JULY 21, Romans 7:19

Sarah came back from school crying. “What happened, dear?” asked Mummy.

“Mummy, that naughty Tommy grabbed my storybook. I was angry. I tried to remember not to be angry but in the end I pushed him to the floor and both of us got punished!” sobbed the girl, “I know God doesn’t want me to get angry and fight but…”

Dear children, do you have this same struggle too? Things you know God says you must not do, you end up doing. Things you know God wants you to do, yet you do not do. Guess what? Paul, the great apostle and writer of so many epistles of the Bible, also faced the same problem as you!

It is like a war inside you. Your fleshly nature is the ‘old man’. It cannot do anything but sin. Since you become God’s child, His Holy Spirit lives in you. So, anytime your ‘old man’ wants to do evil, the Holy Spirit will tell you it is wrong. He says He has given you this power to overcome the ‘old man’. When you obey God the Holy Spirit, you win the war. When you decide not to listen to Him, your ‘old man’ will win and you end up doing something wrong, and you feel VERY lousy after that.

“What must I do to win the war?” Sarah asked, rubbing her tears away. “Pray. Pray every morning before you go to school, that God will strengthen you. Any time you feel the war coming, pray again. Even if you fail, pray for forgiveness and be prepared to win the next fight again.”

Thought: May I be led by the Holy Spirit to do more right!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, lead me not into temptations but deliver me from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.