Three Secrets of Overcoming Sin
Zac Poonen | 22 May 2022


1. Flee
The best way to overcome temptation is to avoid it and flee from it - as Joseph did (Gen.39:7-12). Avoid all places and people that tempt you strongly and that make you weak. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” (Mat.6:13). In eternity you will be thankful that you did that. Even on earth, in a few years from now, you will be thankful that you avoided places and people that could have caused you to be tempted beyond your ability to overcome. Your avoiding such places and people is the way that you prove to the Lord that you are really eager to please Him alone. (Read Proverbs 7 in this connection. That is a good chapter for all young men to read every now and then).

Flee from too close a friendship with the opposite sex. Flee from literature (and websites) that provokes and stimulates your lusts. Flee even from the waste of time that there is in watching useless TV programs. Flee from listening to gossip. Listening to evil, reading evil, and watching evil, will only make you knowledgeable about evil. But why do you need that filthy information? It will only pollute you and destroy you. You must shut your ears and your eyes, from now onwards, to all such information. To know the evil that others do, will never make you wise. The Bible exhorts us to be “like infants, in matters of evil” (1 Cor.14:20). The mind of a child is pure from all evil. And the good news of the gospel is that even though we have spent so many years polluting our minds with evil information, if we really long to be free from it now, the Holy Spirit can help us to have the pure mind of a child once again. This is what the grace of God can do for us. Praise the Lord! We are called to be “innocent concerning what is evil and wise in what is good” (Rom.16:19). So, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how Jesus lived. Then you will know what it is to be “wise in what is good”.

2. Mourn
If you do fall into sin, you must immediately mourn and seek for pardon; otherwise, you will begin to take sin lightly, and then victory will become more and more difficult. So, you must learn to keep short accounts with God, confessing sin, and forsaking it and repenting from it, as soon as you are conscious of having come short of God's standards anywhere. If you mourn each time you fall into any sin, that indicates to God that you are really thirsting for a life of victory over sin. And so, whenever there is the slightest unrest in your conscience about something or the other, settle the matter immediately. Confess the sin to God at once, even if it has been only a failure in your thoughts. Apologize to whomever necessary. And you will then see how God strengthens you mightily.

3. Persist
That is the secret of victory. Keep at it - as a student keeps working at a homework problem until it is solved. The temptation to be discouraged is universal; but don't give up. God made a perfect plan for your life before you were born (Psalm 139:16). Don't let Satan ruin it. Whatever the cost, take a stand for the Lord. Jesus said in John 14:30 that when the prince of the world came, he could find nothing in Him. We are now called to walk as Jesus walked. When Satan comes to you, he must find nothing in you. This is why you must “always do your best to maintain a conscience that is without offence towards God and towards men” (Acts 24:16). You must seek God with all your heart for His help to live without sinning consciously. Yielding to your lusts will give a foothold to Satan in your life. Romans 6:1 asks the question, “Shall we continue in sin?” Then Romans 6:15 asks the question, “Shall we sin even once?” To both questions the answer is a resounding, “No, may it never be.” Temptations and mistakes will be a constant part of your life until the end of your life. But you can come to victory over conscious sin, after a while - and then falling will become rare thereafter.

दूसरों के लिए एक आशिष बनना
जैक पूनन | 15 May 2022

मत्ती 14:19 में, हम वे तीन क़दम पाते हैं जो हमें दूसरों के लिए एक आशिष होने की दिशा में बढ़ाते हैं:

(1) यीशु ने सभी रोटियों और मछलियों को लिया;

(2) उसने उन्हें आशिष दी; और

(3) उसने उन्हें तोड़ा।

तब लोगों की पूरी भीड़ ने खाया। प्रभु आपको भी इसी तरह दूसरों के लिए एक आशिष बनाना चाहता है। पहले आपको उसे सभी कुछ दे देना होगा, जैसे उस छोटे लड़के ने दे दिया था। तब वह पवित्र आत्मा की सामर्थ्य से आपको आशिष देगा। तब वह अनेक परीक्षाओं, झुंझलाहटों, टूटी आशाओं, नाकामिओं, बीमारियों, विश्वासघातों, आदि से आपको तोड़ेगा, आपको नम्र व दीन करेगा, और मनुष्यों की नज़र में आपको शून्य बना देगा। और तब, वह आपके द्वारा दूसरों को आशिष देगा। इसलिए जब वह आपको तोड़े, तो उसके हाथों में अपने आप को सौंप दे। बाइबल कहती है कि यीशु को पहले कुचला गया था, और फिर उसके हाथों में पिता का काम फला-फूला था (देखें यशायाह 53:10-12)।

यीशु ने उसके जीवन के अलग-अलग हालातों में उसकी मानवीय स्वेच्छा को टूटने दिया था। सिर्फ इस तरह ही वह स्वयं को एक निर्दोष रूप में पिता को अर्पित कर सका था। इस उद्देश्य को पूरा करने के लिए ही पवित्र आत्मा ने उसे सामर्थ्य से भरा था (इब्रानियों 9:14)। इसलिए जब आप भी पवित्र आत्मा को आपकी खुदी (स्वेच्छा) का बल तोड़ने की अनुमति देंगे, तो आप भी आत्मिक बन जाएंगे। जब भी आपकी सशक्त स्वेच्छा वह न करना चाहे जो आपके लिए परमेश्वर की इच्छा है, बल्कि वह अपनी ही मनमानी करना चाहे, तो यह बहुत ज़रूरी है कि आपकी खुदी में आपकी मनमानी (स्वेच्छा) टूटे।

आपका क्रूस उन जगहों में पाया जाएगा जहाँ परमेश्वर की इच्छा आपकी अपनी इच्छा (स्वेच्छा) का रास्ता काटेगी। उसी दोराहे पर आपकी अपनी इच्छा को क्रूस पर चढ़ना होगा। पवित्र आत्मा आपको वहाँ मरने के लिए कहेगा। अगर आप लगातार पवित्र आत्मा की आवाज़ सुनते रहेंगे, तो आप एक टूटी हुई मनोदशा में बने रहेंगे; और परमेश्वर ने उन लोगों को लगातार नया बल देने की प्रतिज्ञा की है जिनकी आत्माएं हमेशा टूटी रहती हैं। प्रभु कहता है, “मैं ऊँचे और पवित्र स्थान में रहता हूँ, और उनके संग भी रहता हूँ जो आत्मा में नम्र और दीन हैं, जिससे कि दीन की आत्मा को और नम्र हृदय को फिर से जीवित करूँ"(यशायाह 57:15 )।

हर समय एक ऐसे मनोभाव में रहना अच्छा है जिसमें हमें लगातार अपनी ज़रूरत का अपनी “आत्मा की नम्रता व दीनता" का अहसास होता रहे। लेकिन आपका यह विश्वास भी होना चाहिए कि परमेश्वर ऐसे सब लोगों को भी बड़ा प्रतिफल देता है जो बड़े यत्न के साथ उसको ढूँढते हैं। अगर आप यह विश्वास नहीं करते कि परमेश्वर आपको आशिष देगा और उसके सामर्थ्य से भरेगा, तो आत्मा में नम्र व दीन होने का सारा मूल्य व्यर्थ हो जाएगा।

हरेक कलीसिया में निर्धन और निर्बल लोगों के साथ सहभागिता करने की खोज में रहें। बच्चों से बात करें और उन्हें उत्साहित करें, क्योंकि ज्यादातर लोग बच्चों को अनदेखा करते हैं। एक कलीसिया में हमेशा नीची और उपेक्षित जगहों पर ध्यान दें और ऐसी सेवकाइयों की खोज में रहें जिन पर किसी की नज़र नहीं पड़ती। किसी भी कलीसिया में अपने लिए कभी किसी महत्वपूर्ण स्थान की खोज में न रहें, और न ही अपने दान- वरदानों और प्रतिभाओं से किसी को प्रभावित करने की कोशिश करें। लेकिन हरेक सभा में साक्षी देने में साहसी हों, और जहाँ भी ज़रूरी हो कलीसिया में अपनी सेवा दें- चाहे वह ज़मीन पर झाडू लगाना या पियानो बजाना हो। एक सेवकाई हासिल करने के लिए कभी किसी के साथ प्रतियोगिता न करें। अगर आप विश्वासयोग्य रहेंगे, तो सही समय में परमेश्वर स्वयं ही आपके लिए उस सेवकाई का द्वार खोल देगा जो उसने आपके लिए रखी है।

Becoming a Blessing to Others
Zac Poonen | 15 May 2022


In Matthew 14:19, we see the three steps to becoming a blessing to others:

(1) Jesus took ALL the loaves and fish;

(2) He blessed them; and

(3) He broke them.

Then the multitude was fed. This is how the Lord wants to make you a blessing to others too. You have to give Him everything first, as the little lad there did. Then He will bless you with the power of the Holy Spirit. Then He will break you through many trials, frustrations, disappointed hopes, failures, sicknesses, betrayals, etc., humble you, and reduce you to nothing in the eyes of men. Then, He will bless others through you. So, submit to His breaking. The Bible says that Jesus was first crushed and then the Father's work prospered in His hand (See Isa.53:10-12).

Jesus allowed His human self-will to be broken in the different situations in His life. Only thus was He able to offer Himself without spot to His Father. It was for this purpose that the Spirit strengthened Him (Heb.9:14). It is only as you also allow the Holy Spirit to break the strength of your own will that you will become spiritual. Your self-will must be broken at the times when you are tempted to do what your own strong self-life would like to do, instead of doing what God wants you to do.

Your cross will be found in those places where the will of God crosses your self-will. There your own will must be crucified. There the Spirit will tell you to die. If you obey the Spirit's voice consistently, you will remain constantly broken; and God has promised to give continuous revival to those who remain continuously broken in spirit. The Lord says, "I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isa.57:15).

It is good to remain at all times with a sense of your own need - "poor in spirit". But you must also believe that God mightily rewards all who diligently seek Him. All the value of being poor in spirit will be worthless, if you don't also believe that God will bless you and fill you with His power.

Seek fellowship with the poor and the weak, in every church, and encourage them. Talk to the children and encourage them, because most people neglect the children. Always seek for the low, unnoticed place, and for the unseen ministries in a church. Don't ever seek prominence in any church, and don't seek to impress anyone in any way, with your gifts or your talents. But be bold always to testify in every meeting, and to serve in every way possible in the church - whether cleaning the floor or playing the piano. Don't ever get into any competition with anyone, for any ministry. God Himself will open up the ministry that He has planned for you, at the right time, if you are faithful.