"Therefore do not go on judging anything before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God." (1 Cor 4:5).

This does not mean men will not try to judge us by appearance, but unless their judgment is motivated out of relationship with Jesus (Jesus coming and revealing the heart of the matter) backed by true investigation of the objective facts, their judgment has no valid basis, because only Jesus truly knows the motives of our hearts.¹¹⁰

Therefore, outside of obvious sin in our lives, we are grieving the Holy Spirit when Jesus by the Spirit makes known plainly to us that that is what we are doing.

Paul says in another passage, "But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:31). Paul is not talking here about self-introspection to try and find any unconfessed sin in our lives. He is, first, talking about dealing with obvious sin, what we know is sin in our lives. Second, he is talking about sin in our lives made known to us by Jesus through the Holy Spirit as a result of our asking Jesus to make known to us any sin in our lives before partaking of communion. Third, I believe it is talking about wrongly judging others from appearance’s sake before knowing all the facts and heart motivation behind others’ actions.¹¹¹ Jesus said, "Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it shall be measured to you." (Matt 7:1-2).

If we judge others wrongfully then Jesus says He will judge us. Paul said that because of false judgment, "Many of you are weak and sick, and a number sleep" (1 Cor 11:30). How many of our brothers’ and sisters’ faith has been destroyed as a result of our wrongly judging them, by our comparing them to ourselves and by what we see only on the surface?¹¹² Many good Christians who needed our love and support have been weakened, made sick, and even died spiritually as well as physically because of our, many times unintentional, self-righteous, moralizing condemnation of their lives without any true heart factual basis? And how many times have we been hindered in our own spiritual, mental, and physical development because of our wrong slander of others? The writer of Proverbs states, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion" (Prov 28:13).¹¹³

We judge ourselves and others rightly when we look to Jesus and Jesus alone for His evaluation of our lives and others when taken into consideration with objective reality as well. Christianity is Jesus centeredness, not self-centeredness. Self centeredness and other-centeredness leads only to strife, self-condemnation, self-righteousness, intolerance of others’ weaknesses, etcetera. Because Christianity is Jesus centered, our confession of sin, aside from known sin, must be motivated out of relationship with Jesus to be meaningful and have healing virtue that will lead to life, because Jesus is Life.¹¹⁴

When Jesus by the Holy Spirit makes us aware of an attitude or action in our lives that is not pleasing to Him, that is no longer surrendered to Him, He is doing this so that we can surrender or resurrender that area of our lives to Him.

One morning during my quiet time the Lord renewed to me the reality if we are to be anything in Him it must come out of relationship with Him. Jesus-stimulated by the Holy Spirit, not self-stimulated through the flesh. Self-stimulation leads to strife, self-righteousness, intolerance, and lack of love for self and others.

Jesus wants our strength, life, and change to come as a result of knowing and relating to Him. Therefore, when He makes us aware of an area of our lives not pleasing to Him or not healthy to ourselves or to others in attitude or action, He is doing this so that we will recognize our need of Him in that area of our lives and thus have more of Him in our lives. He is doing it so we can turn our weaknesses into His strengths.¹¹⁵ When Jesus shows us weaknesses or sin in our lives, it is not to make us feel bad or be self-condemning, but to show us our lack of Him, His power, and strength not ours, in that area of our lives.

The thing to do when Jesus manifests an area of weakness or sin in our lives is to thank Him for illuminating that area of our lives so that we will recognize more of our need of Him, and thus can have more of Jesus in our lives and so that we will surrender that area of our lives to Him enabling Him to manifest His strength to us in that area of weakness or sin. The end result will be that Jesus will manifest more of Himself to the world through us by His changing us by His power through the Holy Spirit.

When we take a wrong response over manifested sin or weakness through self-pity, self-condemnation, or self-strife over the problem, we unintentionally push Jesus even further away from ourselves in that area and manifest more of ourselves and the flesh; and thus Jesus is not manifested and glorified through the manifested weakness or sin in our lives.

These kind of responses manifest pride. Pride is simply saying, I do not need Jesus. I can overcome in my own strength and power. It is saying, Jesus, I would rather do it myself.

How do we allow Jesus to bring healing in an area of sin and weakness in our lives and thus manifest and glorify Jesus in our lives? We do it first through confession of the sin in our lives. We agree with Jesus that that attitude or action brought to our attention through the ministry of the Holy Spirit is sin. Confession involves repentance. This means turning away from the sin committed (Lk 17:1-4). We then by faith thank Jesus for His forgiveness according to His promise in the first epistle of John, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn 1:9).

When we say by faith we mean that we accept the fact of Jesus’ forgiveness over our sins confessed based on His promise in 1 John 1:9, not on our feelings. Our feelings can change, but not the promises of God’s Word. Your forgiveness is a fact because God’s Word declares it, not because you feel it.

I want you to notice that nothing is said about asking for forgiveness. God automatically forgives you at the moment of your confession; or, the moment you confess your sin, God’s word says that you are automatically forgiven. This is true whether your sin was a small lie or something as gross as committing murder. There is no sin so small or so big that it cannot be forgiven at the moment of confession. Why is this true? Because the penalty for sin is the same for telling a small lie or committing murder: Death! And the solution for our sin is the same no matter how great or small: Jesus dying in our place. It is because of Jesus dying in our place that we are automatically forgiven at the moment of our confession, no matter how small or great our sin.

As was already stated, experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness is not based on feelings. Many times after we confess our sins to Jesus we may still feel guilty, but you can be fully assured that this guilt is not coming from Jesus. It may be coming from the devil or your flesh, but it is not coming from Jesus. The only thing that is coming from Jesus is what is consistent with His Word,

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Ps 103:12).

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." (Ps 103:13).

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." (Is. 43:25).

"I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist." (Is 44:22).

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn 1:9).

What do we do with false feelings of guilt once our known sins are confessed? Simply ignore them and thank Jesus that you are forgiven because His Word declares it, not because you feel it.

The second step to being refilled with the Holy Spirit is reappropriating Jesus Lordship over that area or attitude according to one, Paul’s command: be filled with the Spirit. And, two, John’s promise: that if we ask Jesus to do anything according to His will, He hears us and answers us. Here is a suggested way to pray:

Again, as was said before, this is not based on feelings, but on the trustworthiness of Jesus’ promises in His Word. The promises are that if we confess our sins we are automatically forgiven (1 Jn 1:9) and if we ask Him to fill us with His Spirit in that known area of our life, we can accept it as being done because of His command (Eph 5:18) and promise (1 Jn 5:14-15) that He will do anything we ask Him to do that is according to His will. It is Jesus’ will that you be filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you practice the principle of staying filled with the Holy Spirit every time a known sin is brought to your attention by Jesus through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you will be able to experience Jesus’ love and plan for your life and Jesus’ forgiveness on a continuous basis, twenty-four hours a day.

The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:8 and Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:20,

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8).

"Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins." (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

You are a human being. Because you are a human being, you are going to sin, but Jesus through this principle of being filled with the Holy Spirit has provided us an immediate way to deal with sin when we do, so we can continue to experience His forgiveness until He comes back and gives us our new bodies which will not sin.

As long as you are on this side of heaven, you are going to fall into sin from time to time. If you can accept that reality, you will be able to accept yourself. Jesus wants you to face yourself realistically. He knows you are going to sin from time to time. It is no surprise to Him when you do. The sin you commit ten years from now, Jesus knew you were going to commit ten years earlier when you received Him. He does not want you to be bogged down with your failures. He just wants you to confess them so you can continue to experience His forgiveness, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then give it to Him so He can change you Himself so you will not keep falling into the same sin, and so you can continue in His plan for your life. Basically Jesus wants you to love yourself as you are no matter where you are because He does. Jesus does love you as you are. You cannot surprise Jesus with anything in your life. You are loved and accepted. Accept it!¹¹⁶

Finally, ask Jesus for His grace and strength to overcome the problems of your flesh by praying the following prayer:

Jesus, I confess to You that I cannot overcome my problems in my own strength and power and so by faith pray for Your grace, strength and power to overcome these problems in my flesh. By faith thank You for the answer to these prayers in Your name Jesus, Amen.

Whenever you find yourself having conflict with a problem in your flesh, get down on your knees and pray this prayer and ask Jesus for His grace and strength to overcome the problem in Your flesh.

To stay strong in Jesus against the temptations of your soul and flesh you need to feed on Jesus by spending daily time with Him in His Word and weekly time in Church-fellowship.

HOW tO hAVE VICTORY oVER SIN

When we are not using our time according to God’s will, we are not walking in the Holy Spirit. In fact, when we are not using our time according to God’s will we are out of the Holy Spirit all together and are walking in the flesh. Since the flesh is in bondage to sin and never did obey God’s laws, when you are walking in the flesh you will sin and you are sinning. You are sinning because Paul wrote in Romans 14:23 "But He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." The only time we are walking in faith is when what we are doing is initiated by the Holy Spirit. Therefore to not seek God in your use of time and then obey Him in that use of time is a sin in itself, because "Whatever is not from faith is sin."

As you learn to walk in the Spirit moment by moment through being filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus will begin developing the fruits of the Holy Spirit in your life. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.¹⁰⁷ These fruits are not developed overnight. They come about as a result of our daily choosing to walk in obedience to the personal individual dictates of Jesusto our lives through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They are produced through our focusing on obedience to Jesus’ Lordship, not through focusing on the fruits themselves. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is not something you try to produce. It is the natural by-product of abiding in the Vine. Jesus is that Vine. Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5). You are abiding in the Vine, Jesus, when you are obeying His personal dictates to your life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Learning to be filled with the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ first purpose in our lives because it begins the development of His character in our lives. This then results in the development of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives which results in our being a witness to the world of God’s love and forgiveness with our lives as well as our lips. Jesus said in Matthew, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16).