It’s one thing to start your day off right, but what about when we face temptation? Won’t that completely derail our ability to reach our world for Christ? Temptations are a fact of life. They’re everywhere. We need to remember that we cannot rely on our own strength, but rather depend on the strength of the living Lord Jesus within us. When we do this, we can sing the words of the Charles Wesley hymn: “He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free!” Sin will have no grip on us, like it says in Romans. Why? Because we’re not under the law, trying our best to live for God. Instead, in His grace, Christ’s resurrection power lives in us and helps us do His work on this earth.

When Christ’s power is at work within us on a daily basis, there’s no reason to struggle on in our own strength. Yes, we are called to work hard, but it isn’t what we do for Jesus, but what He does in us and through us. And yes, we are called to say no to temptation, but we can only do so with Jesus’ power in us. We cannot be holy unless Jesus makes us holy, and we can’t reach the world without Jesus’ power in us. We will fail Him, but Christ redeems us. And when we repent and rely on Christ’s power, our witness to those around us becomes even stronger. People will want to know the same hope, and they will be changed through the power of Christ’s redemption. 

This is Luis Palau.