“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.”   ~ Hosea 14:4

Backsliding refers to going backwards both spiritually and morally. We all backslide from time to time. The good news is God never condemns us, He just keeps calling us back. We fall into our old habits and He helps us get back up. We fall again, He picks us up again, and the cycle continues.

So, does that mean we will always be in a losing battle with our fleshly desires? Satan would love to have us think so, he is the whole reason we have this battle with sin in the first place. He is the cause of this fallen world, and he is the one that has waged this war. However, the battle has already been won! All we have to do is acknowledge what Jesus did on the cross and accept that we are no longer bound to sin.

“Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”   ~ 1 John 5:5

We can all be overcomers. We can overcome bad habits, addictions, and sin in every form through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God. Through this indwelling power we can refuse to act on Satan’s temptations and evil urges. We get to choose who we will listen to, God or Satan.

Will we continue to be tempted? Yes . . . Satan will temp us for the rest of our lives, but giving into sin and turning away from God is no longer an option. Once we have turned our lives over to Jesus we can rest in the security the He has us and Satan no longer has any power over us.

The Lord will always take us back, He will prompt us to turn around and hear Him, He will do everything in His power to beckon us back to Him and His ways. But it’s still our free will choice to believe Him and trust His word, or listen to the deceiver and fall away.

“Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we shall be restored…”   ~ Lamentations 5:21

If we truly want to walk with the Lord and expect Him to hear our prayers and lead us into His will, we must turn from our sinful ways. It’s just that simple.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”   ~ Psalm 66:18

Trying to communicate with God while we’re still practicing iniquity is like trying to find our way out of the jungle with a broken compass. We will just keep walking in circles until we find our true north, repent and stop deliberately sinning.

“Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears Him.”   ~ John 9:31

God continually beckons us to repent and turn from our sinful ways. He begs us to return to Him and become obedient to His word. We are the disobedient people that He calls to in the Bible. We are spiritual Israel. Yes, we are that stiff-necked, contrary people that God is pleading with to come back to Him throughout the entire Bible.

“…All day long I have stretched out My hands, to a disobedient and contrary people.”   ~ Romans 10:21

We are all backsliders. We have all sinned and fallen short, but we are all still very loved by God. Our heavenly Father desires that we all come back to Him and stop turning away. We can all become overcomers of evil.

“…You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from Me.”  ~ Jeremiah 3:19

The only way to stop this vicious cycle is to stay solid in your relationship with the Lord. Keep your nose in His book, stay in continual communication with Him . . . and He will do the rest. God desires that none should parish. He will heal our sinful hearts and remove our desire to continue to sin if we return to Him and trust in Him. Only then will we stop backsliding!

“Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding . . .”   ~ Jeremiah 3:22

Now that we’ve learned how to finally stop backsliding … join me next week as we ask the real biggie, will God forgive me?

Get the answer on my next post, or sign up below for an email reminder.