2Cor.5:17(Amp) tells us, "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."
We find out who we've now been created to be, from God's Word. So many believers still see themselves after who they were before being saved, instead of who they've been created to be in Christ Jesus. Some believe it's "prideful," to think we're more than just forgiven sinners, saved by Grace. We cannot walk in the new creation man/woman, until we know and believe what Jesus has done by His Sacrifice.
When we read the Word with a carnal mind, we won't see why we qualify for God's Blessing. We read about how God dealt with those in The Old Testament and think He deals that way with those in the new covenant. We're afraid of exalting ourselves, without understanding that Jesus Himself has exalted us, by His death and Resurrection. We've been made new creations through faith in Jesus. We're no longer orphans, but are sons and daughters in God's Own family.
We call God "Father," but act like we don't belong in His Kingdom and family. We believe He's an "angry God," thinking He will punish us like He did those in the old covenant. Religion only teaches about God's Grace, by a carnal mind, without seeing who we've now become through Jesus. This leaves us without confidence that we're now part of God's family.
Jesus said in John6:63(Amp), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths), that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." Reading God's Word through a carnal mind, leaves us seeing ourselves more the way we once were, with the weakness of the flesh, instead of who God has created us to be by the Power of Jesus' Sacrifice.
We must read God's Word and receive the Holy Spirit's Revelation of it, so we can understand who we've now become in Jesus. We're no longer in the Outer Courts, but have the privilege of entering God's Throne Room of Grace. We're fearful of God punishing us for our every mistake, instead of understanding the Grace and mercy God has for His family. This isn't an excuse for living like heathens, but is growing into the knowledge of Christ and His Sacrifice. Only God's Word can reveal the Majesty and Power of Calvary's cross.
The genealogy of sin we received from Adam, has been changed and we've become one body, by Jesus' Sacrifice. We no longer have the carnal and fleshly identities, but have a new identity in Christ. God no longer deals with us by physical punishment, like those in the old covenant. God deals with His family, by the Word and the Spirit. We've become new creations of God and He uses His Word and His Spirit, to teach and discipline us.
If God was "out to get us," then He would have done it before we were saved and were still living sinful lives. Those under the old covenant were still dead in trespass and sin, because Jesus hadn't yet shed His Blood for them. They didn't have the privilege of the new birth.
When we put more faith in what Jesus has done, instead of what we have done, then we can accept who He has made us to be. And, when we do this, we won't have faith enough to allow the Father to do what He desires in and through our lives. 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 things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)." Rom.8:7(Amp) says, "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 Law, indeed it cannot."
We walk in our new creation identity, by having faith in what God's Word says about how He sees us now in Christ. We must have more faith in what God's Word says about us, rather than what the world and religion says about us. We cannot accept our new identity by anything other than faith. It's NOW FAITH and not works, self-designating, fasting, or religion. We need to renew our minds by God's Word, because our carnal mind will keep us under condemnation and won't allow us to accept the Truth of God's Word.
God made us new creations and we must believe and trust in, the Finished Work of Jesus. We are created to know God's will, His thoughts, and His Purposes by the Word and Spirit. Jesus said that, "The Words (Truths) I speak to you are Spirit and Life." Our flesh can't rejoice in His Truth, only our spirit can.
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