Therefore there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1, NASB
Today, I want to talk about
how you can have a victorious thought life. My friend, the solution to
temptations, sinful desires and thoughts is found in the very first verse of
Romans 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.” (By the way, some Bible translations, like the New King James Version,
go on to say “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit.” This was added by the later Bible translators. In the oldest
manuscripts of the New Testament available today, the Greek simply states,
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”)
You may experience
temptations and sinful thoughts from time to time, but right in the midst of
that temptation, you need to know this: There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Notice that this verse is in
the present tense. Right now, even if at this very moment, sinful thoughts are
going through your mind, there is no condemnation because you are IN CHRIST
JESUS! Are we then to sit still and entertain those sinful thoughts? Of course
not.
Sin cannot take root in a
person who is full of the consciousness that he is righteous in Christ. You
cannot stop birds from flying over your head, but you can certainly stop a bird
from building a nest on your head. In the same way, you cannot stop
temptations, sinful thoughts and desires from passing through your mind, but
you can certainly stop yourself from acting on these
temptations, sinful thoughts and desires. How? By confessing at the very moment
of temptation that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
The power of Jesus to overcome every temptation kicks in when you remain conscious that even at the point of temptation, Jesus is still with you and that you are righteous in Him apart from your works (Romans 4:6)! When you do that, you reject the condemnation for the temptation that you faced. You now have the power of Christ to rise above your temptation and to rest in your righteous identity in Christ apart from your works. That, beloved, is the overcoming life in Christ! (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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