January 11, 2012
Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:1-17
I No Condemnation 8:1-4
II Choice of Flesh or Spirit 8:5-13
III Children of God 8: 14-18
Charles Swindoll tells the story of Maria and her daughter Christina. It seems that they lived in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of a Brazilian village. Maria's husband had died when Christina was just a baby and Maria had never remarried. It was just the 2 of them and life was really hard, until Christina, finally, was old enough to get a job so that she could help contribute to the family finances.
Christina talked all the time about moving to the city. Her dream, was to trade the streets of her boring, dirt-road, neighborhood, for the exciting avenues and boulevards of city life. Just the thought of it, scared her mother to death though, because Maria knew what kind of life Christina would have to live, in order to survive in the city.
There came the morning, when Maria woke up and found that Christina's bed was empty. Her heart broke in two. She had a hard time believing that Christina would run away like that----but she didn't waste any time! Knowing where Christina must have been headed, she threw some clothes in a bag, grabbed all the money she had, and set out after her, as fast as she could.
On her way to the bus stop, she made a small detour. She went into the drugstore and got one last thing----- pictures. There was a photo booth there, that people usually used just for fun--------but fun, was not what Maria had in mind, as she sat down, pulled the curtain, and spent all the time, and money, that she could, on making pictures of herself.
And when the bus to Rio de Janeiro, pulled away, she was on it, with a purse full of little black and white photos.
Maria knew that Christina had no real way of earning any money. She also knew that her daughter was as stubborn as she could be, and wouldn't give up easily. And she knew that when pride meets hunger, human beings will do things that were unthinkable, before they found themselves in their situation------because "anybody will do anything, given certain circumstances".
With her heart in her throat, and awful images filling her mind, Maria began her search. She went to bars, hotels and nightclubs------she went every place, that could possibly be, a location for street walkers and prostitutes. She searched day and night and at each place, she left one of the little black and white photos of herself--------she taped them to mirrors and tacked them to hotel bulletin boards and fastened them to corner telephone booths and tucked them in the windows of neighborhood markets. And on the back of each picture, she wrote Christina a note.
But when her money and the pictures ran out, Maria, reluctantly, had to go back home.
A few weeks later, Christina was leaving a hotel in the early hours of the morning. Her pretty little face was smudged with make-up and her shoulders were drooping with tiredness------in her eyes you could see that her bright dreams had turned into nightmares. When she got to the bottom of the stairs---she couldn't believe that she was looking at a tiny little picture of her mother. He eyes burned and her throat tightened as she peeled the photo off the back stairs mirror. When she turned it over, she began to weep as she read the compelling invitation, on the back------"Whatever you've done, whatever you've become, it doesn't matter, please come home." Christina ran for the bus stop.
The message that Christina found, on the back of that little picture, and the love and forgiveness and mercy and grace, that was embodied, in those few words, is the exact same message, that God has written to us, through Paul's pen, in Romans 8-------"whatever you've done,whatever you've become, it doesn't matter, please come home."
Romans 8 helps us to claim and take hold of a new way of life in the Holy Spirit---a way of life that gives us peace, and security, and assurance, of the love and presence and promises of God, no matter what our circumstances are. Christians, through the years, have cited Romans 8 as the greatest chapter in the Bible, because it's words, make it so clear, to believers, that we are God's children and that our lives are totally overshadowed, by the protective hand of our loving, heavenly Father, who never gives up on us and Who's always looking for us, with His arms outstretched, so that we can run right into them.
I No Condemnation 8:1-4
No Condemnation! There are no words, in the English language, that fill my heart with peace, like these two words do. I can"t even wrap my mind around what that kind of love means----as much as I love Dale and our children, and as unconditional as I think it is, it is not a love without condemnation, because I get disappointed and I can be critical and I like for my expectations to be met-------but God's love is pure, it's without condition and it's without condemnation and when we're His children, He only sees us, in the way that He sees Jesus, perfect and good and whole------we can't disappoint Him, and He doesn't judge us critically and He meets every expectation that He has for us, with Himself. He's a good God!
Romans 7:21-24 says "So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
This is the cry of each one of us-----we want to do good, but we end up doing the very thing that we don't want to. Our hearts want to please God, but the power, to do it perfectly, all the time, in every situation, is beyond our grasp. But, praise the Lord, the message and the precious blessing of Romans 8, is that we can't, but the Holy Spirit can. Thats why Paul says "therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". What he really means is "but there is no condemnation, caused by sin, for those who are in Christ Jesus". This verse doesn't mean that we don't make mistakes or that we have no failures or that we don't sin-----because we do fail and and we do make mistakes and we do sin------Abraham lied about his wife; and David committed adultery; and Peter cut off a man's ear with his sword and denied even knowing Jesus------and of course, they suffered consequences, for their disobedience, but they didn't suffer condemnation or penalty from the law, which would have been spiritual death. Jesus's sacrifice, on the cross, took care of all condemnation, once and for all, for anybody who'll believe.
Believers still have to face physical death, but we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are not alone, as we walk thorough our lives on earth, and that, in the end, we will either be raptured or resurrected and will spend eternity with the Lord, as the beloved children, of God our Father.
We have talked for 7 chapters about how we've inherited a sinful nature from Adam, and that it is the means, that satan uses, to try and implant doubt and the desire for disobedience, in our minds. But we've also talked about the fact that we don't ever have to yield to those satanic attacks, because we have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, giving us the strength and the desire and the ability, to withstand anything, that satan tries to trip us up with. The only way we can do it though, is to surrender to the fact, that we are not able to live the Christian life in our own strength. We have to come to the end of ourselves and see ourselves for who we really are----sinners, saved by God's marvelous grace------incapable of even lifting one finger, without the will of the Holy Spirit, but yet, somehow, miraculously, having been adopted into His family!
That's our only path of deliverance. When we finally see who we truly are-----redeemed children of God----we can say "no" to our sinful nature and "yes" to the Holy Spirit, and we can begin to embrace, on a daily basis, the life that God planned for us to have, when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden.
The reason that we are no longer condemned, is because we have been justified by faith. To be condemned means that a person is rejected by God. So, if we're not condemned anymore that means that God will never turn us away, not for any reason! We've been reborn into the family of God, by faith in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and He will never leave us. The story I told y'all about Maria and Christina, reminded me so much, of the story, of the prodigal son-------which, is one of the most precious parables, that Jesus taught His disciples.
The prodigal son left his home, wasted his inheritance on sinful living and ended up working in a pigpen. Dr. J. Vernon McGee once asked his congregation, "Do you know the difference between the son in that pigpen and those pigs?
The difference is---- is that no pig ever said to himself, "I will arise and go to my father". Dr. McGee was right, only a son would say that.
The son got up and left the pigpen and went home to his father. When he got home, you know what happened, the son wasn't condemned by his father; he wasn't rejected or tossed out of the family. He was loved and accepted and restored, to his rightful place as an adored son. In fact, as he was trudging down the road toward home, he looked up and saw his daddy running to meet him----the father had been searching the horizon for his son to come home since the day he'd left. What a glorious picture this is, of our relationship with our heavenly Father, once we've been justified by faith. We are restored to Him as His children, and condemnation, is as far from us, as the east is from the west.
"No condemnation" also means that God isn't angry with us when we struggle with temptation or moral dilemmas. He knows our hearts; He knows our motivation; He knows our desires; He knows our shortcomings and He knows what tempts each, individual one, of us, to sin.He knows that we want to be good and He knows more importantly, that we want to stop being bad. He knows that we feel ashamed and embarrassed and guilty when we fail. He grieves with us, over our sins, like a parent does with a remorseful child, whose gotten himself in trouble.
We beat ourselves up for our sin and disobedience and failure to trust God, through our circumstances, but God doesn't. He knows that we are just like babies, learning how to walk; and He knows that we have to learn how to crawl before we can learn how to run. A loving father doesn't spank his child when they stumble, as they are figuring out how to take their first steps. And God doesn't either, instead He encourages us and holds on to us and teaches us how to take the next step without falling down.
"No condemnation" also means that God will not punish us when we struggle with sin-----although, He will discipline us, if we deliberately rebel against Him. We have to remember that punishment and discipline are not the same thing. Even with our children-----discipline is a training tool, its a loving thing, its not an instrument of torture---(I know a young teacher who had to discipline some of her 6th grade girls because of a bullying situation---- She pulled all three girls aside, individually, and questioned them. With just the facts that she had been given---she determined that vicious bullying had occurred------she very candidly made sure that the little girl understood what bullying is and what it feels like----she explained several instances where she had been bullied herself--------and then, through many tears, she mediated between the 3 girls. The last thing she did was to give each one of them positive encouragement. The air was cleared; boundaries and expectations for future behavior was set; and a new respect, for everybody involved was established.) The Bible is clear that our loving Father, disciplines His children, so that He can correct us and rescue us from ourselves, so that we don't go down a wrong path. Thats why I always prayed for my children to get caught the first time, so that there wouldn't be a second time. We need to rest in the fact, that because God promises "no condemnation", He will never punish us, if we are sincerely struggling to walk the way that He wants us to walk!
The other wonderful blessing of "no condemnation" is that it has a built-in provision, for victorious living, where we are right now. When we beat ourselves up and declare ourselves to be hopeless, wretched failures, God, says to our hearts, "you are so wrong; if you could just see yourselves the way I see you, joy would flood your souls. You need to believe that you are my child, forgiven and free, from all doubt, and from any chains that could keep you bound. Accept what I've given you, thank Me for it, and then move on, to be about my business, in the absolute confidence, that your struggle was ended forever, at the cross."
We know that God hasn't ended the reign that sin has in the world yet. The law of sin and death, just like the law of gravity, will spin itself out when God determines that the time is right. But for us, the very minute that we believe the truth about Jesus and accept it; sin's reign is over, in our hearts and minds; and we are, from then on, governed by a new law that is written, executed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
God wants us to see ourselves the way He sees us------but its hard for us to, because His image of us, doesn't agree with the we way we feel about ourselves, or the way other people feel about us. To our detriment, way too often, we trust feelings, more than we trust God and His promises. But feelings are mercurial-----they're fickle and unreliable. They can change on a dime, depending on the circumstances and the situation. We have to step back and consciously separate ourselves from whatever emotion we feel, and trust God's word, because it is dependable, unchangeable and eternal. God's image of us is the only one that we can rely on.
God did an astounding thing for us, by sending His very own Son, in the likeness of sinful man. There is a sweet tenderness in Romans 8:3 in the words, "His own son." And it's because God didn't send an angel or some other lesser being, to take our place and to show us the way, He sent His own precious son. Jesus had a real, physical body, like yours and mine, because He had to. It was the only way that God's righteousness and justice could be satisfied-------because of sin being done in the body of man, it had to be judged and broken in the body of a man. Jesus was fully human, subject to all human frailties------He got tired and hungry and sore, and death claimed Him, just like it will all of us. But there was one difference----faced with all the temptations that we face, He never one time, sinned. And in the mystery of the cross, that we will never be able to understand, completely, no matter how long we live, the Lord Jesus, somehow gathered up all the sins of the world, so that they could be crucified in His own body, and our penalty was paid.
The way God sees us, can become the way we see ourselves, when we choose to live according to the Spirit, and not according to our sinful desires. When we believe what God says about us is the truth, then our behavior can't help but change. (Hal Lindsey tells the story of the daughter of one of the royal families of Europe. She saw herself as unloveable and unlovely, because she had a large, bulbous nose. Eventually, her family hired a plastic surgeon to change the contour of her nose. After the operation, the doctor removed the bandages and held up a mirror so that the girl could see that the operation was a complete success. Everyone around the girl gasped in amazement: her nose was completely changed------and she was beautiful!!!!!! But when the girl saw herself, her gasp was in horror, not in wonder, -----she didn't think she looked any different-----she thought she still looked ugly. She was devastated that the procedure had failed.
For months afterward, the doctor and the girl's family worked with her, trying to convince her that she was beautiful. Everybody else could see the change in her---but the girl just couldn't! It took many months of therapy, before the girl finally accepted the fact, that she was completely changed . And it was only when her view of herself changed, that her behavior finally began to, as well.)
We are so much like that girl. We've been changed! We've been made beautiful in God's eyes, through His grace-----now, all we have to do is believe it, and behave accordingly.
II Choice of Flesh or Spirit 8:5-13
The choice to walk in our own strength and the choice to walk in the Holy Spirit's strength, is a dilemma, that Believer's face, many times a day. And it all depends on how we, consciously, set our minds. Do we set our mind on what the Spirit desires? or do we set it, on what our sinful nature desires? What we do with our thinking, is a bottom-line choice!
The mindset of the world permeates every area of our lives------it saturates our entertainment media, our news media and the conversations of just about everybody we come in contact with. Unfortunately, even believers get caught up, way too often, in allowing the desire for money, status, power, comfort, pleasure and fun, to become the main focus in our lives. We find ourselves living for these things, because we mistakenly believe, that they can bring us fulfillment.
Now, I want us to understand that there is nothing wrong with sincere, dedicated Christians devoting part of their lives to making money-----we have to provide for our families and we have to help operate the church and we have to make sure that those who are in spiritual and physical need, are given assistance. And there is nothing wrong, with achieving positions of influence, because they can be used for Christian leadership and for spreading the Gospel. And there is nothing wrong, with our creating lovely and comfortable homes----- we need to be able to open them up and extend warm and generous Christian hospitality, as often as we can. And there is nothing wrong, with enjoying the beauty of nature and the pleasure of entertainment-----because even the Lord Jesus, took time to rest and relax and enjoy Himself with His friends.
Where the problem comes in, is when these things become the focus of our lives-----
obviously, we have the wrong mindset when we begin to seek our fulfillment in wealth or position or possessions or people or pleasure, instead of finding our fulfillment in the Lord.
And we also have the wrong mindset, when we're embarrassed to enjoy the temporal blessings that the Lord has given us, in this world.
There is a balance that we have to find, as we come to understand, that God never intended for us to hoard the good things that He gives us------ nor did He intend for us to sell everything that we have; or to do nothing, but sit around and memorize scripture every day; or to never have any fun because we might seem frivolous.
I have friends that struggle with the blessings that they've been given because they are afraid that material possessions and the bounty of love and family that they have, is more than they deserve------so they struggle with guilt over those things.
Either way, that's when these perfectly fine, even, God-honored, pursuits, can become perverted and destructive to our souls. The Lord gave us the whole world and all its beauty and wonder---and He wants us to enjoy it. But, He wants us to never forget, that He, is and should always be, our first love, and the absolute center of our lives. If we could just remember that, and live in it everyday---- everything else, would always be, in the right perspective, and would just fall into place.
But, (with human beings, and their free-will, there's always a but, isn't there?) in order for us to live in the balance that we're supposed to, we have to have our minds set on the Spirit------ and this means, that in the middle of providing for our families and enjoying life, our primary concern, must be, to love God with all our hearts, souls and minds and to love our neighbors, like we love ourselves, and to live, every moment, of every day, in such a way, that our actions and attitudes and even the expressions, on our faces, bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Living with our minds set on the Spirit, doesn't separate us from the mainstream of life-------it sets us right down in the middle of it-----so that we can spread God's perspective to everyone around us. (there's a story about a garden in England that is filled with the beauty and essence of thousands of roses---and that if you go and spend any time there, when you leave, the scent of those roses, will cling to you, for such a long time afterward, that you'll bless everyone you come in contact with.) That should be our goal, to bless everybody we encounter, with the precious aroma of Jesus and His love.
Paul describes in no uncertain terms, in verse 6, the results, that flow from these 2 ways of living: He says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
The scriptures tell us that death is not something that's waiting for us at the end of our earthly existence-----as believers, we'll live forever---our physical deaths, are just the doorway to eternity, for us.
No, death is something that we experience, now, whenever we choose to live according to our sinful natures. And this death, really comes down, to 4 basic things-----fear, guilt, hostility and emptiness, and they are a result, of always trying to make ourselves feel good. Fear, is nothing more than worry, anxiety, dread and timidness. Guilt, is shame, self-loathing, self-righteousness, and perfectionism. Hostility is hate, resentment, bitterness, revenge and cruelty. Emptiness is loneliness, depression, discouragement, despair and meaninglessness.
No Christian has to give into these, because God has provided another way and it's the perfect way!
To live by the Spirit, means, that we are choosing to place God, as the Lord of our careers, our finances, our pleasure, our fun, our fulfillment, our joy, our ambitions and our influence. When we live by the Spirit, we don't make it our goal in life, to be powerful and popular; we make it our goal to serve the Lord------- and if He chooses, to give us a position of influence, so that we can serve Him better, then we need to accept it with humility and gratefulness and be about our Father's business.
And if He chooses to use us, in unrecognized places and in thankless and mundane ways, then we need to accept that, with humility and gratefulness, and be about our Father's business. We can't forget, that because God has done everything we needed, to be able to have a close relationship with Him, that we have an obligation, to live, in the power and control of the Holy Spirit. We need to refuse the temptations and desires of our still attractive and enticing, but crucified sinful nature, to say no, to ungodliness and worldly passions and to say yes, to self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the world we live in. The old sinful nature, may present its demands, based upon the past, but we don't have any obligation, to yield ourselves to it. Our obligation is to the Lord Jesus. We need to live by the Spirit, and so emulate His nature, that other people will come to know Jesus, as their Savior too. ( Beverly and Laura and Wendy and I attended a funeral on Monday. I was so struck, by the different areas of my friend Mike Williams life, that his mourners hailed from---his church, his growing up and college years, his dental practice, his neighbors, his golfing buddies, his children's school, his children's friends (and his children are adults, parents themselves)-----it was amazing! The thing that just touched my soul was that Mike exemplified Jesus and the Gospel, with his infectious smile and laugh, his slow-moving, unhurried generosity of time when he engaged you in conversation, and his willingness to do for others before he even knew what the task was---------I would pray that we would all be like that------sharing the Gospel, by being the people that the Lord has created us to be, in the situations that we find ourselves in, today-----no matter how simple or how important-----we should do them, as though we're doing them for the Lord. He sacrificed everything for us------how can we not be obligated to live for Him.)
A mind, that yields to it's sinful nature, doesn't submit itself to God's will, because it can't. James 4:6 says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." If we live just to please, gratify, advance and exalt ourselves, then we will be opposed to God and He will be opposed to our behavior. God gives grace to the humble and He will advance and exalt anyone, spiritually, who'll place their confidence in Him, not in themselves.
Another thing that we need to understand, about our choice to live according to the Spirit or not, is that there is a clear difference between a Christian who chooses, to yield, momentarily or situationally, to their human sinful nature and a non-Christian, who can't help but be controlled, by their sinful nature. Paul says that if a person doesn't have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, then they aren't Christians and because of that, they will choose a life style of sin and try to justify it and rationalize it, even if they're "good" according to the world's standards.
But, as Believers, we cannot stand it, when we're living in disobedience, and ultimately, we want to be pulled up short, by the Holy Spirit, so that our relationship with the Lord, can be what and where, its supposed to be. Where the difference will really show up, is when the tests of life, storm our way------because, when push comes to shove, the one who doesn't have the Spirit, will collapse; and the one who has the Spirit, will walk victoriously through.
One of our greatest blessings from God, among the too many to count, that He gives us, is the presence of Jesus living and dwelling in our hearts, from the moment that we accept Him, as our Savior. (I remember when our daughter, Mary Kathryn, was 2 or 3 years old and Miss Tanya Shelton was her Bible Study Fellowship, children's leader. One day, she got in the car and told me that Miss Tanya had told her, that the Holy Spirit, was just Jesus, without skin. I loved the truth of that, then, and I still love it, now!)
We should find such great comfort in knowing that our physical bodies might be subject to age and death, because they haven't been redeemed yet-----but that our souls are getting stronger with every step that we take with Jesus. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "Though outwardly, we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." The Holy Spirit, living in us is stronger than any sin, that our bodies are tempted by-------so even though our bodies are wasting away, we don't have to wait for eternity to be free from sin. The Spirit, increasingly ,gives us the desire and the wisdom and the ability, to control our minds and our bodies, no matter what temptations we face. We can't reverse the process of death, no one can----- it was put into motion back in the Garden, when Adam and Eve disobeyed and God had to discipline them------but we can refuse to allow our bodies to be instruments of sin. The Holy Spirit gives us the supernatural power, that we need, to "just say no" and then He gives us the courage, to walk away, and never look back, and we call this, the daily path to sanctification. (Normal Christian life)
If we live by the Spirit, and put to death, the sins that the body is tempted by, we will glorify God, in everything that we do, and we will experience the life, that God has planned for us to enjoy in eternity, right now--------with all that that life means, in terms of security and fulfillment and vitality and joy and peace. It is our privilege, to begin kingdom-living, by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (I heard Ron Rowe, our former pastor, preach a sermon one time, on this passage, and he said, that the Holy Spirit will never force us, to choose to obey Him; He wants us to willingly choose to surrender our will to His-----Ron used the illustration of being lost ,while out riding a horse and he said that you get to the place where you just have to let go of the reigns and trust the horse to lead you home------well, we reach the place where we have to take our hands off of our lives and trust the Spirit to lead us home.)
III Children of God 8:14-18
All genuine Believers, in the Lord Jesus, are all son's of God; the human spirit is androgynous, there is no distinction between males and females-----we're all created in God's image. We are children of the living God, with the power and the authority to overcome evil and sin. There are times that we may feel like we are overwhelmed, but we have to remember that we can never be defeated.
In this passage Paul lays out 3, very practical levels of assurance, that allows us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if we are led by the Spirit, then we are, the sons of God.
First Level: To be led by the Spirit, means that we are under the control of the Spirit. It means that our thoughts, behavior and goals have been submitted to God. It means that we have a deep love for, and an increasing understanding of, the scriptures. It means that we have an ever growing desire to spend time alone with God in prayer, both talking to Him, and listening for His leadership. It means that we will experience more and more victory, over temptation and sin. It means that we will grow in our love, for our fellow Christians. and finally, we will have a yearning hunger for God and His righteousness.
Second Level: If we're led by the Spirit, we will feel, in our hearts, a growing assurance of our place in the family of God. He gives us the privilege of calling Him Abba, Father. Through the tenderness of the Holy Spirit, He allows us to experience an emotional response to God, which makes us keenly aware of Him as our Father, deep down in our souls. Abba is the Aramaic word for daddy. It is an intimate, precious word, that is used between a loving father and his child. Jesus used this word in the garden of Gethsemane, when He begged his Father to let the horrible cup pass from Him, if there could be any other way.
One of the closest and most trusting relationship that you can have, is a relationship with a loving father. Mothers are wonderful, but there is something special about a daddy with his children. It gives us, such a unbelievably, secure feeling, to experience the embrace of those strong, protective arms and to hear his deep, warm voice of love. Children crave the affection of a father's heart, the guidance of a father's wisdom and the security of a Father's arms. When we have sense the tender fatherhood of God, it's because the Holy Spirit has awakened our hearts to an awareness of our place, as one of God's children.
Third level: This is the deepest level of assurance------when we are led by the Spirit-------He Himself will testify with our spirit, that we're God's children. This testimony goes far deeper than human emotions. It is a deep conviction and an underlying awareness, born of the Spirit of God, that lets us know, that we know, that we know, that we are God's children.
We may not always feel, like we're God's children and we may not always act like we are, but the Holy Spirit never lets us forget who we belong to. 1 John 3:19-20 says, "This then, is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts to rest in His presence, whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything." When we genuinely and sincerely receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are His children.
And because we are God's children, we are also His heirs-----which means, that we will share in both his sufferings and in His glory. What a staggering thought!
I don't have enough time to go into great detail about that today, but next week we will discuss it much more fully.
To close today, I want us to remember, that when we face temptation and struggle with guilt------- that God views us, as His children. That's who we are. And if we're consciously mindful, of who we are, then we will act according to who we are. When we do, we will find that we have all the power, of Almighty God, available to us--------the power to say no, to the sinful nature, the power to say yes, to the Holy Spirit and the power to live, in the way that God created us to live, from the beginning.
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