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Unleashed

Words of Faith Final

Unleashed
Words of Faith 9-13-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Romans 8
    [9] You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. [10] But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. [11] And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

     For over 16 years, our family was blessed with a little dog named Pockets. Pockets was a fluffy happy Bichon who loved to greet us by leaping for joy. But as happy as Pockets made us, he also had some bad habits.  As soon as we left the house Pockets would get into "trouble" exploring around the house, turning over trash cans and generally making a mess. After many efforts to contain Pockets with baby gates and obstacles, we finally discovered that he could not get into trouble if we just left him on a leash looped over the doorknob next to his bed.  
     Pockets would sleep quietly in his bed with his leash looped over the doorknob during the day. I remember one day when I came into the house and Pockets was sleeping in his bed by the door. As I came past him, I quietly un-looped his leash from the doorknob. I knew that if I came in without setting him "free," he would just whine and complain.  
     But a strange thing happened. As I began to get something in the next room, Pockets did begin to whine. I ignored the noise for a bit, but the whining and barking continued. When I finally went to see what the problem was, I realized that although the leash had been released, Pockets did not know it! He was "stuck," whining and complaining, even though he was perfectly free to escape from his bed!
     As Christians, many of us live our lives like that. We have been set free from the law of sin and death, but we are unaware of it for some reason. As long as we don't believe we are free, the Enemy has a heyday with us! We may whine and complain that we cannot seem to overcome the power of sin, but we do not notice that the leash tying us to the sinful nature has been released. We are free, but because we don't know it, we remain in bondage!  
     You see, holiness is not a matter of trying harder. It is a matter of knowing that the Spirit of Christ is living in us and that our sinful nature is dead. This is not simply a "future hope," Paul said that He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit, who lives in you.  We can have life, real life, in this mortal life.  We can have real freedom from the devastation of sin!   
     Question. Where are you in your walk with God? Are you walking in holiness? Perhaps you have Christ in your life, but you keep surrendering to an Enemy who has no power over you.  Perhaps you did not notice that the "leash" of the sinful nature has been released! There is also the possibility, as Paul notes, that you do not belong to Christ. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you do not belong to Christ. You can belong to Christ simply by surrendering your life to Him right now.  

      Lord, Jesus, I confess that I have surrendered to sin far too often. I have failed to realize the freedom won by Christ in me. I have failed to claim that freedom. I give thanks that Your Spirit lives in me, and my body is dead to sin. Make my spirit alive because of righteousness. Give life to my mortal body. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2021 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.