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 is born as a baby and like all babies, he/she must be nurtured, raised up and trained in life. The new creation child of God is born into Life, that is contrary to the culture and life we were trained up and familiar with. In order to the new creation child of God to grow into the mature person he/she was born to be, we must be taught from the Spirit realm by God's Word and the Holy Spirit. The way we learned before being born-again, isn't always the True way of our Heavenly Father.
Many Christians today depend entirely on what we know and have learned from the world. If we were taught wrong, whether or not it was intentional, it's still wrong when we teach it to the new child of God. Many of us only know what we learn in church, much of which is according to our denomination and has little or no bearing on "God's way of doing and being right." Even though we mean well in what we teach newborn Christians, it still might not line-up with God's Word. If we were Catholic, then we teach them from our Catechism. If we're some from another denomination, then we teach them what that denomination believes. Many don't believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Super-natural things of God's Word or that we can still hear from God, when He speaks.
God's Word is True, regardless of what we might think about it. Many things have invaded the Church throughout the years, from the teachings of men and women who have good intentions. Many Christians don't spend much time reading or meditating on God's Word, for themselves. We rely on what others think the Word says, instead of knowing what it says for ourselves. Every individual believer is responsible to read the Word and hear from God for themselves.
Many declare, "God doesn't speak to me," but the Holy Spirit lives in us, speaks to us and will lead and guide us into all Truth. He will never leave you or forsake you, in all our time, but we must train ourselves to hear the Voice of the Spirit. There are so many voices in today's world, so we must learn to distinguish the Shepherd's Voice for ourselves. Jesus said, "My sheep will hear My Voice." We must learn to listen to His Voice in our new creation man/woman, more than depending only one our natural hearing.
When we read God's Word, it is God speaking to us, just as though He was right in front of us. The world's ideas and culture are mostly against what God's Word says about how God's children are supposed to walk. As a Parent, God the Father knows what is best for His children and our well-being. We must be willing to do it His ways, in order to walk with Him like He intended and to prove Himself as the Loving Father He is. No parent rewards their child's wrong behavior, neither does our Heavenly Father.
Many have been taught that certain things in God's Word "aren't for everyone" and that prayer "only works for certain people." Most of us only know what we were taught before being born-again. Some were taught a moral code of behavior, but some were not. Like good students, we've done what society teaches and as good parents, we've tried to teach our children the right things. Not everything we taught our children was wrong, but it wasn't all they should know, because we didn't have a relationship with the Lord and didn't know what His Word says. Now we read God's Word and listen to His Holy Spirit, so we can teach them those things. We did the best we knew how, but now we know God's way of doing the things He has laid up for us and them.
We learned things before being saved, that we still need. God's Word doesn't teach us how to drive a vehicle, but we still need to drive according to what we learned. The Holy Spirit can teach us to beware of things to come, that we didn't learn before being saved. The Lord has spoken to me while driving, telling me to "Stop." Thankfully I obeyed and witness a person running a stop sign and would have been broadsided, if I had been moving. My driving instructor couldn't have taught me that. My life has been saved many times over the years, because I listened to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and followed His instructions.
We're responsible for many things in the world we live in, but the Lord can and will, show us how to do them in a way that is safe and effective. He will lead us in our daily walk through the "Valley of the shadow of death." There are so many things God does in our lives, which we simply take for granted and might not even be aware of. God will try to direct our paths for our good and we might not see how He protected us, until we go to Heaven.
The Holy Spirit will navigate our lives in ways we might not see, while we're living in this natural world. Many of God's children have left this present life way before they should have, because of self-inflicted wounds. Habits of the flesh and carnal minded ways of living that we've adapted to over time, are often destructive and deadly. Paul tells us in Rom.12:2(Amp) to, "Renew our minds with God's Word" and "do not adapt to the external, superficial customs of this world," because some of these are deadly.
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