Each day this week Jesus has been working on those things that are keeping you from being able to resist those things that are hurting you. He has been training you through the Bible and helping you experience renewal. That will help you be able to resist through renewal. He will now take you through that progressive training and help you see what He has accomplished in your life so far.

So, starting with day one of this week, let Him show you what you need to always be aware of that God has worked into your life. It is vital that you spend time appreciating and praising Him for providing you with such wonderful truths and blessings.

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? On the first day this week, you discovered that your body has had the power to make you a prisoner to its drives, urges, cravings, impulses, and passions. Something had to change or you would remain under its control for the rest of your life; but, what can be done?

God won’t do anything about your body controlling you unless you want Him to change your behavior. 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. Through your salvation, Jesus gave you a WANT to do the right things. And, He gave you a HATRED for doing wrong things. If you hadn’t prayed and asked Jesus to help you yield to that want and hate, you wouldn’t have qualified for the next step of healing and power from Him.

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.” Once you asked Jesus to empower you to yield to the WANT and HATE attitudes from Him, you had to ask Jesus to help you allow the Holy Spirit to empower you to change. Wanting the right things is good; but, that still leaves you being controlled by your body. You needed Jesus to help you yield to the Holy Spirit that lives inside you.

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. The Holy Spirit is willing to empower YOU to put to death the misdeeds of your body. But, YOU have to do it. That is why you asked Jesus to help you know how to put to death the misdeeds of your body. That study and prayer time with Jesus was dealt with on day two.

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 were told by Jesus in Act 1:8 that the Holy Spirit would provide you with power. But, it isn’t until you find out in Romans 8:13 that you are the one who is responsible for defeating your body that you see why you need that power. Jesus taught you how to unite your determination, resistance, and commitment with the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in Him.

Rom 8:1-2 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Jesus taught you to believe the Holy Spirit is empowering your actions. Your faith is in the Holy Spirit as YOU start making your body do those things the Bible tells you to do. But, this is all new to you; Jesus has made arrangements for you to have time to practice, be trained, get better at applying Biblical principles, and make a lot of mistakes without sinning. That study and prayer time with Jesus was dealt with on day three.

Eph 2:8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. This is Jesus’ solution to you being a beginner in Spiritual procedures. He not only forgave you of your past sins, He forgave you of your present sins, and your future sins too. God knows you are new at being a child of God who is learning how to operate in the spirit realm. So, He gave you grace with Him.

You are still doing damage to yourself, other people, and God’s plan; but, grace keeps it from being counted against you as sins. He sees your want and hate attitude and knows you are trying to do the best you can. He doesn’t want these misdeeds of your body separating you from Him. He knows you are going to need Him to help, heal, and empower you all the way to victory. So, He is applying grace to your situation so you can move on to the next level.

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. Jesus’ blood is covering all those things you say and do that would typically be sins. As long as you pray and ask God to empower you to keep WANTING to do the right things and keep HATING doing the wrong things, all your “sinning” is considered to be a misdeed. But, you need to see that these misdeeds are hurting you, those around you, and God’s plans.

1 Cor 6:19-20 (NIV) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is IN you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. It’s great that salvation has done all these wonderful things. And, it’s great that you have the power of the Holy Spirit to empower you to resist the misdeeds of your body. But, you need Jesus to teach you a procedure that brings all these things together. He wants to teach and empower you to honor God with your body.

Rom 7:24 (NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be FULLY MET in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:3-4 ).

You learned that God is giving you grace that makes all these benefits you are receiving to be free gifts. You have learned that Jesus forgave you of your past, present, and future sins. You have learned that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross turned your sins into misdeeds. And in this section you learned that you now have a perfect record with God. The big question is, what are you going to do with all this? Will you join Jesus and win over your body; or, will you sit down, relax, and try to feel good about a life that is hurting you and others because you have a perfect record with God?

“Fully met in us” is talking about salvation AND sanctification (spiritual growth). The first part of “fully met in us” is through salvation: the righteous requirements of the law are FULLY MET in you during your grace period. If you join Jesus and press forward into spiritual growth, you and He will take your perfect record with God and use that time for training and empowering you to stop hurting yourself, other people, and God’s plan.

Sanctification is the phase where you take all the provisions of God that you have been studying and praying about and using them to change the behavior of your body.

The second part of “fully met in us” is through sanctification: the righteous requirements of the law might be FULLY MET in you, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. This is where you are learning more and more how to yield to the Holy Spirit’s power and training. You still want to do right and hate doing bad. So, you join Jesus in taking control over your body and start making it do right, good, and righteous things.

Rom 10:17 (NIV) Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Jesus, taught you that if you read and study the Bible as being God’s book, you will receive the messages in it as creation power. He is teaching you how to accept its words as speaking truth into you. When it says something, He is showing you that it isn’t just information, it is creating faith in you so you can believe it put its meaning into the elements of your life. He is helping you believe it spoke transformation into you.

Rom 12:10 (NIV) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Rom 12:18 (NIV) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Jesus wants you to realize that in learning how to BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, your behavior with yourself, other people, and God improves. Your family, your friends, your business associates, your clients, strangers, your marriage, and even your enemies will experience the Jesus life through you.

Jesus is teaching you to see how powerful the Word of God has already been by saving you. You are already a walking miracle. If you see what Jesus has already done in your life, it will help you believe Him and the Bible for your future. That study and prayer time with Jesus was dealt with on day four.

Rom 10:8 (NIV) But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: Many Christians use these two tools for salvation, experience powerful results through salvation, and then wonder how to handle all the other needs in their life. Jesus introduced you into the process of going back to the requirements of salvation and justification and applying those tools to other aspects of the Bible. That is going to change a lot of things in your future.

Rom 10:9 (NIV) That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Take out time to look back at your life and see how powerful these two tools have been in bringing you salvation and justification. Let the way Christianity has change the direction of your life impress you. Let Jesus show you where you would be now, if you hadn’t confessed and believed. Let Him show you how your future can be greatly enhanced by these tools.

Rom 10:10 (NIV) For it is with your heart that you believe and ARE justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and ARE saved. When you used these two powerful spiritual tools, you were born again as a child of God, became a member of God’s family, and a citizen in His eternal kingdom. This shows you how powerful these tools are. If you can see how miraculously these tools work, it will help you trust them to provide you with many Biblical principles.

Jesus’ training and all the prayers to Him have brought you to a dynamic spiritual place where you can get very actively involved in the sanctification process. You will be able to get the wonderful things in the Bible to move into your heart, mind, and life. As Jesus helps you become more trained, equipted, experienced, skilled, and mature, He will use these studies and prayers to help build a foundation with Him that will grow you into a spiritually successful child of God.