I read an outstanding article the other day on The Homeschool Lounge about the road to change. I was ready for its message and thankful for its direct nature. The article, you can read here can change your spiritual life if you'll allow it.

As I was reading through Romans 3-8 as it suggests I noted some key verses that stuck out to me. My husband and I have followed The Way of The Master by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort for some time now. They focus on evangelizing by teaching the laws of God and then a person will know they are in discord with the law and the guilt they feel on breaking it will hopefully draw them to repentance and a life of change. The logic can be found in

Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."  (KJV)

If we know the laws of God, which we can know by reading His word and talking to Him daily and listening to Him, then we know we are sinners. For in Romans 3:23 we see "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."  (KJV) Because we are sinners, God made a plan for us.

Romans 5:8 "But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (KJV)

So we know we are sinners, we know there was a sacrifice made for us and all we have to do is accept it. Then we have to realize that once we lay it down, we should not pick it up again. Boy oh boy do I struggle with that one. I'm always wanting to pull my guilt back out of the sea of forgetfulness and wallow in it some more. That must really hurt my Lord's feelings. I mean if I were to give one of my daughters a gift and she was constantly giving it back to me because she didn't want it I'd be hurt.

Romans 6:6-7 "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." (KJV)

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (KJV)

Romans 7:7 "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (KJV)

Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spirtually minded is life and peace." (KJV)

Romans 7:14-20  "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, 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." (NIV)

So I can do nothing without Christ but I can do everything with him. I love the play on words God uses in these scriptures as He explains to die is Christ and to live is gain. We are dying, that is our sinful self. But in that death is the rebirth of a forever and joyful life. Praise the Lord. I can ask and receive. I can lay my burdens down and not put that load back on my shoulders. I can obey the laws and live in the Spirit. I can beat this struggle within, this battle with my carnal self, if I am tender to the Holy Spirit's calling.

Romans 8:31 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (KJV)

Romans 8:38-39 "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (KJV)

Can I get an Amen?  Isn't our God good! What a blessing to know these Words and to know they are my life-giving source! They are the source of breath and life flowing through my veins. When I read them I am re-charged. I am excited. I am at peace. I am joyful. I am overwhelmed to serve a living God!