HOW CAN CHRISTIANS RISE ABOVE THE THINGS THAT TRY TO DISCOURAGE US?
BIBLE PASSAGE:
My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.
(Psalm 7:10)
MEDITATION:
Do you ever feel that there is some sin that you just cannot eliminate?
At times you feel like Paul, who just couldn’t understand his own actions.
I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Romans 7:15)
His failures were causing him to struggle
with forgiving himself for his sins against God.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me
from this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:24)
When we look at Paul’s struggle,
we see a man with a heart (“desire”) to please God.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is
good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18)
However, sin was a constant threat to Paul’s hope
of avoiding the things which caused him to feel
worthless and despicable as a result of his disobedience.
Paul realized the power and attraction of sin.
He didn’t try to justify his actions,
but admitted that sin was still living in him and
was ready to seize control whenever he let down his guard.
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not
want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not
want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in
me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want
to do good, evil is right there with me. (Romans 7:19-21)
It sounds like Paul is in a hopeless situation doesn’t it?
It appears he is destined to continue displeasing the Lord
and living out his life on earth as a person of sinful disobedience.
But, the good news is,
Paul knew how to be rescued from his struggles.
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ
our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,
but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)
From a ‘heart’ that loved the Lord and wanted to please Him,
Paul knew that when the Lord was in control, he would be
successful with obedience, but when he allowed his sinful
nature to overpower him, disobedience was inevitable.
He also knew that disobedience created his feelings of
worthlessness and low self-esteem, which resulted in his
genuine struggle with forgiving himself for his failures.
ACTION:
Paul gives us a living example of the struggles Christians
can have with sin’s attempts to control their lives.
For every Christian, it is a mind battle that is real.
Whenever we are in a battle, we have three options:
– we can keep on fighting,
– we can seek reinforcements,
– or, we can surrender to our foe.
Some give up the fight and say, “This is just who I am”.
That is a lie from hell itself!
As a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden,
we have a ‘sin nature’, but our Creator instills in us a desire
to please Him in spite of the obstacles that try to discourage us.
Our first line of defense is to determine our heart’s desires.
It is up to us to decide which direction our heart will take.
Either we will continue to nourish our desire to please the Lord,
or we will suppress that desire and surrender to the power of sin.
Read again how Paul fought the same fights we are having
and how he sought the power of the Lord to rescue him.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, too often I can relate to the struggles
Paul experienced with his desire to please You, and the
battle he had with the things that tempted him to acts of
disobedience. When I read about Paul, I can sense his
heart to obey You and I believe I have that same desire.
At the same time, I see how he struggled with temptations
to be disobedient and how he had trouble forgiving himself
whenever he yielded to his sinful nature. Lord that describes
me too, so I plead with You to rescue me as You did Paul,
so that instead of feeling worthless and discouraged, I too
can become a useful servant of Yours and enjoy a close
relationship and fellowship with You.”
BREAD FOR BELIEVERS 
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