Wrong Source
The old well is dry, but the Source nearby never stops flowing.
Devotional Credit: Abide Above – Miles Stanford and T. Austin-Sparks
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Today’s reflection from Abide Above strikes at the root of a common but deeply misplaced hope—the belief that our old nature can somehow be improved. He points to both Scripture and our lived experience as witnesses to a sobering truth: there is nothing redeemable in our flesh. Romans 7:18 states plainly, “In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” The sooner we agree with this truth, the sooner we can stop striving for what cannot be fixed and begin to live from the Source who is our righteousness—Christ Himself.
The enemy seeks to keep us circling in frustration, hoping against all evidence that we might one day find something “good” in ourselves. But the liberty Paul speaks of in Galatians 5:1 is not found by trying harder or suppressing sin through self-effort—it’s found by stepping entirely off the ground of the old nature and onto the sure foundation of Christ’s indwelling life. We are not invited to fix the old man but to forsake him entirely, resting in the reality that all our good, all our hope, and all our life is found in Another.
Rather than labor under condemnation or introspective fretting, we are invited to stand fast in the liberty of Christ—rejoicing in Him, and placing zero confidence in the flesh. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is not a patch over the old—it is a whole new way of being, of thinking, of living.
Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit
You were never meant to spend your days excavating a grave, looking for life in the dust of your old self. I did not call you to renovate the flesh but to walk in the newness of resurrection life. I am your righteousness. I am your peace. I am the power in you that overcomes sin not by striving, but by My presence within.
When you hear accusation, remember: it only has power when you listen with flesh-bound ears. But you have new ears now—ears tuned to grace, not guilt. I have already declared that there is no good thing in your flesh. Let that truth quiet the endless search for worth in yourself. Stop asking the grave to breathe. Life is not there. Life is in Me.
Let go of your efforts to please Me by the energy of the old nature. Your standing with Me has never depended on your success but on My finished work. When you abide in Me, you walk free—not because the old nature improved, but because you are walking in the liberty of My life. You are not chained to what you were; you are joined to who I AM.
Trust Me to live through you. You do not need to keep revisiting the courtroom when the verdict has already been declared: Not guilty. Free indeed. Walk forward now, not as one striving for liberty, but as one living from it.
Scriptures referenced: Romans 7:18, Galatians 5:1, Romans 8:2, Philippians 3:3
Real-Life Analogy
It’s like trying to pull fresh water from a dry well. You lower the bucket again and again, hoping maybe this time it will come up full. But it never does. The well hasn’t changed—and it never will. But just steps away, there’s a flowing tap connected to a limitless reservoir. You only have to turn the handle. You were never meant to keep going back to the old well. Life flows from the Source who lives within you.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, I thank You that I no longer have to rummage through the ruins of the old man to try and find something good. You have shown me clearly that my life is no longer in Adam but in Christ. I rest in the liberty You’ve already given me. I rejoice that Your Spirit now leads my every step, not by pressure or guilt, but by love and life. You have made me free. And in that freedom, I rejoice.