A reader recently wrote: “David Berkowitz ( Son of Sam ) wrote a letter to Fox news stating he would not seek parole. He said that he did not deserve societies’ forgiveness but that he was at peace because he has received Gods’ grace. The story mentioned his website – www.ariseandshine.org – His writings on his conversion and his ministry since, were quite inspiring for me. Such as your life story, if God can take the hands of a man such as this & turn them to spread His word, well, like your favorite passage – all things are possible!”
Hmmm… Son of Sam murdered six people and wounded seven more. Now he is tending to the chapel and praising Jesus.
Another reader wrote: “I have been giving in to my dark side lately and I feel like such a failure. There are so many good and constructive things that I can do, but as it is often the case; the good that I can do, I do not do.
Why is it so darn difficult to; in essence “get my head out of my rear end?” People constantly forget that there is a spiritual war being waged behind our backs and when we forget, we fail. We succumb to our old dark selves and it seems that all the spiritual progress that we sometimes manage to make has been for nothing. This is disheartening, but I have decided to give it one more try.
I am sharing this with you because reading about your own struggles gives me hope. I do pray to God that your dark side may never rear its head again and that it may completely vanish from your imagination and your heart. God bless you Bob and thank you for the inspiration. Pray for me, won’t you?”
Yes I am praying for my friend and I ask all of you to do likewise.
Hmmm… Does the threat of our dark sides ever leave us? I don’t think so. I believe it will always remain, not just for David Berkowitz and Bob Williamson, but for all people. The difference in my life is that the Holy Spirit restrains my dark side and consequently I’m no longer looking for a tire iron to smash someone’s face and remove their teeth. And from the article mentioned above it sounds as though the former “Son of Sam” is now receiving messages from Jesus and He ain’t telling him to murder people like that dog satan.
We are in a spiritual war. The good thing is that we already know the outcome. God is going to destroy our opponent, and we will win the war. In the meantime we have many battles to fight and we are told to resist and we are given specific instructions on how best to do that. We engage in daily prayer, daily Bible study, daily fellowship with other believers, daily living righteously, and most of all each day having unswerving faith which comes from hearing the word of God.
When we fail to do ANY of the above, we are in danger of succumbing to our weakness. We need the full armor of God and I suggest you suit up in it every day. The Bible cannot lie and it states that satan will flee from us if we resist him and put on the whole armor of God.
The reader who is floundering has good company. The Apostle Paul wrote much of the New Testament and was truly a man loved by Christ and yet he wrote: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
This happens because the sinful nature is attacking us and the spiritual nature is fighting it back. It is explained in Galatians: For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
So much for identifying the problem, now God tells us that the solution lies in where we live.
Romans 8:5
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.