I thought it pertinent to ask Jesus to open our understanding so let us turn to Him for help.
“Lord Jesus, I ask that you take the words in this blog and breathe life into them. Apart from your anointing they are just words on a page. I ask that you quicken our hearts to hear, see, and act upon what you are trying to teach us by the Power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Romans 8: 9-11
“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all). 10And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
What the Word is Saying
There should be no greater encouragement to us struggling with sin in our lives than the affirmation that the Spirit of God lives within us. Without Christ we cannot overcome the desires that drive us. However, because the Spirit of God lives in us, we can overcome it. Paul points out that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. Therefore, it is impossible for us to not have victory over sin. We cannot say well Jesus was raised from the dead, but he did not have addiction to alcohol or drugs. That statement is implausible, of course He can enable us to overcome addiction. Jesus was crucified, died, buried in the tomb, and three days later rose from the grave. That is not seconds as occurred this week at the football game. He was literally dead and not breathing for three days. The lack of oxygen alone should have incapacitated him. But it did not because the Spirit breathed life back into Him. That same life-giving spirit lives within us and conquering sin for him, though difficult for us, is as they say child’s play.
Another point Paul makes here is that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise our mortal bodies to eternal life. This is a future blessing to those who give their lives to Jesus. However, too often I think we miss what God is doing now because of what He is going to do for us in eternity. This is a lie that the enemy attempts to get us to believe. Telling us that our bodies are bound to the sinful nature. Adam sinned and therefore we cannot avoid sinning. This is untrue! The truth is that Jesus gives us victory now. Knowing this why do we continue to drown in sin?
Sadly, I would contend that we do not overcome sin in our lives because we fail to see that harm it is doing, and we quite frankly love doing it. For the most part I have not overcome sin until I am shown by the Holy Spirit how it is hurting me and others. As I mentioned before I struggled with Pornography until God showed me what it was doing to my heart. The same goes for smoking. I had lied to myself that I would never be able to quit smoking. The most obvious reason was that I enjoyed it. I loved the temporary peace it would give me in times of stress. However, The Spirit showed me it was really a lack of faith and trust in God that was keeping me bound to it. Regrettably instead of going to Jesus for my strength and putting my trust in Him I was seeking comfort from what amounts to an Idol in my life. I say that because anything that we put into our lives to replace God is an idol. Sure I was hurting my mortal body, the risk of cancer, the loss of breath that the toxins in my lungs were causing affected me physically. However, the greater loss was spiritual. It robbed me of the opportunity to put my faith in God and believe on Him to meet my needs.
If you are bound to sin as I was; I pray that you will find victory. I would encourage you to bring your need of help to the Savior. The Holy Spirit will enable you to overcome it. Of course, if you are not yet a Christian and called upon Jesus to be the Lord of your life, I implore you to do so now. You cannot have victory without Him.
If you have not given your life to Jesus let me implore you to do so now. The bible says “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10, NLT). Therefore, pray this prayer aloud now, right where you are: “Jesus, I believe you are Lord and I believe that you died on a cross, and God raised you from the dead”. If you prayed this prayer, please respond to this blog and someone will contact you. Also, I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord to show you where you should attend a church. There may be someone you know that is a believer, someone who can lead you to a place where God can grow you in your newfound faith. The church will provide you a place of encouragement, teaching, and support in your walk with Jesus. It goes without saying the road is easier when you have others traveling with you.
Thank you for allowing me to give you my perspective and attempt to teach on “What the Word is Saying!”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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