1) You Are No Longer Guilty of Sin
Forgiveness delivers you from the guilt of sin. The guilt of sin destroys many people. The guilt of sin is different from godly sorrow. Godly sorrow is a state of humility and conviction in which a person feels grieved because he has offended a God who loves him deeply. The guilt of sin, on the other hand, is a condition of the soul in which a person condemns himself or accepts the accusations of the devil and concludes that he is unworthy even of God’s grace.
That is the difference between Judas Iscariot and Peter. One condemned himself under the influence of the devil, took his own life, and became eternally doomed. The other felt sorrow because he offended the God who loved him so much, and when grace came, he received it.
If you do not understand forgiveness, you will live in guilt all your life. That guilt will lead you into depression, and depression will drive you into helplessness until you become a slave to sin forever. Guilt does not deliver anyone—you may cry because of guilt and still return to the same sin. Instead of turning to God, you will continue running away from Him because guilt convinces you that you are too dirty for God to receive you.
Forgiveness, however, makes you understand that no matter how dirty you are, God has a remedy. A person who understands forgiveness turns to God, but a person who does not understand forgiveness turns away from God.
2) Plant Yourselves by the Rivers of Living Water to Break Free from lust
Psalms 1:1–3: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”
Most Christians fall into sin because they have not planted themselves by the rivers of living water.
You need to remain by the river. Sin is not the ultimate problem because God has already dealt with it and has given you what it takes to overcome it. That is why God is not troubled. The real issue is our inability to grow spiritually, and many Christians have drifted away from the river of living water.
The Bible says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” The solution is not merely trying harder; it is remaining connected to the source of life.
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3) Find the Voice of God to Tell You What to Do
Pray earnestly, and you will surely hear the voice of God. During prayer, God may instruct you to pray at night because the reason you keep living in sin is spiritual laziness and weakness. Your spiritual senses may have become dormant, so God places a demand on you to rise and pray at night. As you begin to do so, your spirit becomes sober and alert, and that spiritual alertness produces a strength greater than lust.
For another person, the Holy Spirit may prescribe deeper involvement in fellowship because what he needs is inspiration from the right environment. He may begin by doing something simple, such as arranging or cleaning chairs in church. While serving, he notices a brother praying fervently in tongues.
At first, he may think, “Maybe this brother is praying for a job.” But after seeing the same brother praying passionately month after month, he begins to ask himself, “Is it truly possible for a human being to pray like this?”
Without realizing it, that brother becomes part of his deliverance. The law of the Spirit of life directed him to serve in church because that environment would expose him to what he needed. Sometimes, watching another believer pray sincerely can awaken a hunger for God within you.
After observing that brother consistently for weeks, he may begin to imagine himself praying the same way. Eventually, in his own room, he starts praying with that same passion, and suddenly the power of God comes upon him. God used another believer’s spirituality as a tool for his deliverance.
The law of the Spirit of life understands the depth of every person’s weakness. Three drunkards will not receive deliverance the same way, and three fornicators will not overcome sin through the same process. The damage that sin causes differs from person to person, and only the Spirit of God can prescribe the exact remedy your soul needs.
4) The Law of the Spirit of Life
You cannot merely advise people out of sin—you must power them out of sin. That power already exists within them, but only the law of the Spirit of life can awaken it. The moment you enter into the reality of forgiveness, sin begins to lose its power over your life, and you begin to walk in victory.
When we were children, our parents sometimes forgave us after serious acts of disobedience. That forgiveness often made us more responsible because we no longer wanted to disappoint them. We obeyed out of love and loyalty rather than fear of punishment. We felt sorrow whenever we saw disappointment on their faces.
As children, our parents also taught us to look left and right before crossing the road. At the time, we obeyed because it was a rule, not because we understood its purpose. They knew we were easily distracted and wanted to protect us. What felt like bondage to us was actually wisdom designed for our safety.
But when we matured, no one needed to repeat those instructions. We naturally became aware and cautious because understanding had replaced mere regulation.
In the same way, God wanted to deliver us from sin, so He introduced us to forgiveness. Paul struggled with sin for a long time until he concluded that what the law could not accomplish, the Spirit of life accomplished through grace. He stopped depending solely on rules and regulations because he entered into a relationship with God. He discovered a divine mechanism within him that enabled him to live above sin, and he began responding to that life.
When I first started discipling people, if someone confessed to fornication, I would prescribe a seven-day fast. If that did not seem to work, I would increase it to fourteen days, then twenty-one days, while praying intensely with the person.
Sometimes they would say, “Man of God, God has helped me. Something left me on the fourteenth day of the fast.” But many times, that was not true. They simply appreciated my compassion and did not want to discourage me. Later, when they fell into sin again, they would avoid me and move to another pastor because they felt ashamed.
So, I changed my approach. Instead of prescribing only fasting, I focused more on prayer and genuine encounters with God. We would pray at 6:00 AM and again at 9:00 PM for many days, trusting God for transformation. Some people truly encountered God, while others became spiritually stirred yet still struggled with lust.
When they sinned again, they often disappeared for days before returning in tears, saying, “Apostle, I fell again.”
Then I asked God, “What is happening?”
And the Lord replied, “You have played your part. Allow Me to play Mine. What you are trying to do is what only I can do. Your job is to bring them to Me, and I will begin the work in them.”
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5) All Christians Should Respond to the Law of the Spirit of Life
The power to overcome sin is not external but internal—it is the law of the Spirit of life.
When we lead people to God and teach them prayer, fasting, and the Word, we expect them to become sensitive to the movements of the Spirit because sin itself operates through inward motions and desires. In the same way that sinful desires kept a person bound, the law of the Spirit of life is the only power capable of breaking those chains from within.
The teaching of God’s Word, prayer, and fasting are external triggers meant to awaken an internal reality. If you do not respond to the law of the Spirit of life, you will never consistently live above sin.
For example, pornography only triggers lust that already exists within a person. If lust were absent, pornography would have no power over you. The real battle, therefore, is not only against sin itself but also against the things that trigger it.
If social media triggers sinful desires, then remove it. If alcohol leads you into sin, stay away from it completely. You cannot run away from bees while carrying honey—the bees will continue to follow you until you drop it.
Prayer, fasting, and the Word of God awaken the law of the Spirit of life. When you meet someone who constantly lies, the Spirit may not even instruct him to fast or pray first. Instead, God may tell him to become generous because the root problem is selfishness. As he begins to give freely, God breaks the power of self-centeredness in his soul, and eventually the lying also loses its hold over him.
For some people, only intense prayer can awaken their spirit. If such a person desires to live above sin, he must remain around fervent prayer and spiritual fire. Listening to powerful prayers and tongues for hours may awaken his spirit and weaken the power of sin over his life.
This is one of the mysteries of God. It is difficult to explain fully because each person must personally discover what awakens his spirit. Once you discover what strengthens your walk with God, remain connected to it for as long as possible.
Even your friendships should be chosen carefully. Some friends awaken your spirit the moment they speak, while others awaken lust, compromise, and immorality. Certain people communicate the presence of God whenever they speak. Their words pierce the soul because God’s voice rests upon them. Others speak with a depth that draws you closer to God like the sound of many waters. You continue listening to such people not merely because you admire them, but because your spiritual life depends on those sounds. Therefore, choose your friendships according to how they influence your spirit and soul.
I do not know what you are struggling with, but in Jesus’ name, may everything required for you to live above sin be brought to your consciousness.
There is power to live above both conscious and unconscious sin. If we remain yielded to God long enough, that power will become active in our lives.
Inspired by Apostle Michael Orokpo Sermon
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