2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come." We must believe what Jesus has made us to be, in order to be the new creations He made us to be. He didn't say that we would "become a new creation," but that we are now what we are to and in Him. The natural mind can't conceive this, it must be received into our new born spirits.
Our carnal mind, that is ruled by our senses and natural thinking, will continually remind us of who we were before being born-again, along with our past sins and failures, if we allow it to. This will cloud over the Truth of our new creation being God has made us to be. Our flesh body never got born-again. If like me, you were short before being born-again, then you'll still be short after being saved. The miracle of God was in our spirit and is the start of a new and better life, both here on earth and hereafter.
We struggle with the Truth of the Word, because we don't "feel" like we're righteous and sometimes don't act like we're righteous. We try satisfying our carnal feelings and making ourselves feel righteous, by rituals and traditions, even though Rom.5:17(Amp) tells us, "It is a free Gift of Righteousness."
The identity in Christ Jesus, is the Truth identity of all who have received and put trust in Him. We can't allow the old feelings of the flesh, to talk us our of the identity we have as new creation persons. We must stay fast on what God says about us, until the flesh submits to the Truth of who we really are now, in Jesus. Rom.8:7(Amp) tells us why we don't feel righteous, saying, "That is because the mind of the flesh, with it's carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Laws; indeed it cannot."
Paul tells us what we must do, to accept our true identity in what Jesus has truly done for us, in Rom.12:2(Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your mind." We must feed on God's Word, until we truly believe it in our hearts and then accept what God says more than what the world and our carnal minds say about us. We can only see who we've been made to be now in Christ Jesus, by His Word. Many have believed what mankind says about us, instead of what God says, which leaves them to never seeing who we really are in God, through Jesus. Without Christ, we're still unrighteous and unworthy to enter God's Presence. Through Jesus, we've been given the Gift of Righteousness and we're righteous in Him, with His Righteousness.
One might ask, "Why are you teaching so much about accepting this righteousness?" Because, if you don't understand righteousness by faith in Jesus, then you'll have doubt in your prayer life and in your fellowship with our Heavenly Father. If you don't know that you're fully acceptable to Him, then you can't pray in faith and expect Him to answer. If you don't know who we really are in Jesus, then we're just hoping and wishing, instead of believing and praying.
Heb.11:1(Amp) says, "Now Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the Title deed), of the things we hope for, being the proof of the things we do not see." Hope has it's place, but faith is what brings this hope into reality and substance. You might hope that God hears you, but faith will bring this hope into the reality of now. They must work together. It's one thing to read in God's Word, that we're righteous before God, but our carnal mind will tell us that "we're not." When you put faith in what God says we now been made to be, this makes your hope a reality, because you know that He hears and answers your prayers.
Many are more conscious of what our flesh says about us, rather than what God has said about us. This is why Paul instructs us to "renew our minds by God's Word." When we do this, we begin thinking differently about who we are and begin developing into who God says we now are. We know that we're not righteous in ourselves, but we're not in ourselves any longer and are now in Christ Jesus. 1Cor.6:17(Amp) says, "But the person who is united to the Lord (becomes one spirit with Him)." We are one with Jesus in our new creation spirit and by becoming one spirit with Him, we've received His Righteousness into our spirit.
2Cor.5:21(Amp) says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of the righteousness of God." God now sees us as being in Jesus and accepts us as being righteous, in the Righteousness of Jesus. Feelings have nothing to do with Truth. We might feel alone and like God is a million miles away, but Jesus tells us that, "I will never leave you or forsake you, I will be with you always til the end of the world." He is always in you and with you, even if you don't feel like it. This is who we now are by the new creation birth. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God.
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