| How Can I Get Out of This Mess? |
|
|
| By Rick Warren — Aug 5, 2015 |
“Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:24b-25a NLT, second edition)
Here is the testimony of a Chinese Christian: “I walked through the road of life and had fallen into a great ditch. The ditch was filled with depression, discouragement, and sin. As I lay in that ditch, Mohammed came along and said, ‘It’s your fault you’re in the ditch. You offended Allah, and this is your just punishment.’ Then Marx came by and said, ‘You’re in the ditch because of class warfare. You must revolt.’ But after the government changed, I was still in my ditch. Then Buddha came along and said, ‘You’re not really in that ditch. You just think you’re there. It’s all an illusion of the mind. Be at peace, and learn to live in your ditch.’ Then Confucius came by and said, ‘Here are the 10 steps of self-attainment by which you can get out of your ditch. If you will struggle, you will climb out eventually.’ But as much as I struggled and strained, I couldn’t get out of the ditch, because it was too deep.
“Then one day, Jesus Christ came by and saw me in my ditch. Without a word, he took off his white robe and got down in the muddy ditch with me. Then he lifted me up with his strong arms and pulled me out of the ditch. Thank God that Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself.”
Jesus did for you what you could not do for yourself.
If you want healing in your life, you have to believe that Christ can change you. Romans 7:24-25 says, “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (NLT, second edition).
The answer to your problem is a person. Who’s going to be lord of your life? Who’s going to call the shots? You or Jesus Christ? When you’re mastered by him, you can master your problems. God has the power you were lacking. He’ll help you out.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick>>
Talk It Over
- What does it mean for God to be Lord of your life?
- Jesus did for you what you could not do for yourself. What do you need to trust him for today that is too big for you to handle on your own?
- How can you show God that you believe he can change you?
 |
|
| |
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
--Proverbs 28:1
| |
| | If the devil can’t discourage and defeat you by slander or false accusations, he’ll try to bring you down by tempting you to commit outright sin. And it takes incredible, God-given discernment to avoid Satan’s traps.
That’s the situation Nehemiah faced in verses 10-14 of chapter 6. The plot against him was very clever. A false prophet said to Nehemiah, “God told me that your enemies are coming to kill you. Quick! Run and hide in the temple.”
But Nehemiah was a discerning man. He knew God had not sent this so-called prophet. Nehemiah also knew if he listened to this man and hid in the inner recesses of the temple, that act would break the commandment of God and expose Nehemiah to all the people as a sinner.
So Nehemiah replied, “Should such a man as I run away?” (Nehemiah 6:11). It was a statement of holy boldness, not one of human braggadocio. Sometimes God’s people are gullible and respond to any so-called message from Him. But Nehemiah knew the Word of God, so he could spot a sin when he saw one. Consequently, he wasn’t fooled.
The same applies in your life today. Knowing God’s Word gives you incredible discernment. So don’t go to bed tonight without spending time in your Bible today!
Knowing God’s word will help you avoid the traps of Satan. |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment