Regarding the above video by that so eloquent a Believing sister in the Lord, it remains fascinating to me the difference in results in the Lord that different Believers tell of.
She relates she still struggles with the temptations of homosexuality her flesh would tempt her to indulge.
Other Believers report the temptation completely gone.
And Believers of all sorts report one or the other of those two experiences, as to one temptation, or another.
I myself still recall that when I first began to see in Scripture what I later found out from others was known as Acts 9 Dispensationalism, my use of four letter words returned.
I was sharing this yesterday with someone on the phone and they responded that that had been a result of the freedom from the bondage of religion that my having begun to see Acts 9 distinctions like law in contrast to...grace, had resulted in.
Though I understood where he was coming from (the doctrine that grace not only frees you from the "have to, or else" but then enables you to...be accountable) I had to admit that that had not been the case.
That only in the moment that I became aware that my swearing had returned, was I aware it had vanished for a time.
That I had not worked on getting rid of it, rather; that it had not only vanished on its own, but that until that moment I found it had returned, I had been unaware it had vanished.
Of course, I then proceeded to work on eradicating it's return to my vocabulary, as the Apostle Paul often instructs.
Still, I found this momentary, very personsal glimpse into these kinds of things, a fascinating one.
Its questions and answers in light of the Word, remaining fascinating ones to this very day.
Obviously, the whole of the actual dynamic going on within such things, is a complex one.
One obviously comprised of various, interconnected components.
How is it that one Believer reports their struggle as to one thing or another continues, and yet another reports no longer experiencing said struggle?
As when one Believer finds that upon their first having Believed that Christ died for their sins, in that very instance their battle with one addiction or another, simply...vanished.
In contrast to those Believers who find that no, their battle did not end upon their first having Believed that Christ died for their sins.
And the Apostle Paul in his writings (which really amount to "instruction in ...righteousness") appears very much aware of the existence of both those different experiences - in different Believers.
I greatly suspect the answer to such seeming dichotomies in "deliverance" experiences between different Believers is one the Lord has much more to say on in His Word than most who either struggle with such issues, or who conclude they have arrived at some last word on, have yet to arrive at.
The study of this dynamic: the dynamic of actual change, remains a fascinating one for me.
The answer to which, at least for the Believer, is perhaps in what one Pastor-Teacher has often noted is to basically be the Believer's focus this side of Grace: the focus that can be - the focus that is -"Don't judge yourself by your failures (Behavior), rather, by who (Identity) God says in His Word, He has made you in His Son."
For in Scripture - especially this side of Grace - Behaviour is meant to be impacted by awareness of Identity, not...the other way around.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such WERE some of you: but ye ARE washed, but ye ARE sanctified, but ye ARE justified IN the name of the Lord Jesus, and BY the Spirit of OUR God.
Rom. 5:6-8.
lain: You go with Dante.
