Friend or Foe?

Scripture:

Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

Observation:

Our confession of sin must be continual because we continue to do wrong. But true confession requires us to listen to God and to want to stop doing what is wrong. David confessed his sin and prayed, "Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins" (Psalm 19:12-13). When we refuse to repent or when we harbor and cherish certain sins, we place a wall between us and God. We may not be able to remember every sin we have ever committed, but our attitude should be one of confession and obedience.

"Cherished" here means: to look at, perceive, see, recognize. So, if I know I have sin in my heart, but do nothing about it, the Lord will not hear my prayers. That is a sobering thought.
Too many Christians no longer look at sin as a foe, or enemy, but as a friend. We don't like to discuss sin. We don't like to admit sin. We can point out the wrongdoings of others, but not in ourselves. That is one of the major problems in the church today. We have made sin our friend, and God never promised to make our friends our footstools, but our enemies!

Application:

The Bible still says that the "wages of sin is death." Thank God for the gift of God, which is life through Jesus. But we must not skip over what sin pays. Death. Every time I sin something dies. It could be trust, integrity, testimony, reputation, relationship. Jesus paid the price for our sin, to remove the consequences of death from our life, but way too often, and too easily we sin, and allow sin to stay in our heart, then wonder WHY God hasn't heard or responded.

God wants desperately to give us victory. He promised to give us victory over our enemies...not our friends! Has sin become a friend of yours? Do you walk in fellowship with sin daily and not even realize it?

Read slowly the six things God hates...and notice the seventh thing that God detests:

Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: (17) haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, (18) a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, (19) a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers (sower of seeds of discord).

It may be easier to understand in the Message version:

Proverbs 6:16-19 Here are six things GOD hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion: (17) eyes that are arrogant, a tongue that lies, hands that murder the innocent, (18) a heart that hatches evil plots, feet that race down a wicked track, (19) a mouth that lies under oath, a troublemaker in the family.

These are things that God hates. Our list of things God hates would probably be much different than this one: alcoholic, child molester, homosexual offender, adulterer. But this is GOD'S list, not mine, not yours. He mentions things that some of us may battle with daily. In fact, maybe we don't even battle with it any more. We have become friends with what God hates. And it is affecting the prayer life of God's children. He simply says "He will not listen" if we make sin our friend and not our foe.

The enemy is working overtime to destroy God's church. But he can't do it from without, because the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. However, he is trying to work from within. Trying to cause strife, disunity and he is using people who are more than willing to be used to gossip, back bite and tear down. My friends, please hear the voice of the Spirit. Stop allowing the enemy to use you. Make sin your enemy right now. Realize what it is doing to you, your family and your testimony. Ask God to forgive you, and He will.

God has called all of us to be SALT and LIGHT, not to swing the sword against each other. We are on the same team, we are all in the same family, the family of God. Whether you are a Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of God, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, United Pentecostal, Non-denominational...if we are going to be affective in these last days, we must show we are Jesus' disciples by having, and showing, love one for another.

Prayer:

"Lord, help this Word to get deep into my Spirit man. I do not want to be used of the devil to sow seeds of discord. I do not want to be used of the devil to attack Your church because I have become careless in my walk with You. Please forgive me for the times I have allowed sin to be my friend and not my foe. Today, I once again realize that sin causes death. I also realize the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. Jesus you came to give life. So, if I want to find out who is using me, I need to look at my words, attitude and actions the past few days. Am I speaking death? Am I attacking people's reputation? Am I trying to destroy anyone with my words or actions? If so, then I am being used of the devil. On the other hand, am I speaking life? Does my attitude and actions show Jesus' life, grace and mercy? Then Jesus, you are using me. Today, I choose to be used of You to build Your church and Your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen!"