NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE Vs NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
It was Watchman Nee who said that the redemption was merely the beginning of our Christian walk and therefore, we should push forward to sanctification, and getting to know who we are in Christ, and then grow into full maturity in the things of the Spirit and life. This message is aimed to encourage believers to rise in the spirit. It is meant to encourage them to move forward. There is so much to learn and know about God, that we should not remain within the salvation corridor for too long.
We need to know the God that saved our soul, His ways and purpose for our lives. Believers should pursue life in the spirit, because God is a spirit and we are spirit beings, and any believers who does not know what it means in walk in the spirit is only a baby in the Lord. This knowledge is very important to Believers, who are quick to fall back into the world due to pressures of life. Many of such believers do not know that their salvation and coming to Christ is the starting point of the glorious relationship with the Lord, doing His will and serving Him in spirit and truth.
We need to know the God that saved our soul, His ways and purpose for our lives. Believers should pursue life in the spirit, because God is a spirit and we are spirit beings, and any believers who does not know what it means in walk in the spirit is only a baby in the Lord. This knowledge is very important to Believers, who are quick to fall back into the world due to pressures of life. Many of such believers do not know that their salvation and coming to Christ is the starting point of the glorious relationship with the Lord, doing His will and serving Him in spirit and truth.
The Normal Christian Life:
This is a life in Christ that is lived without much zeal. Fellowship and serving God is done, as it was handed over from parents and based on denominations. People serving God they do not know, and doing things in the house of God to fulfill all righteousness. There are people in this 'Normal service Arena', who are very zealous in following their dominational doctrine and copying what other people are doing for God.
It is a time when people think they can do so much for God with their zeal, without knowing that zeal is not enough. It is a time we think we can please God the way we are, so, people begin to run up and down in the house of God, with their sins and iniquity remaining intact, and without any godly sorrow for their wrong doing. These are the religious people of this world, who have a bit of godliness, but denies the power.
It is a time when people think they can do so much for God with their zeal, without knowing that zeal is not enough. It is a time we think we can please God the way we are, so, people begin to run up and down in the house of God, with their sins and iniquity remaining intact, and without any godly sorrow for their wrong doing. These are the religious people of this world, who have a bit of godliness, but denies the power.
Imagine that a young lady, who was recently saved, went out on soul winning and in the course of evangelism, a young man enticed her and before you could say, anything, she has fallen in love with the person she went to win for Christ. It is almost fruitless to set out to serve God the way we are, with the 'old man' still intact inside of us. We should know that for our services will not be acceptable, if the flesh, that 'old man' of sin in still alive, he must die first.
She fell because the sin inside of her. So, even though a person may love the Lord and be zealous to do His will, the 'old man' of sin must be dealt with through prayers. At salvation, the spirit of a person is changed, while the soul and body awaits renewal through obedience to the word of the Lord. In the case of the young lady, her spirit was eager to serve and to please the Lord, but her flesh rose up against her, to counter the zeal of her renewed spirit and the result is a fall. The fact you are saved does not mean the devil will not tempt you, and when temptation comes, and you are not strong in the Lord, and in His Word, the person will fall. What you call temptation is 'Satan' coming around you to show you something enticing to the eyes or pleasurable, the same way he tempted Eve. So, there is no small temptation, as there is no small devil.
In the normal Christian life, you don't know what it means to wait patiently on the Lord until He answers you. And because of weak spiritual knowledge, every challenge is considered an attack from the devil, and so the normal Christian fears the devil, and runs from the devil, instead of commanding the devil to go.
Some people even try to wait on the Lord, but they cannot wait for long. When trouble comes and people forsake them, they act like Saul. They become afraid, thinking the battle will consume them if they do not do 'something quickly' as Saul did. Saul waited for Samuel for seven days and when the philistines surrounded Israel, he could not wait any longer for Samuel, he hurriedly went ahead to offer a sacrifice to God, the work assigned to a Priest, when he was not a Priest and by so doing, he transgressed the order from heaven, offended God the Kingdom was taken from him and given to David.
In the normal Christian life, you don't know what it means to wait patiently on the Lord until He answers you. And because of weak spiritual knowledge, every challenge is considered an attack from the devil, and so the normal Christian fears the devil, and runs from the devil, instead of commanding the devil to go.
Some people even try to wait on the Lord, but they cannot wait for long. When trouble comes and people forsake them, they act like Saul. They become afraid, thinking the battle will consume them if they do not do 'something quickly' as Saul did. Saul waited for Samuel for seven days and when the philistines surrounded Israel, he could not wait any longer for Samuel, he hurriedly went ahead to offer a sacrifice to God, the work assigned to a Priest, when he was not a Priest and by so doing, he transgressed the order from heaven, offended God the Kingdom was taken from him and given to David.
Beloved, the normal Christian life is characterized by self-effort, running up and down, and yet unable to break free from poverty, lack, and struggles. It is a life of fruitless service to God, resulting in frustration and doubt. You are not able to break forth into the freedom and victorious life you read in the bible and preach to others.
The reason being that you have no foundation in the principles of Christ your savior. You are still full of yourself and the struggle continues until you come to the end of yourself and then yield everything about you, including your will to God. It is at this point that the Spirit of God takes over, and you will be surprised that those things you could not do before, you are now able to do them.
The reason being that you have no foundation in the principles of Christ your savior. You are still full of yourself and the struggle continues until you come to the end of yourself and then yield everything about you, including your will to God. It is at this point that the Spirit of God takes over, and you will be surprised that those things you could not do before, you are now able to do them.
The New Life in Christ:
A Christian should have the assurances of his or her salvation. You should know who you are in Christ, what the bible said about you and your new life in Christ. When you know what it means to be in Christ, and the benefits attached to your new life, you will value your salvation and treasure the fact that your sins have been forgiven.
When you move closer to Jesus Christ, having recognized what He did for you at the cross, you will see yourself as you are, your weaknesses and inadequacies as a man, but if you walk in the spirit, you will see beyond your problems to focus on the Master, who is able to make all grace available to you. Jesus is your righteousness and your strength. When you have this knowledge, it gives you the boldness to come to God in prayer and ask what you need.
When you move closer to Jesus Christ, having recognized what He did for you at the cross, you will see yourself as you are, your weaknesses and inadequacies as a man, but if you walk in the spirit, you will see beyond your problems to focus on the Master, who is able to make all grace available to you. Jesus is your righteousness and your strength. When you have this knowledge, it gives you the boldness to come to God in prayer and ask what you need.
The new life is Christ starts with a conscious determination to cleanse yourself from every iniquity, knowing that you are not useful to God in your natural self, so you need the cleansing that comes from the blood of Jesus and consecration from your sinful ways unto the Living God. After consecration comes the ability to walk in the spirit, rather than flesh.
When you seek God continually, and your heart is to please Him, the Lord will release upon you, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him spoken of in Ephesians 1:17. When that happens, the word of God will become a living word from God to you. God's promises will be real to you, not only will you accept them, but you will also know how to apply the word in difficult circumstances.
This knowledge will help you know how to deal with sin according to God's way. It is to confess the sin and forsake it, it is not to suppress sin, rather it is to expose every secret and hidden forces of sin in you and have the Holy Spirit destroy them. When you expose those sin and sinful thoughts to your confidants (Husband and wife) and ask them to help you in prayer, confessing them to God and asking for His help, you are not pretending or suppressing it, so God will help you.
The new life is usually lived when everything within us, that is from the old nature is DEAD. It is lived when we present ourselves to God, well yielded to His will to do. Everyone knows that God will always keep what is given to Him. If you are fruitful before coming to Him, He will purge, break and remold you, so you can bear more fruit. If we are dead to the things of the world, then ae we stronger in the spirit.
So in order to experience the life of Christ, a person must come to a point when he/she completely surrenders to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in every aspect of life and until the issue of His Lordship is settled in our lives, the Spirit of God cannot effectively operate in us, though He may be present in our lives, He cannot be powerful. Your partial submission hinders the work of the Spirit in your life.
Living in the spirit is the next level when the Holy Spirit has a free reign in our lives. This is simply trusting the Holy Spirit to do in you what you cannot do by yourself. It is not a case of trying, neither a case of struggling, but of resting in Him.
While you may not be able to please God on your own, but with Christ and by Christ, there is no "I cannot". You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you Phil 4:13. Your breaking forth is easy when you trust Him fully and rest not on your own understanding. See what the bible says about Him
While you may not be able to please God on your own, but with Christ and by Christ, there is no "I cannot". You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you Phil 4:13. Your breaking forth is easy when you trust Him fully and rest not on your own understanding. See what the bible says about Him
To Maintain the New Life in Christ
Jesus Christ came to earth to reconcile man back to God, the creator, so that the fellowship broken at the Garden of Eden betweem God and man can be restored back. God loves us, and desires that noone should die in sin, but that all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. To maintain the new life in Christ is to remain connected to Him throughout life and to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.
To remain in Christ is to be focused on the goal of eternity in heaven, and to achieve this, we can apply the following principles and steps:
1. Seek knowledge.
Every thing about God, that we need to know is written in the Bible, so each time you want to study the Bible, you should pray and ask the Holy Spirit, the Writer of the Bible to open your understanding about the scriptures and give you deeper revelation about the chapters you are studying. Holy Spirit, come and teach me Your Word, let me know the intent and purpose of this scripture in Jesus name. That prayer is always answered.
Ask God to give you wisdom and understanding to live at peace and relate better with people. Ask for the Spirit of Love to be deposited inside of you, so you can love even difficult people in the office and at home. I am emphasizing on love because of all the wisdom we need to remain with Christ, Love is key, and anyone who cannot love people cannot be fruitful in Christ. Everything in the Kingdom is done in love, whether it is showing love to others, praying for the church and others, soul winning or prophesy, giving to the poor etc, they are all done in love.
Ask for the wisdom and understanding to raise a family in a godly way, to be a good neighbour, to show love and kindness to people. Ask for wisdom to deal honestly with all men, and in fear of the Lord. Ask for revelation in the things of the Spirit, the ability to hear God speak to you expressly and to understand your dreams and vision.
Wisdom to live a Christ-Centered life
In the same way, it will take spiritual wisdom and understanding to transform into a Christ-centered man or woman. And that knowledge can only come from God. Apostle says of the Colossians: We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (Colossians 1:9)
Wisdom to follow God’s directions.
As we follow God’s directions in our lives and home, we will be filled with His joy. God is always talking to us, but many are not sensitive in the spirit, and they miss out of divine instructions that would have made life easy for them. Likewise, God gives us directions for each day that are found in His Word. When we follow His precepts, life will be easy for us. The Psalmist puts it this way: "I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways …Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage". (Psalm 119:15, 54)
Wisdom to practise love
Your neighbour should feel protected around you, that means that you should seek your neighbors’ good always. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 the Bible says that love cares more for others than for self. That means that I need to care more about showing God’s love to my new neighbors than pleasing myself.
Harmony and peace should be the mark of your everyday living. Do not allow misunderstanding and mistrust to arise and stay unattended to. Living in unity with neighbours is the mark of a Christ-centered person and family.
on Jesus Christ.
Ask God to bless you
Ask the Lord to bless you, and let the people around know His faithfulness. When you are serving God faithfully, the people around you know, so when the blessings from the Lord come, they will also see it. It will tell others of His faithfulness towards you. May it please You to bless the house of Your servant … (2 Samuel 7:29)
Walk by faith
Finally, choose to walk the ways of the Lord. Exercise your faith to heal the sick, restore the oppressed and to do miracles. These were the every day activities of our Saviour in the world that is full of sick and weak ppaid for and the Lord ask us to believe and then pray for healing, as well as any other problem.
Our ability to walk in faith will bring blessings to people around us and honour to the Lord. Walking in faith happens by doing the work and acting in accordance with scriptures. Whatever the Lord says is final, so you speak it to situations and watch the situation changen for better.
Jesus Christ came to earth to reconcile man back to God, the creator, so that the fellowship broken at the Garden of Eden betweem God and man can be restored back. God loves us, and desires that noone should die in sin, but that all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. To maintain the new life in Christ is to remain connected to Him throughout life and to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.
To remain in Christ is to be focused on the goal of eternity in heaven, and to achieve this, we can apply the following principles and steps:
1. Seek knowledge.
Every thing about God, that we need to know is written in the Bible, so each time you want to study the Bible, you should pray and ask the Holy Spirit, the Writer of the Bible to open your understanding about the scriptures and give you deeper revelation about the chapters you are studying. Holy Spirit, come and teach me Your Word, let me know the intent and purpose of this scripture in Jesus name. That prayer is always answered.
Ask God to give you wisdom and understanding to live at peace and relate better with people. Ask for the Spirit of Love to be deposited inside of you, so you can love even difficult people in the office and at home. I am emphasizing on love because of all the wisdom we need to remain with Christ, Love is key, and anyone who cannot love people cannot be fruitful in Christ. Everything in the Kingdom is done in love, whether it is showing love to others, praying for the church and others, soul winning or prophesy, giving to the poor etc, they are all done in love.
Ask for the wisdom and understanding to raise a family in a godly way, to be a good neighbour, to show love and kindness to people. Ask for wisdom to deal honestly with all men, and in fear of the Lord. Ask for revelation in the things of the Spirit, the ability to hear God speak to you expressly and to understand your dreams and vision.
Wisdom to live a Christ-Centered life
In the same way, it will take spiritual wisdom and understanding to transform into a Christ-centered man or woman. And that knowledge can only come from God. Apostle says of the Colossians: We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (Colossians 1:9)
Wisdom to follow God’s directions.
As we follow God’s directions in our lives and home, we will be filled with His joy. God is always talking to us, but many are not sensitive in the spirit, and they miss out of divine instructions that would have made life easy for them. Likewise, God gives us directions for each day that are found in His Word. When we follow His precepts, life will be easy for us. The Psalmist puts it this way: "I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways …Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage". (Psalm 119:15, 54)
Wisdom to practise love
Your neighbour should feel protected around you, that means that you should seek your neighbors’ good always. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 the Bible says that love cares more for others than for self. That means that I need to care more about showing God’s love to my new neighbors than pleasing myself.
Harmony and peace should be the mark of your everyday living. Do not allow misunderstanding and mistrust to arise and stay unattended to. Living in unity with neighbours is the mark of a Christ-centered person and family.
on Jesus Christ.
Ask God to bless you
Ask the Lord to bless you, and let the people around know His faithfulness. When you are serving God faithfully, the people around you know, so when the blessings from the Lord come, they will also see it. It will tell others of His faithfulness towards you. May it please You to bless the house of Your servant … (2 Samuel 7:29)
Walk by faith
Finally, choose to walk the ways of the Lord. Exercise your faith to heal the sick, restore the oppressed and to do miracles. These were the every day activities of our Saviour in the world that is full of sick and weak ppaid for and the Lord ask us to believe and then pray for healing, as well as any other problem.
Our ability to walk in faith will bring blessings to people around us and honour to the Lord. Walking in faith happens by doing the work and acting in accordance with scriptures. Whatever the Lord says is final, so you speak it to situations and watch the situation changen for better.
FIRE...
Post a Comment