Struggling Under the Old Law

   Many of us have heard that we operate under the New Law, instead of the Old Law as born-again believers...but what exactly does this mean? Before Jesus' death on the cross, not only did a priest have to go into the presence of the Lord on our behalf and make a yearly sacrifice for us, but we were bound by the law. We strove for perfection, because the law brought knowledge of sin, which separated us from God.

   Galatians 3:19 says, "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.". This happened because of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden.

   By eating the fruit, we rebelled against God which caused a separation. But God, because of His loving kindness, knew how to rescue us from our sin and inability to operate successfully under the law, because according to James 2:10 "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it."

   This is a tall order to follow perfectly, because that is what the Old Law demands, perfection. So, God rescued us from the Old Law by sacrificing His son. Jesus gave up His own life and became the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross so we could be reconciled back to the Father through the shedding of His blood. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us so we might become the righteousness of Christ and have the ability come into the throne room of grace boldly and have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, not through works, but by grace through faith.

   Yet, many of us are still operating under the Old Law, believing somewhere deep down that we have to earn God's love and or work in perfection to be righteous. Many believers get roped into this lie that the enemy has carefully crafted in order to keep them bound in guilt, shame, and self-hate, which causes a breech in our love walk.

   Romans 6:14 tells us: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.", which means that if we fall into the lie of operating the under the Old Law, believing that by works we are made righteous, then sin will rule us, because we will continually be trying to accomplish the impossible, and that is perfecting ourselves instead of trusting that that is the job of the Holy Spirits.

   So, for the person who is struggling with striving to be worthy of God's love, steps into self-hate when they fall short, and feels as if love from God must be earned, God wants you to know and receive this bible verse below.

   Galatians 2:16

   "Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."

   You cannot be justified in God's eyes by your works, because by grace through faith you have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, not by your accomplishments. It was nothing you did, but everything Jesus did, and this is a free gift that won't make you arrogant but humble you under God's mighty love and sacrifice. It won't cause you to sin more but help you to walk in love and actually live the way God has called you to. This doesn't mean there won't be bumps in the road, and it certainly doesn't mean you will become sinless, but that by grace through faith the Lord will cause you to sin less and walk in love.

   Below is a prayer you can pray today if you are wanting to operate under the New Law and come out from under the Old. Feel free to come back to this blog post and repeat this prayer in the future!