UNDERSTANDING THE STRUGGLE
ROMANS 7:22-25
ROMANS 7:22-25 NKJ
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
OBSERVATION:
The Bible was not written in chapter and verse. So, these themes and ideas flow together.
In this chapter, Paul is describing the battle between the flesh and the spirit or inward man.
He wants to do the right thing, God's laws, but he must deal with another force. His flesh does not want to do the right thing.
Paul cries out, who will deliver me from this struggle? And then he answers his own question; it is through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Whenever we were born again, we were changed on the inside. Our inner man, our spirit, was made new, and we are free from sin. That's the good news.
The challenge is the fact that our bodies did not change. And our minds were impacted, but the thought patterns and habits we had before Christ are still there.
If we do not understand this, it can lead to real discouragement.
When I came to Christ, or rather came back to Him, I was on cloud nine for a few weeks. So happy, so free. But then I discovered that some of the same feelings that I had before coming back to the Lord were starting to resurface.
Thankfully, I knew I had been saved, so the enemy could not convince me that I had lost my salvation. But these feelings caught me by surprise.
Later, I would learn that I must renew my mind to think in line with God's word. And that I must crucify my flesh with all its feelings and desires. As I began to do these things, the feelings did not go away. But they no longer dominated me.
We must understand that we have to do something with our minds and with our bodies. Later in Romans, Paul speaks of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. And renewing our minds so that we are not conformed to the world that does not know God.
The good news is that the stronger we become in our inner man or spirit, the more we are able to override our flesh. It's a struggle, but it is one we are empowered to win.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, that You have equipped me to live stronger than my flesh, stronger than the struggle.