For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Romans 7:19-20 (NIV)

We have everything we need to live the life God wants us to live (2 Peter 1:3), but we must learn to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Once we are born again, we may sometimes feel we are two people, and at times we do what we don’t want to do—and we don’t do what we do want to do. We see in today’s scripture that this also happened to the apostle Paul, and we know there is hope for us. Even after we become Christians, we can still do the wrong things we have always done, but the good news is that we also have the ability to do the right things, and the Holy Spirit will help us. We are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:6 NIV).

Galatians 5:16 does not say “Try not to walk in the flesh so you can walk in the Spirit,” which is what most of us do. It says that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. In other words, if we focus on doing the right things, there will be no room for the wrong things. When we focus on the positive, we will have victory. In relationships, if we focus on everything we find wrong with the other person, we will not be able to love them. But if we focus on what is good in them, we will soon pay little attention to what we don’t like as much.

Prayer of the Day: Holy Spirit, help me focus on walking with You and to focus on Your Spirit, rather than the struggle. Thank You for giving me the power to do what’s right today and every day, amen.

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