New Life and the New Man

New Life...and the New Man! The instantaneous, miraculous and supernatural change of mind, heart and life which occurs by the power of God’s Spirit when we receive His son Jesus into our hearts is so drastic that God’s Word likens it unto spiritual rebirth! The newborn child of God then enters for the first time into the whole new world of a whole new life in the nearly incredible spiritual Kingdom of God! Such "rebirth or "conversion" experiences have been a very common miracle of God throughout history. Jesus called it being “born again” of His Spirit, and Paul called it the new birth in which "old things are passed away and all things are become new" and "ye are become new creatures in Christ Jesus"! The Bible also calls it "putting off the old man and putting on the new," and it is often such a remarkable transformation and actual personality change that God's Word likens it to the death and burial of the old and a resurrection of the new to an entirely new life and way of living! (Read John 3:1-8; 2Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Romans 6:3-11.)

His coming into your life not only renews and purifies and regenerates your spirit, but it also renews your mind, literally breaking old connections and reflexes and gradually rebuilding it and rewiring it into a whole new computer system with an utterly different outlook on life, on new way of looking at the world, and with new reactions to nearly everything around you.

So do not be surprised if you actually feel different and even think differently and are happier than you have ever been before!

You’re born again, a new man, God’s new child! Usually when this happens, the new man frequently testifies that he even feels better physically. He now likes to face life and finds a thrill in his new-found tasks and the greatest of pleasure in the fellowship of his new-found Family and the greatest of satisfaction in his new-found faith.

His whole life, nature, mind, heart and all is changed! His whole outlook, desires and aims in life are usually much different than before. I have often heard some even claiming that the grass actually looked greener, the sky bluer, the trees more beautiful, the sunshine more glorious and golden and they feel like they've entered a whole new world of Heaven on Earth compared to the Hell that they were living in before! It's just that wonderful!

But of course, like all new babies, you have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do! So don't be discouraged if you don't understand everything all at once about your new life and the whole new world in which you live and your great new Family.

THE "MILK OF THE WORD" But if you suck the milk of His life-giving words from His breast of the Bible you will begin to grow in faith and understanding. "As new-born babes," His Word tells us, "desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby." (1Peter 2:2) If you will read His Words and put them in your heart, they will be a "lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path" and a guide to you in your new life, your new experiences and your new relationships. (Psalm 119:105) For the Bible is God’s personal word to each of us. In it you can find the answer to almost every question and

every problem you will ever have in life. Just ask God for the answers, search the Scriptures, and let Him speak to you through His Word.

This is also where your faith will come from: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17) It's not a sudden boom. Faith is something that is built by faithful study of God's Word.

Faith comes--it grows by hearing the Word of God. So read the Bible and you will find a constant and continual greater and greater revelation of more and more truth, fitting more and more missing pieces into the great and puzzling picture of God's complete and perfected and final overall design! Nothing will ever take its place! There's nothing on earth more powerful than the Word of God, inspired, beautiful and poetic, just the naked Word of God! It's a step-by-step process, and you must continually come to the Lord each and every day, asking Him to take away the things of the old man and give you the new life. As you grow and the Lord open your eyes more and more to the things of His Spirit and the wonderful truths of His Word, as you grab hold of each one of these truths, He will give you more of that new life and the new power that is in Him and in His Word.

So read and study His Word, for it is His Word by His Spirit in His Love that makes you strong! Please do not neglect it, for it is food for your soul and gives you strength for the battle! Read, study, memorise, and enjoy it, and ye shall have strength for your souls! God bless you!

Shortly before His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them a comforter, the Holy Ghost, to strengthen, empower, lead and guide them in their spiritual lives and relationship with Him. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. ...

I will send Him unto you. ... And when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 14:26; 16:7, 13) Receiving the full anointing, infilling, or "baptism" of the Holy Spirit is usually a subsequent experience to that of salvation (when we decide to believe on and receive Jesus). This is why the Apostle Paul inquired of certain disciples that he met, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" (Acts 19:2) The Scriptures also say that "they that believe on Him [Jesus] should receive the Holy Ghost." (John 7:39) You cannot do the master’s work without the master’s power!--And the means of power that God has provided for His children is His Holy Spirit. That's the problem with a lot of Christians today--they don't have the Holy Spirit yet.--They really need the power and boldness of the Spirit!--As Jesus told His disciples, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." (Acts 1:8) Have you received the miraculous infilling of the Holy Spirit since you believed? If not, all you have to do is open up your heart and simply pray and ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit--and He will--His Spirit will flow in all His power!--Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened!" (Read Luke 11:9-13)

THE NEW MAN! What is the new man? The new man is the inner man, and is a new creature. It is created in righteousness and true godliness. It is renewed in knowledge after the image of Jesus Christ. The new man is created when we are born again of the Spirit of God. The new man is not physical. It is a spiritual mind that takes into account the things of God. 2CO.5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

EPH.4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

IF YOU DON’T TRANSFORM YOURSELF, YOU WILL NEVER FLY!

So what is the old man? The old man is your flesh, your physical body having a carnal mind. It's your old way of thinking, reacting and seeing things according to this world. Your old man has passions and desires. Did you know that your body can produce thoughts and imaginations? Scripture says: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelling, and such like…” GAL.5:19-21 COL.3:9-10 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him…

ROM.6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

ROM.7:5-6 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

ROM.7:22-23 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

The apostle Paul said that, after receiving Jesus, we are "complete in Him," but we still have to grow: Growing in Christ

COL.2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

EPH.4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

ROM.12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

That’s exactly what we’re doing spiritually!

Once we make the decision to let the Lord in and pray that prayer, it's just like disconnecting ourselves from the Devil's circuit and we immediately get a complete rewiring from the Lord! He says, "Let your minds be transformed by the renewal of the Holy Ghost! Have that mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus!" (Tit.3:5; Ph.2:5) HOW CAN WE GROW AND CHANGE? With the Word of God: The more we get immersed in Jesus and His Word and His ways, the more we become new creatures, the more old things do pass away, and the more

things become new. It doesn't happen all at once, but as we put our will on His side and we work at it, His Word becomes part of us. We can be transformed by the renewing of our mind! We don't have to be conformed to the way the World does things.

The Christian life is all about rising above our circumstances, not letting things get us down, overcoming obstacles!--Making stepping stones out of stumbling blocks!--Becoming healed in body and mind through faith!--Becoming whole through the Lord's Love!--Becoming free from the bondage of fear and hate through the Word!--Letting Jesus resolve and override problems carried over from the past by His renewing and transforming of our mind!

But we have to make the decision to yield, we have to choose to change and obey. Of course, we all know that unless the Lord does the miracle, even our willingness, our yieldedness and our obedience aren't enough to make the big turn-arounds that are often needed. The Lord has to do the miracle. It takes us doing what we can do, then He has to do the big miracle that only He can do. And the wonderful thing about it is that the miracle doesn't just stop, we continue to change, and we continue to yield! It's an ongoing process. And that's how it should be with all of us. The Lord doesn't make just one big change in us and that's all, then He leaves us alone. He continues to work in our lives-day after day and week after week, month after month. He said, "If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed." (Jn.8:31.)

It's as we continue to become more and more immersed in Him and in His Word, earnestly seeking His Will in our lives, desperately asking Him to do the job in us, do the work in us, that we grow deeper in Him and truly become new creatures, day by day. Then all those old things continue to pass away as we truly become "transformed by the renewing of our minds."--Rom.12:2. After all, we've been rewired by the Lord, no longer living "according to the course of this World, or according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."--Eph.2:2. We are absolutely new creatures in Christ, not conformed to this World, but transformed by the Lord! We are not "of" this World!

"Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you."--JN.15:3.

The only way to be thoroughly CLEANSED from the spiritual stench of the old stinking soiled filthy dirty clothes of your old past life and your old sinful self, is a good BATH in the pure water of the WORD to thoroughly wash away all the old pollutions and any further desire or taste for them! So if you need cleansing, go to the washing of the pure Water of the Word, and let His Truth cleanse you and rid you of all the filth, hogwash of this rotten old World and your own sinful heart!

JER.17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

PSA.119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

EPH.5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, THE WORD SEPARATES US FROM THE WORLD! JOH.17:14-17 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one‌"Sanctify (cleanse) them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

As we absorb the Word, that's what really draws the line that separates us from the World and from Worldliness.

"He that is of God, heareth God's Words...They are of the World, therefore speak they of the World, and the World

heareth them. We are of God: He that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."--Jn.8:47; 1Jn.4:5, 6.

Those teachings of Jesus that are against Worldliness are still for today’s believers but are we still living them?!

2Cor.6:14, 17 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?...Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

2Tim.2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

1John 2:15-16 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Don't let the world and all its things make you its slave.

Be what God meant for you to be--different, with a heavenly vision, not part of an earthly system--so that people can see that God is real‚ that He loves them, and that the truth exists and can be lived. If you really want to follow the Lord, then do it. Don't let anything get in the way, especially yourself.

Of course, some people don't want to overcome their weak areas. They'd rather excuse all their faults and weaknesses by saying, "Well, I'm just that way, that's just me, I can't help it! My dad was that way, or my mother was that way, and it's just born in me, I can't overcome it. I've got that weakness, that personality trait, it's my star sign, my Sun sign" blah, blah! Phooey! That's just not so! God's Word encourages us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind!

If necessary, God can completely transform your personality despite any and all natural influences!-You've just got to do your part by putting your will on God's side, and then depending utterly upon the

Lord!--On His Love, His power, His Strength, His Spirit and His Word, which are stronger than anything the Devil can muster! We've got to "fight the good fight of faith" (1Tim.6:12) 100% new Once you have accepted Him as your Savior, you become a brand-new person inside, and He begins to transform you into a new creature. Do you understand the thrilling concept of becoming a new creature? That means that you will be completely changed and will become something new and different, something that you never were before. He will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you. It might take some time for you to recognize how you are new, how your heart is changing, how your thinking is changing, but eventually you will begin to see the beautiful results of His Spirit in your life.

A man that acknowledges his need for salvation can never again be the same person that he once was. You have cast yourself upon Him, and He is taking you and turning you into something that you weren't before. Where before there was greed, anger‚ hate‚ malice, and violence in you, He will turn you into a new person--a person filled with the aspects of His nature: Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

Doesn't that make you glad? Doesn't it feel good to not have to be the person that you were before? It's a wonderful gift. But wait, there's more to His promise about being a new creature. Not only are you completely new, but also all the old things have passed away. That means that whatever you were before is gone. He has taken away the old you and has

given you a new heart. He is in your heart now, and He threw out whatever was old, dirty, and darkened with sin.

Rejoice in your new man, your new life, and forget about what is in the past. It's gone, dead and buried.

He buried your sins and your old life. Now‚ if you stick with Him and you learn of Him‚ and learn how to live a new and better life, your old sins no longer have any meaning to you. He has forgiven and has delivered.

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

But even though you are a new creature, that old self will still try to pop up again! You have to fight the Devil and your old self and your old bad habits every day!

You So be prepared for a battle have to every day--especially with your fight! besetting sins--"the weights & sins that do so easily beset you."--Heb.12:1.

The Lord will be faithful to answer prayer and do His part.

But then you've got to do your part by exerting the effort to forsake and "put off" all of the old negative thought patterns and bad habits.

You need to really give the Lord a lot of cooperation in working on breaking any bad habits you've formed, and ask Him to change your entire outlook and attitude. So you've got to keep praying that the Lord will deliver you and give you the complete victory, rewire you completely!

You have to be absolutely rewired and have your mind transformed by the Spirit of God, and it usually takes time to rewire or reprogram a computer! Any psychologist will tell you that a new thought pattern cannot be established until the old one has had time to be completely erased, only by a miracle of God! Ask Him to put a new mind in you, "That mind which is in Christ Jesus!"--Phil. 2:5. That takes a genuine spiritual renewal, a real rewiring of all the nerves, nerve centres and whatnot, to make sure the Lord has complete control and the Devil's previous channels are broken completely! But if you do your part, the Lord will certainly do His, and you will win!--So don't give up!

Compiled and edited by Gaetan

gaetan.goye@gmail.com