Form a Partnership to fight sin - Judges 1-5

In Judges we have the story of Israel conquering and settling in Canaan, the promise land. Joshua had died and his last word from the Lord was to execute justice and don't show kindness. However, what we read in this section is that the nation failed to execute justice. They allowed the enemy to live in their midst. As a result God gave them over to the sin of the land. It produced The Cycle (fall into sin; cry for deliverance; God sends a judges to deliver them; they rejoice in that deliverance for awhile; they fall into sin; repeat; repeat). It is too bad they fell into the cycle when they began so good. Like most of us we can begin good but it is the finish that matters. In 1:3 we see Judah being the first to attack the enemy (the enemy is the picture of sin in our lives). Judah asks Simeon, his brother to help in the fight. Simeon agrees, as long as Judah agrees to help him fight his enemies later. Judah agrees and does (1:17). The two of them have success against their common enemies. Ecclesiastes tells us that "two are better than one" (4:9). We seldom ask any one to help us fight sin in our lives. We are too proud and too captive by the sin to ask. We might do it as we fight the sin of gluttony (to lose weight) but we seldom do it for our secret sins. God has given us brothers to help us carry the weight and to defeat the sin through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we fail to defeat the sin God can, and often does what He did to Israel: release us to more sin until we cry out for deliverance. Why not avoid that and ask a brother to partner with you in regard to defeating sin in your life? God gives us brothers for that reason.