The reason so many Christians are fighting with the weeds of sin rather than being blessed in the fruit of the Spirit is that they are cutting down the weed, but not getting to the root.
Jesus died and rose again to take care of the judicial root of our sin. The Holy Spirit will get to the root of your heart and soul problems. Indeed, the old man is dead but he calls from the grave saying we are not really free and we need to fulfill the lusts of the flesh and walk in guilt and shame because of past failures or recent ones hoping to doom us to a life of defeat.
At best in our own strength we can make vows and attain some level of reformation. Sadly, too soon those vows are broken and we are broken down in guilt. Even if we can sustain our reformation for a long period we are in a constant state of battle or hypocrisy.
We need to be transformed and that requires much more than we have in our power. First of all, we may be attacking the wrong the thing. We are tackling the kid who stole a candy bar while a band of robbers cleans out our house. We are often blinded to the real issues.
Secondly, we may not want to face some issues because they are painful or we have buried them so we cannot address them without those issues being dug up and that is painful as well.
God knows the issues and the root causes. When we come to Jesus and the Word the Holy Spirit assists in our spiritual surgery.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
If we try to address an anger problem without knowing the root we will
always battle with it to keep it under control when it needs to be defeated once and for all. You may battle with porn, but the root issue may be the abuse you received as a child be it sexual or other abuse rather than lust. If you do not come to grips with the root and allow God to heal it and give you the peace to forgive you will never have complete victory.
God wants to kill the roots and the requires spiritual heart, soul and mind surgery to get the root. The first operation was salvation. When you came to Him the root sin issue was excised. That prepared the way for many other surgeries to come in this life. Your pride maybe came from responding to the constant verbal abuse and degradation as a child. Not knowing they were wrong you overcompensated and became an arrogant, prideful bore. You cannot be humbled and balanced until you see that you have been on both sides of the pendulum swing.
The list of ailments is lengthy. You can reform, sedate and exhilarate to compensate, but it is all in vain. Come to God's operating room. Let Him perform the delicate surgery require to transform you. You can change the mind and slightly change your life. God can change your heart which changes your mind. Change the heart, change the mind and you change from redundant life to abundant life. The Doctor is always in. Ask Him get pull out all the roots that are affecting your relationship with Him, other people and you. Maranatha!
