4. ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW
Revelation 21:5
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
We have become new and qualify for the inheritance laid aside and waiting for us.
1 Peter 1:4
‘To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you’
In my old self, I would have felt guilt as we listen to the devil accusing us of our wretched self; our sins- Then making a decision based on that guilt. We take to drinking, violence, marriage, divorce etc. When no good comes out of all this, we fall into deep depression and there is no escape …but now we can thank the Lord for freeing us from that bondage. Jesus has taken it and given us a new identity. How do we continue to walk in this newness of life? The Word helps us.
Philippians 4:8-9
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Ephesians 4:31-32
’31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.’
Ephesians 4:29
’29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.’
Colossians 3:10
‘And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator’
Colossians 2:13
‘And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses’
Romans 6:4-14
‘5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.’
Do not get me wrong, just because we confess we are Christians, does not mean we are perfect, we will still do things wrong because satan does not want us to make heaven and troubles us from every side.
Those who loved us, our own family and friends may be the very ones used by the devil to bring us down.Even godly people can condemn us instead of helping us. Past rejections and experiences will come to us in the darkest hours.
Some such Christian may be tempted and fall into the snares of the devil. What is sad is that our struggles are observed by unbelievers who see us doing the wrong thing and refuse Jesus’ offer of everlasting life.
Unbelievers belong to the devil and they are not troubled by him. This is why we have to keep our eyes on Gods Word and gather together to support each other. Glory to God because we begin to sin less and less as we go deeper into the understanding of His word, build our faith and mature.
We begin to hate sin and love our brethren, knowing we are loved by the sovereign One. And when we do sin we know to run to God and ask for forgiveness, knowing He forgives and remembers our sins no more.
I think of it this way:
You do a crime and a judge decides in pardoning you and you get a clean slate. Or you appeal to a higher court or the governor and he pardons you. When you get out of jail, you are new man. Noone remembers your crime, there is no record of it and you get to start all over again except with Him, He creates a new man in us and with the help of Holy Spirit we learn to live the life God has given us
And I see it this way: what we hated, now we love and what we loved, now we hate. We want to do what God wants us to do and know that He, God gives us the strength. I do not try harder in my effort but surrender all to Him.
God has great sacrificial and relentless love for us and we need to have compassion even towards those we think we hate. For example, 1 John 4:19 tells us that we are called to love others and God, and we can do this because He first loved us.
Ephesians 2:2-10, 13
‘2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’
Be everything God originally made us to be. Our journey in this new life is to become just that changing into the me from the inside out
1 Corinthians 6:19
’19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?’
Colossians 3:1
‘3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.’
Eph. 4:24
‘Do not let flesh and mind control you’
Feelings of insecurity, loneliness, fear, wanting someone to care and take care of us will always present itself to us but we are not to let them control us. Joseph Prince said, The devil will point out all your failures and tell you you’re the same person as before, stuck in a cycle of sinful habits, but you are not the same person. Even though you might feel it, it’s not the truth. Here is a word of wisdom:
WHAT YOU GIVE ATTENTION TO, YOU GIVE POWER TO.
As Hagin would say the devil is just showing a photo , not the real thing. The devil wants to continually bombard your heart with unclean, evil, and fearful imaginations (pictures).
Remember as a child of God to whom Jesus gave authority and power, you can speak words of life. Believe that we can speak Bible truth, receive it to be the truth and things will happen. That is why the devil wants to confuse us, make us use our own mouth to pronounce curses and decree wrong things into our life. He has programmed evil into our language and culture. People can say all kinds of things about you, but don’t speak those thing against yourself. As long as you do not receive them into your heart and mind, they will not come true in your life. Transform your life by the renewing of your mind. Have a cexpectation of good in your life.
Ephesians 6:10-18
The Whole Armor of God
’10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints’
God is calling us and given us an Invitation to Abundant life in Christ. Will we answer? Will we open the door and invite Him to dine with us? Will we be the new creation He has made us to be? It is not going to be bed of roses but Jesus said in John 16:33
‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’
Halleluyah! Praise Lord Jesus.
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