1 John 3:9

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Devotional Thoughts

Many Christians are lovers of Jesus, yet they sin against the light they have been given. They’ve heard thousands of righteous sermons, read the Bible daily for years, and spent countless hours in prayer. Yet they’ve allowed a besetting sin to remain in their life and cut off their communication with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit convicts of a sin that has never been dealt with, it comes with a warning: “This sin must go! I won’t wink at the way you’ve been indulging it.”

King David sinned and the Lord exposed it for the whole world to see (read the story in 2 Samuel 11 and 12). He suffered many outward troubles and was tormented inwardly, afraid the Lord had utterly forsaken him: “You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths” (Psalm 88:6). As many anxieties fell on David, he confessed, “I remembered God, and was troubled” (77:3).

David anguished over the scandal he had created and his grief over the shame he had caused was so overwhelming that he begged God, “Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish” (39:8). His every waking moment was filled with thoughts of being struck down in wrath and he cried out, “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!” (38:1). A contrite David cried from the very depths of his heart, “Have mercy upon me, O God” (51:1), and the Lord was quick to quick to forgive and restore sweet fellowship with him.

If you are carrying a sense of failure and you’ve become weak, soul-sick, ready to faint, it may be because your sin has cut off your communion with God. But thank God for his mercy! He is implanting in your spirit a holy fear of the Lord and that is a good thing. When the Lord sees one of his children wrestling with some sin or bondage, he moves in quickly to bring him back to a path of obedience and peace.

Rest assured, God has promised forgiveness for every sin: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Accept this forgiveness and walk in renewed freedom and sweet fellowship with your heavenly Father.