For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25
Andre Crouch’s song ‘Through It All’ holds so much for the reflecting heart, being in a way expressive of the journey of many believers in this faith. Reflecting on my early days in being born again, having grown through a riotous life as a youth, the struggles to be free from those seemingly endless chains of addictions, I understood experientially what our text of today is expressing. Longing for purity and holiness, many times I felt helplessly bound to the “dead body” of my flesh because the tendency (as opposed to desire) was always with me. I literally cried my heart out as expressed in verse 24. All my attention was focused on that verse, until the day God got me to understand that this helplessness was understood by God and that He had provided me with the solution in Romans 8:1-3 (NLT/MSG); and that if I would be free, I must learn that walking with Him requires undiluted DEPENDENCE upon Him and not upon my self-efforts.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans 8:1-3 NLT
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. Romans 8:1-3 MSG
In time I got to learn and experience the working of God’s power through the GIFT of RIGHTEOUSNESS and abundance of EMPOWERING GRACE I can live in triumph in this life (Romans 5:17 (NLT). In time as I yielded to the prompting of the Spirit and called out for His help each time those tendencies arose, I found the meaning of the expression of Paul in Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT/AMPC) and Hebrews 13:20,21. This saying is true, and you can cease from your struggles against sin and flesh and be free to enjoy the abundant life that He promised. Will you lay your burdens down today and take on His yoke which is light? Receive that empowering grace that disgraced the hold of sin and flesh over your redeemed life. Shalom
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