Romans 7:16-25 

 ¹⁶But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.  ¹⁷So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  ¹⁹For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  ²⁰But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  

²¹I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.  ²²For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  ²³but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.  ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Father-God; inside me there is absolutely no good.  Even apart from you I would not know how to express these pains.  This body has trapped me into weaknesses that I did not want.  The nature of sin, cultivated in the flesh, seems unstoppable!  You have searched my heart- Oh Lord- and I fear.  But I open my heart to you because for you I hope to be found a suitable dwelling place for your Holy Spirit. 

By my life I agree that your law is good—even when I am found lacking; you are exalted all the more as perfect! 

Even though my eyes are dry it does not mean you do not see the tears.
Because you have always been the one to fight away my fears.

By day and by night you have watched over me as my storms have raged.
Seeing the turmoil’s I face, helpless in this flesh; helpless in this cage.

Even though my eyes are dry it does not mean you do not see the tears.
So your Son you gave, in Love; a lamb taken before the sheers.

Humiliated, broken, and mocked he became a curse so that I could be your son.
Emptied of all his rightful power, Jesus hung upon the cross, breathed his last, and said “All is done”.

Even though my eyes are dry it does not mean you do not see the tears.

Father—hear my prayer; I have cast myself before you, I am placing all my trust in you that I may be saved.  I know nothing but that your Son completed your will and fulfilled all that he came to fulfill as he ascended into heaven; sitting by your side—head of the Church—Savior of your children. 

I hope in you.  I trust in you.  I desire only you and yet my body—tired and worn out—seems unwilling to set aside it’s old ways. 

Father, grant me patience.  Grant me wisdom.  Grant me compassion that I may show compassion.  These are the tools with which I may work. 

I beg, do not let evil hinder me any longer.  Protect me from the temptations so set to destroy me.  If your Spirit dwells in me, then I will be free to wield love, mercy, compassion, tenderness, and knowledge as tools to do your will! 

Your Holy Spirit I desire; my only fear is that I disqualify myself from your Spirit and you take it away.  I pray you destroy my body before you take your spirit from me!!

I marvel at the complex intricacies of your design and your will.  Far more complex than all the universe is your plan for salvation; yet as simple as Jesus Christ—Lord and Savior!

Grant to me that I might know you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ!!!

Amen!

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!  FREEDOM!!!

YOU are an individual!  YOU have rights!  YOU are autonomous!  It is YOUR body, YOUR rights, YOUR life. 

The American Way

This is a growing, perhaps already grown, ideology within the Church and it is absolutely 100% false.

The ideology of individualism. This is the most prevalent thought within America, a thought that inspires (most likely) 99% of all street riots and chaos within our nation; at some point, someone will feel that their rights as an individual have become violated.  There is, supposedly, some intrinsic freedom that all Americans have and we do not allow anyone to violate these freedoms. 

We can see this nowhere more obvious than with the Feminist and Gay movements in America.  The feminists riot, push, and shout for their rights as do the gays. 

On the shoulders of individual freedom and personal rule over autonomous bodies, millions of unborn babies have been legally murdered. 

“Behold, children are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3) and

“For You (God) formed my inward parts; You (God) wove me in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13).

Riding high and unchallengeable on the shoulders of Freedom, the monster of abortion was born.  In fact, ideological immortality is easily achieved simply by climbing on the shoulders of “freedom” and “Individualistic rule”.   Christians are allowed, now, to murder the reward that God hand-wove for them in their own wombs.  Why?  Freedom!!!! (as Mel-Gibson shouted in the timeless classic, Braveheart.)

God, our creator, created us in his image; the image of a God that is 3 persons in 1.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity; so much so that the Son manifested himself on earth (doing, not his will, but the Fathers) and lifted his head towards heaven and said “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30).  It is the Holy Spirit that is also called “the Spirit of God” and “The Spirit of Christ”.  It was this God, a God that is 3 in 1, that looked upon his Creation, Adam, and said “It is not Good for man to be alone” and created woman so that with woman “Man would leave his father and mother and become one with his wife”.  The man and woman, together as one, would unite to create their Child, the gift of God to them, “one in their flesh”. 

We are not free.  Christians are not autonomous.  There is no such thing as “rights”. 

These are all individualistic ideologies that we have idolized since the foundation of this country.  In fact, apart from slavery, there can be no freedom.  If you are a Christian, than you are not an individual. Neither are you free, and neither do you have rights.  Does this shock you?  It should not shock you if you have been fed anything other than the elementary teachings of the faith.

·         The Christian is an individual born into the slavery of sin that has become an heir to God, Co-Heir with Christ, and has been freed into the slavery of righteousness.  We are individuals that have been formed into one body.  If one denies this, then one denies the gospel and it’s salvation; for salvation does not, and cannot be given to those who are simultaneously being ruled by sin because “the wages of sin is death”.  Romans 12:4-6 “For Just as we have many members in one body and all the members do  not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly…”

·         Because of time, I can’t list for you the plethora of scriptures that instruct us as slaves of Christ; the New Testament is composed of these scriptures.  It suffices to say that IF there is any freedom as a Christian (and there is) then it is freedom FROM Sin and Death.  There is no freedom of will.  For we were all set free from bondage of sin (doing the will of sin) in order that we might do the will of GOD (not of ourselves, which, by nature, would be a return to doing the will of sin).

·         So then, if we are slaves of Christ, what rights do we have?  For Paul writes in Galtians 4:1 that although we are Heirs, we do not differ at all from the slave!  What right do you have?  Do we even have the right to take offense?  No!  For it is not us who has received the offense, if we are to be offended, but it is our master, the Lord Jesus who has taken the offense… in fact, our Master came down into the earth and became that offense, For US!

Christians!  Give up your falsely perceived “rights” and “freedoms” and take up slavery into righteousness and life.  Even as culture (riddled in sin) adamantly teaches us to love and worship freedom, join together as we were intended and listen to what God teaches us: to count our will as loss and follow HIS will. 

In this post I wish to ask the professing Christian why they are willing to discuss and share their political views so publically, but their faith… the one thing that should be sustaining them in life… is hidden in a very deep corner of their hearts?

I wish I had more time to address this, but I do not. 

So, Christian brothers and sisters, there is a urgent need to realize that we are not individuals, born with intrisic rights that cannot be broken, we were born into bondages with sin, ruled by death, freed into life by our master, Jesus, into the slavery of righteousness, as co-heirs to the kingdom.

Not only do we need to intelectually understand this, but it is time that we practically practice it!

This means that we put aside any "offenses" that we percieve to have received, and we yield our "rights" unto sacrifices for our brethren.  We must stop attacking the body of Christ which we are apart of!  If there is any error, if there is any wrong within the body, with Love and compassion, rebuke and correct the error!  Put down hateful speech and pick up selfless love for this HOLY body!