10/19          Romans 7:22-25

I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

LORD

Jesus is Lord.  If we accept Him He will be our Lord.  We need Jesus.  

10/18          Romans 7:17-21 

So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 

SIN

Sin is real, it is enslaving and only in Jesus can we deal with our sin.  We need a new heart and a new mind and forgiveness for our sin.  Jesus does this for us.  His gift free-life is a grace gift.  Jesus is Lord.  

10/17          Romans 7:14-16 

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 

OVERWHELMED

Without Jesus we are overwhelmed with sin and unable to overcome.  We cannot cleanse ourself from sin.  We cannot forgive ourself.  Only Jesus can provide forgiveness for our sin and help us to walk on a Godly path.  

10/16          Romans 7:11-13

11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. 13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes. 

EVIL

Sin is evil.  It is always evil.  The Ten Commandments and the Law of God help us to understand, identify and beware of sin.  Jesus forgives our sin and paid the price to give us His righteousness.  Jesus is the only way.  

10/15          Romans 7:7-10 

Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 

SIN

Sin is easy for us to get tangled up in and miss the point of a Christ-like life.  We must willingly surrender ourselves to the Lord and present ourselves usable and useful every day.  When we decide to do our thing and not God’s thing, and we know what that is, we are sinning.  Sin is destructive and separates us from the Lord.  Know God’s Word, write it upon your heart and do the next right thing.  

10/14          Romans 7:5-6

5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. 

LIFE

Life in the Spirit is real living.  I am surrendered to the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus is able to lead, guide and direct me as I daily go about His work.  Shining brightly helping others is my assignment. 

10/13          Romans 7:4 

So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

WORK
We do the work of the Kingdom in Christ.  We do those deeds that proclaim the Good News and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, king of kings, and Lord of Lords. 

10/12          Romans 7:1-3

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters —you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?  2 For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. 3 So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries. 

DEAD

We are alive in Christ and dead to sin.  No longer are we in bondage to sin because we are free in Christ.  Jesus is Lord and He is our Lord.  

10/11          Romans 6:23 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

GIFT

Life from the Lord is a free gift.  He is calling us back to where we were before Adam-a member of the family of God.  Now we are called sons and daughters and such we are.  Jesus enables our freedom, He paid a price we could not pay and gave us a gift of eternal life, life like the Father’s life.  

10/10          Romans 6:20-22 

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.  21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 

SLAVE

We are a slave to Christ the Lord.  In our slavery we find perfect freedom.  Jesus is Lord.  He leads us in His triumph.