For the next few weeks, I’m giving you a sneak peek into “The Pathway to Discipleship: A Yearly Devotion & Prayer Journal.” I was asked to contribute to this book, along with many other devoted men of God, to help you experience a deeper walk with Jesus. The devotional journal contains 52 weeks of thought-provoking and powerful devotions. Days 1-4 cover subjects essential along the pathway to discipleship, and Day 5 is for journaling, reflection, and prayer.
This beautiful, leather-bound book makes an attractive, Christ-centered Christmas gift that can be enjoyed all year. Why not pick one up for yourself as well? The book is not available in stores. You can purchase a prayer book for $15 in the Blackshear Place main lobby.
DAY 2
There Is Victory in Jesus
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:22-25a
What do you think about most often? Do you think about all that you are and all that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ? He has saved us. He has healed us. He has filled us. We were dead in sins, but He has made us alive. We were living in darkness, but He has brought us into the light. We were shackled in sin, but He has set us free. Now, we can say, “Thank you, Jesus! Lord, you’re worthy of all the glory and all the honor and all the praise!”
So how often do you think about the Lord? As we move toward Jesus, we move away from our sin. And the closer we get to Jesus, the more we see our wretchedness and our desperate need for Him. Our self determination and willpower are worthless. Living the Christian life and overcoming sinful desires is not just hard, it’s impossible. Impossible for us, that is. We need Jesus. We need His life and power to flow through us. We need an exchanged life, trading our limping, sin-crippled life for His limitless power.
The Apostle Paul was thinking about the Lord when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Today, think about the Lord and give Him thanks for being the sole provider for your victory in the spiritual battle: “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Lord, I want to think about You all day long. I thank You for the victory I have in and through You. May my heart and mind be saturated with You and be both grateful and overwhelmed with the life-giving power that is found only in You. Amen.
