though the flesh is right about one thing, that the ways of God is like resentment to the flesh,
what the flesh fail to realize is that it's possible that your bad habit and your autopilot is resentful and your intent can still "call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved"
the idea of giving up sin can lead to feelings of deprivation, and here's a secret Satan doesn't want you to know: treat that lowly feeling of deprivation, as if God is humbling you, take the opportunity, and if you prefer the teachings from VCO where he said that the saved would want to love and obey God, ask God to help your heart love and obey God, this will take resolve and yes, I do have some apologizing to do, but more importantly we are on the same side, on the same team and we should not be divided over petty issues that Satan can create out of thin air.
and, when you are tempted to remember "but what about my good deeds in the past", consider how the righteousness of Christ exceeds the value of self-righteousness, whatever your good deeds are in the past, consider this "surrender the past, because the past is gone" the past is dead, the present is alive, forget the past, you are praying now as an expression of your salvation, and now is all that matters (and praying is not to gain salvation, even though that's what it feels like, praying for that moment is part of assurance, as dcon have said, you are saved in a microsecond)
and when temptation happen, the most effective prayer is to pray to God to steer your heart "pattern of desire" toward the right direction (the heart is the center, just like Israel)
Satan will continue to harass us, but God is our protector (Satan knows how salvation works anyway)
and Mr. VCO, I apologize for whatever the origin of our misunderstanding, I should have sympathy for the human mind, we can never live forever on this earth, and economic inflation is reason enough to store treasures in heaven, not on earth, where no thieves can steal from you.
the way I try to handle conflict is just as ineffective as trying to deal with sin on our own, we need the hands of God to help us
I wish to say I planned it, but why take pride in that, if it is God who controls all.
let's wipe our slate clean, shake hands with Mr. VCO, give a warm hug to Jesus (not yet physically) and give thanks to God
and leave whatever remaining hate we may have against Satan and leave it at that
2
pumpkin
