I am never so hungry as I am on the first day of a diet! Seriously, I psych myself up for it by planning our meals and asking my hubby to hold me accountable...but then the morning comes and the pangs of hunger kick in and it's all downhill from there. Ya know?
I've done the same thing with life in general many times! I've been so determined to change my life. I really want to do things differently! I psych myself up for it by identifying all my problem areas and ask a few friends for accountability...but then the morning comes and my attitude stinks and I'm never so lazy and tired as I am on the first day I set out to change my life! lol
I was thinking about that yesterday after I posted, Minding My Busy-Ness. I wondered if this time would be any different?
Then, right before I went to bed, my friend Katie wrote a post about Discipline and Self-Control on her blog. She said that the very word, "discipline", is something she hates and yet she craves. And boy-oh-boy can I relate! That was just the confirmation I needed.
Here is a portion of the passage from Romans 7 (Amplified Bible) my friend Katie shared in her blog that really ministered to me. It's Paul writing about his own personal experience with the sinful flesh:
15For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [[b]which my moral instinct condemns].
I think that about sums up what I said yesterday, right? :o)
And on to the end of the chapter...
24O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?
25O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
I especially love verses 24-25. I too am an unhappy and pitiable and wretched person! But I thank GOD that he has released and delivered me from the shackles of my flesh through Jesus my Lord! And so then IN DEED I, with my mind and my heart, will serve God through obedience to His Word!
Now that last little bit of verse 25 leaves one to worry a bit about what's next, right?
When we read on into Romans 8, we find direction...and peace:
1THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.(A)
***We must live and walk after the dictates of the Holy Spirit.
2For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
3For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a]the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],(B)
4So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
5For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and [d]pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and [e]seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
6Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that [f]comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
***We are free from the law of sin and death! If we can overcome that through God's grace what CAN'T we overcome? (skipping to verse 9)
9But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].(C)
10But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
12So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
13For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
16The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
17And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and [g]for us and [h]conferred on us!
***We must share in His suffering if we are to share in His glory! That isn't asking too much seeing as how we will NEVER suffer as much as Christ did!!! (skipping to verse 24)
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24For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?
25But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.
26So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
27And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.(F)
28We are assured and know that [[j]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
29For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was [k]aware and [l]loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
***Here is the hope! God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our flesh! He has done this because He wants us to succeed! He wants us to be molded into the image of His Son. So, I should ask myself daily, "When people look at me, can they see Jesus?"
30And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].
31What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?](G)
32He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?
33Who shall bring any charge against God's elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]
34Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?
35Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?
36Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.(H)
37Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors [m]and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things [n]impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Woohoo! God is on our side! We are not alone! He is there, cheering us on! We have his blessing and He LOVES US!!!
God has called us to live a crucified life, to follow His Son. THAT, my sweet friends, is the answer. That is how we partake in Christ's sufferings, that is how we truly follow Him. That is how we succeed...By being obedient to God's Word and not letting our flesh get the best of us! DISCIPLINE. And yes, a lot of the work falls on us.
There is no time like the present to change the future! Change can happen overnight...it just may not be the radical change we'd like to see. It's a process, sometimes very difficult and painful, but that's alright! God loves us and if He is for us, who can be against us?!
So, now, I will get up off this couch. I will go make my children lunch. I will put Julie down for a nap. I will clean up the kitchen. I will tidy up the house. I will sit down with my son's and spend some time with them in God's Word, talking about the issues they face. Then, I'll get Julie up from her nap. Load them all up in the car and go spend some time with my sisters in faith and fellowship.
God Bless You Today!
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