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The critical moment
When you fight against the sin that wants to rise up out of you, it is important to prepare yourself ahead of time for battle. But what is the critical moment?
It is the moment of temptation. At that moment, you must strike back aggressively. If you have not made a clear decision beforehand, and do not act immediately, then it is very easy to give in and fall in temptation. The tempter is Satan himself, and you don’t need to listen to him for even a few seconds before you attack, before you launch a brutal counter-attack, before you fire broadside with all the cannons that you have stockpiled ahead of time. Of course, you must arm for battle in the times of peace, so that you are standing at the ready. Otherwise you will be caught off guard and overtaken in the battle.
If you do not do your uttermost to overcome, you deserve to fall. Jesus’ powerful words in Matthew 5:29, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you,” say with abundant clarity that we are to do our utmost to avoid sinning! The way we should first and foremost arm ourselves is with God’s Word, which is the Word of all life; then we are filled with all these words, so that we have His Word dwelling within us. We in the Word and the Word in us!
Most believers quite simply are too lazy, lax, and sluggish; they have a huge lack of interest in becoming thoroughly saved from all kinds of sin in all possible areas! According to Jesus’ own words, they are not worthy of Him! In Matthew 10:37-38 it says: “is not worthy of Me” three times in a row. Only wholehearted, burning hot, fully committed, diligent people enter into God’s kingdom. May there be many in these days who wake up to a radical conversion and a radical effort!
This article was first published in the BCC publication “Skjulte Skatter” (“Hidden Treasures”) in April 1977
© Copyright Stiftelsen Skjulte Skatters Forlag
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, unless otherwise specified. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.