Scripture reading: Romans 10:13
In our previous devotional we discussed the first step towards being “dead in Christ”. Let us now look at the second step. The second step brings us into warfare or confrontation with the forces, which strive to take over and reign within our mortal bodies. One’s mind must be made up not to submit one’s members to sin regardless of the pressures. This is easier said than done. The constant grind of reality is designed by Satan to wear out the saints and to convince the believer that God has left him because of his unrighteousness. Very often this is the very opposite. If God was not with me when I was a sinner, I would never make it to be saved. I remember the time when God translated me out of a fight, when there was nothing but murder in my heart. It says in Romans 5:6, 8-9: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
If God is with sinners and takes care of sinners, how much more then, “He will never leave nor forsake us.” Satan is constantly telling the believer that God will leave him because he sinned. This is a lie, as is everything which Satan says.
John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
The believer who is struggling to overcome sin must know that he has God for an ally and that the Lord is working every device to bring him from sinfulness to righteousness, even to the very image and likeness of Christ. It is a fact that some of the devices of God are repulsive to us, but then, our thoughts are not like His – all we have to do is to trust Him.
The language in Romans 6 suggests warfare. “Let not sin therefore reign,” suggests that the believer should take away from sin the legal right to his body. Does sin under any circumstance have a legal right to my body, and by what law? Unfortunately, “Yes.” In any war the victor has the right to reign over the vanquished. Romans 6:16 states: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
The same law that works for us through obedience to the Lord, works against us when we yield to Satan. We obey what we know to do in the Lord, then that activates God and He gives us power to become His servants. I could not overcome the sin of anger and violence until I obeyed Him in fasting and prayer and He gave me the strength to do it.
“Let not,” means that you should not allow sin to reign. This means that if sin reigns in our physical members, we are the one who allow it. Some believer complains that God did not give them the power to overcome the sin which overtook him, but in every case of deliverance, the final action belongs to the believer. Jesus said to the man in the Synagogue, “Stretch forth thy hand.” It was not until that man obeyed and made the motion, that he was healed. “Rise up and walk.” – The command is given, the forces of deliverance are activated, but it is up to the believer to do the final act.
In Romans 10:13 the word, “Yield” is again used, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness.” – Do not surrender! This is the order from the Commander in Chief in Heaven.
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1984)
Thought for today: Are you struggling to overcome sin? You must know that you have God for an ally and that the Lord is working every device to bring you from sinfulness to righteousness, even to the very image and likeness of Christ.
Sonlight Devotional 