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2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 12

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 12

“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh,” Romans 8:12

Under Obligation

The life of the believer is a life of freedom, freedom from sin, death, shame, the restrictions of the Mosaic Law, and fear.  This freedom comes with obligations.  We are under obligations to live this life of freedom in a way that honors Christ.  We are under obligation to live according to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Paul told the Galatian church, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”  “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’” Galatians 5:1 and 13-14.  We are free in Christ.  We are free from the binding and unrelenting obligations of the Law of Moses.  We are free from the ravages of the sin nature.  We are free from sin and shame.  However, we are not free to use our freedom as an opportunity to sin.  We are not free to sin, but to serve.  “Through love serve on another.”  Paul goes on to say in that same chapter, Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”  Here we discover that we are not under the Law, but instead we live by the Spirit’s leading.  Believers in Christ live by the leading of the Spirit and not under the letter of the Law of Moses.  However, freedom from the Law is not a freedom to do anything we wish.  “You may not do the things that you please.”  Though there is no obligation to sin, to follow the sinful nature, or to follow the Law, we are under obligation.  We are under the obligation to walk according to the Spirit.  Under our obligation to the Spirit’s authority, we seek to honor Christ and to serve one another.

No Obligation to the Sinful Nature

The sinful nature brings death.  The sinful nature continues to battle for control.  Our bodies crave sin and the Spirit dwelling within us helps us fight against the sinful cravings of our sinful nature.  Since the Holy Spirit indwells us, our obligation is to the aspect of our nature that He has made alive.  We should not answer to the part of us that is dead, our sinful nature.  Our spirit has been made alive by the Spirit of God.  Our obligation is to the Spirit of God and not to our old sinful desires.  We have been freed from answering to the sinful nature.  In our freedom, we must live for Christ through the power of the Spirit.  Prior to coming to Christ, we were unable to fulfill the Law of God.  However, now that we are in Christ, the Law has been fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4).  Now, instead of the Law of Moses, we are empowered to fulfill God’s will in our lives, for He has made us able to do so.  Now when we sin, with the Spirit dwelling within us, we are living in direct opposition to our new spiritual life.  Prior to coming to faith in Christ, we had no ability to live in a way that honored God.  When we believed in Christ, God sent His Spirit to live within us.  Now if we sin, it is by choice.  Now, when we sin, we choose to give in to our sinful desires even though we have been freed from its power.   

Prayer Focus

God, forgive me for my willful disobedience to Your will.  You have changed me by Your Holy Spirit and yet far too often I have allowed my sinful desires to control of my thoughts and actions.  I acknowledge that my sin is by my own choice and that You have done all that is necessary to free me from sin’s control.  Today, let me live according to the Spirit’s power.  Help me live a life of complete dependence upon You through Your Spirit.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

POWER “IN” AND “UPON”

The Holy Spirit dwelling in us, is one thing; I think this is clearly brought out in Scripture; and the Holy Spirit upon us for service, is another thing. Now there are only three places we find in Scripture that are dwelling places for the Holy Spirit. In the 40th chapter of Exodus, commencing with the 33rd verse, are these words: “And he (that is Moses) reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.

“Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. “And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” The moment that Moses finished the work, the moment that the tabernacle was ready, the cloud came, the Shekinah glory came and filled it so that Moses was not able to stand before the presence of the Lord. I believe firmly, that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and self-seeking, and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will come and fill every corner of our hearts.  If we are full of pride and conceit, and ambition and self-seeking, and pleasure and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God; and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else. Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us. There must be an emptying before there can be a filling; and when the heart is turned upside down, and everything is turned out that is contrary to God, then the Spirit will come, just as He did in the tabernacle, and fill us with His Glory.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 11

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 11

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

The Spirit of Him Who Raised Jesus from the Dead

The Spirit of God gives life.  In John 3:5-7 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”  The Spirit of God gives spiritual life through the new birth that comes to us when we put our faith in Christ.  A few chapters later in John 6:63, Jesus told His disciples, “It is the Spirit who gives life...”

Will Give Life to Your Mortal Bodies

Believers in Christ are not exempt from the reality of sin’s consequences.  Our bodies remain mortal even though our spirit has been transformed through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  However, the Holy Spirit is not done with His work in us.  Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so too we will be raised from the dead.  The same “Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead” lives in you, if you belong to Christ.  He has established a pattern of bringing God’s children back from the dead.  He brought Jesus Christ, the Son of God, back from the dead.  We are now God’s adopted children through faith in God’s Son.  As His adopted children, we will also experience the same powerful, resurrection work of the Holy Spirit.  We are dying physically, but we are alive spiritually.  The source of our spiritual life is God’s Spirit dwelling in us.  The Spirit of God worked powerfully in the Son of God by bringing Him back from the dead.  The Spirit of God also dwells in us and ultimately He will perform this same resurrection work in us. Douglas Moo described it this way, “Since the Spirit is ‘life,’ his presence cannot but result in life for that body which he inhabits.  The Spirit’s life-giving power is not limited by the mortality of the body but rather He overcomes and transforms that mortality into the immortality of eternal life in a resurrected body.” (New International Commentary of the New Testament, The Epistle to the Romans, Moo, page 493)  The Spirit of God provides us the abiding hope of a physical, resurrected life in the future.  He abides within us now, giving us an abiding spiritual life.  His abiding presence speaks hope to our hearts today concerning His future work in us.

Prayer Focus

Thank You for the promise of eternal life, a spiritual life that is already ours and a physical life that is yet to come.  Just as You raised Jesus from the dead to eternal life, so I believe Your promise to give this same eternal life to my physical body.   Thank You for giving me Your Spirit to dwell in me.  Now may the evidence of Your Spirit’s indwelling presence abide with me today.  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, my God.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

THE BOON OF LIBERTY

The next thing the Spirit of God does is to give us liberty. He first imparts love; He next inspires hope, and then gives liberty…God does not use men in captivity. The condition of many is like Lazarus when he came out of the sepulcher bound hand and foot. The bandage was not taken off his mouth, and he could not speak. He had life, and if you had said Lazarus was not alive, you would have told a falsehood, because he was raised from the dead. There are a great many people, the moment you talk to them and insinuate they are not doing what they might, they say: “I have life. I am a Christian.” Well, you can’t deny it, but they are bound hand and foot. May God snap these fetters and set His children free, that they may have liberty. I believe He comes to set us free, and wants us to work for Him, and speak for Him…The Spirit of God comes to give liberty, and wherever you see the Lord’s work going on, you will see that Spirit of liberty and People won’t be afraid of speaking to one another.  What we need today is love in our hearts. Don’t we want it? Don’t we want hope in our lives? Don’t we want to be hopeful? Don’t we want liberty? Now, all this is the work of the Spirit of God, and let us pray to God daily to give us love, and hope, and liberty…If I know my own heart today, I would rather die than live as I once did, a mere nominal Christian, and not used by God in building up His kingdom. It seems a poor empty life to live for the sake of self. Let us seek to be useful. Let us seek to be vessels meet for the Master’s use, that God, the Holy Spirit, may shine fully through us.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 10

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 10

“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10

Christ in You

In Romans, Paul spent a great deal of time describing our life as believers.  This life is a life that is “in Christ.”  The opening verse of this chapter draws its theological premise from this idea that we are “in Christ.”  Romans 8, the chapter on the believer’s life in relationship to the Spirit of God, opens with a reminder of our status as being “in Christ.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Paul used the phrase “in Christ” in Romans 8:1 to describe our legal standing before God.  When God, our just judge, looks at us, He sees us “in Christ.”  We are sinners by nature and by choice, but God in His grace looks at us through the lens of Christ’s perfect life, death and resurrection.  He sees us “in Christ” so that God sees our sin in the death of Christ in our place.  He sees us “in Christ” so that the righteousness of Christ becomes our righteousness in the eyes of God.  Paul described it this way in Philippians 3:8-9 “so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” 

We have discussed many of the benefits to being “in Christ” such as the forgiveness of sins, justification before God, spiritual life, peace with God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  In this verse, the Bible says that “Christ is in you.”  Paul reversed the direction of the preposition.  We are “in Christ” but also “Christ is in us.”  The first phrase describes our legal status before God the Father.  The second phrase of “Christ is in you” refers to our ongoing relationship with Christ through the Spirit of Christ.  In the verse just prior to this verse Paul stated, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” “If Christ is in you” is a reference to the indwelling Holy Spirit from verse 9.  Christ abides in us as we abide in Christ.  Christ abides in the believer through the Holy Spirit.  We have access to the power and presence of Christ through His indwelling Spirit.  The presence of the Spirit is a source of tremendous hope for daily living.  Christ is at work in us through His Holy Spirit.  Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

Spiritual Life

The body is dead because of sin.  Sin brings death.  God allows sin’s consequence to remain in this world even after the death and resurrection of Christ.  God allows sin’s consequence to remain even in the life of believers.  Even though God gave us eternal life through His Son, He has allowed the physical devastation of sin to remain in the interim.  However, between now and eternity the physical reality of death does not mitigate the spiritual reality.  “Though the body is dead because of sin,” does not mean you have no life.  Your spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ.  When we believe in Christ, God credits the righteousness of His Son to our account.  This crediting of righteousness gives us life. What about the physical life that comes through Christ?  Tomorrow’s verse focuses on the hope of the future physical hope that is ours in Christ.  However, even though that hope is in the future, the reality of today is the abiding spiritual life through the work of God’s Spirit living in us. 

Prayer Focus

Thank You, God, for bringing me spiritual life.  Thank You that through faith in Your Son that I am “in Christ.”  Thank You also for your abiding presence in my life through Your Holy Spirit.  I lift up my family and friends that the hope you promise in Christ would be their hope as well.  Please help the church to demonstrate this spiritual life.  We ask You to empower us to serve You through the power of Your Spirit.  Use me today to share with others the beauty of the spiritual life that can be found in Christ.  Use the church to share this hope to the nations.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

Did you ever notice this, that no man or woman is used by God to build up His kingdom who has lost all hope?  Now, I have been observing this throughout different parts of the country, and whenever I have found a worker in God’s vineyard who has lost hope, I have found a man or woman not very useful…It is very important to have hope and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to impart hope…Let Him come into some of our churches, where there have not been any conversions for a few years, and let Him convert some people, and see how hopeful the Church becomes immediately.  He imparts hope; a man filled with the Spirit of God will be very hopeful. He will be looking out into the future and he knows that it is all bright, because the God of all grace is able to do great things.  Therefore, it is very important that we have hope.  If a man has lost hope, he is out of communion with God; he has not resting in the Spirit of God.  He may be a son of God and just disheartened so that he cannot be used by God.  When I was discouraged, a friend challenged me to study the character of Noah.  I took, down my bible, and read about Noah; and then it came over me that Noah worked 120 years and never had a convert, and yet he did not get discouraged; and I said, “well, I ought not to be discouraged.” …I wonder what Noah would have given if he could have had just one convert, and yet he worked 120 years and he didn’t quit.