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Hear the Devotional Read here (It usually has a little bit more of what is written) https://bit.ly/2VNaC9h
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-11 NRSV)
Happy Tuesday, dear Friend! May the blessings of the Lord be wth you and yours today! May our prayer focus today be on those who are facing impatience. Pray for those who need a huge dose of hope in their lives. We also received a Praise Report from Edith Lucas concerning her sister, Betty, who has found out she only needs to take medication rather than chemo or radiation. We join the family in thanking God and praising Him for this report. Please also pray for one another, and say a prayer for yourselves.
The waiting is always the hardest part. There were three of us, so the waiting was not as hard as it had been only me. I knew that I deserved to be there and whatever fate awaited me I was ready. I prayed while I waited that the fate would not be one to embarrass my family. We were ushered into the office of the Dean and sat and waited some more. Finally, the dean came in and reviewed his notes and looked at us and just shook his head and simply said, "Boys, y'all should know better than this. Please don't do this again." That was it. I, we, were no longer under any "condemnation" for what we had done. I never again did what I had done, and life returned to normal.
My crime? I had become part of a group of pranksters in the dorm. I can't begin to list all the "education" I received from pulling these pranks. My crime was to pick as many aluminum soda cans in one of the dryers, putting in a quarter, turning the dryer on and running back to my room. That it was early in the morning added to the excitement because the noise was enough to wake others up. Silly? Yes. Stupid? Of course. Fun? Ab. So. Lute.Ly! But somehow, I and two other suspected pranksters had our names turned into the Dean, who was a sweetheart of a man; an ordained UM pastor, and head of the pre-ministerial department. But, what Paul writes about is dead serious stuff. To live under the condemnation of sin is certain death. And not only death in a bodily sense, it was death of the spiritual and eternal kind. To die under the condemnation of sin means an eternity separated from God. Paul is celebrating the victory of Jesus over sin and death; which meant the removal of condemnation of that certain sentence. God was able to fulfill the Law through the death and resurrection of His Son. The law served its purpose in helping humanity identify sin and to know that there was a moral mark to which we strove to keep; the law let us know that to fail or miss the mark meant we were guilty of sin.
Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, and seventeen other children, once wrote to her son a definition of sin as he was making his way through college. "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.” (Highlights from the source from which I copied it) John was 22 at the time and this helped shape and mold him for the ministry to which he was called. To sum up this brilliant definition, the closing is best; "whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you." If you can easily identify something you do, or take, or think you need, that has that authority of your body over your mind, then that thing is sin. And with God's help, you should remove that from your life. We have the Spirit of God within us and He helps us with our weaknesses.
And I can't help but bring this awesome hymn to mind (see? Someone else knew the victory of Jesus! and wrote this) "I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory; How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me, I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning; Then I repented of my sins and won the victory; Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood, He loved me 'ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him; He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood!" Amen.
PRAYER: Awesome God, to You belongs our victory, and our lives. We claim that victory for ourselves and for those whom we love; grant us courage, boldness, and wisdom to reach more! This we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Quit living like a Loser! You're a Winner, a Victor in Christ Jesus!
Receive my blessings of grace and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
UPDATE ON SOMETHING IMPORTANT (To me anyway). Friends, the 2020 presentation of the Passion Play in Oberammegua was canceled because of the pandemic we're going through. It's interesting to note that this Passion Play is the result of answered prayers for the bubonic plague in the 1500s! The good news is that the play will be presented, Lord willing and all this virus spreading leaves us, in 2022. I will attend a webinar on this and I will share dates and possible trips to this awesome event. Prayers please!
