2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether). Behold! the fresh and new has come."
For most of the family of God that I know today, this Truth has yet to be revealed. God is a Spirit, according to John 4:24 (Amplified) which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth (reality)." We are created new by His Word and His Spirit and we are in fact, spirit people. God has created us in righteousness, justification, sanctification and consecration in Jesus Christ, in the Spirit realm. He has already reckoned our body (the outward man, flesh) as dead by the same crucifixion in which Jesus died. Romans 8:10 (Amplified) says, "But if Christ lives in you, (then although) your (natural) body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of (the) righteousness (that imputes to you)."
Many of us have misread the Truth of the above scripture. We've acted like, at one moment when we do something wrong, then we're in the flesh and then the next minute, we are back in the spirit. This concept has held the Church in bondage, for centuries. Paul was not talking about someone who goes from carnal to spirit, but one who thinks with the carnal mind and who is spiritually minded. Thus, he writes in Romans 8:1-4 (Amplified), "Therefore, (there is) NOW no condemnation (NO ADJUDGING GUILTY OF WRONG) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Paul is saying, "If my mind hasn't been renewed by the Word my new creation being, then I will still allow the message of sin and death (guilt and flesh) to dominate me and hold me in captivity to the old man without Christ. Even though I might be born-again, the old man (carnal mind) will still hold me in condemnation and guilt and I will not receive the Law of my new being. This doesn't mean that you're not a new being or that you're unsaved, but that we're still listening more to the world's idea of who we are, instead of who our Father says we were created to be in Him.
This is the same plan satan's used to hold the Church in bondage, since it's inception. We haven't had the revelation that Paul preached, made clear to us and have fallen back into ritual and trying to establish our own righteousness through works and tradition.
This is evident when observing religions and denominations in today's Church. When we don't receive the righteousness that came into us as new creation beings, then the flesh sets about trying to make us righteous. In our ignorance of God's new creation righteousness, we determine in our denomination (carnal) understanding of how to be righteous.
Some denominations make rules about how to dress, how to worship and what time to worship. According to these rituals in some denominations, we wouldn't be "righteous," because we don't worship the "right way." As a matter of fact, we would be removing ourselves from the ability to enjoy our right standing with the Father, because our natural man is still setting the standard of what righteousness really is.
We have (and still are) listening, living, and governing ourselves by the carnal standards of the flesh, instead of the new creation man. We read God's Word and pick out all of the reasons why "prayer doesn't work." We set our eyes and selves on the sufferings of Paul and nearly ignore the revelation that he suffered to preach and reveal to us. We missed the revelation given in 2Corinthians 12 and concentrated our carnal minds on the hardship. If Jesus or Paul had buckled under the pressures of preaching the revelation and preached the religion of the people, then the suffering and trails wouldn't have come against them. Satan doesn't care if you preach, he only cares what you preach.
We can't walk in the new creation man with confidence, if you're only hearing what the world or carnal minded men teach. We are a new creation and made new in and by the Holy Spirit, so only the Holy Spirit knows who you really are. In order to know who you are, you must listen to the Word (the revelation of the Word) and to the Holy Spirit. How can the world (or carnal minds) know who you are at all? The world and carnal minds try defining the Church by our customs, because that's all they can see. We've allowed ourselves to be created, according to how we think others see us, rather than how the Father sees us.
I'm writing these things in order to condemn the Church, but to awake it unto righteousness. We can't make ourselves righteous. We are called to only believe in what our Father has done to create us in righteousness and to walk in right relationship with Him in Jesus. When we allow the World and the Holy Spirit to teach us who we are, instead of the world, then we will find it's easy to actually walk in the Spirit. If we cannot walk in the Spirit, then our Father wouldn't have instructed us to do so in Romans 8:14 (Amplified), which says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Please, read the previous verses.
This is maturity in the Word and in the Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, are "mature sons of God." You became a son or daughter of God, when you became the new creation. It's not for when you "get to Heaven." When you're born-again and created new by the Word and the Spirit, maturity will come from listening to the Voice of the Spirit and revelation of the Word, which is "Spirit and Life."
We've mostly depended on the man in the pulpit to teach us, instead of taking what is ministered from them and studying what was spoken, when we return home. I don't mean we go home and pick apart the sermon, but go home and meditate on it and allow the Holy Spirit to give it depth and Life, by His illumination of the Word. We must learn to walk in what we hear from the Holy Spirit. We don't always need another sermon, as much as we need to do something with the ones we've heard.
The new creature that we've become, was created in the Spirit and by the Spirit. He is a spirit. We were created to know and hear the Voice of our Heavenly Father. We can only ever hope to understand who God created us to really be, by receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn't the Only Person to hear the Father. Peter, Paul, Mary, John, Ananias, Phillip, Stephen (along with untold millions) have and do hear His Voice. We were born to know our Father
Without having the insight as to who we are in the Father's House, we simply fall into the trap of the world and become religious. Don't allow the world or the devil, to determine who you are in Christ. Let the Holy Spirit guide you through the Word and discover your Family Tree. Find who your ancestors are by the Word and the Spirit, instead of the history of man. You're born of the Super-natural and are a Super-natural being. This is what the new creation man is called to be. The Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplications and pleads on our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings that are too deep for utterance.
Let's continue reading what Paul wrote, now that we understand what the Spirit of God is saying in Romans 8:28,33-34 (Amplified) which says, "All these things are working together for good to and for those who love Him and are called according to His design and purpose." He said nothing about cancer, car accidents, divorce, poverty, loss of homes or jobs, children or loved ones dying, and other such tragedies of life "working together for your good." It's God's Word, His Spirit, His righteousness, His Son and His Sacrifice and the clear conscience because of Jesus, work together for your good. Verses 33-34 continue, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect (when it is God Who justifies) [that is Who put us in right relation to Himself] Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God Whom acquits us? Who is there to condemn (us) will Christ Jesus (the Messiah) Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead? Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?"
"All these things are working for our good."
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