Resurrection Power for Your Habits

When we try to establish good habits that increase our time with God and our capacity to hear His voice, we begin to realize how very often we fail. We get busy; we get tired; we forget. We become conscious of “the body of death” that we are lugging around. (In Romans 7, Paul wrote about how, on the inside, he loved God and longed to do what was right yet constantly discovered that his outward actions failed in many ways. He said he was trapped inside a “body of death.”) It can be overwhelmingly discouraging.

Yet the good news of Easter is, of course, the resurrection—victory over death. You and I know that Christ’s resurrection on Easter meant victory over the ultimate death that is the penalty for sin. But do you realize what the resurrection means for the body of death and the sinful, half-hearted tendencies we deal with everyday? It means the same thing--victory. Because the resurrected Christ lives, that power is available to you every day.

This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised as He was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:4-6). Later in the discussion Paul says, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” (Romans 8:11-12). He goes on to say there is no need to live like powerless, defeated, fearful slaves (v.15). As an example of the power at work in us, Paul says the Holy Spirit helps us, “for we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying….”(v.26-27).

I know this is hard to get your head around. It’s especially hard for those of us who have been believers a long time and have gotten a little too familiar with the factual story of the resurrection to think much about its practical ramifications today. The truth is, Christ seeks to live His life through you and that life is not just a regular life—it is a resurrected life. And the truth is that the Holy Spirit, who possesses the kind of power that can bring a dead man back from the grave, lives in you and is actually there helping you do things like pray. No need to get discouraged or act like a powerless slave to sin or sleep or the TV. You do have the power to do what pleases God.

Think about these truths as we head into Easter. Think about them during your daily prayer minutes. Let’s ask God to help us understand them more fully and to live in their reality.

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21.