July 20
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STRUGGLING WITH SIN
A poem by ILMA
The trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good
The problem is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right
Yet I don’t do what’s right but I do what I hate.
But if I know that what I am doing is wrong
This shows that I agree that the law is good
So, I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
I want to do what is right, but I can’t
I want to do what is good, but I don’t
I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway
But if I do what I don’t want to do I am not really the one doing wrong.
When I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong
I love God’s law with all my heart but there is another power within me
It is at war with my mind which makes me a a slave to sin
All this struggle is still so alive within me and I am bound to it.
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MEMORY VERSE
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. – Romans 7:15
Read: Romans 7:14-28
Do you ever struggle with sin? Don’t we all go through this at some point of our lives if not always? Paul was explaining to the Romans that we all struggle with sin, but God is always there to win over this battle.
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REFLECTION
• What do you do each time you get into a conflict inside you, to do what is right instead of doing what is wrong?
• How can the battle between right and wrong be resolved for believers?