Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 8:3-4   "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."   Why was Paul so sure when he declared, back in Romans 8:1, that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"?  It's because, in versus 3, Christ "in the likeness of sinful man" was condemned for our sin.  Condemnation as a term in court of law means that the sinful men must wait for the sentencing from God; however, because Jesus was incarnated into the form of a sinful man, but he is not sinful.  That means while He had the form of a sinner, He did not sin, and that's why He could take on the penalty for sin from God and the justice of God was satisfied.  Therefore, God can now declare that those who are in Christ will not be condemned and the righteousness of law will be fulfilled in us.  In order word, I was a condemned sinner waiting to be sentenced, but now not only will I not need to be sentenced, but I am called a righteous man.  This is a unprecedented wonder, but it is just the mighty work of God.   Of course, this is not something that can be accomplished naturally; the righteousness of law is accomplished in those of us who "do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."  What does it mean to "not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit"?  It means we become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  To those of us who believe in the Lord, we belong to God and the Holy Spirit has been living inside us since the day we accepted the Lord.  He also continuously guided us in our life as long as we are willing to listen.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak to us through listening to a sermon, reading God's Word, or the circumstance around us.  Whichever way it is, we need to have a sensitive heart to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to follow it.   When the Lord came to earth, there was a man named Simeon who, in Luke chapter 2, received the Holy Spirit.  He received revelation from the Holy Spirit and knew that he will see Christ before he passed away, and then he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to enter the temple.  It was a series of acts of submission to the Holy Spirit that brought victory to him, and thus the righteousness of God was manifested.                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you died for me so that I could live for you.  May the Spirit of the Lord elevate us to be more sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit so that we can follow you and become holy.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 8:1-2   "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."   Paul made the great declaration of all time here: "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  In other word, we are no longer bound by the authority of darkness.  Those who don't believe in the Lord are basically living under the authority of sin and they have no freedom from sin.  Because they have no choice, they can only follow the trend of the world.  Why is your value system different from that of your parents?  Because the times have changes and trend is different now, and people can only follow different trend of the time.  If you lived back in the 60s, you would have become a hippie; but back in the 80s, you'd be a yuppie.  A real blessed person, who is not condemned in Christ, will no longer live under the authority of sin.   Before accepting the Lord, we didn't have the freedom of choice, but in Christ we are no longer bound by the authority of sin.  We are free and we can choose not to sin; instead, by God's help we can choose to be victorious.  Not being condemned in Christ is the result of salvation of Jesus.  Now that we are in the position to be free of sin, we can make choices with true freedom.  Did you know that in Christ you are free, and you are no longer bound by sin?  Many believers are constantly living in failure and weakness because they don't understand such truth.   There used to be a rabbit in our house that has always been caged.  One time I felt bad of the rabbit, so I opened the door of the cage to let it come out and freely jump around.  The rabbit, however, approached the door and hesitated to cross it, because it was used to living inside the cage and didn't think it should go out from it.  The outside world was completely foreign to it.  After a while, it slowly moved out of the cage and ran around outside of it freely.  Once it tasted freedom, it was certainly hard for it to go back to the cage.  Brothers and sisters, are you enjoying true freedom in Christ?  May the Spirit of the Lord open your eyes and show you what the freedom in Christ is, and also empower you to overcome sin.                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you because in you we are no longer condemned.  May the Spirit of the Lord help us to understand this truth, and help us to live with true freedom.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 7:22-25   "For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."   "What a wretched man I am!"  This is a painful cry from Paul's soul on behalf of the human race.  As human beings, we sooner or later will feel the same sentiment.  There is constant warfare going on - A battle between the law of God and law of flesh.  On the one hand, we are eager to live according to the will of God, but on the other hand our flesh drives us to take on the path of sin.  After you commit a sin, you would often feel baffled, feeling that it wasn't yourself.  Many have experience with their bad temper; when they are in good mood, they know that getting mad is bad for themselves; it hurts others and it's bad for digestion; however, when they are in bad mood, the temper comes like a hurricane and cannot be stopped, then they regret afterwards.  Once and again the same story repeats itself.  Isn't that what we are going through?   The "power crisis" doesn't just happen in the energy sector in the physical world, but also in the spiritual world.  Once I borrowed a book in the library, and I saw a guy in front of renewing a book.  According to the library's rule, a book needs to be renewed after being checked out for two weeks.  Once I saw the title of the book he borrowed, I really sympathized with him, because the book is named "Quit Smoking in Five Days," but apparently he could shake the habit after five days.  Not just in quitting smoking, we also feel powerless in many other things in life.  But thank God, because Paul didn't stop at feeling bad about himself.  If he stopped writing there, then our life is doomed to be miserable and will surely end in a tragedy.  Paul continued by saying that we can be released by Jesus!  In other word, we can be freed from such battles through salvation and we can proclaim victory against our own flesh everyday.   Victorious Christian life is not about living by our own might, but living by the Holy Spirit.  Let the Lord rules our lives, not just living for the Lord on the outside but also living for the Lord inside, because "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  Are you longing for a life of spiritual victory?  Let's welcome the work of the Holy Spirit, so that the Christ inside us will be manifested.                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, may your spirit come again to fill us, so that we can be delivered from the bondage of the desires of my flesh.  Also, give us a submissive heart so that we will choose your way in our daily life and reject the way of the world.  I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 7:18-21   "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, 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: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me."   Paul said that "I know that nothing good lives in me..."  This is not only a word of agony, but it really reflects the nature of human beings.  Human beings are born in sin and are influenced and bound by sin.  Chinese people don't like to hear the word sin because we think we are brought up right in the Chinese teachings on morality.  We are good husbands at home, good workers in the company, we never evade tax, and we even occasionally donate money to help the poor.  If we see the people around us, we don't think too many, if any, are better than us.  Although we are not saints and we're not as good as the best, we are much better than the worst.  Judging from our behavior, God should give us a break and let us into heaven.  People can only judge others from the outside, but God judge us from the inside.  Is there anyone who dares to open up their inner mind to the public every minute and every day?   Actually, as soon as you feel that you are better than others, you have committed the sin of pride.  The Bible says that pride is the origin of sin, therefore sin is not only about outward behavior, but also inner thoughts and mind.  The origin of sin is the self-centeredness of human.  Why do you fight with others?  Because you think you are right.  Why do you look down on others?  Because you think you are better.  Couples often fight because they think the other person needs to change, but they turn around and say "parents are always right" to their children and ask them to obey.  To our own parents, however, we would tell them "this is the 21st century, the age of science, so you must change!"  In any case, we always think we are right, practice and objective, but we can't see that we are the reason for conflicts in relationships.  The greatest weakness of men is that we can't see our own sin.  Sin has blinded our spiritual eyes and caused us unable to recognize God; sin makes us only see ourselves but cannot see the needs of others and it destroys relationships between people.  If the problem of sin is not resolved, we will never have true peace, joy and satisfaction.   Paul confessed that he has the weakness of human beings and said that "nothing good lives in me."  Because of this humble confession he's able to receive forgiveness and healing from God.  Do you know what lives in you?  Are you willing to humbly turn back to God and receive healing from Him?                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please forgive our sins inside.  Let us confess that there is no good in us, so we need the precious blood of the Lord to come to forgive and cleanse us again, so that we will become whole again.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 7:12-17   "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.  Did that which is good, then, become death to me?  By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.  We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me."   We might have different views towards sin, but we must all acknowledge that there are problems with our inner self.  Verse 15 says that we don't do what we wish, but we do what we hate.  Hasn't our lives been filled with such struggles?  When we were young, we knew that lying was bad, but when we got a bad report card we wanted to lie to cover it up.  When we were taking exams, we knew that we shouldn't cheat, but when we had nothing to write on the exam but everyone else was busy writing, we naturally wanted to see what others were writing.  The aftermath of these behaviors, however, often made us feel uneasy.  After we grew up, we know we should love one another, but we just don't have the life of love to share with others; we know we shouldn't always remember how others have wronged us, but we just can't forget all that hatred piled up inside us.   Husbands know that we should love and treasure our wives, but we find it hard to express; wives know that they should respect and obey the husbands, but they can't forget their expectations.  Most parents know that they need to love their children and teach them patiently, but when they start talking they become harsh and cruel.  Children know that they should respect their parents and honor them in the Lord, but when we live our busy lives we are incapable of doing anything about it.  Are these depictions of different aspects of our lives?  We can't do what we are willing, but we do what we hate.  Sometimes we even like to do evil more than do good.   Do you often fall victim to these battles?  You need the Holy Spirit to shine upon you and let His power come upon you.  Only in the light of the Holy Spirit will we recognize our real selves, otherwise it is impossible for us to humble down and ask for healing and forgiveness.  Only the in power of Holy Spirit will people see their true evil nature and become delivered into freedom.  May the Holy Spirit of the Lord enter our lives today, to deliver us and to manifest His power!                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Holy Spirit, we welcome you to move freely in our life.  May you shine into our darkness and may you deliver us with your power, so that we can have a life that pleases God.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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