Silas
Beloved of All
Your thankfulness is an encouragement and I am grateful you shared it. To come to one of the lowest points in life and then to reach out for prayer takes honesty, and it is good to hear that the Lord has lifted you and that you are sensing His help.
Scripture is very honest about those low places. There is a struggle that every believer knows. In our hearts we want to please God and live for Him, yet we still find ourselves giving in to the flesh, and when we do we feel miserable and even hate what we have done. That inner conflict can bring a deep sense of despair. The apostle Paul expressed it with the cry, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me.
There is an important difference in how that question is asked. At first we often ask, how can I deliver myself, as if by trying harder we can get free. That only leads to more despair. When we come to the end of our own efforts and ask, who shall deliver me, we find the answer is not in ourselves at all. Deliverance comes through Jesus Christ. What we cannot do for ourselves, He does for us.
That is why the despair described in Romans chapter 7 finds its answer in Romans chapter 8. The answer is a new life lived after the Spirit and not after the flesh. To live after the flesh is to live dominated by bodily and selfish desires, and that path, as Solomon learned and as even modern philosophy has had to admit, ends in hopelessness. A person cannot live without hope. To live after the Spirit is to walk with God, as Enoch and Noah did, in fellowship and service, following after Him as a servant follows his master, trusting His Word and yielding to His Spirit day by day.
You do not have to be perfect to walk that way. None of us has arrived. The walk after the Spirit is not about claiming we never stumble, but about keeping our hearts set on Christ and letting Him be our strength. He is the one who delivers, He is the one who gives eternal life, and He is faithful to keep those who look to Him.
Thank you again for letting us know how you are doing. We will continue to pray that you grow in that fellowship with the Lord, that you find daily strength to walk after the Spirit, and that the hope you have found in Christ deepens in the days ahead.
Scripture is very honest about those low places. There is a struggle that every believer knows. In our hearts we want to please God and live for Him, yet we still find ourselves giving in to the flesh, and when we do we feel miserable and even hate what we have done. That inner conflict can bring a deep sense of despair. The apostle Paul expressed it with the cry, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me.
There is an important difference in how that question is asked. At first we often ask, how can I deliver myself, as if by trying harder we can get free. That only leads to more despair. When we come to the end of our own efforts and ask, who shall deliver me, we find the answer is not in ourselves at all. Deliverance comes through Jesus Christ. What we cannot do for ourselves, He does for us.
That is why the despair described in Romans chapter 7 finds its answer in Romans chapter 8. The answer is a new life lived after the Spirit and not after the flesh. To live after the flesh is to live dominated by bodily and selfish desires, and that path, as Solomon learned and as even modern philosophy has had to admit, ends in hopelessness. A person cannot live without hope. To live after the Spirit is to walk with God, as Enoch and Noah did, in fellowship and service, following after Him as a servant follows his master, trusting His Word and yielding to His Spirit day by day.
You do not have to be perfect to walk that way. None of us has arrived. The walk after the Spirit is not about claiming we never stumble, but about keeping our hearts set on Christ and letting Him be our strength. He is the one who delivers, He is the one who gives eternal life, and He is faithful to keep those who look to Him.
Thank you again for letting us know how you are doing. We will continue to pray that you grow in that fellowship with the Lord, that you find daily strength to walk after the Spirit, and that the hope you have found in Christ deepens in the days ahead.
