Fasting Encouragement Day Five Part One

Day 5 Romans 7 & 8 Part 1

My friends! We are five days into the fast! God is good! Continue to press forward, take some time, and journal what you've heard the Lord saying over your life. Bear down, you are just about halfway done! I will have the odd day during a fast where I just don't do very well. Perhaps my prayer time is shortened or non-existent, or I got a bit discouraged in my Bible reading plan and had to catch up a bit. Or perhaps willfully sinned and now feel like my fast is ruined.

It isn't.

Yesterday, I shared that grace overpowers sin. While we are pressing in for more of God, let's never forget that we aren't trying to impress Him with our fasting, but rather our fasting is our effort to starve out the soulish things that rob us from more of Him. So, if you have faced that moment, it means that you are unveiling the issue. Examine not just what is happening but why it is happening. Invite the Holy Spirit to take you on a journey beyond the temporal issue. Go further to where some form of fear has motivated you to run away from God instead of toward Him.

Today we look at Romans 7 and 8. Romans 7 can be a very confusing read as this expression of despair from Paul seems to contradict the freedom shared in both Romans 6 and 8. I'd like to tackle that this morning and share another important element from the beautiful passage in Romans 8 about our adoption as God's children, which I'll share later today.

Romans 7 starts with a significant statement.

Romans 7:1 (ESV) Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the Law—that the Law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

As I shared in the pre-fast encouragement, Paul speaks to both Jews and Gentiles in this letter. However, in this case, Romans 7 focuses on the Jewish believers. He uses the example of marriage to show the Jews freedom to come into a new covenant relationship with Jesus due to Jesus fulfilling the Law. But he uses a common practice in story-telling to drive his point home. It is called first-person present tense.

One of the hardest things for me to watch as a dad was when we were in a group setting and one of my kids hurt themselves doing something silly but then pretended that they were ok. I knew they needed to cry, they knew they needed to cry, and the people they were trying to impress knew it as well. Mostly, I could see that they were putting on a brave face for my benefit as if they wanted to save face for me in front of the others. They were afraid of the shame they felt for getting hurt over something silly.

As you read over Romans 7:17-24, you can see Paul telling the story of his life under the Law. He's not speaking of his present condition, which is where this passage gets poorly interpreted; he's pointing out to the Jewish Christians the futility he faced living under the Law. He creates an emotional bridge between himself and his readers by bringing them into a present-tense version of his story. He brings his story to its climax,

Romans 7:22-24 (ESV) 22 For I delight in the Law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the Law of my mind and making me captive to the Law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

When I watched my precious son or daughter standing in front of me on the verge of tears, clearly hurting and needing to be honest with me, telling me they're ok, that it's alright, my heart breaks. All I want to do is scoop them up in my arms, let them cry, love them through the moment, and protect them from the shame.

Law-keeping makes us stand before God, pretending we are alright. He can see we are hurting and need Him to comfort us. He can see that we are fighting off the shame in our own strength, and all He wants is to bring the story to its proper ending.

Romans 7:25 - 8:1 (ESV) 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the Law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the Law of sin.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The Father loves you so very much, and through Jesus, has set us free from standing on our own. Perhaps today is a good day to find a quiet moment and thank Him for that love and show Him some of the silly places you may have hurt yourself and are ashamed. Let Him love and cover you.

Tonight, I'll send a short Part two to this encouragement.

All my love,
PL