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 away. Behold, the fresh and new has come." The new creation isn't our natural bodies, but our spirits which were not united with God, because of Adam's sin. When our spirit man/woman is born of God, we're no longer sinners and we're new creations. Our new creation person is born of God, just like our children are born of us. The attributes and character of God are now living in our new creation man/woman. We are born of and born into, the very Likeness and Image of God, our Heavenly Father.
The Same Seed that gave Life to Jesus, is the Seed that we've been born of, according to 1Pet.1:23(Amp), which says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God." John1:14 tells us that the Word produced Jesus. We've been created by the Word, in the same sense that both the First Adam and the Last Adam Jesus, were brought into this world.
1Cor.15:15-17,18(Amp) says, "Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality); the Last Adam (Christ), became a Life Giving Spirit, restoring the dead to Life. But it is not the Spiritual Life which came first, but the physical and then the Spiritual. The first man was from out of the earth (made of dust, earthly minded): The second Man is the Lord from out of Heaven."
Paul says this about our natural body and person, in Verse 18, "Now those who are made of the dust are like him who was first made of dust (earthly minded); and as is the Man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven (Heavenly minded)." Our natural body was from the seed of Adam and our Spiritual body is the Seed of God's Word. If you're wondering why our natural bodies give us such trouble after being born-again, then remember Gen.1:11(Amp) which tells us that God made, "Fruit whose seed is in itself, according to it's kind."
The Law of Genesis holds true with every seed, from the trees and plants, to the animal kingdom and the human body, to the new creation man/woman from the Seed of God's Word. Our natural bodies were produced from the seed of Adam, with it's sin nature. The Spiritual body is from the Seed of God's Word and holds all the attributes of our Heavenly Father. The struggle we have in our Christian walk is from the seed of sin, that produced the fruit of the seed of Adam, which rebels against God's Word. The struggle between the flesh and the spirit will continue, until we develop our spirit to withstand the flesh.
The old thoughts and actions we experience in our Christian walk, come from the fruit of the natural seed of Adam. The knowing, understanding and standing against these thoughts and actions, comes from the fruit of the Seed of Jesus Christ. We learn how to understand and deal with these thoughts and actions in Rom.8:1(Amp), which says, "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)."
As we begin to develop our new creation person by God's Word and being led by God's Spirit, we strengthen him/her from trying to go his/her own way. When something appears on our computer or T.V. screens, that we would have watched before being born-again, the Holy Spirit will lead us to turn it off. We yield to whichever is the strongest and more developed in our lives. We must build our new man/woman of the Spirit, making it stronger than our old selves, by fellowship with Father and His Spirit and His Word. The one we feed the most, is the one that will prevail.
Paul wrote about the dictates of the flesh and the Spirit, saying it was only what is said or dictated, not something of force. It's up to every individual, which one will lead us and which voice we will follow. A dictate is as one who makes suggestions or orders to another. It's up to the individual or the hearer, whether or not to obey. The flesh will try to dominate the newborn baby in Christ, because it has been in charge longer and is stronger. Paul writes to the Church in Heb.5:14(Amp), saying, "But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose sense and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good, and noble and what is evil and contrary either to Divine or human law."
It requires consistent effort, to train our senses or natural way of doing. It's not something that God will do for us, but it's our walking by the Spirit, because we love Him. How long must we do this? Until Jesus comes back or we go to Heaven in death. Our flesh will always try to rise up, until we are crucified with Christ Jesus, according to Rom.7:22-25(Amp), where we see the Apostle Paul dealing with the battle between his flesh and his spirit. This is a battle that every believer deals with. Satan can't effect our new creation spirit. He is will try enticing your flesh into disobedience and condemnation, but he can't touch our spirit. We must develop our spirit to withstand the flesh, by God's Word, by fellowship with Him and being led by God's Spirit.
The more we feed our spirit by God's Word, the stronger he/she becomes and the weaker our flesh becomes. 1Pet.2:2(Amp) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave the milk of the Word that you may grow thereby."
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