DOMINATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

 Today’s Bible readings are 2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10, Romans 7:14-8, Psalm 18:1-15, & Proverbs 19:24-25

Romans 7:21-25

²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

The struggle that we have with sin is a very real struggle. We all know what it is to want to do right but not able to find the strength to carry it out. This is exactly the way my life use to be when I was addicted to drugs. No matter how much I desired to stay sober, I always ended up using. The power of the sin in my life dominated me. It was a hopeless situation.

That all changed when I made Jesus the Lord of my life. When I called on His name, He saved me. He also sent His Spirit to live in me. With that Spirit came life, freedom, & strength. With that Spirit came another option. I now could choose to allow Him to live through me. As I surrendered to Him I began to notice that my life was no longer dominated by sin but instead it was now dominated by the Holy Spirit. As a result, different fruit was being bore in my life.

There is a certain fruit that comes from living a life of sin:

1.      Pain

2.      Regret

3.      Shame

4.      Condemnation

5.      Fear

6.      Broken relationships

7.      Hopelessness

These were all the things that made my old life so miserable but they were all the fruit of what was controlling me—sin.

 When I began to let the Holy Spirit dominate my life I started to notice His fruit:

1.      LOVE

2.      JOY

3.      PEACE

4.      PATIENCE

5.      KINDNESS

6.      GENTLENESS

7.      GOODNESS

8.      FAITHFULNESS

9.      SELF-CONTROL

I also started to notice that there was a new pulling in my life. It wasn’t like the old pulling that pulled me toward sin. It was different. This new pulling was pulling me toward righteousness. I had a new desire inside of me to live apart from my old life & now there was a confidence & an ability to do it because I had realized that I was dead to sin. By dying to sin, sin had lost its legal authority in my life. I was now alive to righteousness.

This is exactly what Paul is saying when he said these words:

 ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

We truly died with Christ. That broke the bond that we had with sin. It freed us from that contract. As a result, we were able to enter into a new contract with the Holy Spirit, in order that He might produce in us a life now controlled & dominated by righteousness!!! That is why Paul goes on to say these things:

Romans 8:1-6

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

The enemy does not want you to get this revelation. He wants you to believe that there is nothing you can do about it BUT THAT IS A LIE!!! God has done everything that is needed for you to have this life of victory. It is now your choice. Who will you chose to let dominate your life?

Pastor Richard Schlotter