The same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is required for you to conquer your sin. Fight your spiritual battle against sin by overcoming evil with good!
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I am in a constant battle against sin.
And it is why every day I put on the spiritual armor. It’s why I grab hold of the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. It’s to “mortify my flesh,” as the old King James says, ’cause I’m in a war against my sin. Even when the apostle Paul talks about fighting the good fight, it is a fight against sin in his life. And when he describes the “power of the resurrection” in Philippians 3, he’s talking about the power that resurrected Christ after he conquered sin; and that same resurrection power is required for us to conquer our sin. So, when I think of spiritual warfare, I don’t first think about fighting off demons and devils; no, for me, spiritual warfare is my daily fight against my own transgressions: killing pride, not keeping a record of other people’s wrongs, not fudging the truth. I fight against hogging the spotlight, not giving credit where credit is due, not thinking the best of others, or allowing my own thoughts to wander down worldly detours. I sin when I slice into my husband with a precisely timed phrase; or when I do not deal with anger, but let it fester; or when I try to domesticate my wickedness so it sounds more acceptable. When it comes to my warfare against sin, I’m not even scratching the surface here. And, oh, did I not mention my warfare against self-pity?
Okay, so, that just happened recently. A few weeks ago, I hosted a “Color Me Mine” painting party to celebrate the birthday of one of my caregivers. I pulled up my wheelchair to the table and I watched everyone choose ceramic platters and bowls, and then I watched them paint all these platters in a wild array of colors. Now, I could have painted along with them, but it would have meant I had to get one of the girls to help me, and I really didn’t want to do that. Well, halfway through watching everyone else having such fun, I found myself getting a little wistful, and then, after a while, a little forlorn – for I had not considered how it might feel to sit there for several hours and watch everyone else paint, when I could not. And I began to feel self-pity itching and scratching at the door. Immediately, I recognized it for what it was: it was flat-out sin; feeling sorry for myself; a mopey “woe-is-me” attitude. And, hey, I’ve opened that door to self-pity way too many times in my past to allow it to knock on my heart. I could tell you about long seasons of that doom and gloom when I was first injured, and so, sitting by that painting table with those girls, I refused to open the door to pity.
Instead, I got engaged in spiritual warfare. Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” And so, I started to quietly pray for each girl as I watched her work. And along with prayer, I affirmed them and encouraged them in their choices of colors for their ceramics. Rather than sit back and watch, I asked questions and then I prayed some more for them. Friend, this is how you do spiritual warfare against sin and self-pity. You overcome evil with good. Good prayers, good conversation, good words of affirmation. And this is how I hope you will combat sin in your life. Do not succumb to sin and self-pity. Fight the good fight and be more than a conqueror against the evil in your heart. I mean, honestly, what you do with personal sin and how you combat it will shape the person that you become – and that’s Jesus Christ in you. Go today to joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends