SIN AND RIGHTEOUS CONSCIOUSNESS

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Roman 4:3-8 KJV

Sin Consciousness

The opposite, of course, of a righteousness conscience is a sin-consciousness. The state of being where you feel separated from God. You do not sense your oneness with God, but you are very aware of your sin. You are very aware of your lack. You are very aware of your inability to do that which you want to do. Sin-consciousness is that state where you could want with all your heart to please God, and yet you find within your members that sin-consciousness, the sense of being separated, the sense of failure, the sense of fear. "Oh I would love to be able to pray in a meeting, but I feel so inferior." That is sin consciousness, and that will rob from you and steal from you everything that God wants you to have.

Sin-consciousness destroys faith. How can you have faith to believe for anything from God, if you feel inferior, if you are so aware of your sin and your shortcomings? It creates an inferiority complex. "I would love to be able to stand and share at a meeting, but I can’t." "I wish I had the boldness to share the gospel with people but I can’t." I wish I could be a better person, but I can’t." That is sin consciousness.

Sin-consciousness destroys your peace with God. Because of it you are conscious of your sin and your failure all the time, and it robs you. How could you have peace with God, knowing that you are such a failure? Now when you understand righteousness, it doesn’t mean that you never fail. It doesn’t mean that you never miss God, but you don’t have that consciousness of always failing. You have the exact opposite. The opposite of sin-consciousness is God consciousness. You are aware of your oneness and unity with your Father God, just as Jesus was. You realize that in your spirit, (the new creation man) there is no separation between you and your Father. Was there any separation between Jesus and His Father? Neither is there in you, except in your carnal mind. Your sin-consciousness robs you of your peace with God. There is no peace – Isaiah says – to the wicked.

Sin consciousness makes us feel unworthy. How many Christians ever come to a meeting, and feel worthy to have the joy of God come upon them and flow from within them? Very few Christians ever meet together on Sunday morning, or any other time, with a sense of worthiness. It’s always a sense of unworthiness. "I’ve failed God so miserably. I’ve missed God so many times this week, and I have a sense of unworthiness." So when we come together, there is no real joy. There is no real expression. There is no real release of the spirit. There is just a sense of unworthiness. Sin-consciousness is the biggest enemy that the church of the living God has today.

Sin-consciousness makes your prayers ineffectual. The scripture says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." But if you do not have that consciousness, if you do not know that you are a righteous man, if you have the sense of unworthiness and weakness and failure, your prayers will not avail much. God only answers the prayer that is prayed with the consciousness of His righteousness

Taken from Gary and Carol Sigler Ministries

(http://sigler.org/righteousness) -