT do this on my own. Yet, Your Word says, you have ALREADY given me a means of escape. By Your loving kindness, show me Your escape and begin a life with You and through You I've never known."

Sometimes, I will be the FIRST to admit, it's not easy for a man to pray such a prayer. Why? I honestly can't answer that. But, such is what we are. And, the best part is, God knows that! He created us! And, most importantly, He LOVES us, JUST THE WAY WE ARE!! This, I can't help but draw tremendous strength from.

So many times we quote John 3:16. And what a beautiful scripture it is. Yet, we so quickly forget John 3:17: God DID NOT send His son into the world to CONDEMN the world but to save the world. Same thing to us; God NEVER condemns us. He LOVES us and has provided an answer for all our needs, desires, weaknesses, and means to follow that which He has laid before us, His will for our lives. And what is that, so many ask? To conform to the image of Jesus Christ. HOWEVER!!! That has ALREADY been done for us by the shedding of His blood.

I HAVE to remind myself, I am weak. I AM trapped, for now, by the flesh. Yet, this too He has given us an ability to break away from. Easy? No, that's for sure. Yet, even still, He STILL loves us and is waiting none the less.

Just my 2cents worth. Sorry if I went on so or too much...........

[Michael777]

You're not alone, Mike. It is a good sign, when we know there is still sin we've yet to let go of. But I know that His grace is enduring and what an encouragement that is to know, my brother. It serves as our strength. I know I'm stronger knowing His grace is inexhaustable, as long as we confess and make an honest effort.

Mike

[mattfivefour]

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess (present tense - ongoing action) our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:8-9

[Robert]

This is especially true of me. For the longest time, my collection of different models and other material things got in the way. Today, I just ended up giving away another large portion of that collection, along with some cassette tapes I had from a while ago. It took a LONG time to let go of those things, but I cannot keep them and walk with the Lord; materialism has been an issue with me in that regard.


As for any sin we have that we are reluctant to give up: all we can do is to commit that problem to the Lord.