Lesson 3: Walking by the Spirit

Testimonies of Freedom

Karin's Testimony

"I have experienced so much repentance since I started doing the Purity Bootcamp course! It took me longer than 30 days to complete the course, but it was so timely for me to do this course at the time I did. My friend sent me the link to the course sometime last year, but I never got around to doing it—my heart wasn't ready or willing to change. I was relying on my own strength and doing what I thought was best. But this year, my sin and impurity had a much greater impact on me. It affected my relationship with God, with others, and with my ministry. My heart was hardened, and I just couldn't see because I had become so deceitful and was walking in the darkness and putting on a face. I was so depressed and hopeless having gone through a breakup, and so there were so many changes happening in my life. There was one point after I had indulged in sexual sin that I felt so alarmed because God had provided a way out, but I chose not to listen to the Holy Spirit and instead gratified the desires of my flesh. My future flashed before me that day. I saw how horrible sin is. I understood what the verse in James meant when it said, 'When sin is conceived, it gives birth to death.' I saw how my relationship with God was broken, how my future marriage would be a disaster, and how I would be holding so much back from God's ministry because of my selfishness and unrighteousness. I was terrified to turn out like my parents in their faith, marriage, and life choices, but I saw how my sexual sin could so easily do that for me. I knew things had to change, but I wasn't sure how to do it. I needed so much help. I need a miraculous saving power to help transform my heart and life and bring true repentance. That's when God made me ready to do whatever it takes to change and repent. I started the Purity Bootcamp course, and the very first lesson touched me about asking God for a changed heart and asking God to give me new desires and help me hate the sin that I once loved. I started seeing how I had been loving my sin more than God, and that really struck me. I had been hurting God all along when He said, 'I already bought your freedom; why do you still live as a slave?' I began to see the cross in a light I never had before; I saw the raw pain of God and the suffering that Jesus endured to bring me to God. In 1 Peter 3:17–18, it says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.' Through His suffering on the cross, Jesus became a never-ending fountain that continually cleanses me of my sins. It was so helpful to learn that God has provided the Holy Spirit to guide us closer to Him, to guide our steps, and to show us the way to the cross. God didn't tell us to change and then leave us alone to try and do that! No, He told us to change and gave us the way and means to change through His own Holy Spirit. And finally, learning to fight my flesh, to recognize that this is a battle! This pursuit of purity through the power of the cross is to be taken seriously; we are fighting against the dark powers of this world. We need a battle plan that comes from the Father, who has already won the battle for us. We fight victoriously, but just because we are victorious doesn't mean we stop fighting. We remain victorious if we keep fighting, looking towards the cross, and knowing who the God that we serve and follow is! For the past nine weeks, I have been living in victory; I haven't indulged in any sexual impurity. I keep washing at the cross, walking by the Spirit, and fighting against my flesh. I'm so grateful that this course pointed me back to Jesus. I could not have done it with human power and strength. I am hopeless and helpless on my own, but with Christ, I am victorious. I recommend this course!!! You have to really want to change and look to Jesus for change, and if He can change me and thousands of others, then He can definitely change you. Nothing is too difficult for our God!!