Connecting with God is easy
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26)
I will move you to follow…my decrees. That’s an interesting promise of the Lord: Most people in the church teach that holiness is something we are in charge of. Obeying God is our job right?
God isn't expecting us to do this Christianity thing on our own. God has another way. He has a different plan. What if obedience isn’t something we strive for? What if obedience is consequential?
The result of something else entirely.
What if grace takes care of obedience for me.
What if obedience isn’t something to drum up but something that oozes out of us?
It’s the consequence of union.
The ramifications of this are staggering. If we focus on our union with the Lord, obedience will follow. There are many who believe this but don’t walk this out in power.
The divine discourse of love does not worry about obedience. A true relationship does not focus on obedience. The focus is on connection. Obedience is the fruit of being. Being with Him is the only real “task” worth considering.
A to-do list can’t keep you from disobedience. It also can’t generate real lasting peace and joy. The activities of Christianity don’t help us become holy. We do them because we've been made holy through the sacrifice of Jesus. Embracing the finished work of Jesus enables me to think as God does.
When you think like God, you can act like God on the earth through delegated authority. Right thinking leads to right living!
God’s only concern in my life is connection. I make my desire to experience God the primary concern of my life and everything will flow. Proverbs says “Guard your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life.”
Everything in life originates from our inner world. Our inner world and what we carry is what comes out in manifestation. What you experience in your life is a result of what you feed your heart on.
If you carry anxiety and insecurity, that atmosphere is palpable in the air around you and affects your relationships. If financial lack is a major concern in your life, you will create limits on your finances. The result will be short-term decisions that keep you in poverty and away from the manifestation of God. Guard your heart for OUT OF IT come ALL the issues of life.
You can’t unlock the creativity within you if you are always censoring yourself and relegating every impulse to a desire of the flesh.
Last I checked: We are to consider ourselves dead to sin. Our expectation of living right, experiencing good, and manifesting heaven should be high. Testing the Spirits is easy for us because we live dependent on Jesus. His sheep know his voice.
A heart fixed on Jesus will bring heaven to earth daily. A heart fixed on the promises of God will have heavenly exposure. A heart with a heavenly focus will have heaven’s influence all over every part of life.
Remember the words of Isaiah the Prophet: “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you!”
Unfortunately, the nature of man is to complicate the simple. We like to add/take away from the word of God. We don’t want it to be too easy.
The new nature Christ has purchased for us is glorious. Take your new identity out for a spin. Our old life with its self-sabotage was obliterated at the cross.
This means it is no longer our nature (predetermined position) to sin. We are positioned for righteousness. We are positioned for good to explode out of us.
We are free of our Adamic position under the new covenant. Jesus shed his blood as the last Adam and we are now the seed of a new race of people. Something the world has never seen before.
It doesn’t mean you will never sin but it does mean sin is not the norm for you. You are not doomed to repeat the mistakes of your past. That person has died and you have no right to relate to that person anymore. Hence the term “born again”. That old guy is gone! He is more than 6 feet under. That “old” you has been eternally buried and destroyed through the victory of Christ on the cross.
Photo by Mayron Oliveira on Unsplash
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“So let it be the same way with you! Since you are now joined with Him, you must continually view yourselves as dead and unresponsive to sin’s appeal while living daily for God’s pleasure in union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”
“For the death that He died, He died to sin ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to glorify God in unbroken fellowship with Him. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin and your relationship to it broken, but alive to God in unbroken fellowship with Him in Christ Jesus.”
“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
When you look at these translations one thing is clear. Jesus died once to sin. So why are we trying to die more than he did? You could say “Jorge, Jesus is perfect he only had to die once.” That’s not true. He never had to die. He never sinned. He didn’t have to die. He died once and for all because that was all that was necessary to change your nature. That is why he said, “It is finished.’’ How sad would it be if He said “I think it is done.” God is conclusive about the cross and the blood. He’s confused about what happened. That “person” you used to be is gone. That old nature has been decimated. That guy is 6 feet under.
Romans 6:10 says we are to consider ourselves dead to sin. Dead means “unresponsive; no longer current or relevant or expired”. Our death was climactic. It was final. It was fatal. It’s over. My sin is gone. I’ve been washed. I am clean. Regret cannot lay hold of me. I am a new person with new and right desires.
At some point, all of us will get tempted. Thankfully, we serve a good Father who delights in empowering and delivering us from these trials. Jesus was tempted by what was common to man. He is acquainted with the challenges that we deal with.
One of the common questions I receive is “How can we be tempted if we do not have a sinful nature?” It’s a great question. First, we have to recognize a few things. Let’s break this down.
Adam did not have a sinful nature and was tempted.
Jesus did not have a sinful nature and he was also tempted.
The Lord’s prayer tells us we can ask to not be led into temptation.
“Lead me not into temptation”
While we can’t avoid temptation forever we can minimize its influence. Praying this way means we can play a part with the Lord to minimize situations that lead us to wrong choices. We can mitigate our character risk with The Lord by partnering with HIm.
Temptation means that some legitimate desire we have is being manipulated for temporary pleasure. For every desire, there is a righteous fulfillment that if we handle testing faithfully, we will receive.
One example is lying. Lying could originate for all kinds of reasons but let’s assume it’s because you want to look good before people. You say “ I make such and such a year...” because you want people to be impressed by you. You want people to wish they were you. You want people to notice your life and successes.
The desire to make an impact or make impression on people is not wrong. It’s actually part of your calling as a history maker. You weren’t born to care about the opinions of people. You were born to influence. Your desire to have a platform for that purpose is not wrong. If Jesus is the primary concern of our hearts all these desires find their appropriate outlet.
But we shouldn't be trying to find validation through exterior means. Our fulfillment is in Christ. The real fulfillment of that desire is godly influence or being a good example. It's not in boasting or trying to impress others.
Our desire for validation comes from God and so does the satisfaction you are looking for.
Starting to see a trend? There is a righteous fulfillment for every desire. God has a plan and sometimes holding out for righteous fulfillment costs you but the rewards are far greater than any cost you can pay.
What does sinful nature mean?
Sinful nature is used in some translations of scripture but not all. The New Testament was written in Greek therefore we should consider the word usage in the text. The word used for sinful nature in Romans 7:18 is “Sarx”.
“18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature (sarx) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature(sarx) a slave to the law of sin.”
This is one of the most commonly used passages by the advocates for the term “sinful nature” The word here for sinful nature is “sarx”. That word means “ the flesh, it's a picture of human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.”
The word “flesh” here makes clear that we do not have a nature to sin. We had a nature that ignored God.
Living life without God makes us prone to sin: lack of God-consciousness. The flesh is living naturally. The flesh is living without inviting God unto your life.
The flesh is the natural life without faith. Faith is the heart attitude that stays fixed on the Lord.
If you see people that only invite Jesus into their lives on Sunday then you know what I mean. He wants to be your all in all. Thankfully, the reward for His presence is well worth the price of admission.
The flesh is depending on self. Inversely, living in the Spirit is trusting the Lord. It is God-consciousness everywhere you go. It is being aware of Christ and his word continually.
If you live in the Spirit you won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Depend on the cross. Depend on the blood of Jesus that has made you clean. Recognize temptation is part of life and being tempted does not mean your desires are evil. The fulfillment of those desires lies in the Kingdom of God even if you cannot understand how. Your desires are just misdirected.
When you are satisfied with God you won’t succumb to issues. When you are filled with Him experientially sin has no place to go. The beauty of all this is that you don’t have to perform to be pure. You believe in what the cross has accomplished and relate to God. God will take care of the purity. Allow Him to transform you in the secret place. Give yourself to prayer. You are a new creation, prayer and study are now your places of unparalleled bliss.
When you relate to God through what Christ has accomplished you will experience intimacy. For example how many people pray for an open heaven without realizing they already have one?
“After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “ Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.””
John saw that heaven’s door was open. This door never closed my friends. It’s still open today. We just have to recognize that it’s open. Only when we recognize it’s open and meditate on these realities do we begin to experience heaven’s open door. The more we meditate on heaven the more we can invite heaven to earth. We don’t have to live by the flesh and only be affected by what our senses perceive here. The invitation to see reality from God’s perspective is part of being a new creation. We get to live from heaven toward earth. We are seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
We can live from the Spirit towards the natural realm through involvement with God. Being permanently glued to Him is what creates great fruit and purity. We must desire to continually experience His glory. He has poured out all of heaven on us. He is with us. We can involve him. He cares about the smallest details of your life. When we do life with God we get to experience the Spirit. The flesh will be so far away you will forget it exists.
So the flesh is natural living as opposed to supernatural living. It’s leaning on personal strength instead of God’s nature. Basically, anything other than faith is sin. Our spiritual leaning on the Lord is trust. When we trust him we are in the Spirit. This is a moment-by-moment trust in him.
When challenges come concerning finances, health, family, and the like. We have the opportunity to remember and trust the promises of the Lord. If we live from those promises we will see heaven on earth.
Romans 7:1–8:1 (LEB): Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time as he lives? 2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. 3 Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she belongs to another man. 4 So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, sinful desires were working through the law in our members, to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law because we have died to that by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter of the law.
Knowledge of Sin Comes through the Law
7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9 And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10 and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Internal Conflict with Sin
13 Therefore, did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be recognized as sin, producing death through what is good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, ⌊sold into slavery to sin⌋. 15 For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if what I do not want to do, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. 20 But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.
21 Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me. 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, 23 but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh, I am enslaved to the law of sin.
Set Free from the Law of Sin and Death
Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Paul in verse 1 says he is speaking to those who know the law. So his audience in this verse are people acquainted with the law of Moses. Paul talks about how the law is righteous, holy, and good. He talks about how the law awakened sin in him because the purpose of the law was the exposure of sin. Its purpose was awareness of the issues so all people could be held accountable for their actions.
He goes on to explain how his heart was affected under the law. This whole passage is Paul’s perspective under the law. He explains how he cannot do right even though he wants to. He’s bound under a system that cannot create righteousness.
A lot of believers act like this is the spirit-filled life Christ promised. Let’s go down the line.
Paul says 40+ times we are dead to sin in the book of Romans alone.
Read chapters 6 and 8 and clearly chapter 7 doesn’t mean what we think it means. Chapters 6 and 8 are very clear that we are to lead a triumphant Christian experience.
Read the last verse in chapter 7.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin”
He asks the question. Who will set me free...? Then he answers the question, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Sin was the problem Jesus was the answer. The purpose of the law was to make people accountable for sin i.e the sinner. The law is not for the righteous. The righteous by nature uphold the law even if there are no tablets to behold and no law displayed.
Romans 7 cannot be used as an excuse to live perpetually bound in sin and held as a model of the Christian life. That was not Paul’s experience in Christ. In Romans 8, He declares a life set on the flesh cannot please God(Romans 8:5). Paul also makes note that we are set free from the law of sin and death(Romans 8:2). We are free from the cycles of sin. We don’t have to go on the same repetitive journey of frustration again and again. This is an issue of faith.
“For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “ All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”
One common verse or phrase used in the church is the term “I die daily” How many times have I heard this phrasing out of context. When you look at what Paul is saying. He’s saying the constant persecution is like: dying daily. He’s not saying he dies daily to the flesh. That’s not even in this context.
He is explaining his life preaching the gospel around the planet. He is being persecuted. This has nothing to do with death to self but death to his actual physical frame. This verse cannot be used for the purpose of defending a daily death. He risks his life constantly to preach the gospel.
Paul is explaining the challenges of preaching the gospel and the hatred that is sometimes ensured when he shares the glorious gospel. Context is essential when understanding scripture. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was persecution. It clearly wasn’t sickness or sin. At this point, you should be able to see the biblical narrative that we are dead to sin. Persecution and misunderstanding were necessary for Paul to stay humble because of the abundance of revelations he received.
His thorn was not sickness, disease, or sin. His thorn could never be what Christ paid for. Christ’s redemption from sickness and disease was available to the people and the messenger.
“We know that the moral code of the law is beautiful when applied as God intended, but actually, the law was not established for righteous people, but to bring conviction of sin to the unrighteous. The law was established to bring the revelation of sin to the evildoers and rebellious, the sinners without God, those who are vicious and perverse, and to those who strike their father or their mother, sinners, murderers, rapists, those who are sexually impure, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, those who break their oaths, and all those who oppose the teaching of godliness and purity in the church! They are the ones the law is for. I have been commissioned to preach the wonderful news of the glory of the exalted God. My heart spills over with thanks to God for the way He continually empowers me, and to our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, who found me trustworthy and who authorized me to be His partner in this ministry. Mercy kissed me, even though I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor of believers, and a scorner of what turned out to be true. I was ignorant and didn’t know what I was doing. I was flooded with such incredible grace, like a river overflowing its banks, until I was full of faith and love for Jesus, the Anointed One! I can testify that the Word is true and deserves to be received by all, for Jesus Christ came into the world to bring sinners back to life—even me, the worst sinner of all! Yet I was captured by grace, so that Jesus Christ could display through me the outpouring of His Spirit as a pattern to be seen for all those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”
Paul is talking about his previous condition as an unbeliever. Thats why in context he keeps talking about this past persecuting the church. If it can be said this is Paul’s current condition as a leader of the new testament church then we have some serious trouble to contend with. If Paul, the apostle of the new Testament, was the worst of all sinners then we have no hope for personal purity.
Reading 1 John should be enough to know that when we are in God sin is far from us. It doesn’t mean we will never make mistakes but as we adhere to the purchased righteousness of the Lord in our minds and meditate on these realities they become the air that we breathe.
Every one of us endures trails. Trials are opportunities to believe in what God has already done in your life. Once you learn the material in school you always get tested. Whether life has a pop quiz for you or not you need to be ready. Living a life resting in the finished works of Jesus will make sure you are ready even in the most challenging moments of faith. We can’t be ruled by our emotions. God is good all the time and though deserts may come to test us
21–22 One day Jesus came to be baptizedr () along with all the others. As he was consumed with the spirit of prayer,s () the heavenly realm ripped open above him and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the visible, tangible form of a dovet () and landed on him. Then God’s audible voice was heard, saying, “My Son, you are my beloved one.u () Through you I am fulfilled.”v ()
Jesus had an encounter with the Father. It was monumental. God displayed His affection for Him in a very public fashion. God rested on His son. Jesus knew how the Father felt about Him. He carried that knowledge into the most hostile environments.
Luke 4 The Passion Translation (TPT)
“Jesus Tested in the Wilderness
4 1–2 From the moment of his baptism, Jesus was overflowing with the Holy Spirit. He was taken by the Spirit from the Jordan into the lonely wilderness of Judeaa () to experience the ordeal of testingb () by the accuserc () for forty days.d () He ate no food during this time and ended his forty-day fast very hungry. 3 It was then the devil said to him, “If you are really the Son of God, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread for you.”
4 Jesus replied, “I will not For it is written in the Scriptures ‘Life does not come only from eating bread but from God. Life flows from every revelation from his mouth.’”
5 The devil lifted Jesus high into the sky and in a flash showed him all the kingdoms and regions of the world. 6–7 The devil then said to Jesus, “All of this, with all its power, authority, and splendor, is mine to give to whomever I wish. Just do one thing and you will have it all. Simply bow down to worship me and it will be yours! You will possess everything!”
8 Jesus rebuked him and said, “Satan, get behind me! For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘Only one is worthy of your adoration. You will worship before the Lord your God and love him supremely.’”
9 Next, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the highest point of the temple and tempted him there, saying, “If you really are the Son of God, jump down in front of all the people. 10–11 For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘God has given his angels instructions to protect you from harm. For the hands of angels will hold you up and keep you from hurting even one foot on a stone.’”
12 Jesus replied, “It is also written in the Scriptures, ‘How dare you to provoke the Lord your God!’”
13 That finished the devil’s harassment for the time being. So he stood off at a distance, retreating until the time came to return and tempt Jesus again.
14 Then Jesus, armed with the Holy Spirit’s power, returned to Galilee, and his fame spread throughout the region. 15 He taught in the synagogues and they glorified him”
Jesus went in overflowing with the Holy Spirit and he came out in power. There’s a difference. Jesus went in with the same measure of Holy Spirit we have. God isn’t a commodity He gives Himself in fullness. Our experience may be in measures of the Spirit but that is not how He gives the Spirit to us. He gives completely. Jesus went in with the fullness of God on Him and endured temptation, challenge, and testing to be filled with power. The power of the Spirit in that verse is the word “dynamis”. The word means:
Strength, power, and ability
1 inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth
2 power for performing miracles
3 moral power and excellence of soul
4 the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth
5 power and resources arising from numbers
6 power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts
According to strong’s concordance of the Bible. The word means “force; miraculous power; ability; abundance; mighty; worker of miracles. “Inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature or which a person exerts or puts forth. This is the origin of the word “dynamite”.
Jesus went in conscious of the Spirit and through challenge became full of power in the Lord. His soul was elevated and fully aware of God’s presence permeating His nature. His being was tranquilized by the Spirit. Fully at rest. That rest was His weapon in the desert. Sometimes we imagine Jesus as if He was sweating and struggling with these temptations similar to when Jesus was in Gethsemane in the Passion of the Christ. He’s sweating and laboring and groaning. It’s entirely possible that Jesus was in some turmoil and leaned on the father as he always did to succeed. It is also entirely possible for Jesus to have been unmoved by these temptations. Yes, He was tempted but His inner life in God was superior to anything the devil could do.
Testing is just like bodybuilding. Our faith grows as we use it. Muscles grow depending on the need you create artificially through the lifting of weights. The gym is an environment where you can tell your body “I need more mass” or I need more “speed” and based on how you train your body, you are inviting your body to become exactly like your training.
Taxing the muscles makes them stronger. Tax your faith muscles. Stretch yourself with big requests and have the patience and hunger to see them through. Don’t pray for a couple of days and say you were desperate for an answer. True desperation doesn’t take no for an answer. It doesn’t know how!
We can test our prophetic muscles, healing muscles, and restoration muscles by continuing to press into them. Asking God and believing that he has answered. You might say “why would we keep asking if we believe he has already answered ?” We keep asking because there are higher levels to the answers you can receive. Maybe you start hearing God, should you stop asking because he started talking to you, or are you going to press in for more and more of his voice so that you can hear regularly and consistently. Believe.
Faith is the same way. Our desires for more of the full life of Jesus in us create an environment for increase. Our journeys through the wilderness prepare us and stretch us for the more perfect manifestation of Christ. When stress comes and challenges us and we can stay peaceful we have ripped our current “peace” muscles and allowed the glorious Spirit to enlarge our capabilities in Him.
An excerpt from a John G. Lake sermon
“In the Chicago conference I sat with an old colored lady one afternoon after meeting, and she told me of her woes and sicknesses-and they were many. After a time when she had grown somewhat still, I said, “Dear Mother, how long have you been a Christian?” She replied, “Since I was a child.”
Then I tried to show her that God expected the development of God and His nature and the working and action of God in her in transforming power through the agency of the Holy Spirit and that there was a process of remaking and remolding that should change her nature and life, and dissolve rheumatism and Bright’s disease and all the other difficulties, just as truly as long ago sin dissolved out of her soul.
After the conversation had gone on to the proper point, I said, “Dear Sister, anybody can see that Christ dwells in your spirit.” Her eyes were lovely, and delightful. “Let your mind extend just a little bit. Let your thought comprehend that just as Jesus dwells in your spirit and also possesses your soul, in just exactly the same way He is possessing your blood and your kidneys and your old rheumatic bones, and that the very same thing will happen in your bones when you realize that truth as happened in your spirit when you were converted at the altar.”
She told me how she had prayed twenty-two days and nights until Christ was revealed in her soul as Savior. She seemed to want to wait twenty-two days and nights for God to manifest Himself in the rheumatic bones, and I was trying to get her away from it. She said, “Brother, lay your hands on me and pray for me, and I will be healed.”
I answered, “No, I want you to get well by realizing that right now that same Christ that dwells in your spirit and your soul is in your bones and in your blood and in your brain.” Presently the old lady hopped to her feet and said, “My God, He is.” She had it. Christ had been imprisoned in her soul and spirit, now He was permitted to manifest in her body.”
When data was analyzed from countries that were turned into fascist or totalitarian states. The data was clear. These countries were turned into real-world examples of hell not just because of charismatic leaders who captured the attention of the masses but because even the individual release of personality was frowned upon. There is an inherent rule in the universe that says when you frown or limit your person because of fear or clashing that ensues we invite the realm of hell. Limiting your inner persona is all the devil needs to stop the light of life in the universe.
The revelation of the New Testament is Christ in us. Paul’s desire was the mystery to be revealed which is “Christ in us, the hope of Glory”. God wants to vent through us, find expression, and release. He will unchain the personality locked within you. Your true self in righteousness and purity will be expressed in fullness. Contend until... this reality is your life.
Your desire to just be a nominal believer is not who you are. If you were honest with yourself you’re anxious to be transformed into a new person. You desire to be different. When people define strong you want them to think of you. Your life begins when you realize “Christ in you”. I want to be the person who, when all hell is breaking loose, can stay calm and release heaven on earth. I want to enjoy my life even through the trials.
13 You, my brothers, and sisters were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”b () 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever () you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.
When the Holy Spirit has his way these emotions explode through us. He lives the most full life in the universe and when we let him take control he gives us the most excellent life possible. Enriched emotions come as we let him work in us. I want more of this. Who can say they don’t need more peace, more joy, and more love in their lives?
4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have it because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
but shows favor to the humble.”c ()
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
The heart is deceitful above all things
This scripture is used as an example of the human heart. I can agree that this is the human heart's pre-redemption. However when preaching uses this scripture as proof of the current state of the believer. This is heresy-level teaching and has crippled the church into a sin-consciousness state. People have to stop living on the wrong end of the cross. Pre-cross and post-cross has to be considered when evaluating scripture.
Ezekiel 36:26 Living Bible (TLB)
26 And I will give you a new heart—I will give you new and right desires—and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.
Scripture in Ezekiel in the post-Jeremiah era speaks of a time when a new heart would be released to believers. We have a new nature and we are a new species of people. We are not trying to kill the old man we are trying to recognize the new man in us. We stopped trying to do for God and have stopped into the Hebrews 4 rest of God. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about the cross, the blood, and the sacrifice of Jesus. We are irreversibly blessed, favored, and loved. Since he will never change his mind about what Jesus did. We don’t have to worry about God changing his mind about us.
We have a new heart. We have new and right desires. Our hearts are pointed true north-to the face of Jesus. The dull unbelieving heart of sin has even been removed for a faithful heart. Deliverance isn’t coming it is here. The truth sets you free as you consider it. Ponder it. Meditate on it. I am dead to sin. God has made me unresponsive to sin. I’m not interested anymore because of Jesus. Not because of how many hours I prayed (through prayer is vital) or how many passages of the Bible I read (though the study of scripture is everything to us) but because of what he has done.
Religion is when we think we have to initiate. A kingdom lifestyle is when we realize we are just responding to God. God’s hands are reaching out to us. His door is open (Revelations 4:1).
He is the initiator. God does everything first. He’s taken that task upon himself. The basis for our faith has to be Jesus not just for salvation but for day-to-day life. Rely on the Lord’s love and goodness to cause goodness in your life and to bless others. This is the good news of the gospel!
