“Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” (Romans 7:25 NLT)
The key words in the above verse to me are: “In my mind…” The real battlefield for each of us is between our ears. Before we see any significant change in our behavior, we must first allow the Lord to help us change our mind. That’s what repentance is all about. We make the decision to allow the Lord to help us change our life’s direction, which leads to the unleashing of His Almighty power to enable us to change our habits, which opens the door to the transformed life of which Paul speaks in 2nd Corinthians 5:17.
Paul writes in Romans 8:12: “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” How could he have written those words if he was living a contradiction of them in his statement in chapter 7:25 about being a slave to sin? Every day we renew our commitment to the Lord to allow the Holy Spirit to dictate policy in our lives, which enables us to walk in the newness of life we’ve been given, not in submission to the old life in which we used to walk. We respond just like Jesus did in the wilderness when Satan was riding Him hard to give in to sin.
Do we always succeed? Unfortunately, not, but by God’s grace, as we walk longer with the Lord our successes begin to far outweigh our defeats. That’s why intimacy with Jesus is so very critical. To the extent I allow my mind to remain focused on Jesus and not on the entertainment of my selfish lusts, to that extent I’ll enjoy victory in my quest for closeness to the Lord.
It’s not unlike my faithfulness to my wife. To the extent I keep my heart and mind focused on my devotion to her, to that extent I will avoid allowing my mind to wander into lustful thoughts that, if not curbed, can easily lead to lustful actions that can not only destroy our marriage, but my life.
Perhaps the key to understanding Paul’s heart in his words in Romans 7 is to see into his mind. The battlefield for our soul is in our mind. If we allow our mind to become the devil’s playground, our heart will stray, as it seeks to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, not the desires of our Savior. I’m close to the Lord in this season of my life, but that closeness must be desired and worked at maintaining every day, sometimes every minute of every day.
That’s why prayer can’t be a one-time activity each day. Yes, of course, begin your day with pouring your heart out to the Lord and seeking His guidance, confessing your need of Him, thanking Him for all the ways He’s making Himself known to you, and lifting to Him those in your spheres of influence who need Him. But that’s just the beginning. Speak with Him each second of the day, regardless of what else you’re doing. “But I need to focus on what I’m doing?” you may be thinking.
Yes, of course you do, but Who do you think is providing everything you need, not only for DOING whatever you’re doing, but the focus to do it in a manner that’s honoring to Him? If the goal of whatever you’re doing isn’t to glorify and honor Jesus you need to stop doing it and do something that is.
If we get stuck in Romans 7 believing we’re just Satan-bait that has no power or ability to live above the tentacles of sin, we’re defeated before we begin. Or, if we “celebrate” our unwillingness to live without sin because we’ve prayed some kind of “sinner’s prayer” that leads us to wrongly believe it frees us to live the way we used to and still go to heaven, we’re also subjecting ourselves to defeat.
If we’re tempted to believe these lies, we need to memorize and post on the inside of our forehead Romans 8:13: “For if you live by its (your sinful nature) dictates, YOU WILL DIE. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, YOU WILL LIVE. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” With the clear implication: If you aren’t being consistently led by the Spirit, you very well may not be a child of God.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
Thank you Ed. I love today’s blog, especially the last paragraph, as this is a picture of my wife’s salvation. You can pray to the Lord for your salvation, then go about living a lie without Him as your co-pilot, assuming all the while that you’re saved by God’s Grace. But if you never allow the Holy Spirit into your life, to help you grow daily in your faith, to guide you & teach you, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you, because you never gave Him permission to co-pilot of your life. There are oh-so many church seat warmers like my wife, that will someday find that they’ve been “left behind”, on the soon to come glorious day of the Blessed Hope (rapture). And the key to being accepted as a true “Child of God”, and be able to enter Heaven, is whether or not the Holy Spirit is inside you or not. The Spirt is the proverbial “Key” to Heaven, and without the key, the door will be closed to you, and King Jesus will tell you at the door, “I never knew you, be gone”. Steve
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Thank you, dear brother, for your thoughtful response. My love and prayers are with you as you travel. (And with Murphy) 🙏❤️😃
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