You are in a war but the battle has already been won!

Romans 8

For those who choose to follow Jesus, there is a war going on. Notice I didn’t say, “believe” in Jesus. There are many people who believe in Jesus but do not follow Him. It is only when we choose to follow Him that we engage in the war.

Paul outlines some of the war in this chapter.

There is a war with condemnation. Christ died for all of our sin, all that we have committed and all that we will commit. Our own flesh, our enemies and the enemy of our souls wants to tear us down and keep us away from God so all three at times work together to bring guilt and shame which in turn separates us from God. When we sin the Holy Spirit brings conviction, which draws us closer to God and heals our wounds of sin. We have been given the life, through Christ that has set us free from the bondage of condemnation. The bondage of condemnation leads to sin and death but through Christ we have life and freedom. It is very easy to become self-condemning. It is not that we don’t deserve condemnation but God’s grace has made the way for us to receive the freedom from sin.

There is a war about who we are. We often frame who we are but what happens in our lives and what others say about us. Paul is very clear that our flesh, our “carnal mind” is at war with God and what He has to say about us. We are sons and daughters of the most High God. All the Father has is ours. Paul writes that we are “heirs” of the Kingdom, which means all that the Father has is our inheritance. We are not in bondage to sin, our past, or any other thing but instead we are free, adopted sons and daughters of the King of Kings. Everything this world has to offer desires to tear us down and limit our understanding of who we are. We must not believe what the world has to say about us, we must believe what God has to say about us. We are more than conquerors!

We also are in a battle to understand God’s love. Many of our relationships in this life are or were conditional. They are dependent on our reaction to the people around us. It is easy for human beings to turn their backs on family and friends and reject us. God will never do that! Our battle is that we place God in the same category as our human relationships. We assume that like our friendships if we hurt someone or don’t do like they want us to do sometime we are rejected, that God will do the same. They will never happen with God. Can anything separate us from God’s love? Paul answers that very clearly with a resounding, “No!”

We are in this war but to be honest the battle has already been won. We have to come into agreement with God that the battle has been won. Sin has no power over us, we are adopted sons and daughters of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we are forever, loved. Jesus death and resurrection sealed all of this for us. The battle has been won, we must decide to believe it and live like we believe it.

Tomorrow - Romans 9