Amanda BethSharing the Truths Behind the TRUTH

Jan 2nd Monday’s Blog: A Simple Resolution

Welcome to 2012! Every New Year my husband and I make a new set of resolutions for ourselves. But sadly, our resolutions barely make it to February before they’re long forgotten.

One year, my husband and I decided to make a few resolutions together. To help us meet our goals, we wrote them on paper, prayed over them and committed them to the Lord. Then we sealed the paper in an envelope and put it in our safe, agreeing not to open it until the end of the year, on New Year’s Eve. That was two years ago and our resolutions are still sitting in our safe sealed. We didn’t open it because we didn’t meet our goals.

This year, instead of coming up with another resolution that won’t last, I decided to ask God if He had a resolution for me. Instead of committing my own resolutions to the Lord and expecting Him to make them succeed, I committed the whole matter to Him. I knew if God would give me a resolution, He would make it succeed.

So in early December I started praying for my resolution. Then, last week God answered my request as I was listening to a preacher on television. God’s response isn’t something I would have thought to pick for a resolution, but yet it makes perfect sense.

His resolution for me is to simply stop condemning myself.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…

—Romans 8:1

I know we are not condemned in Christ. This isn’t anything new to me. However, the last few months I have been falling hard. I told my husband I feel like I’ve slipped back ten years. All the positive changes God has done in my life seem like they are being stripped away, leaving the old me exposed. That scares me.

I’ve been praying about it, thinking I need to spend more time with God, study and pray more, and trust that He will lift me out of this pit. But as I was listening to the preacher teach on condemnation last week, a light bulb turned on and I saw the root cause of my fall.

I had been slowly allowing myself to be condemned over my misbehavior. And ironically condemnation was causing my misbehavior.

Galatians 5:16-18 says, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

Each time my sinful flesh popped up, I should have let the Spirit lead me to receive God’s forgiveness right away. The Spirit would have then drawn me to God and led me away from my flesh.

Instead, I chose to ignore the Spirit and follow my sinful flesh into condemnation. This only caused me to act in opposition to God, which explains why I continued to act worse. I was putting myself under the law that Jesus had already fulfilled.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

—Galatians 5:24-25

So this new year I’m choosing to keep in step with the Spirit. He will lead me away from the acts of my sinful nature and into His righteous fruit.

How about you? Will you choose to give into condemnation, or receive Christ’s atonement for your sins?

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

—Romans 4:13

Join me and stop striving to receive God’s righteousness. Simply receive it!

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Prayer For The Week

Heavenly Father,

Praise You for not condemning us, but setting us free from the power of sin. We know that You have crucified our sinful nature, and utterly destroyed all it’s power to control us. Help us to keep in step with Your Spirit Who will lead us into Righteous living.

In Jesus’s precious name, Amen!

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*As you receive this message, I encourage you to also study God’s Word daily as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

*If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, please click on the “SALVATION” tab at the top of the website. Don’t wait another day!

*All Bible verses are taken from the NIV, unless otherwise noted.