“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 NIV
The New Life we have been given by Jesus is a gift like no other! We can leave behind the old way we used to live and experience God in a deep and intimate relationship.
No condemnation! Such beautiful words! We have been set free! When we understand just how much we have been forgiven, we become overwhelmed with just how much this freedom from sin and death means!
Not only are we forgiven of a debt of sin we could never repay, we are taken from the position of a spiritual pauper to being positioned in a relationship with the God! Our position of being “in Christ” means we have been united with Him, which is being attached to Him and connected to Him. We are a part of Him!
He has given us His Spirit to dwell within us so we can live in victory over sin! This is as we walk “according to the Spirit.” We are guided by Holy Spirit’s counsels and His influence. (Websters 1828) When we live our lives in agreement with the Spirit, united to Him, we will experience His “life and peace.”
What we were we are no more! We are forgiven, alive, free, victorious, at peace, full of the Spirit… In Christ!
“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Romans 7:21 NIV
We are at war! Our enemies — the devil, the world (the ungodly state or corruption on earth), and our flesh (our unrenewed, corrupt nature) want us to be destroyed!!
We are always going to face temptations because as Paul said, “evil is right there with me.” Our enemy is ruthless and relentless. He does not call a cease fire. He does not take vacations. He is always plotting and scheming against us.
Our greatest enemy is our flesh. This is because it desires to make the choices. It desires to dictate our behavior. And its influence is hard for us to see because it is within us. It would always have us to choose evil and to follow the way of the world and listen to the voice of Satan — the deceiver.
Our awareness of our enemy helps us to also be aware of our dependence upon God! We need Him!
If sin and our sinful nature are at war within us, Jesus has given us victory! We can live free in Him!
“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!...” Romans 7:25 NIV
Jesus has paid the price for our sin. He offers us forgiveness and cleansing from the sin that has held us captive. He has given us the Holy Spirit within us to empower us to receive and obey His Word.
Jesus has given us everything we need to live victoriously in this war against sin that wages within us!
“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11 NIV
Alive — Regenerated, Renovated Heart, Born Again! (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
There is beauty in living “alive.” The only way to really understand this statement is to experience it. When you know the depths of what you are without Jesus and then experience Him, you know the death, darkness, and destruction you dwelled in. But thank God that we can live “alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
You and I were dead. There was nothing good in us. BUT GOD! He has taken what was completely broken, without hope… dead. And He has breathed His life into us, regenerated. He has renovated our hearts because He is the ultimate “Fixer Upper.” He takes the completely ruined by sin heart and makes it new! We are born again into a New Life! We are ALIVE!
Being fully alive in Christ is something you have to experience to understand at all. It is foreign to us. He breathes life into us so we can KNOW what His life is like: It is joy. It is peace. It is love. It is mercy. It is goodness. It is all these things and more.
The beauty of the New Life of being “alive to God” is the very thing that God desires for us! He wants us to live attached to Him receiving His life in every circumstance and situation. This starts with salvation, where we enter our relationship with God. It continues as we live day in and day out connected to Him in relationship!
We need to come to Him each and every moment of each and every day so we can truly experience living “alive to God!”
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Romans 6:1-2 NIV
(Today we start Romans 6)
Baptism symbolizes a very important fact in the life of a follower of Jesus. We follow Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. Our old sinful life that we all lived before Christ is to die. It is “buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead… we too may live a new life.” Being “dead to sin” enables us to live the “new life” that God has given us.
If I were physically dead — at the funeral home, lying in a casket — it would be impossible for me to sit up and eat a donut that you may bring and pass before my nose and my mouth (even the cream filled ones…). I will not take a bite. I am dead to that donut. Our enemy will bring temptation to sin into our lives, but through Jesus we do not have to take a bite. We can live our lives dead to sin!
How can this be? I have this nature, a sinful one, that desires to do things that are wrong all the time… We cannot forget that WE HAVE NEW LIFE! This life is the Holy Spirit living in us. He comes as our Helper to help us to say “no” to the temptations. He comes as the Power to enable us to live our lives “dead to sin.”
We can live free of the patterns of sin that we have been chained to i.e. addictions, bad habits, sinful thought patterns, etc. We don’t have to “live in it any longer.”
As a Christian, it is one thing to slip up and say a hateful thing, do a sinful action, or make a wrong choice, chose to do a sinful act…God has given us a remedy for such a scenario…
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 NIV
It is a whole other thing to embrace our sinful choice, sit down for coffee with it, and indulge in it day in and day out… that is not being dead to it… That is preferring the sinful choice over obedience to God and His word. It is loving God less and our sin more… In this case, we are not dead to sin, we have chosen to let it grow, fester, and consume our lives.
Thank you God that You have provided all that we need to die to sin! We cannot die to sin on our own. The Holy Spirit is very willing to fill us with His life so that there is no room for sinful patterns to grow. God has given us His Word so we can keep our way pure. (Psalm 119:9) As we read His Word, live according to what the Word says, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness, “we too may live a new life” that is dead to sin!
“so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21 NIV
(This Week is Romans 5)
Before Jesus comes into our lives, all you and I will truly ever know is the death, the darkness, and the destruction of sin. On our own, we are helpless to overcome sin’s reign – its power and its influence. The struggle is so real. We know the good we should be doing, but we choose to do otherwise… this is sin. (James 4:17) Then the consequences we see of our wrong choices have a ripple effect. This influences even more wrong choices. Sin’s grip grows and grows. It is a merciless tyrant over our lives.
This is what makes the grace of Jesus so beautiful. Even though we have failed time after time after time. He comes with His love and favor. He has provided a way for the reign of sin to be broken over our lives — The Cross. Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection provides the way for grace to reign — have power and influence over us. Jesus forgives us our sins and gives us His righteousness. What we have done in the past no longer has power over us. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit living in us. He empowers us to live our lives where the rule of Grace grows and grows.
This is why it is so important that we spend time coming to know God better through His Word. The more we know Him, the more we will understand His love, and in turn we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more we will experience His blessings. Simply put, the closer we are to Jesus, the more we will experience His freedom!
You and I weren’t meant to be living our lives subjected to the reign of sin! We were meant for the reign of grace and the true life we will experience through Jesus our Lord!
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Romans 5:17 NIV
(Today we read Romans 5.)
The Garden of Eden was a happy place! Imagine being able to walk face to face with God — who is complete peace, complete joy, complete love, complete goodness, etc. There wasn’t any pain, sadness, or sorrow. Happiness, all the agreeable sensations from enjoying all of God’s goodness was all Adam and Eve experienced 24/7. But then they CHOSE to sin.
Death entered the picture. They were separated from that beautifully happy i.e. blessed relationship with God. From that moment on “death reigned.” The divine life they had experienced was just a memory. It remained that way until Jesus came.
Jesus is God’s “provision of grace.” (Or divine favor) His righteousness becomes ours when we place our trust in Him and receive Him as our Savior. Jesus came to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden, and He has come to us to restore what was lost in our lives!
Sin only brings death to us! It separates us from what we were created for, living in relationship with God — being fully alive. We can possess the Happiness of Heaven through the new life that Jesus gives to us. This is what it is to “reign in life” through Jesus.
The more we experience God in close and intimate relationship, the more we will experience Him in our lives. His complete peace, His complete joy, His complete love, His complete goodness, etc. will be what we experience over and over again. Because God is who He says He is, and He wants us to KNOW Him. This knowing is to experience Him day in and day out.
Jesus told us when He walked on earth that we would experience troubles as we live on earth. The effects of sin are still with us… But we could take courage, because He has overcome the world! (John 16:33)
To reign is to “live victoriously” (Webster 1828 Dictionary). We can “reign in life (live victoriously), through the one man, Jesus Christ. He has given us all we need to live victoriously. His Holy Spirit living in us, empowers us and produces in us the fruit of a victorious life — peace, love, joy, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. (Galatians 5:22)
The secret to this life of victory is close relationship to God. Just like Adam and Eve experienced before they sinned, we are to walk and talk with God. Jesus provided the way for our relationship to be restored. Once again we can experience the “happiness of the garden”, but now that happiness goes with us wherever we go because the Holy Spirit is living inside of us!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21 NIV
Today we read Romans 1.
You and I were born with a heart defect! Before you object and try to tell me that your “ticker” is working just fine, let me clarify. This defect is within our spiritual hearts. This defect is serious, and many of us do not even know we have it, much less that our spiritual hearts exist.
However, we need to understand that not only do we have a spiritual heart, it is the MOST important thing about us. This heart is where we are able to experience the very thing we were created for, relationship with God or oneness with Him. It is comprised of our mind (the thinker), will (the doer), and emotions (the feeler).
The defect of this heart is that we are born with it being darkened. To be darkened is to be made black, obscure, or destitute of light. We come into this world with a spiritual heart that is inclined towards sin. Our thoughts are “futile” — sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one’s own eternal happiness. (Webster’s 1828) Our actions are motivated by “dishonorable passions.” (Verse 26 ESV) We believe our self centered actions are wise, but in truth it is foolishness. (Verse 22). This is because we worship ourselves (a me centered life) and the things we have created (our jobs, our homes, our hobbies, our phones, etc.) instead of worshiping God. We don’t accept His truth that we hear in His Word. Instead we would rather believe a more convenient lie (Verse 25) about the things we want when and how we want it.
God will not force Himself on us to correct this defect. BUT, He does offer us the cure! A NEW Heart!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
We must choose…
Is what you are doing in your life not working? Has sin (knowing what is good to do, but not doing it) been a struggle? God offers us transformation from what we are to what He intended us to be all along – a reflection of Him full of His peace, joy, love, etc. We can walk in truth, live with purpose, be full of His wisdom, and experience His life. It all starts with asking God to give you a new spiritual heart. Ask Him to transform the way you think, and to align your feelings with His truth in His Word. Ask Him to help your actions to flow from a new pure heart inside of you.
We do not have to live with a darkened heart any more. We can have a new spiritual heart and experience relationship with God!
Your Love 