How the relationship with sin is nourished
The devil will not hook you into a relationship with sin without making sure that you are wedded to sin for the rest of your life. He will never leave things to chance, he will always oversee your relationship with sin, but he would always be in the background so that you may not see his evil hand. You will only see your abusive partner without realising who is in control of your lover. Sin comes from the devil and the serpent will always make sure that sin wins against you. He is the puppet master of sin, and if sin is your master, the devil would be the real puppet master of your life. He will make you dance even though you might not feel like dancing. When sin is in control of your life, you would do what you do not like to do because sin will bully you all the time.
When you are wedded to sin, you are the bride of the serpent. The serpent wants you to himself, as he does not want to share you with Jesus. And these are the ways he will use to ensure that you do not divorce him for Jesus:
As soon as you commit any sinful act, the serpent will make you concentrate on the satisfaction you have received from that sinful act. He would make you focus on the new relationship you have started with sin. Your mind would always be thinking about the lover who has just come into your life to kill you, but you would not be aware of this. All you would think about are the material, financial or emotional benefits you have received from your sinful acts.
At this stage, sin would taste and smell very nice, and owing to this, you would want to be as close to sin as possible. Indeed, you would be very crazy about your new partner, but unknown to you is that your partner has come into your life to destroy you completely. In a few months or years, sin would have caused negative changes in your life and you would regret those changes for the rest of your life.
Sin might make you drool will pleasure because of the satisfaction you may have received from sleeping with it, but one day, the devil will wipe out that smile from your face. When sin comes into your life, it has not come to make you smile, but to destroy you. You might smile now due to the pleasure of sin, but one day that smile will turn into tears or blood. One day you will taste sour tear that would run down your cheeks or smell the blood that would bust from your own body. Those who do not break off the abusive relationship with sin, will one day see the flames of condemnation burning in hell.
As soon as you have tasted sin, the devil will quickly assure you that you have done the right thing. He will say it was worth doing what you have done no matter what God and the people are saying. He would give you a thousand reasons why you had to do what you have done. When he assures you that you have done what is good, he does not want you to listen to the voice of God which would make you understand that you have disappointed the Lord by doing what you have done.
The serpent would not only assure you that you have done the right thing, but he will say everyone is doing it. He will then open your eyes to the people who are sleeping with the same sin partner you have chosen over God. When he focuses your eyes on others who are doing the same sins you are doing, he is generalising by saying everyone is doing it. This is a lie, as there are many people who live in righteousness.
When the serpent makes you aware of others who are in love with the same sin, he makes you understand that you are in good company of the sinners. The devil will also reassure you that someone whom you respect is also in that company of sinners. When he tells you about a sinner whom you admire, he is actually saying ‘Look, those who are spiritually stronger or mature are also doing it and if they could do it why not you.’
Jesus is the only standard of what is right and acceptable to God. And due to this, He is the only One we must look up to. We must make the Lamb of God our only role model because He will never disappoint us one day. When Jesus is our role model, the devil cannot use anyone to tempt us to sin or to continue our relationship with sin.
The devil might tempt all people to fall into sin, but that will not have a bearing on us individually. Many people might choose to follow the devil, but those who have made Jesus their role model will continue to live in holiness. To them, what happens to others would not have any impact on their faith. These faithful soldiers of the cross will follow Jesus no matter where that road of obedience leads them. They would follow Jesus because they would have the assurance that what they are doing is what Heaven approves. These children of God would be focused on pleasing God, and when the Lord is pleased with them, they will take comfort in the love and approval of God.
A man’s human nature is made up of two parts, body and soul. The soul of a person controls all other parts of his human nature, because the soul functions independently of other parts. Our souls are the brain behind our brain. A soul of a person is the spirit of a person. Our souls have a will because they have a spiritual mind of their own.
Our brains control our bodies and our brains are controlled by our souls. A soul of a person is the real man behind everything that one does. It is difficult to see the traces of our souls in what we do. Indeed, it might be difficult to see the hand of our souls in everything we do, but that does not change anything. Our souls are in charge of everything we do, hence God will one day judge our souls, not our physical bodies.
In the same manner, a soul is also controlled by a higher spiritual power than itself. The power of our souls only extends to our body. Our souls are subservient to the higher spiritual powers. They are inferior to the power of God and the power of the devil. And as a result of that, our souls will always be influenced by the higher spiritual powers.
On the other hand, God influences us by helping us to be born again so that we may receive a spirit that hears and listen to him. The spiritual process of being born again is a process that God uses to undermine the power of our human nature, by giving us His nature which could overcome the influence of the devil.
When we believe in Jesus, who is the righteousness of God, we receive the Holy Spirit who comes into our lives to establish the dominion of God. Anyone who is not born again does not have the Holy Spirit, and without the power of the Holy Spirit, no one could overcome the influence of the devil. Assuredly, anyone who is not born again will always be influenced by the devil. It is for this reason that we all need to be born again so that we may receive the spiritual nature of God that could overcome all the powers of the enemy.
We are all under the influence of a higher spiritual power. All the people are either influenced by God or the serpent. The methods of influence might be different but the impact of the influence is the same. A soul that has been influenced by either God or the devil would behave according to the influence it has received. The Holy Spirit wants our souls to behave in line with the word of God, but the devil wants our souls to oppose the word of God.
It does not matter whether you could see who control your soul, your soul will always be controlled by a higher spiritual force. Your actions will in all situations reveal the seat of power in your life. Those who are controlled by the Spirit of God will always do what the Lord expects them to do, but those who are controlled by the devil will always act in opposition to the word of God. What we do reveals who is the master in our lives.
Our human nature is selfish as it always tries to please itself in all situations. This nature fights against God and His word. The Lord wants to be the only influence in our lives, but our human nature wants the opposite. It wants to rule itself.
Our human nature is easily influenced by the devil because the devil has the same nature, he does not want to be influenced by God. The devil is the greatest rebel, as he is always fighting against the will of God. The devil wants to determine his life outside the influence of God. And because of this, it is easy for the devil to influence our human nature because both the devil and our human nature are rebellious, they both want to please themselves in all situations.
When the devil and our human nature opened their mouths, they begin by saying, ‘I want to.’ Anyone who is influenced by God opened their mouth by saying, ‘God wants to.’ Indeed, anyone who is controlled by God has a life that is God-centred, but those who are controlled by the serpent have centred their lives according to what pleases them.
Our human nature is lustful. It always wants things that will please itself. Its lustful nature makes it very careless. And because it is careless, it will always try to achieve something regardless of the consequences of doing so. Our human nature is foolish because it is driven by a desire to please itself no matter what. As a result of that, it will always jeopardise its future because of the selfish needs of the movement. Of course, our human nature will jeopardise our joy, prosperity and health because it is foolish and one sighted.
Once you commit one sinful act, your human nature will want you to commit more of that sin. Your soul will lust more for the sin you have just committed. Once you commit more of that sin, you will soon have a permanent relationship with that sin. And when you have a permanent relationship with sin, you will do sinful acts without thinking about God. This is the point that the devil wants you to be. He wants you to have a permanent relationship with sin so that sin could destroy you completely.
Undoubtedly, our bodies will one day die, but our soul will live forever. They will either live in eternity in hell or in the heart of God. A person who has been influenced by the Holy Spirit will always please the Lord, and due to that, they will one day live in eternal peace in the bosom of Jesus. But those who have allowed themselves to be controlled by the devil will not escape the second death, which is eternal torment in the lake of fire.