Spirit of God!

For Thursday, July 2, 2026:

Romans 8:9 NLT: “As believers, we are not controlled by our sinful nature. We are controlled by the Spirit if we have the Spirit of God living in us.”

This is freedom week in the US, which begs the question, “Are we really free?” Our country has laws, rules if you will, and not following the rules will result in a penalty. A fine or imprisonment will be the result of not following the rules. So we remain free as long as we obey the rules.

My point is that we have a choice. Most people choose to obey our laws, so their lives go on smoothly, without incident. But if we choose to disobey, all hell can break loose. Literally. Inviting Satan into our lives is always a bad choice.

Fortunately, believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is the insulator that keeps believers separated from the evil one. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Light always wins. We have the freedom to choose light or darkness. Our choice will have eternal consequences, and eternity is a very long time!

Joshua advises us to “Choose today whom you will serve.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Slave or Free?

For Wednesday, July 1, 2026:

Romans 8:2 NLT: “Because we belong to Christ, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death.”

This coming weekend, people in the US will be celebrating freedom, so let’s use that for our topic for a while. On July 4^th, we remember the Declaration of Independence, declaring the 13 original colonies independent from European rule, specifically the British monarchy. We fought them in the Revolutionary War, won, and determined that states united were better (safer) than states separated. Subsequently, a constitution was written for the United States of America.

Are we really free? Probably not totally, but life seems better under our own government rather than someone else’s government. Our country has endured for 250 years!

In our minds, we need to separate our earthly life from our spiritual life. The Bible uses the word “doulos” which is often translated as servant. A better translation would be “slave,” but “slave” carries a negative connotation to a lot of people. As much as translators tried to clean the text, the fact remains that we are slaves serving the Lord.

What’s unusual for slaves is that we get to choose who to serve. We’ll be working for Satan or for Christ Almighty! Joshua chose wisely. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Have you made a similar choice?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Logic?

For Tuesday, June 30, 2026:

Romans 8:32 NLT: “Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

Paul is asking the Romans to use logic to project their salvation. It’s a look into the future. It involves following a scenario through to its logical conclusion, though it may not have happened yet. It’s like an ‘if then’ line of computer code. ‘If’ the operator chooses this command, ‘then’ a specific thing happens.

Does our God love us? Yes! Has our God provided for us? Yes! Did God arrange for our sins to be forgiven? Yes! Is God’s desire for believers to join him in his eternal Kingdom? It hasn’t happened yet, but logic tells us that the answer would be a resounding yes!

God gave up the earthly life of his Son to rescue mankind. So it would behove us to be good stewards of his grace, that undeserved gift freely given to us. The love of the Father should be reciprocal!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church