8/5

So today, I felt like God's love hit me like a freight train. It was a great feeling! (I can't think of many other scenarios where getting hit my a train is a good thing..) Maybe it just took a freight train for me to realize that God is always there for me when I need Him, and that I need to quit turning to other things, most of them worldly things, to seek satisfaction. God has never let me down and He never will, so why would I ever choose to turn away from Him? I think many people ask themselves the very same question. Good and evil are always at war in each of us, and unfortunately, we most often choose evil. This is a very frustrating thing! Here's what Paul has to say about it in Romans 7:14-25 (I'm using The Message because it is a very easy to read and understand translation):

"^14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. ^17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
 ^21-23 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
 ²⁴ I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
 ²⁵ The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different."

Sin's "prison". Sin really does feel like a prison sometimes! (I've never been to prison..but still). We want to do the right thing deep down in our hearts, but sin always leads us to do the opposite, almost as if we are slaves to sin:

"16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16 NIV)

 We always set ourselves up for disappointment when we choose to follow a worldly path. It may lead to temporary satisfaction, but only God can give us (and promises us) eternal happiness and righteousness. Sometimes going down God's path may not always be fun, or the cool thing to do, but it ALWAYS leads you in the right direction! God will never let you down!

I'll leave you with this passage that is definitely inspiring (again from Romans..Paul was a pretty sweet dude):

^"31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

   They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
   We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:31-39 The Message)

Live by the power of the Spirit!

Love you guys,

Kyle