Anglican Devotional 2 September 2022 – The Weakness Of The Flesh

The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 2 September 2022 – The Weakness Of The Flesh

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TOPIC: The Weakness Of The Flesh

TEXT: Romans 7:1-25 (NKJV)

1. Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
2. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to [her] husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of [her] husband.
3. So then if, while [her] husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
4. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
5. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
6. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
7. What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
8. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all [manner of evil] desire. For apart from the law sin [was] dead.
9. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10. And the commandment, which [was] to [bring] life, I found to [bring] death.
11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed [me.]
12. Therefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
13. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
16. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that [it is] good.
17. But now, [it is] no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but [how] to perform what is good I do not find.
19. For the good that I will [to do,] I do not do; but the evil I will not [to do,] that I practice.
20. Now if I do what I will not [to do,] it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25. I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

THE MESSAGE:

The law came from God and was meant to teach and keep men in His ways in order for them to partake in His blessings (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). However, from the Garden of Eden till now, it appears as if it’s easier to yield to the desires of the flesh than those of the Spirit. The flesh as it were, has not been successful in meeting the demands of God. Morality and legality have not and will not be able to take any man far in doing God’s will without faltering. This is simply because the arm of flesh will always fail.

This was the confession of St. Paul when he said that “for the good that I would, I do not: But the evil which I would not, that I do.” But by the death and resurrection of Jesus and the release of the Holy Spirit to the saints for empowerment, God has quickened man to be able to say no to “ungodliness and wordly passion”.Therefore, it is expected that any man who will conquer sin must have received the quickening that comes from the Holy Spirit, which we receive at our spiritual birth. Are you struggling with besetting sin? Give the Spirit of God a chance to help you!!!

PRAYER: Oh Lord, I surrender my weakeness today in exchange for Your strength.