Falling off the Wagon (I sinned again)

By: Bill Keller, Evangelist

"So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!"(1 Corinthians 10:12)
Have you ever battled or are still battling with something in your life in which you promise the Lord you will stop; but you go back to it? You might have a battle with your weight and tell the Lord no more sweets; two nights later you are sitting at your kitchen table eating something sweet. You have a battle with smoking and finally tell the Lord you won't smoke again; twenty-four days later you are having a cigarette. You battle to pray and tell the Lord every morning and night I will pray, come the next day and what do you do? You are not praying but instead sleeping, perhaps. What do you do when you decide once and for all to take a stand over whatever bondage you may be battling in your life, to start living in victory over that bondage, but then fall off the wagon?

When you fall off the wagon, you feel like a failure. You are consumed with guilt and shame. You can't believe after you did so good you fell. You are disgusted with yourself for being so weak. You know in your heart you not only let the Lord down, but broke your promise to Him. On top of all of those feelings and emotions, here comes the devil to pour salt in the fresh wound. He reemphasizes what a failure you are, how you lied to Jesus and how He wants nothing to do with you, that whatever goes wrong in your life is God punishing you for falling, how the Bible is a lie otherwise you would have been delivered from this bondage, God really doesn't expect you to be perfect.

The fact is EVERYONE has bondages that we fight throughout the course of our life. Would you agree that lying is as much of a bondage as drugs? Gossiping is as much of a bondage as stealing. Anger is as much of bondage as alcohol. The fact is we all have bondages in our life. Some people may not be fighting the more visible and popular bondages, but anything that is keeping you from being like Jesus and living in obedience to God's Word is bondage!
Since we all fight different bondages during our life, it is critical to talk about what happens when we fall off the wagon or fail since that is part of the battle. Let me say right up front, when you fail it doesn't mean you don't love the Lord or aren't really saved. It simply means your flesh is weak. Paul summed up this classic battle between our flesh and the Spirit in Romans 7:15 when he stated that, "He did the things he didn't want to do and didn't do the things he wanted to do." We are men and women of flesh and blood. Our flesh is weak. Failure is part of the human experience.

Does that make it OK to sin? OF COURSE NOT! Is it an excuse to sin? OF COURSE NOT! Does it mean we are doomed to failure? OF COURSE NOT! It simply means that in the course of battling with whatever bondage you may be dealing with, you may have a moment of weakness and fail God. What I want to is share with you is how to respond to your failure. What do you do when you fall off the wagon?

The first thing you do is go to God and ask Him to forgive you. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. After you go to God and confess your sins, asking Him to forgive you, the next step is to go back to living in victory over your bondage as you were before you fell. It is the old saying ‘when you fall off a horse get right back on’. Don't ever forget, you have an enemy that wants to see you fail, that takes delight when you fail. If you do fall off the wagon, ask the Lord's forgiveness and then get right back to living in victory and freedom over your bondage.

This is where your faith has to take over and becomes so important. You have to realize that even though your bondage is in the natural, what you are really fighting is a spiritual battle. While you need to have the practical day-to-day pieces in place to live in victory, things like being accountable to others, staying away from people, places, or things that could cause you to fall, working hard to keep from being in a position to be tempted, you also have to work on the spiritual aspects of walking in victory. The Bible tells us that our battles are NOT against flesh and blood, but they are spiritual. (Ephesians 6:10-18).

That is why we have to be praying every day, all throughout the day. We have to be in the Word of God every day, taking time to study and meditate on His Truth. We have to be part of a local church to be fed and grow spiritually, to have fellowship with other Believers, to serve the Lord.
These are the basics we have to be doing to stay connected to the Lord each day and stay strong spiritually. We already know our flesh is weak, so we can never lose sight that it is a constant daily battle to live in victory. We can never take for granted that we have won and are safe, since the second we stop doing the things necessary to keep our faith strong, that is when we will fall.
Today's verse from 1 Corinthians is the key. We can never stop doing the things we must do to stay strong spiritually or we will fail God. I know in my own life as I have worked to overcome different bondages in my life, to try to become more like Jesus each day, when I am not praying as hard as I should, or when I am not reading and studying the Word like I should, or when I am not doing all the things to stay strong spiritually that I should, that is when I fail God. When you stop doing all the things you need to do each day to stay strong spiritually, that is when you will fall off the wagon.

I’m sure we all know what it is like to fight some bondage in your life, get victory for a period of time, then fail. That is part of life. The Book of First John was written to Believers and tells us that if we say we don't sin then we are a liar. God doesn't stop loving you or caring about you. His promises didn't change, they are still true. My word for you is that when you are in the battle over some bondage in your life and fall off the wagon, go to God and tell Him you are sorry and then get back on that road to victory!
Don't waste precious time having a pity party and being discouraged. Don't sit there and listen to Satan lie to you. Get back to doing the practical and spiritual things you need to do in your life each day and start enjoying the great feeling it is to live your life in obedience to God and His Word and in victory over those weaknesses in your life. God has much work for you to do, so the quicker you get back to walking on the road of victory, the quicker you can get back to fulfilling your purpose in this life which is to serve and glorify Him!

God is a God of restoration and He wants to restore you today so that you can not only live in victory over your bondage, but know the peace and joy of your relationship with Him. We all wish we could go back and do things different in our life but that is not reality. The reality is if you have fallen off the wagon it is time to get up, dust yourself off, and get back into that close, intimate daily walk with the Lord so that you are operating in His strength and not your own. In your strength it is only a matter of time before you fail. In His strength, you will not fail but live in VICTORY!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)