Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Are you feeling alive and empowered today? Some of you may say, depends on if I've had my coffee yet or not. Let’s have that mindset as we look at our Verse of the Day today.
It's Romans chapter 8, verse 2. It says, "And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death."
A Soccer Illustration
Before we get too far into this, I would just love to use an illustration. Soccer was my main sport in high school and college. One year we went to the national tournament and we didn't win the national title. But the very next year we lost some key players and we were playing against a top elite team that was even in a higher division than what we were.
Here we had this great year the year before, and this first game back the next year—it was brutal. This team was so good and so outclassed us. It got to the point where, if you know anything about soccer, we just wanted to kick it as far as possible, which is the antithesis of good soccer. But we just wanted to kick the ball as far as we possibly could because we were so tired of just playing on the defensive end.
We wanted to just kick it so we could get run to the other side of the field to be somehow on offense. It just constantly felt like we were just playing defense the entire game.
Constantly Playing Defense in Life
Let’s translate this into the game of life. Maybe you've had those times where it just feels like you are constantly playing defense—and it's not about just living life well, it's just surviving. You're just constantly playing defense. You're constantly dealing with the same struggles, the same temptations, the same issues over and over and over again. You're just trying to play defense, just surviving, just getting through.
That can happen a lot. But do you know what? Again, we’re reminded in this verse: we weren't saved for that. We weren't made for that. I would love to give us practical tools today to actually help us navigate when we're talking about this verse: "Because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin."
What does that look like when we feel like we're just surviving?
Survive: Use Scripture
When Jesus was tempted, what did He use? Jesus Himself, the Son of God, turned to Scripture. Every temptation that was made by the devil for Jesus—He used Scripture to counter that.
There's power in the Word of God. God Himself said in the Old Testament that His Word will not return void. It will always accomplish its mission. It's there. As the New Testament describes, it's a sword. It's our spiritual weapon.
What I'm encouraging you to do is: if you're struggling to just survive, you're constantly feeling like you're playing defense, I would encourage you to find some verses in Scripture to memorize. Some of you may say, I am horrible at memorizing. You can do it. Just constantly read it, review it, read it, review it until it starts to become familiar. Put it on a note card. Put it on your phone. Have it readily available so that you can constantly use it when you're playing defense.
You weren't made to just survive. You can go on the offensive and use Scripture to counter that.
Revive: Establish Accountability
Also, establish some accountability. When you're in the moment of just trying to survive the moment, have some community around you. Have some godly people around you that can bring some accountability and encouragement.
I love what Proverbs says: "A righteous person falls seven times and rises back up." I'm just imagining constantly having somebody that you can turn to that's going to lift you up off the ground and say, let's go, let's get back in the game.
We're not made to just survive. We want to do something in our life to revive something. That's why a lot of times when we're living constantly on defense is because we've not found a way to revive something in our life because it's constantly fighting the battle.
Find something in your life to revive. Again, when we're talking about reviving something, a lot of times we're talking about spiritual disciplines and other things. Well, the fun thing that I've used when I talk to people or counsel people is a lot of times we pick something that to us seems like the thing I'm struggling with and playing defense on—like chocolate—as if the thing to revive is the spiritual thing. The good thing is like broccoli.
Well, what are we going to choose when we get in the moment? We're going to default probably to chocolate or something we enjoy. God is not just about force-feeding you broccoli. What do you enjoy doing? Revive that and include God in it.
Thrive: Live in Your Identity
That's about reviving, and thrive is the biggest part. Thriving is about realizing your identity is not in your struggles, but in the power of the life-giving Spirit that has freed you from the power of sin.
Again, in closing—thrive. To thrive is finding your identity not in your struggles, but in the power of the life-giving Spirit that has freed you. Live in that today. Don't just play defense. Don't be on defense all the time.
If you're just feeling like you're just surviving, find something to revive in your life. Breathe life into it and have it be something you enjoy doing and include God in it. To thrive beyond that, understand your identity is not in your struggle. It's actually in the life-giving Spirit that wants you to thrive today.
