All things have become new…Just the Beginning (revisited)

Too often a person asks Jesus to come into his heart to become his personal Saviour, and then he goes right back to living a carnal (earthly) existence. He does not truly understand that the asking is just the beginning of the Christian Walk of being re-born.

Acceptance is the very first step on the journey to becoming a new creation in Christ, where the old things pass away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old you must give way to the new, and this can only be done through the renewing of your mind by the power of the Spirit of Christ now dwelling in you.

“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Romans 12:2 (NIV)

It is an on-going process of transformation that has to take place if you are serious about your journey. It’s about changing the way you think because when your thinking is changed, your behaviour will change.

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” – Proverbs 23:7 (NASB)

This process affords you an understanding of the incredible depths of what Christ has done for you – the work of the cross is what enables your transformation. Your new existence begins with Jesus.

Now, the old you is tied to the flesh and what is carnal, and it is your natural tendency to cling to the old and familiar, but if this transformation is to work, you must allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in you. If your mind is still anchored in the old way you will never be able to apprehend the Kingdom and its principles. You see, It’s not an ordinary transformation, it is a spiritual transformation – the Holy Spirit striving with your flesh nature to break your carnal will and develop the mind of Christ in you.

Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20 (NLT),

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

And Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23 (NLT),

"If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”

Your old self must be crucified day by day through the powerful work of Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who begins His work of transforming you from the inside out, that’s why to the natural eye the old you still seems to exist. Spirit works deep within you to give you a new heart and a new spirit, to put God’s law in your mind and write it on your heart (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33) – transforming you from the old life to the new (see Ephesians 4:17-24).

You are being born again, re-born from above, so do not reject the moving of Spirit in you. He is recreating you so that you may be one with Christ, abiding in Him and He in you in the heavenly places with Him (Ephesians 2), where all things become new.

 

 

Shelley Johnson “All things have become new…Just the Beginning” © 2013