Backward

Do you realize that everything you listen to, or read, or see affects your spiritual stance with God?  It's important that we soak up the good, the lovely, the wholesome, the positive - because this is what will affect our heart and prevent us from sliding backward.

Scripture suggests that mans' rebellion basically originates in his thoughts. Before rebellion and sin ever takes place, it is usually conjured or schemed up in a man's thought process. No one backslides or falls away from God's grace overnight. No one who walks in close fellowship with Christ and who has come to know and understand the mighty, powerful works of the Spirit....... steps out of bounds in the twinkling flash of a moment. But those steps are pondered.

Sin and rebellious thoughts that are against God's plan, purpose, and precepts are in one's mind long before the act of sin begins. We must keep a grip on our thoughts and what our senses soak up everyday. We must pay attention to what we are exposed to.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, the Word teaches that christians possess the power to live overcoming lives. Here, we are taught that we must refuse to live according to the carnal nature of man (the flesh) and that we must pull down the strongholds of the enemy. 

We are also taught that if we want to live holy and pure before God, we must, "cast down imaginations" or evil thoughts. And cast down, "every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" or those things that tend to push strongly against us and what we have learned to be true (according to God's Word).

The ultimate authority for the christian is the Word of God. We must strive to live by its' precepts. And through the power of God's spirit which lives within us, we can overcome and not slide backward.