Ernest Wamboye - The Struggle Is Real

“The Church is not a museum of Saints but a hospital for sinners,” he started. He reminded me of my favorite quote. The same exact one he just said.

“Are there any sinners in the house?” He asked, but of course, no one lifted their hand.

He read from Hebrews 12: 1-4 that says;

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

“What are some of the sins that hold you back?” He asked. “For me, porn and masturbation held me back. At times I asked myself if I was really born again or porn again? And I felt that I was the only one struggling because every testimony was not about struggles but good things the Lord has done and I kept asking myself, Do people who are born again struggle?” He added.

He finished his sentence with the statement, “You are not alone.”

He explained that the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11 were not perfect. He talked of Abraham who had to lie twice that his wife was his sister, David who murdered and committed adultery, Moses who refused God’s call and Rahab the prostitute.

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He said that God is not looking for perfect people to use, He just looks for people who admit that the struggle is real. He said that the things we are facing are not new.

He said that God told him to confess of his sin but he wondered how could he confess when the testimonies he heard were all about God’s manifestation in people’s lives? He said that he battled with God saying that he will look unspiritual. But the voice told him, “You are already unspiritual, why wear a mask just because you serve in Church?”

“How then do we overcome this struggle?” He asks

1. The writer of Hebrews says let us run and fix your eyes on Jesus. We need to fix your eyes on Jesus and not be distracted. There are so many distractions along our way. Another voice will always tell us that there is something more radiant than Jesus, that there is something better than the race we are in and we believe the lie.
Even the scriptures say in Matthew 18:9 says

And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.

But a calmer voice says that whatever distracts us is not light. It is shimmering but it is not as radiant as Jesus. Where are your eyes fixed on? Your physical attractiveness? Wealth?

2. You must be born again. Nicodemus was the most morally upright man of his time but he was told he had to be born again. You need to die and rise up again like Christ. You are in an exam called life and you must do your best to pass. God found you, He says in John 15:16 that, “You didn’t choose me, but I chose you..” You were the lost sheep and God abandoned the ninety-nine to come for you.
So people ask, “When you are born again, what are we saved from?” – We are simply saved from the wrath of God. Christ died a very painful death so that the struggle can be over. So that we can triumph.

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3. Confess your sins – To overcome this struggle of sin, you must confess your sins. Wamboye talks of how he was able to confess his sins to his fellow Christians and he was bewildered when most of them also told him that they were also struggling with the same sin. He added that after confessing his sin, the guilt fell.

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