The Promise Ring Of The Heart

My inspiration to write this piece came quite recently as I listened to a teaching by my

Pastor. As he went on to inspire us towards holiness in Christ, It suddenly made sense.

You see, for so long I struggled with the concept of holiness and righteousness in
Christ. I thought to myself, " How can I be holy when my nature is sinful. How am I to
live a holy life in Christ, when the very ideology seems far reaching and honestly,
impossible." I pictured a God who was radiantly beautiful, cloaked and clothed in white;
He sat on a pure throne with not an iota of sin. He couldn't sin. He hated sin. He sat on
a holy seat and was surrounded completely by all things holy and the evil that was sin,
run from His presence! Then, I looked at myself and wondered, How am I supposed to
be the righteousness of God (2nd Corinthians 5:21)

So, How did I get to this point of "I can do it"?

As I listened to my spiritual Father and mentor teach, he spoke about how proud and
thrilled he was, when a lady told him that the ring she was wearing was a symbol of the
promise she made to God to abstain from sex before marriage. At that moment, I heard
the Spirit of God say " The promise ring is not just about abstaining from sex. It is about
abstaining from all sin and setting yourself apart for God." I was a little confused at that
moment. I wondered, 'how can a purity ring relate to other kinds of sin?' He said '​Sin is
sin​" and led me to James 2:10 'For whoever keeps the ​whole law​ and yet ​stumbles in
one point​, has become ​guilty of all​'; then, to Romans 6:6 'Knowing this, that our old
man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should ​no longer be slaves of sin​' and finally, Romans 8:10-11 '​If Christ is in you,
the body is dead because of sin​, but ​the Spirit is life​ because of righteousness. But
if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ​He who raised Christ
from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who
dwells in you​' This was my moment. This was the beginning of my chapter. A chapter
where this call towards ​holiness suddenly became possible​.

What was the realisation?

Let's delve deeper shall we!

From James 2:10, I realised ​sin is sin. ​The verse​ ​says 'if you keep the whole law
except one aspect of it, you have become guilty of all' .(paraphrased) In other words, If
you don't commit any of the other sins like lying, stealing, etc but you have sex before
marriage (fornication), you are guilty of all the other sins you didn't commit, including the
one you did ( let's be honest, the only way to cover one sin is with another/others) and
vice versa.

From Romans 6:6, I realised when I gave my life to Christ, accepted Him as my Lord
and Saviour and His spirit came to dwell in me; ​my sinful nature died​ i.e the desire to
sin, the ease to and of sin, and the nature to brush it off as a usual occurrence. ​That
habit, desire, constant in my life died​ that day at the exact moment i uttered the
‘Amen’ to seal those words. The verse says the moment all this took place, I was no
longer a slave to sin.

This is supported by the next scripture in Romans 8 which says and I'm paraphrasing
here ' When Christ lives in you [after the believer's prayer], your body dies due to sin but
the Spirit of God which dwells in us now will give life back to our mortal bodies and this
is done through His Spirit.' Now,​ because the Spirit of God cannot be enslaved by
sin, we are no longer enslaved by sin​ ​either​ because He dwells within us.

I hope you see where this leads because you should be getting excited at this point!
1st John 3 says “No one born of God ​makes a practice​ of sinning, for God’s seed
abides in Him, and ​he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God​.
By this it is evident who are the children of God...whoever does not ​practice
righteousness​ is not of God”. Other versions say “ Whoever has been born of God
does not sin...and he cannot sin”. When we become God’s own children we have a
nature which is opposed to sin and uncomfortable with sin. We share in the spirit with
God his detest for sin because “ His spirit bears witness with our spirit”. The only way or
reason we sometimes end up sinning even though we detest it, is when “we go on
sinning ​deliberately​” rather than “abstaining from fleshly lusts which ​war against the
soul​” (Hebrews 10:26 and 1st Peter 2:11).

So, What’s The Point Here?

1) Sin is sin. There is one penalty for sin and it’s the same across board : death.
(Romans 6:23, Romans 7:5)
2) We are no longer slaves to sin or enslaved by sin. Through the death and
resurrection of Christ, we are freed from the shackles that compel us like
zombies towards sin when we accept Him as our Saviour.
3) To sin in Christ is deliberate. When we come to Christ and sin, we do so
deliberately/intentionally. If it was not deliberate or unavoidable, we would not be
told to “flee” or “resist”. Jesus would not have told us to ‘pray that you do not
enter temptation’; (Hebrews 10, 1st Corinthians 6:18, Luke 22:40).
4) It is a constant war - a fight. Because we have the spirit of God when we are born
again, we have the nature that detests sin but because we still inhabit an earthly
vessel (the flesh), we possess two natures constantly against each other
(Galatians 5:17, Romans 8:5-9,
 5) It is possible to live Victoriously over sin. In the book of 1st John, John writes :
“My little children,​ these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.​ And if
anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
(1st John 2:1. Emphasis added)
In the first half of the scripture, John tells us it’s possible to live a sin free life : “so
that you may not sin” but he doesn’t just stop there. He tells us how. He doesn’t
tell us to live sin free just to leave us hanging to figure it out. He says, “These
things I write to you [is so that] you may not sin”. A study of the book 1st John will
reveal to you nuggets of wisdom to aid us in a walk that’s free of sin.
Secondly, God will not leave us hanging either :“But God is faithful...with the
temptation [He] will also make [available] the way of escape (1st Corinthians
10:13). The word of God says when we are tempted; whether it’s by the sin that
‘so easily ensnares us’ (Hebrews 12:1) or by other kinds of temptations, God
himself will reveal to us a way out. I believe one of these solutions is to : “Walk in
the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16)

How to Walk in The Spirit

1) Be born again. To walk in the spirit, we need the spirit. We cannot walk in
something we do not have. John 3 :5-6 “Most assuredly I say unto you, unless
one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That
which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit” (See also
Acts 10:43-47)
2) Be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians, we are told “do not get drunk on
wine...but be filled with the Holy Spirit (5:18).
How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit?
a) Through Prayer. Acts 4:31 says “And when they had prayed...they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit” (see also Luke 11:9-13)
 b) Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 says “And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them
utterance. ( See also John 1:33 and Acts 19:4-6)
c) Through the laying on of hands/impartation Acts 19:6, John 20:23
3) By cultivating and walking in the Fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5 :16,22-24 says
“Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh...but the fruit of the
spirit is love ,joy ,peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control”. Now, it is interesting to note that verse 19 to 21 of the
same chapter lists the works or fruits of the flesh and they are the opposites of
the fruits of the Spirit. (This means you cannot have it both ways. You cannot
serve two masters. Eventually, one will win over the other, i.e the one you spend
more time cultivating and living)

The Promise Ring

The promise ring is a symbol of a promise we made; a reminder to honour and keep.
A promise is a 'declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified.'
(Merriam Webster dictionary) When we make a promise, whatever it may be, we
basically say 'I know i have the power to say 'yes or no'; the capability to bring about its
fulfilment, and the sole deciding power. So, when we promise God we’ll stay pure in our
hearts, we say : ‘I take the stand to say no, no matter how tempted I may be or how
easier the other path may look.'

Knowing now, and understanding as children of God that sin is not about it being done
to us, ​but being the willing initiator or willing participator​ (no matter the sin); so,
with the promise rings of our hearts, we should be saying "I willingly of my own free will
promise not to initiate or participate in ​any form​ of sin and not just some kind". And this
is possible because we are no slaves to sin i.e we are no longer people without a will of
our own and without rights. Neither are we a people with a future we cannot seem to
escape.

I began to see that I could live a holy and righteous life because I was no longer subject
to sin. I could say no and I could also say yes to the temptation and do so willingly. It
didn't just happen. It was not something I couldn't control but something I could because
the Holy God lives in me. The same power, the same spirit in Jesus that caused Him to
say no to temptation (again and again, Hebrews 4:15) and empowered Him to live a life
that was set apart from the world ​lives in me!
I can shout it out now with confidence. I can live a holy life! I can live a righteous
life. I have the inner capability, my secret weapon - The spirit of God!

I can "come out from among unbelievers, separate myself from them and not touch their
filthy things" (2nd Corinthians 6:17 paraphrased) Which in other words says willing
separate yourself from the rest of the world because you have the capability to do so
and to not sin.

1st Peter 4:4 says 'Of course your former friends are surprised when ​you no longer
plunge into the flood of the wild and destructive things they do.' Why are the surprised;
because​ you made the decision​ to not sin!

1st Peter 1:15-16 "But​ just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do
[because you make the choice to be holy i.e to not sin]; for it is written : "​Be holy,
because I am holy​". This means because My spirit who is holy lives in you, because
you've been freed and because you have free will, ​You can now decide to live a holy
life​ and receive every form of grace to enable you walk the holy walk.
Paul knew this was possible when he cheers us to 'become the righteousness of God in
Him'

Friends, it is possible to live in holiness and righteousness. It is not impossible or out of

reach. It may be hard but one thing it is not is impossible "​for with God, nothing is
impossible"​ so, "we can be sure of this : The Lord set apart the godly for Himself "

As we strive to set ourselves apart for God, let us decide to live a holy and righteous life

for Him because we have this assurance :​ H

​ e will set us apart for Himself!

Let's activate the promise rings upon our hearts! Walk in holiness!

By: Rodaline Sowah