October 7, 2018
We embark upon a new series this month and we will attempt to set out to discover and learn more about WHO we are, how God SEES us and how to WALK in this New life that we have been given.
I believe our NEW life with God began with a funeral and death of our OLD life who we used to be even though there is still a residue of old habits and patterns.
Many ask me “then why Justin do I still deal with… and feel … and struggle…?”
Gal. 2:20
20 “My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine![a]
To enjoy this new life we must consider our old man to be dead and no longer identity with Him.. So we can declare with confidence – I am dead to the old life, and I am alive to a new life in Christ.
I am dead to the old, and I am alive to the new.
So, what do you find yourself focusing on more?
The old dead you or the brand new you who has been made alive in Jesus?
Our focus will ultimately determine what we give strength to. We often find ourselves dealing and focus more on the old (who we used to be and who we are not), when Jesus has already taken care of him. We can stop fighting the old man (past) and start living according to (who we truly are).
There is no need to look back to our life before Christ or even our recent past for that matter; this only causes us to feel distant and out of connection with God.
HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY DAY!!!
Our focus is to solely be on who we are in Him and who He is for us. This is key to a life of freedom in Jesus.
Many of the thoughts I’ll share this month will not be foreign to our New Day community, but the more we hear these truths the better chance we all have of catching a revelation of these things. Its not enough to simply KNOW it. Just recently I had a conversation with a lady who kept on saying “I know what to do and I know this or that, but I am struggling to…”
You get the picture. We have all been there of KNOWING something but knowledge does not possess the power to transform us.
Knowledge does indeed inform us, but it does not have the power to transform.
Only Revelation does!
It’s the difference between knowing something in your mind and believing something in your heart!
All true and lasting transformation first begins in the heart.
Gal. 4.6 (NKJV) And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
And only God can reveal to us these truths. I reminded of the question Jesus asked His disciples – who do men say that I am?
And my prayer for us is the same pray Paul prayed for the Ephesians when He wrote these words,
Ephesians 1:17-20
17 I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation[u] to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. 18 I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination,[v] flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling[w]—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! 19 I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power 20 that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him[x] to the place of highest honor and supreme authority[y] in the heavenly realm!