Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Monday, 18 September 2017 "The Spirit Gives Us Freedom" by Robert W. Smith - Romans 8:1-17Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua. 2 Why? Because the Torah of the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua, has set me free from the “Torah” of sin and death. 3 For what the Torah could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature, 4 so that the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants. 5 For those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom. 7 For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah — indeed, it cannot. 8 Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God.
9 But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit — provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him. 10 However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous. 11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
12 So then, brothers, we don’t owe a thing to our old nature that would require us to live according to our old nature. 13 For if you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die; but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.
14 All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God; 17 and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah — provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.
-------In the ancient world, few political ideals were more important than freedom. Freedom allowed a person to vote in the assembly, to own property, and to remain free from the chains of slavery. Even today, stories of men and women who risk their lives to live in freedom inspire us.
Paul was a citizen of the Roman Empire in which people lived under the heavy hand of Caesar Augustus and his rule of Pax Romana (the Peace of Rome). Paul desired freedom, but something was more valuable than political freedom. His gospel declared that a person could be set free from the hopelessness of spiritual death.
Freedom originates in the death of Jesus Christ (see Romans 5:6-8), and the Holy Spirit enables the believer to experience its spiritual reality. In Romans 8:2, Paul refers to the “law of the Spirit of life.” He notes that the work of the Spirit is carried out in cooperation with the work of Christ. To believe in Christ and to be set free from the law of sin and death allows the believer to live according to the Spirit (v. 9) and to be free from the dictates of the flesh. Thanks be to God.
Hymn for Today:
"Holy Spirit, Be My Guide" by Mildred Cope copyright 1963, Renewed 1991 by Lillenas Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved.
1. Holy Spirit my heart yearns for Thee
Holy Spirit abide in me
make me clean oh make me pure
I must know the double cure
2. Ne'er my trust will be in vain
nought to lose and all to gain
take my life, my self. my soul
burn the chaff and make me whole
3. Holy Spirit be my Guide
Holy Spirit my door's open wide
make me to know Thy will divine
Holy Spirit be Thou mine.
Thought for Today:
So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!(John 8:36).Please pray:
That many people in Guinea will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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