Prayer Root Ministries -> Praying through Scripture -> Romans -> Romans 7
Scripture (ESV)
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Prayer Root: Word to Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for showing me that it is Your law that reveals sin, not because the law is wrong, but because sin is so deceitful and destructive. Lord, the very fact that sin can twist something holy, righteous, and good into an instrument for evil shows how terrible its nature truly is.
I pray, Father, that I am never deceived into believing there is any satisfaction in sin. Guard my eyes and my heart so that I do not even glance toward what is forbidden, thinking it might bring happiness—because it never will. Keep me from the delusion that I can do wrong and somehow justify it or defend it.
Mainly, Lord, protect me from the lie that I can escape the consequences of sin simply because I am under Your grace. Let me never mistake Your mercy as permission. Instead, teach me to see Your law as You intended: holy, good, and life-giving. Help my heart obey Your commandments out of reverence and love for You. Strengthen me so that I do not drift or get misled toward sin, whose end is always death. Keep me anchored in Your truth, steady in obedience, and humble before Your holiness.
Rooted in prayer, rejoicing in Christ.