EXPAND TO READ: ROMANS 7 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 18-19): Unfortunately, this has been my way of living life. I typically know what I SHOULD be doing which glorifies You, yet I lack the motivation to do it due to my own selfish desires. Instead of leaning on You through those moments to help me do what is good, I instead lean on my own flesh and end up doing the exact opposite. Please forgive me for my selfishness, Father. Forgive me for not going to You more often in those moments of weakness and selfishness that I often live in. Help me to be better at living this life in a way that glorifies You instead of in a way that temporarily pleases my flesh.
PROMISE (verse 23): You promise us that we are in a constant war/struggle inside ourselves. Although our mind knows what is good from You, our flesh wants to do what is evil. This war is constant and the only way to reduce the flesh’s power over us is to lean on the Holy Spirit more and more throughout our faith journey. If we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then He blesses us with the Holy Spirit to act as a compass in our lives; helping us navigate what is good vs evil, so that the flesh slowly but surely has less power against us. Thank You for this, Father. Thank You for promising us the strength and wisdom through You to win this war inside of me.
ATTITUDE (verse 6): I know that through accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior I am saved. I know that this brings me into a new life and my old ways should be dead. Unfortunately, I have lived in an attitude of clinginess. I have lived in a way that I am always trying to cling onto many of my old ways of living and thinking instead of releasing them to You. Please forgive me for this, Father. Help me to be better at living in this new way of the Spirit that You have blessed me with since coming to faith. Help me to no longer live in a clingy attitude towards my old ways and instead live in an embracing attitude towards Your new ways.
COMMAND (verse 18): I feel this is a command simply because it points us to the realization that we cannot live a righteous, holy life on our own. That we need You in order to do so as we are too weak to do what is good on our own. I need to recognize that I do desire to do what is good, but I lack the ability to do so on my own the vast majority of the time. The command here is to remember to lean on You through all things, so that we are able to do what is good in this life. If we choose not to lean on You to do what is good, then our fleshly desires will overpower us. Help me to be better at following this command, Father, so that I lean on You through all things, but especially when my fleshly desires are weighing heavily on me and trying to win me over.
EXAMPLE (verses 21-25): The mental picture You give us here of the war within is an amazing example for us. You tell us that we are essentially always fighting a war within ourselves. A war between good and evil within ourselves. Although we want to do what is good and joyfully agree with Your law of what is good, we struggle so much to commit to those good acts due to our weak and sinful flesh that have taken us prisoner. Thanks to Jesus, we are freed of this prison of sin, but I find myself often grasping back at some of those prison bars trying to pick-and-choose what I want Jesus to free me of and what I don’t want to let go of, yet. Help me to be better at releasing my grasp onto my old ways, Father. Help me to be better at releasing all that I am and all that I do to You, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit so that with Your strength, wisdom, and help I can move forward in a way that wins this war against sin which I struggle with every day.
*DAILY NOTE: I do live in a struggle of two spirits inside myself constantly, Father. I struggle with the spirit of old from my flesh and the spirit of new from You and choosing one specifically for different situations. I struggle with allowing my fleshly spirit to take over me every now and then instead of embracing the goodness in the spirit You have blessed me with. My fleshly desires do weigh heavily on me at times, so much so that I find them hard to resist. What I need to remind myself, however, is that I do not need to do this alone. You are always there for me just waiting for me to ask You to help me to fight this turmoil and carry these burdens. I know I cannot do this alone, yet I often struggle trying to do so regardless of that fact. Continue Your great works in me, Father, so that I may be better at leaning on You through all things in this life.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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