<\/span><\/div>\n

When we yield to a temptation (oh you caught me, yes we are talkin about “sin.”) we soon find ourselves bound to it. And upon each repetition we are more tightly bound. Even if we notice our ensnarement, we can conclude that since we got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves out.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

The path to freedom from these enslavements requires four giant recognitions.<\/span><\/div>\n

1. The recognition that we are enslaved.<\/span><\/div>\n

2. The recognition that we are responsible for our enslavement having yielded to it willingly.<\/span><\/div>\n

3. The recognition that “there is no power in the human soul of itself to break the bondage of a disposition formed by yielding.”<\/span><\/div>\n

4. The recognition that freedom comes only in yielding to the Lord Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Satan struggles mightily to prevent each stepped recognition. Each of these steps is part of a necessary process. If the enemy can get us to skip a step; he claims some victory. For example, if we recognize we are enslaved, but become convinced it’s not our fault. He wins.\u00a0 We will likely turn to psychology for redemption.\u00a0 If we recognize we are responsible, but believe we can work it out ourselves, he wins again.\u00a0 We become self-help fanatics. And even if we become frustrated in our attempts at self emancipation, if we don’t yield to Christ. Again, the enemy wins. We become spiritual nomads, knowing we don’t have all the answers but never finding the One who does.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Put another way: We are sinners, responsible for our sin and desperately in need of a savior. Salvation comes in rejecting sin and binding ourselves in slavery to Christ.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Coming face to face with our sin is tough. We live in a world that specializes in avoiding that. We resist the concept of slavery. We deplore the thought that we are in self-induced slavery. Our pride doesn’t allow us to believe we are helpless to free ourselves. Becoming His is tough. But He is a mighty savior.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

“It is easy to sing – “He will break every fetter” and at the same time be living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. Yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life,”\u00a0 The steps are all necessary and hard; but the reward is Jesus and it doesn’t get any more blessed than that.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Nick <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I find myself a slave to ungodly forces. Before you are too quick to judge me. Consider whether this might be true of you as well. If “slave” and “ungodly” are too strong for you, would you agree that you are occasionally controlled by negative forces? Or how about this: Do you sometimes find yourself doing things that you know aren’t right and later regret? If we are honest we are all, at times, slaves to ungodly forces. The sad truth is we have bound ourselves to this slavery. We become enslaved when we yield.\u00a0 When we yield to a temptation (oh you caught me, yes we are talkin about “sin.”) we soon find ourselves bound to it. And upon each repetition we are more tightly bound. Even if we notice our ensnarement, we can conclude that since we got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves out.\u00a0 The path to freedom from these enslavements requires four giant recognitions. 1. The recognition that we are enslaved. 2. The recognition that we are responsible for our enslavement having yielded to it willingly. 3. The recognition that “there is no power in the human soul of itself to break the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}