Rom 2:1 (NIV) You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. One of the hardest things for us Christians is to not take credit for the wonderful work God has done in us and for us. We look at ourselves and our life and see how much we have changed. Then we struggle with thinking that it has to be because of something we have done. When we start thinking like that, it causes us to start comparing ourselves with others. We see our growth; and, we see others LACK of growth. That is when we judge them harshly and judge ourselves graciously.

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. When we prayed all those parts of Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, we were earnestly seeking God. BUT, we must realize that our earnestly seeking God brought rewards, grace, and gifts from Him. Grace means God responded to that prayer and made us His child and a citizen of His Kingdom. We couldn’t earn it, buy it, trade for it, steal it, or demand it; it came to us as a gift from our heavenly Father.

1 Cor 4:7 (NIV) For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? If we get to feeling superior to others as if we didn’t get everything we have from grace through faith, then we will tell people we have made Jesus our Lord and that we know He was raised from the dead; but, we will tell them from the motivation of pride. Rather than loving, respecting, and trying to share what we have with them, we will see ourselves as above them, reaching down to help an inferior person.

We have EVERY GOOD THING we have because God is giving them to us as a gift. If there are any wrong, bad, or evil things in our feelings, thoughts, words, or deeds, all we have to do is keep on earnestly seeking God and He will heal us, deliver us, and fill us with right, good, and righteous things. But, we must not pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point we judge the other, we are condemning ourselves, because we who pass judgment do the same things. The only way we will stop doing wrong, bad, and evil things is to get a reward and a gift from our heavenly Father that sets me free.

Rom 2:2 (NIV) Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. When people hurt us, lie about us, say damaging things about us and to us, and we feel like we need to defend ourselves, we must never forget what we prayed in Jesus’ prayer: Mat 6:12 (NIV) Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. God’s forgiveness to us is based on our forgiveness of others. So, even though it may be IMPOSSIBLE for you to be able to forgive some people, all you have to do is ask Jesus to give you His power-forgiveness and He will empower you to do it.

Mat 6:14-15 (NIV) For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. This is sometimes impossible for us; but, it isn’t impossible for Jesus. You will ALWAYS be able to take these impossible situations to Him and He will ALWAYS empower you to do what you need to do. All you have to do is WANT to forgive even though YOU can’t and Jesus will honor your “want.” All you have to do is ask Jesus to help you WANT to forgive and He will help you desire to forgive. All you have to do is ask Jesus to give you the power to forgive and you will be empowered to forgive.

Rom 2:19-21 (NIV) If you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth--you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? Here is a VERY important part of your sharing your life and spiritual growth with others. Since you have been born again, it is good that you are sharing that experience with those around you. Since you know God raised Jesus from the dead, it is good that you are helping others know this. But, there are areas in your life where you don’t have the breakthrough YET.

2 Cor 5:17 (NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! One of the first things you have to realize is, even though this verse is describing you, you will still struggle with your old life. Why? You being free, having freedom, and being able to do what you want is VERY important to God.

Before you were born again, your body, the world, and Satan were actually controlling you. They offered you pleasures; they offered you the right to be filled with pride; you could lie to protect yourself; you could mislead people for your own benefit; and, you could hoard all your possessions and not share with the needy. These “rights” were bait that lured you into a life you were actually addicted to.

Jesus had to make you free from those things that your body, the world, and the devil were using to enslave you; BUT, your mind still remembers them all. Why didn’t you being born again remove all memories, feelings, and past experiences from you?

John 8:36 (NIV) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. If there is ANYTHING that you are having a hard time letting go of from your old life, there is a pleasure or a dependency attached to it. The reason you feel you NEED something that Jesus is telling you it isn’t good for you, is because you are addicted to it. BUT, He will NOT take it away from you because you have been made free. You have to ASK Him to empower you to let it go.

John 8:34 (NIV) Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Being born again gave you your freedom back so you could decide whether you wanted to move forward with Jesus or you wanted to go back to your old life of sin. So, your old life has stayed in your memories and feelings. But, Jesus is about to give you new memories, feelings, and experiences. He is giving them to you so you have His life to compare with your old life. If you don’t allow Jesus to set you free from your old habits, lifestyles, and addictions, you will get cheated out of finding out how great being born again is. If you allow Jesus to empower you to be set FREE from ALL of your old life, He will set you free from the slavery you were involved in.

You actually chose Jesus, when you chose to be born again; but, you have to keep choosing Jesus. Your old lifestyle, habits, addictions, and experiences will try to draw you back in. You are free through Jesus; so, they can no longer FORCE you to go back. But, they can beg, lure, threaten, and bait you back into them and their slavery. USE your freedom of choice that Jesus has given you; when you are tempted to do something Jesus is telling you not to do, don’t just TRY to make the right decision. Call out to Jesus and ask for His power to help you make the right decision.

Mat 7:7-8 (NIV) “ASK and it will be given to you; SEEK and you will find; KNOCK and the door will be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

We can’t spend time working on SEEK and KNOCK for right now; but, ASKING is simply you replacing your best human efforts. They can be replaced by you using your mouth and heart to lead you into prayer for the things you are TRYING to do. Rather than looking to yourself, pray and ask Jesus to empower you to do the right things and give up the wrong things.

Prayer is VERY powerful; it is your line of communication with Jesus. Always keep in mind that your relationship with God is a permission based relationship. You can’t make God do anything that isn’t good for you or those around you. And, He won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. This is totally different from Satan and the relationship you had with him, your body, and the world. They weren’t above forcing, bating, luring, lying, misleading, and addicting you. God requires that you ask Him; that is how you give Him permission to do those things you need.