Don't Hold It

Don’t Hold It

“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”

Psalm 119:45

She held onto her secret sin for months. No one knew that she had done it. Then one morning in Bible time, God’s Word convicted her of her sin those many months ago. She couldn’t sleep at night because she was tormented by her guilt and the lies of the enemy. Desperate for relief, one of my daughters sneaked into my bedroom while her sisters were sleeping and my husband was working. She poured her heart out to me through tears and agony. She thought no one would love her and that she would lose her friends. I won’t tell you which daughter it was or what sin she committed for her protection.

Together we worked through the process with God to find forgiveness for her sin and restoration. While she received discipline for her sin, the consequences of confession were nothing compared to what she had imagined or had been experiencing through keeping the sin a secret. Since it took a couple of weeks to work out everything, I could see how much it had plagued her. I sensed a willingness to never listen to the lure of the enemy to commit the same sin again. When it was over, she wept for joy in my arms and praised her Father in heaven for working everything out. She was set free!

What amazed me so much was that she had kept her sin a secret for so long! She let it torment her until it was completely unbearable! While no one in the physical realm knew her sin, the spiritual realm knew. Both our loving Father God and satan knew. The accuser fed her shame while God waited patiently for the right time when her heart would be tender to hear His voice and be convicted of her sin. She knew she heard a voice in her mind pressuring her to commit the sin. (I find that so interesting at her young age.) The enemy thrives on tempting us to sin and then piles the shame upon us after we have committed it. He makes us believe that all of the worst consequences are inevitable.

This is a classic case of the enemy’s deception and accusation. It is a classic example of how we humans sin and respond to our sin. We are lured and tempted to sin. We don’t listen to the alarms in our minds telling us not to sin, and we do it. After we commit the crime, the accuser hurls all sorts of names at us. There is some twisted truth to it that we really believe we are these terrible things. We don’t hold the twisted truth up to the precepts of God. We become beaten down by the enemy’s lies and unable to deal with our shame. We fall into devastating patterns of sin. Sometimes we become desensitized to it since we can’t deal with the pain. We complicate the situation by not bringing it to God. Or we decide that it was not really that wrong and forsake the ultimate truth of the matter.

All of this makes me wonder if you and I do the same thing but in a grown up way? What sin are we holding onto for so long? Do we have any sin that we have become desensitized to? Are we not finding freedom in Christ by taking the matter to God? Are we not seeking the ultimate truth of the matter and finding out what Scripture says about our situation? Have we broken relationship with God by focusing on a cover-up story instead of restoration? In what ways do we want to protect our image and reputation instead of keeping our intimacy with God? Whatever we are holding onto needs to be cleared out of the way and dealt with so we can gain the greatest prize – a cleansed heart and intimate relationship with God. I’m ready for letting go and seeking His precepts more! Are you?

Pray with me: Almighty God, You never intended for us to hold onto our sins. We were intended to bring our dirt and filth to You. In our hands, things just become worse. Consequences are amplified. Situations spiral from bad to worse. In You, we find relief, a cleansed heart, and the joy of the redeemed! Angels cannot experience what a fallen person redeemed of her sin can. We know what it is like to be set free from the shackles of sin and clutches of darkness. We are unchained and free! Hallelujah for the freedom and cleansing that can only be found in You! It is for freedom that Christ set us free (Galatians 5:1). When we seek Your precepts, Your Word, then we will walk in freedom! Oh, how we adore You! It is in Name above all names, Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, that we pray, Amen.

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