Having been created for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11), separated from Him by our sin (Romans 5:12), and provided for through the substitutionary atonement of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), we are redeemed as we place our confidence and trust in that work at Calvary (John 3:16). There is great encouragement to our hearts in His 2 Corinthians 5:17 promise of thus being a "new creature" in Christ". He promises us there in that 2 Corinthian passage that old things are passed away, and that all things are become new.
With the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, nothing will ever be the same again! Those things that we used to love have lost their 'glamour'; those things that we formerly detested now take on an attraction that is unexplainable, except for the fact that God declares we have become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
What is the practical process by which this change is demonstrated in our thoughts, actions and words? Matthew 5:16 teaches us that as we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Ephesians 4/22-24 show us that the renewal of our mind enables that new life of victory. His perfect peace, described in Isaiah 26:3, floods our hearts and minds, unless that intimate fellowship with Him is broken by an involvement in former habitual sins.
What a blessing to know immediately when we have violated the heart of God by the absence of His promised peace, and be able to make it right by repentance, restitution as needed,and restructure.
Our mind is renewed by the cleansing Word of God. Reading it , studying it, meditating on it and praying it prepares us to apply it. All to the glory of God!
(C) 1993 N.A.Collins - Copy permission limited to one personal file copy
With the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, nothing will ever be the same again! Those things that we used to love have lost their 'glamour'; those things that we formerly detested now take on an attraction that is unexplainable, except for the fact that God declares we have become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
What is the practical process by which this change is demonstrated in our thoughts, actions and words? Matthew 5:16 teaches us that as we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Ephesians 4/22-24 show us that the renewal of our mind enables that new life of victory. His perfect peace, described in Isaiah 26:3, floods our hearts and minds, unless that intimate fellowship with Him is broken by an involvement in former habitual sins.
What a blessing to know immediately when we have violated the heart of God by the absence of His promised peace, and be able to make it right by repentance, restitution as needed,and restructure.
Our mind is renewed by the cleansing Word of God. Reading it , studying it, meditating on it and praying it prepares us to apply it. All to the glory of God!
(C) 1993 N.A.Collins - Copy permission limited to one personal file copy
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