Refuse Sin, Yield To God

We’ve come to step number 3 on our road to healing: Refuse sin, and yield to God.

There is a negative and a positive which go together like the two opposite sides of the same coin. You must exercise your will both ways. You must say "no" to sin and "yes" to God. You must do both. You cannot say "no" to sin without saying "yes" to God, because you will be in a vacuum which will be filled again with the same problem. You cannot escape from sin without yielding to God.

In Romans 6:12-14, Paul says:

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members [or the parts of your body] as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.” (NAS)

When sin challenges you, say, "No, I will not yield to you; I will not yield the parts of my body. Above all, I will not yield that member which causes most of the trouble: my tongue. Sin, you cannot control my tongue any longer."

Then turn to God and say, "God, I yield my tongue to You and I ask You to control the member which I cannot control."

Let us look at what James says:

“For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” (James 3:7-8 NAS)

You must accept the fact that you cannot tame or control your own tongue. There is only one power that can control your tongue for good: the power of God through the Holy Spirit. When you have been forgiven and cleansed and then are challenged again to use your tongue sinfully, you must say to sin, "You cannot have my tongue; I refuse it to you." Then you must say to the Holy Spirit, "Holy Spirit, I yield my tongue to you. I cannot control my tongue. I ask you to control my tongue for me."

Let us just briefly review those three steps. First, call your problem by its right name, call it sin. Second, confess your sin and receive forgiveness and cleansing. Third, refuse to yield to sin; determine to yield to God. That is the climax of the process of deliverance and of healing. It is yielding to God the Holy Spirit that member which you can never control.