MONTHLY MEMORY VERSE

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NIV

DEVOTIONAL: BY JOSH RELIGIOSO

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where there is a good option and a bad option, and this bad option is VERY appealing? Take for instance you find yourself in your favorite store and they just came out with the newest brand of your perfume, or video game, or clothing, etc. and you find yourself not having money for it. You think to yourself that no one will notice if you take it, but you also know that deep down it would also be wrong to take it. You start having this big internal conflict with yourself. The part of you that wants to take it starts making up excuses for why you deserve to have it, while the other part of you knows that stealing is wrong. In Romans in the Bible, Paul struggles to do the right thing because his flesh, his nature is to do wrong. Paul is just like us, but luckily we have something to fight against those wrongful desires, and its the Holy Spirit.

Read: Galatians 5:17-18

Basically what this passage is saying is that the Holy Spirit opposes those bad desires we have and helps us fight them and leads us towards good desires, such as a desire to be faithful to God. Trying to decide what is right and what is wrong can be pretty hard most of the time, but luckily we don’t have to face those kinds of decisions alone. Those who have a relationship with Jesus can invite the Holy Spirit to help them in the most difficult of times or the hardest decisions.

If in the future you are finding yourself faced with what seems like an impossible or overwhelming circumstance who are you going to turn to? Do you try to solve the problem yourself? Are you having trouble with what is right and what is wrong? Be encouraged that we have an awesome and amazing power within us, the Holy Spirit, who can help us overcome the most difficult of circumstances and guide us to make the right decisions.

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