"Practice Makes Perfect"

"Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous." (Psalms 31:18) When it comes to walking in righteousness, the main things that we must always remember, is that, we are not, yet He is; and it is His indwelling in me that makes me righteous; besides the fact that He has washed away all of my sins, I have actually been placed upon a path of righteousness! This is grace my friend; that which gives me abundantly more than I could have ever earned on my own, and more than I surely deserve! Precisely when do you want to quit fighting a dead man, and start embracing Life? As Paul continues admonishing the dead man in Romans chapter five, he embraces upon something that those who are trapped in the bondage of addiction seem to overlook, which he states in verse nineteen, as he says, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners (speaking of Adam), so by the obedience of one (speaking of Jesus) shall many be made righteous." The real bondage that you are facing is not your drug, drink, or habit, but it is sin; sin that was defeated at the cross of Jesus Christ; yet, for some reason it's still present, and it has way too much power in your life! Defeat is something of a foot, as in feet upon which you walk; you step in one direction, or you step in another, but it is your feet that get you where you headed; thus, defeat is a step in the wrong direction! Does that mean we are to practice being righteous? Without a doubt, that is precisely what we are to be doing! As a matter of fact, we are to question the unrighteousness that is still within us, and we are to seek deliverance from what ever comes to light. Continuing on, Paul says, "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound"; in other words, the sin was made stronger by the law which defined it, and showed how unholy our offences were before a righteous God. However, Paul completes that statement by saying, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord"; making the point of our deliverance being the grace by which we stand; grace which far exceeds any offence which we could have committed! However; onward we go into chapter six, at which point Paul then asked a question, and then answers his question with another question, as he says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" As if to embrace sin as a catalyst for grace, and to forgo the righteousness that we have been given, by continuing to step outside of grace; which he explains in the following manner, by saying, "God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" It's as if the corpse is not only wrapped around you, but it still is calling the shots and telling you which way you should step...
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; for our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)