Good Morning Meetpastordan Readers… I was laying in bed last night asking the Holy Spirit for guidance concerning today’s blog, and “woosssshh”… He poured out a spiritual download of topics for the next few blogs. How awesome is that! I’ve found Him to be absolutely faithful to show up as my counselor and guide – just like Jesus said he would – when my intent is to honor God with my endeavor. What an incredible gift from a loving God! In all honesty, I’m the first to admit that I don’t in any way consider myself to be a “writer”. In fact, I argued with my webmaster when he was building my website, because I told him there was no reason to include a blog capability since I had no interest in using it. But…he did it anyhow. So three plus years and 189 blogs later, I’m quite clear that my role is to sit at the keyboard, and my Pal, the Holy Spirit, does the rest.
I’d like to reference Chapter 7of Romans (vs. 15-25) to provide a message of hope to all of us who struggle with Apostle Paul’s dilemma. Bear in mind that the person providing this litany of pathos is the same guy who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. And what makes this even more surprising is that everything before and after this cry of desperation is the most beautifully inspired presentation of the Gospel of Grace ever written. (But for the purpose of this blog, it shows that anyone can be vulnerable to this kind of torment.)
So here’s what Apostle Paul reveals: “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate…I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin.”
The answer to this pathetic quagmire is in the next verse, which I will come back to a bit later. Now I want to reference 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 because I want to propose a connection. “I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it. I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me than what they can actually see in my life and my message, even though I have received wonderful revelations from God. But to keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.” God’s answer is in the next verse, but again, I will come back to that a bit later.
Apostle Paul also addresses the sin issue that we all face in Galatians 5:17: “The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just the opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.”
So what do we conclude from these examples? Well, in my mind it tells me that none of us – and I mean none of us, regardless of who we are, or who we think we are because of our pedigree – are immune from satan’s lies, deceptions, schemes and accusations. If we are intent on becoming the person God created us to be, we have a target on our back, and satan is relentless is his pursuit to shipwreck our walk with Christ. That’s who satan is, and that’s how satan works! To dismiss his work in any way is to make yourself vulnerable to the torment Apostle Paul experienced in Romans 7 and again in 2nd Corinthians. And satan never fails to show up at our moment of vulnerability, whether its pride, fear, anger, jealousy, doubt, guilt, shame, remorse etc, he’s there to stir it up!
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, 2Corinthians 5:17 tells us what happens to us spiritually. “We are a new creation. The old is gone (our sin nature); the new has come.” (Holy Spirit) We are now “Justified” with God, meaning we are made right in his eyes, because we are in Christ. 2 Peter 1:3 explains what our identity in Christ means: “As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, his divine power (Holy Spirit) gives us everything we need for living a godly life.” We are now equipped to bring honor and glory to God as we begin the transformation of becoming more Christ-like. But how we progress in that endeavor depends on our choices, as revealed the Galatians Scripture above.
Remember, Jesus was very up-front about this journey. He told us in John 16:33: “Here on this earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Because we are in Christ, we too have overcome the world. 1John 4:4 tells me that “the Spirit that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the spirit in this world” (satan) We just have to know that Truth and be willing to stand on that Truth.
But remember, even though we are no longer slaves to our sin nature, no mental delete button was pushed at our salvation. The mind is still filled with strongholds (responses to life that we learned when we were living independent of God), and these strongholds must be demolished and replaced through conscious choices that bring honor and glory to God. (Ref. Galatians Scripture above.) This is what Apostle Paul was wrestling with in Romans 7.
But here’s the good news. Our God is a loving God. In his plan for our salvation, he included the indwelling Holy Spirit so we could rise above our circumstances to be victorious in this world. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that “…God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” That “way out” is by calling on the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us with wisdom, insight, strength, courage, patience, perseverance – whatever it is we need – to make choices that honor God and help us transform into the person He created us to be.
Therefore, the answer to Paul’s final question in Romans 7, vs. 25 is: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Concerning Paul’s “thorn in his flesh” –which I believe was his human nature (a messenger from satan) raising its ugly head to keep him from getting too “puffed up” – God’s answer was “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” I believe Paul’s weakness was pride, therefore his awareness that he was still vulnerability to his own human nature kept him humble. And of course the Scriptures from Galatians 5 above remind all of us of the constant battle we face daily in our walk with Christ. And I love that it so accurately points out that it’s all about us making intentional choices that bring honor and glory to God.
God has showed his immeasurable love for us by giving us the gift of Jesus Christ so we can enter into an eternal relationship with him. But he also took into account the struggles he knew we would face while we are still on this earth, so he gave us the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to become the person he created us to be right here, right now. That’s why Apostle Paul exclaimed this answer to his dilemma in Romans 7: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” We can all shout a resounding ,AMEN, to that Truth!
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May God Bless You abundantly…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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