Dead to sin, Alive in Christ.

Romans 6:1,2. This section deals with the sanctification, the change God makes in our lives as we grow in the faith. If God loves to forgive, why not give him more to forgive? If forgiveness is guaranteed, do we have the freedom to sin as much as we want? Paul’s forceful answer is By no means! Such an attitude, deciding ahead of time to take advantage of God, shows that a person does not understand the seriousness of sin. God’s forgiveness does not make sin less serious, his son’s death for sin shows us the dreadful seriousness of sin. Jesus paid with his life so we could be forgiven. The availability of God’s mercy must not become an excuse for careless living and moral laxness.
Romans 6: 5. We can enjoy our new life in Christ because we are united with him in his death and resurrection. Our evil desires, our bondage to sin, and our love of sin died with him. Now united by Faith with him in his resurrection life, we have unbroken fellowship with God and freedom from sin’s hold on us.
Romans 6: 6. The power and penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross. Our ‘’old self’’, our sinful nature, died once and for all, so we are freed from it’s power. The ‘’body of sin’’ is not the human body, but our rebellious sin-loving nature inherited from Adam. Though our body willingly cooperates with our sinful nature, we must not regard the body as evil. It is the sin in us that is evil. And it is this power of sin at work in our body that is defeated. Paul has already stated that through Faith in Christ we stand acquitted, ‘’not guilty’’ before God. God does not take us out of the world or make us robots, we will still feel like sinning, and sometimes we will sin. The difference is that before we were saved we were slaves to our sinful nature, but now we can choose to live for Christ.
Romans 6:12. How can we keep this command to not let sin reign over us, to not give in to it’s desires? We can take the following steps: 1. Identify our personal weakness. 2. Recognize the things that tempt us. 3. Stay away from sources of temptation. 4. Practice self restraint. 5. Consciously invest our time in good habits and service. 6. Lean on God’s strength and grace.
Romans 6:13. The phrase ‘’instruments of wickedness’’ referred to a tool or a weapon. Our skills, capabilities, and bodies can serve many purposes, good or bad. In sin, every part of our bodies are vulnerable. In Christ, every part can be an instrument for service. It is the one to whom we offer our service that makes the difference. We are like lasers that can burn destructive holes in steel places or do delicate cataract surgery. Will you give yourself completely to God, asking him to put you to good use for his glory?


Prayer is more than something we do with our hands folded and our eyes closed.

Image reference:jesushats.com

GZ/KZ

The Journey

A writing that is off of the regular beaten path……………

Each and every day we all take some sort of journey. Where do we all go? We are all on the move, in a hurry and getting in each others way. Some people go all out, sparing no expense on far away vacations, traveling the world. Me, my idea of a vacation is not getting over three hours from home. That way if I don’t like where I’m at I can get home fairy quickly. The journey I’m talking about is very different. It is the shortest and hardest journey we all take each day.
God has saved my life three times that I know of. Once when I was around eight or nine years old. Once when I was in my late teens and once when I was in my thirties. God plans for everything. My mother went in the hospital when I was two years old and she passed away when I was nine years old. My dad passed away when I was 19 years old. So, God had a journey for me. But as he always does, he plans for everything. He sent me my soul mate whom I met when she was thirteen years old and I was nineteen years old and we married when she was 18 and I was 21. She’s still by my side and will be until the end. What God puts together, no one can take apart. He knew that on the long hard journey I was going to encounter, I would need a strong soul mate to stand by me with all of the things that the long twisted journey would take. Without her I would have never made it very far down the road of life. I won’t go into all of that right now, maybe in another writing.
We all go through things in life and we all go down a rocky twisted road. God will get us through it if we let him and ask him. What is the busiest most traveled road you have ever been on in your life? Well, I don’t know your answer, but you are wrong!!! We all share this road and we all have the same problems making the short trip. It can be very difficult at times, maneuvering through all of the road blocks that are on this well traveled road. This road can be filled with happiness, pain, envy, greed. Any emotion you can imagine is parked on the feeder road. The Journey I am talking about is only 18 inches long and we all make the trip thousands of times everyday. The Journey from the Mind to the Heart is only 18 inches long, so what makes this short Journey so hard to take. We get all messed up along the way. Why is that? Our Heart wants to do one thing but our mind is telling us something else. Somehow we manage to meet somewhere in the middle and decide what path to take. Is it always the right path? No!! We are human and we make mistakes and we will continue to do so. Sometimes while traveling down this short road, our Faith gets tested until we are about ready to break. There are and will be times in all of our lives that will require us to have Deep Water Faith while standing in the shallow end of the pool. We have all been there, and we are still on this short 18 inch Journey.

It's only 18 inches from the mind to the heart.
So why do we struggle so much with the short Journey?
GZ

Freedom In Christ.

Galatians 5:1,2.Christ died to set us free from sin and from a long list of rules and regulations. Christ came to set us free, not free to do whatever we want because that would lead us back into slavery to our selfish desires. Rather, thanks to Christ, we are now free and able to do what was impossible before, to live unselfishly. Those who appeal to their freedom so they can have their own way or indulge their own desires are falling back into sin. But it is also wrong to put a burden of law keeping Christian's. We must stand against those who would enslave us with rules, methods or special conditions for being saved or growing in Christ.
Galatians 5:3,4. Trying to be saved by keeping the law and being saved by grace are two entirely different approaches. ‘'Christ will be of no value to you at all,’’means that Christ’s provision for our salvation will not help us if we are trying to save ourselves. Obeying the law does not make it any easier for God to save us. All we can do is accept his gracious gift through faith. Our deeds of service must never be used to try to earn God’s love or favor.
Galatians 5:6. We are saved by Faith, not by deeds. But love for others and for God is the response of those whom God has forgiven. God’s forgiveness is complete and Jesus said that those who are forgiven, must love. Because Faith expresses itself through love, you can check your love for others as a way to monitor your faith.
Galatians 5:14,15.When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. Have you focused on others shortcomings instead of their strengths? Remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love others as you love yourself. When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person’s positive qualities. When problems need to be addressed, confront in love rather than gossip!!
Galatians 5:19-21. We all have evil desires, and we can’t ignore them. In order for us to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we must deal with them decisively. These desires include obvious sins such as sexual immorality and witchcraft. They also include less obvious sins such as selfish ambition, hatred, and jealousy. Those who ignore such sins or refuse to deal with them reveal that they have not received the gift of the Spirit that leads to a transformed life.
Galatians 5: 25,26. God is interested in ever part of our lives, not just the spiritual part. As we live by the Holy Spirits power, we need to submit every aspect of our lives to God, emotional, physical, social. The Holy Spirit is the source of your new life, so keep in step with his leading. Don’t let anything or anyone else determine your values and standards in any area of your life. Everyone needs a certain amount of approval from others. But those who go out of their way to secure honors or to win popularity become conceited and show they are not following the Holy Spirit’s leading. Seek to please God and the approval of others won’t seem so important.


A little yeast can cause a whole lump of dough to rise and it only takes one wrong person to infect all the others.

Image reference: allaboutgod.net

G.Z. K.Z.