Is it possible?
Is it actually a legitimate possibility to live free from the issues, angst, and strongholds that cloud our consciences, hurt our loved ones, and dull our spiritual sensitivities?
God thinks yes.
In Jeremiah 3:22 the prophet recorded God’s hope-filled promise, “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding” (Jeremiah 3:22).
What an awesome phrase! “Cured of backsliding.” How is that possible? How do we become cured of the sins that have plagued and defeated us for a lifetime? According to Jeremiah, the cure is in the returning.
“Return…I will cure you.”
Every time we return–moving toward a place of increasing surrender and reliance on God–the cure works a little deeper into our spirit, liberating us from sin’s addictive pull. This doesn’t mean that we’ll never struggle or stumble–it means that if we are habitual returners our backsliding will never have the final word.
Jude, Jesus’ natural half-brother, said it this way. He said that God is “able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24).
Let’s be lifelong returners until we are characterized by the cure.
I personally believe this to be true Chris, in fact I’m living it out, with great successes in some areas and continued struggles in others. He is a God of restoration, giving the blinded sight, curing leprosy, casting out demons, raising the dead! The battle becomes to trust in His timing. As I believe your post presents well, backsliding is not the coming up short (yet again and again and again), backsliding is the losing of hope and not getting back up. If our sight is always on the Healer, then even as Paul struggled with an undefined thorn that he begged God to remove, he pressed on in his ministry in spite of the answer being no. If we are doing our best, authentically chasing after Christ’s purposes and pleasures in the way we live out our life, then we can rest assured He will speak on our behalf come judgment day, and if He so chooses we will see progressive victory over Satan’s lies and strongholds in this life, we must simply never give up!!!
Amen
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