Hello friend, and welcome back to these lessons on finding freedom from depression. Though I may not know you by name, I am praying that God would minister to your heart as you read His word in these lessons. God indeed knows your name, as it says Isaiah 43:1: “I have called you by name, you are mine”.
We have been studying in the previous lessons about taking our troublesome thoughts captive and asking God to shine His marvelous gospel light into our hearts and minds through preaching the good news to ourselves.
In the next couple of days, we will look at how we can apply God’s word to our hearts in wonderful ways by becoming so immersed in Jesus that the whole atmosphere of our lives changes to worship Him.
Do you long for a ‘change of atmosphere’, my friend, from being immersed in despair to being deluged in love and “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8b)? Let me show you how you can experience being caught up in the word of God in such a way that we are lifted into heavenly realms. Let’s read our text for today from Romans 12:1-2:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 ESV
Question 1. According to Romans 12:1, what things are we to do in response to God’s mercy?
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Yes, in view of God’s mercy we are to present or offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. Well, when was it that God gave us mercy? That question reminds us of the cross, for at the cross God presented His Son as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins (Romans 3:25), giving all who believe great mercy and great grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). And now, in light of His mercy shown us at the cross, we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice or offering back to Him.
Think about God’s mercy to you in the cross of our Lord Jesus for a moment. Jesus presented His head to be crowned with thorns, His hands and feet to be pierced with nails, His back to be beaten and striped, His beard to be plucked out, and His side to be pierced with a sword. All of this to present you holy and flawless before the Father (Colossians 1:22), redeem you from sin and to rescue you from darkness (Colossians 1:13). Oh, what mercy!
In light of the mercy given to you in Jesus’ sacrifice, don’t you want to surrender your all, your entire body to be used in His service? Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I’ll pray,
“Lord, I present my mind with all of its troublesome thoughts and my heart to You today. I give You my heart and mind and my entire body and ask that You would receive me as a living sacrifice to You. Please, Lord, by Your Holy Spirit, don’t let me use one single part of my body in self-focus, self-harm or in serving the enemy; take me, consume me, I give all of myself to you, please use all of me!”
Question 2. Reading this prayer, and in light of Jesus’ mercy given to you at the cross, would you like to offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice?
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Carnell writes, "Yes. Since Jesus gave all of himself for me in view of His mercy I give every part of me to Him."
Harris writes, "Yes i am. Since He gave His body as a real living sacrifice for me then Yes i am giving my body as a living sacrifice for Him."
Wendy writes, "I do! Every beginning of each new day I wish to do this. But I also need to do it continually through the day as well! So many times my desire is to surrender, but then I do my own thing (when my mind gets distracted from Him)."