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Priscilla: Romans 6:15-23
Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be!

16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or obedience to righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin, but you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

18 And having been set free from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness.

19 I speak as a man on account of the weakness of your flesh. For as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawless act unto lawless act, so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as to righteousness.

21 Therefore what fruit did you have then in the things over which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Literal Translation of the Holy Bible]

Dear God, my beloved Father, today I offer up to You what I have come to understand through reflecting on Your Word, specifically Romans 6:15-23, regarding the significance of becoming a slave to righteousness.

Before I believed in You, I was already under the law of God. I made my body a slave to sin when I coveted money. I lived without You and, therefore, lived unsatisfied, always seeking to earn more money. I was busy and preoccupied with making money to meet all my needs. Sometimes I even had to work seven days a week. I always sought to accumulate material wealth in this world. Thus, I lived in the darkness of sin, doing evil and disobeying Your commands, making myself a slave to sin. The end result of such a life is death.

But thanks be to You, my God, after I believed in You, I began to read the Bible and learned that Your Word teaches: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we have brought nothing into the world, and it is plain that neither can we carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. But those purposing to be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evils, by means of which some having lusted after it were seduced from the faith, and they themselves pierced through by many pains” (I Timothy 6:6-10).

Dear God, I truly thank You for freeing me from the slavery of sin. I no longer depend on money as I did before. I have been liberated from the power of sin and have become a slave of righteousness. Since then, I have started to rest on Sundays and eagerly go to worship in the Evangelical Church. My heart no longer worries about daily self-control. I am no longer obsessed with money, but rather content. I am joyful and peaceful in all situations, because I know and believe that God is the protector of all things for me.

Dear God, previously, due to my lack of understanding, I used to go to different Evangelical churches to worship You. They taught that the people of God nowadays do not need to obey the commandments in the Old Testament of the Bible, but only follow the teachings in the New Testament. They also taught that the people of God do not need to observe the Sabbath day on Saturday because the Sabbath day has been changed to Sunday. At that time, I read again the Ten Commandments of God and saw in the Holy Scriptures that God wrote, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it” (Exodus 20:8-11).

I clearly saw that the fourth commandment, as written in Exodus 20:10, states, “and the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God.” At that time, my heart was not at peace, and I was afraid that I was attending a church that did not obey the fourth commandment. So I wondered with You, if I would be guilty if I did not observe the Sabbath day in the Old Testament by following their teachings. Then I heard You say, “Remember the day of rest, and keep it holy. To know what is good and not do it is a sin.”

Dear God, I thank You once again for freeing me from the bondage of false teaching that goes against the Holy Scriptures, as taught by various churches. Therefore, I dare not break the fourth commandment, for breaking one is to break all Ten Commandments of God. I know that the Church must obey the commandments of God in both the Old and New Testaments. God’s Word promises that those who seek Him with all their heart will find Him, and the Lord Jesus said: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Dear God, for thousands of years, Your Word has clearly taught, “If anyone teaches differently, and does not consent to sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching according to godliness, he has been puffed up, understanding nothing, but is sick concerning doubts and arguments, out of which comes envy, strife, evil-speakings, evil suspicions, meddling, of men whose mind has been corrupted and deprived of the truth, supposing gain to be godliness. Withdraw from such persons” (I Timothy 6:3-5).

Dear God, I know that Your people perish for lack of knowledge. And now, I have been completely released from sin and have become a slave of God. My life is fruitful with acts of love, holiness, and righteousness, and my final destiny is eternal life. I have learned Your Word, understood the standard of love, holiness, and righteousness that You want me to live by, and have been cleansed of my sinful nature. I will never return to a life of sin. I have complete authority over sin, and sin has no power over me. I pray that You will grant me the power of God to live a victorious life, bearing much fruit of righteousness, and glorifying You. Thank You. Amen!

In the grace of Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Priscilla Christian Huynh
03/20/2023