Today's Passage - Romans 7:22-25

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!