SAVED FROM SELF

What is wearing you down tonight? Are you afraid to go to sleep because you might be disturbed with thoughts like, "I should have done this...Why didn't I do that...I'll never make it...I'll never be any good...Why live?"

Perhaps some of the fiercest battles we wage are with ourselves, yet it's sometimes hard for us to equate these intense inner churnings and self-destructive thoughts (perhaps even thoughts of suicide) with what Paul called another law in his "members" warring against the law of his mind. As frightening as it is, this is partially what Paul is talking about.

The good news is that Jesus not only died to save us from Satan and sin; He also died to save us from ourselves – the "old man" or flesh nature which propels us toward death. As the old nature, fueled by Satan, rants, raves, accuses and condemns, the Holy Spirit fights to break in and tell you who you really are in Him This is the midnight war Paul fought many times when he said:

"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:23-25, NKJV).

What a relief to know that in Jesus there is even victory over ourselves! Your new nature in Christ will win. May that truth give you very sweet dreams...


from Morris and Theresa Cerullo