Romans 8:26
A minister was talking to a man about becoming a Christian. The man said, "I would really like to be a Christian, but I'm too weak to live the Christian life." The minister said, "You are exactly right. All of us are. No one can live the Christian life without the Spirit of Christ working in us. When we believe and receive Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us." The man left the minister that day not believing that he could really live the Christian life. He didn't understand how the Holy Spirit could make the difference.
"Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). Christ lives in the believer through the Holy Spirit. Left to ourselves, none of us could live the Christian life. Those who do not live in the Spirit are living in the flesh. The word flesh describes our sinful nature. "So those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). God knows that we cannot live the Christian life in the flesh. Will-power and our best efforts are all destined to fail because of the flesh. We are weak in the flesh, that is weak to temptation and sin. The Holy Spirit enables us to walk with God.
Have you tried to live the Christian life through your own efforts and will-power, only to fall short again and again. Defeat is certain and failure is sure. God never intended us to live the Christian life in the weakness of the flesh. He offers to empower us to live for Christ (Acts 1:8). He is able to do far exceedingly more in us than we could ask or think, through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us (Ephesians 3:20). Born of the Spirit, we continue to yield to the Spirit who helps in our weaknesses.
Prayer: Father, we yield to the Holy Spirit to help our weaknesses, in Jesus name. Amen.
