Have you ever found yourself saying things you knew you shouldn’t say? Have you done things you knew you shouldn’t do? Have you thought and felt things you knew you shouldn’t? That is your battle with your body. That is your body making you a PRISONER of the law of sin at work within your MEMBERS. Salvation produced a special attitude of WANTING to do the right things. It also produced an attitude of HATING doing the wrong things; but, up to this point, you haven’t had success with resisting your thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds through renewal.

Rom 7:22-24 (NIV) 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 of 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? Because you haven’t “done what it takes,” your mind hasn’t been able to control your body. As you can see, this Bible passage is telling you that your body is making you a prisoner. What can you do about that?

Salvation provided you with a perfect record with God. But, it didn’t change the drives, motivations, and demands of your body. Renewal does what salvation only opened the door for you to move into. Rom 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your BODIES as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Now that you are a child of God, Jesus through the Holy Spirit is going to teach you Scriptures that will help you bring your body under control. This is called, offering your body as a living sacrifice.

Rom 7:18-20 (NIV) I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I WANT to do; no, the evil I do NOT WANT to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. God looks through the blood of Jesus and sees you as perfect even though you are thinking, feeling, saying, and doing things you shouldn’t. But, God’s attitude is influenced by your attitude.

Here is the attitude God requires to exist in you: Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. As long as you keep praying and asking God to empower you with this WANT and HATE attitude, you will be empowered to fight this battle while having a perfect record with Him. But, God requires that you have this want and hate attitude or He will remove your perfect record. You must not try to misuse this perfect record to get by with anything the Bible speaks against.

The want and hate attitude means you are failing to do what you know you should be doing and WANTING to start doing it. It also means that you are doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing and HATING it. As long as you keep praying and asking God to keep these two attitudes in your heart and mind, you qualify as a true Christian. But, if you PURPOSELY try to hide behind your perfect record with God and start WANTING to do wrong, bad, and evil things, God will remove your perfect record. Gal 6:7 (NIV) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Rom 7:24 (NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? This is the attitude you want. This is a miracle of salvation giving you a true Christian attitude. The Holy Spirit will respond with power in your life, as you use the want and hate, provided through salvation. He will respond as you cry out to God with the deep desire of Romans 7:24. So, who is going to rescue you from this body of death? Who is going to help make your body do what your mind is now wanting to do? The Holy Spirit is.

Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Holy Spirit is going to make it possible for you to go from prisoner of the body to being able to use your mind to yield to the control of the Holy Spirit. By you working together with the Spirit you are going to be able to present your body as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1).

Rom 8:9 (NIV) You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. The moment you gave your life over to Christ was the moment the Holy Spirit started living in you. The moment you received the Holy Spirit, was the moment you had power to be a true, godly witness for Christ. You received the power to start living a life that exemplifies what Christ is all about.

1 Pet 2:12 (NIV) Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good DEEDS and glorify God on the day He visits us. Mat 5:16 (NIV) In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good DEEDS and praise your Father in heaven. These Scriptures are describing Holy Spirit power. Now that you HAVE that power, this next verse shows you how to use it.

Rom 8:13 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. You have Him. You just have to learn how to work with Him. Working together with the Holy Spirit is a faith issue. Whether you “feel” the power or not isn’t what matters. Acts 1:8 says you WILL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES ON you. This is the Word of God and that is Truth. Now it is up to you to believe that it is Truth.