Contend With II

Heb.9:¹⁴ [ERV] So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more… His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God.

The first challenge we have to overcome in the place of prayer and tuning into the voice of the Holy Spirit, is our Commitment and the second is our Conscience. As soon as you overcome the commitment barrier, you need to deal with and overcome your conscience because the enemy preys on your conscience a lot. The enemy will suggest that you are not good enough to lift up your voice in the place of prayer. The enemy will throw your past at you or try to pull you down especially with things you might be struggling with. The enemy is a master at this game.

A lot of the time, those things are true, so we struggle with feelings of guilt and shame and a lot of people then withdraw from praying. Nobody wants to be reminded of their sins or their shortcomings and so in order to avoid the struggle with their conscience, people avoid praying. It is important for you to recognize that it is the enemy trying to make you feel unworthy.

Instead, let your focus be on how to overcome these challenges and we will learn two ways today. If there is an issue, repent – deal with it. The scripture says that when we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when you have confessed your sin and the enemy brings it up, your response is, “forgiven!”. So you are free to worship God.

The second way to overcome these challenges is to remind yourself of God’s unfailing love for you. God says to you, “I have loved you with an everlasting love”. What does everlasting love mean? It means His love for you does not expire. So I receive it and I bask in it. Yes, I am imperfect but His love is perfect. So I receive His love and it sets me free. God’s love gives me a free conscience. The voices that accuse you and consistently point out your limitations are not of God. The Holy Spirit is not the accuser of the brethren; satan is. There is a difference between condemnation and conviction and you need to know the difference.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, let me find complete liberty in Your everlasting love and in Your Spirit, in Jesus Name. Amen!