Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 18

January 18;   Romans 6:13;   18/260(II);   ‘Instruments of Righteousness’

Romans 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

As Christians, the Lord has given us the ‘tools’ to live right.  His love is now in our spirit, the character of the Lord Jesus, called the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), are ours to regulate our conduct and the Holy Spirit now lives in our spirit and He will help us in many ways.  We still have a will and must choose to live in a godly manner or like the world does, who do not know the Lord Jesus.  There are demons in the spirit realm who ‘know you,’ in the sense that they have seen the way you live and surely know areas of weakness, areas you have yielded to temptation and have sinned.  Now that we are saved, we no longer have to yield to temptation, we have the means now to say no.  To do this, there must be a decision on our part not to live as we previously, without the Lord did.  We reinforce this decision by spending quality time reading the Bible, praying and attending a Bible teaching local church.  Avoiding spending time, where you know that you should not be and avoid spending time with people, you know that you should not be with.  The closer you walk with the Lord Jesus, the easier it will be to say no to your former ways.  Tell yourself, “I will not present my members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but I will present my members as instruments of righteousness to God.”  The more you do this, the easier it will be to have it become a pattern in your life.  If you do ‘miss it,’ and yield to sin, quickly repent, ask the Lord to forgive you (He does) and go right back to living the way you should and want to.  Holiness is defined as ‘wanting to be holy.’  The Lord will help you do it and your life will be blessed and you will be a blessing to others.