Keep on Growing!

As I attended church with my mom, which was mandatory, I learned that the way older Christians expected me to grow was to attend church, read my bible, and pray everyday. Over time I also learned the do's and don'ts of Christian life. I worked hard to accomplish this.
I am realizing now that growth in Christ is way more deeper than that. Yes, reading the Bible, praying and attending church does help in our growth, but my reason for doing these things will cause me to grow indeed, or not.
In 2 Timothy 3 : 16 & 17, it says,
16: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17: God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Mein! I memorized this verse, but it was just that-memory. Head knowledge. It was explained to me, but I remember thinking that this was a good scripture to prove to an unbeliever that the Bible is true.
I never really dug into it, and allow Christ to mold me into that truth, or how to live that truth. I was never told that I needed to. It was just a quiet expectation that I would find out and do it. Like, how does the word correct me, and equip me? I was never taught this. Attending church weekly did so partially. I needed it in my life completely, and I found myself crying out to God to meet me in this when I thought I had it covered. Wishing that I knew all this when I was younger. So my journey with God took a sharp turn and I began to see that what I read in the bible happens in my life. Yes, my life. I no longer think to the back of my head- umm, I guess that's only in the bible days. I see it now. Hallelujah!
Join me as I share what He teaches me.

Are you Growing?

If you have been born again in Christ, are you growing? 
Your new birth is your beginning in Christ, not a one stop encounter with Christ. To remain in Him, to enjoy the abundant life He promised, you must grow.
How do you grow? Well, going to church faithfully every Sunday and any other day WILL NOT DO IT. Your church attendance needs to be more than checking in, warming a bench or chair, and checking out. It needs to be more than surviving the week until Sunday again when you feel close to God.
It must be a deliberate, spiritual choice to follow Christ for all eternity. Your focus must be on Christ. Any other focus will find you far from His way. 
Your growth focus must not be you getting bigger and more popular and well known. It is not how many good things you have done. It is also not the size of your ministry or church.  Then He (Jesus) said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways (deny yourself), take up your cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9 :23
You cannot follow Christ and ........ (this blank list is long). You must follow Christ alone.
I know! I know! The question pops up: "I no think God mi mean.....?"
Or
"I have needs, and rights!"
It popped up in my head too.
But, these are His requirements.
Are you willing and ready to trust Christ that all that you need will be added to you (Matthew 6:33) and follow Him? Always choosing to be obedient to Him? Allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you in everything?
If you are not ready, you will not experience His abundant, peaceful and restful life. You will always struggle to make it.
Let Father God lead you and take care of you, and mold you and use you to get more people into His kingdom.
You ready? Let's go!

Are you Born Again for Sure?

Did you know or realize that Adam and Eve are the only two humans who knew what it is like to NOT be a sinner? Got your attention? Good!
Being born again for sure means restored connection with God as before the fall.
If you have been born again for sure, or consider yourself a Christian (which requires being born again), then consider this:
Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Romans 3 :24
God doesn't sees us as guilty or unrighteous anymore. In fact, He declares us as 'righteous' and 'not guilty'. He declares this. His word is final.
For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
Romans 5 :10
Our connection with God, which Adam and Eve enjoyed, has been restored through Christ death. Simple.
So, are you enjoying that unhindered fellowship with God?
Or are you still trying to become righteous before Him? This would be like living in your own house in God’s backyard, and hoping to enjoy all the benefits of living inside His house. You will not get everything.
Question:
Do you believe what God says?
If your answer is yes, then live like it. Not on your own, but through Christ.
If your answer is no, then you most likely are not born again. Come to God now. It is not too late yet.

Relationship vs Religion

I have come to realize over the years that being born again ( aka: being a Christian ) is to be in a relationship with God.
When Jesus was on earth, He ushered in a relationship. His invitations were always to come to Him and follow Him. He never once said " Come, let me tell you all that My Father told me, then go do it."
Yes, He sends us out to do what He calls us to do, but even in that, we must do it how and when He says, which can only be done by staying connected to Him.
Matthew 11: 28-30 says;
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Are you at rest? Rest deep in your soul?
Moment by moment, every day, I am finding Him to be true to His word of being humble and gentle. It shows in Him teaching me and molding me and yes, correcting me. It is called discipleship.
And, as my heart responds in obedience to Him, and allow the molding and correcting to take place in my life, I experience His rest so deeply, nothing can take it away.
And when those things pop up that threatens to take it away, because, well, the devil NEVER gives up, I have the grace and strength and boldness and courage to ignore and say "NO". With that same strength and boldness and courage, that I only get through Christ, I am able to keep focus on God's truth.
Are you tired of how your life is? Are you carrying a burden in your 'work for God?' He said His 'yoke is easy and His burden light right there in Mathew.
Come to Him and experience His rest today and always.

Trying vs. Doing

Psalm 23:1 says, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need"
I have been coming to find out with God's word, and everything He says, I either believe Him or I don't.
If I don't, it will show by how I live. I will have my plans in place. I will make sure I am secure financially. I will work hard to achieve my goals. I am in control of my life and therefore have to work hard and full time and sometimes over time to make sure our life goes how we plan it. I know no rest. And even on vacations it is hard to rest, because I have to still make sure that nothing is affecting my plans. And even if I am successful at gaining much riches, I have to always be on top of protecting it. Worrying about who could or might steal it. And for those of us who are poor, or life is a struggle to make ends meet, we feel forsaken and forgotten and sometimes give up.
Such life is void of peace and rest. It is filled with fear, endless thinking and strategies, controlling actions and thoughts, unable to trust, unable to rest, resentment, unforgivness, and the list goes on.
Many of us have mastered masking it. No one knows. They see a good and successful person that's happy.
If I believe Him, my life will also show it. I must believe all, not some or what I am comfortable believing. I must believe that I do have all I need in Christ who is my Shepherd.
Is He your Shepherd? Then you have all you need.
The following verses in Psalms 23 tells us what all we have in Him. Take some time and read and digest and believe Him. And then, ask Him to show you how to live His way. Stay close to Him.

Everything I Need?

Psalms 23:1, "The lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need."
Christ said of Himself that He is the good Shepherd. I can now join King David and say that He is truely my Shepherd.
I could have said that for many years now, but to believe that because He is my Shepherd I have all I need is a huge and overwhelming thought.
Is it really everything?  It sounds too good to be true.
However, the Holy Spirit gently repeated Christ's question, "do you believe this?"
Either I do believe or I don't. I can't be half way or unsure. Those are counted as unbelief by God.
With a pounding heart I chose to believe. I do have everything I need. I let the thought and truth sink in and penetrate my entire being.
"Teach me Lord to always rest in the fact that I have everything I need. May I never doubt You."
And as the days and weeks followed that moment, when the world's reality hit me hard, I clung to that truth with the repeated request,
"teach me Lord, keep me focus on You."
God has been faithful to keep me. Christ has been faithful to teach me. Holy Spirit has been faithful to guide me.
Do you believe this? Or you still want to walk your doubtful path.
Believe Christ today.

Excuses! Excuses!

It is amazing how much I see and hear excuses from people concerning God and His requirements for life. The  self justification using excuses is real and abundant. The excuses are also used to judge others, while at the same time, taking offense if others judge them. It saddens me to see so many people caught up in this.
How many times have I heard " lot a hypocrites deh da church" hence they don't want to go to church. Or they list what they don't like about the church or Christians and even God.
This bothered me so much. How else will they learn about God and living for Him?
It angered me when they go further and make fun of who God is based on their knowledge of Him from wrong teaching, and based on their experiences with the church.
I cannot deny the fact that the body of Christ has misrepresented Him over the years. That in itself frustrated me. It did come to a point where I was ashamed to hold my head up as a Christian because of all the accusing excusing darts fired my direction.
I remain a Christian however, because I was convinced that God’s way is the right way. I just didn't understand a lot of things and had problems myself with a lot of things, and I didn't know how to deal with the accusing excuses.
Then, God showed me that His offer is Himself. He showed me that I was missing where my focus should be-Him. He started to teach me, and correct me, restore me. I was able to face my personal 'problems' with God and truely seeing 'living for God' how He sees it.
I am now learning to meet His expectations of living for Him and living for Him His way. By His grace I am also learning to let go of my thinking and my knowledge, and my doctrine and my rules for me, and holding on to His.
I am now free of my own excuses. My shame to be a Christian is gone. I am proud to be associated with Christ by those around me. I am grateful and proud to belong to Christ.
But, most of all, I am confident and glad that I can share who God is based on what He says He is. Based on His word. I no longer shrink back.
The excuses will seem to justify you now, and you might enjoy pushing a Christian buttons by disrespecting God, but He will see that as your actions and hold you accountable. Also, you will answer to Him.
I challenge you, if you haven't already, to get your life right with God. Riding on the excuses will be useless when you have to answer to Him. He sees all and knows all. And while you might be able to fool the Christian you are torturing,  you cannot fool Him.
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

Is being a Christian being Christ -like?

Recently, I have been reflecting a lot on my life as a Christian, and what all God has had to correct in my mind and heart the pass couple years. This road has been enlightening, challenging, difficult, painful, yet rewarding, peaceful and restful. Mega oxymoron right?
When I first gave my life to God, I became His child. I also became what is known as a Christian. I was told I must now live for God. This included reading my bible, going to church, being active in the church, praying a lot, and anything else my church fellowship said was the 'Christian' thing to do. In essence,  it was a "do this" "don't do that" kind of instructions. I became quite good at it.
However,  Christ did not call us to that. I am realizing now that being born again/becoming a Christian, was the first step. And, unfortunately, what should come after, was not really what I was told.
The second step is following Christ. Not a church denomination; or just making sure I pray everyday and read my bible; or making sure I meet all the imposed requirements from 'the church' so I am regarded as a 'good Christian' or truely born again, but Christ.
I must, immediately after my new birth, start following Christ and meeting His requirements daily to follow Him. This has been absent from my life for years.
See, I am realizing that there are more than one interpretation of 'following Christ'. There is Christ's interpretation, and then there are all the rest.
Since we should be following Christ, shouldn't we go by His interpretation? If not, then I think we will miss what He really means by following Him. We will also miss out on what He offers.
Christ offers Himself. If we have Him, we have everything, because He is the source. He offered Himself on the cross, but we will only reap the benifits of that if we accept Him. We must receive Christ Himself, not go to Him, get what we need and then run off. Our acceptance of Him does not stop when we first gave our lives to Him. It continues daily as we follow Him.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

New Year

A good new year's resolution - follow Christ. It is simpler than you think. It can, however, be challenging, and painful, but the rewards are more than worth it.
Jesus's requirements:
Matthew 16:24 (NLT)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
Three things Christ requires of us if we are to follow Him.
*Deny ourselves/give up our own way
*Take up our individual cross
*Follow Him
Very simple. Very challenging. And sometimes very painful. We all must meet these requirements simultaneously and wholeheartedly. No half way, or one foot in/one foot out. We are either following Him or not. We can't be trying to follow Him, or planning to follow Him; we must follow Him.
How do we meet these high requirements?
Jesus said in Matthew 11: 29,
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We don't have to try to follow Christ anymore. We simply become yoked with Him, and He will teach us every moment, every situation, everyday how to be like Him.
You get it? He stated His requirements, and provided the way to accomplish it.
Yoked with Him.
No other way is genuine.
Let me end with this, the 'rest for your souls' is real. You can feel it and bask in it 24/7.
Join me and become true followers of Christ.

Another New Year

I am thankful to God for allowing me to live to see the approaching of another new year. It has not come yet, but standing in God's grace that I will see it.
I stopped making resolutions and goals for some years now as I have found out for myself and from other's testimonies that it mostly doesn't work. So why do it?
Instead, I started to ask God to show me what He has in store for me. This new year, I ask Him to continue to teach me how to live for Him. To continue to mold me to His image. To keep me close to Him. I want to keep following His voice only in everything I do. Yes, I mean everything. This includes how I relate to those around me, and how to spend my time and money, my thoughts and my attitudes, my actions and conclusions. My motives for what I do and think, even if it is good and acceptable in Christianity.
I have been, and am learning to simply be His child and be obedient to Him. I see and experience His kingdom more and more.
The best I can do to make myself better is not acceptable to Him. He must be the One to make me and mold me, so when I boast, I boast about what He has done, and not what I accomplished. He truly gets the glory then.
Will you join me? Or will you just try to make your own self better? If you choose the latter, then you will keep trying for the rest of your life. But, if you allow God to make you and mold you, then you will become what He wants you to be, and an eternally better you.
Rom 10:3- For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God’s means to attain righteousness.

Christmas Celebration

As Christmas time approaches, I have been thinking a lot about why I celebrate Christmas and how I do so, and why other Belizeans do the same. These thoughts enters my head most Christmas season.
This year, I have a little more excitement to create what Christmas celebrating would look like in our home. That excitement left some 10 years ago, and God has been faithful in healing and restoring me and flooding me with His grace to also be there for my family.
Feeling that excitement again feels good and I am encouraged that God's work in me is starting to produce more fruit.
Although surrounded with controversy, Christmas celebration was started to celebrate Christ's birth. I do that and make that my main focus.
As a Belizean,  I want my ham and a good meal for Christmas (I don't like turkey). I also desire to purchase gifts for my family.
Reality does not allow for all that to be realized as I want to.  Over the years I have been scaling back on the pressures I put on myself, and trying to keep up with cultural expectations. The main one being to buy everything new and do the once a year thorough cleaning.
I have figured out that thorough cleaning throughout the year makes it easier come Christmas.
I have also figured out that the brand new $60 curtain can be a clean one from the past, and new maaly and painting can wait and doesn't have to be done at Christmas time.
Only if I need a new stove or sofa set I will buy it.
My relationships became more important than how my house look.
And, I never forget that there are many who have nothing.
As Christmas approaches, let us keep in mind what really matters, not only now, but in eternity. Keep priorities straight. Enjoy God's physical blessings and share with others who lack.
As believers, I think first and foremost we should make sure that each person and family it's not lacking while we enjoy abundance.
Christ came as a baby, but He grew up to become a man. He is presently alive and with His Father in heaven. He is not this sweet baby anymore, He is the risen King of kings, and Lord of lords. As we celebrate His birth and remember all that happened around that time, let us do so with respect to who He is and has always been, and that we take thought to the fact that we must believe in Him to have eternal life.

So what should a person do when they want to give their lives to Christ?
If someone approaches you wanting to do this, in my observance so far of scripture, simply tell them of their need to repent, as John did, and of their need to believe in Christ as the Son of God, sent from heaven to die for our sins, so we can be connected with God again, and their need to confess their sins before Christ.
When viewing the scriptures together, they all point to this.
Putting someone on the spot to give their hearts to God now, with you, and leading them in a repeat after me prayer, and then telling them that because they said that prayer they are now saved and born again, from my observance of scripture, should not be done.
We are not born again because of a special prayer that is repeated. We are born again and enter in to God's kingdom when we repent and confess our sins, and believe in Christ Jesus who gave His life so we can have everlasting life.
Do we believe what Jesus said?
Joh 6:40 "This is the will of my Father who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
So, how does prayer fit in? Well, any conversation between us and God is prayer. We talk to Him and He talks to us. Prayer is not a one sided communication with God.
This is all I have read being preached: repent, confess, believe in Christ and you will be saved, or have everlasting life.
I think the same applies when sharing the word to a group or crowd, and the Holy Spirit prompts to call those present to repentance, then simply do so as John and Peter did, and share the need to repent, confess their sins, and believe (committing yourself fully) in Christ.
See, we need to trust God that that person was sincere in their repentance, confession, and believing in Christ. We can't see their hearts.
However, the fruit of repentance will be seen immediately if that person truely repented. (Matthew 3:8)
Then, after being born again, that person follows Christ through His word and the Holy Spirit leading. You can't just believe in Christ truely and not follow Him. Because the Apostles believe Christ,  they followed Him. (John 6: 68 & 69)
Another important thing that must follow accepting Christ is discipleship. We must make sure the new believer understand what happened to him/her, and be taught the requirements Christ has to follow Him.
May we walk as Christ teaches us to.

Sinner's Prayer/Altar Call; Is it Biblical?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the practice of 'sinner's prayer' and 'altar call'.
I have read some history,  and found out that it was a practice developed in the church to facilitate people becoming born again.
I have also been seeing in scripture that it was never so.
When Jesus met the Samaritan woman, she believed in Him. Simply. She believed who Christ told her He is. Simply. No songs, sinner's prayer, nor an alter call. She called people from her village,  and they believed in Christ too. Simply. No sinner's prayer.
The villagers begged Jesus to stay with them, and He did for 2 days. Even more believed in Him. Simply. No alter call, no sinner's prayer.
(Read John chapter 4)
When Jesus taught the thousands of people, He did no altar call. He didn't play music and asked who all wanted to believe in Him to come forward or repeat a sinner's prayer. He taught them. Simply. The people choose to believe in Him. They choose to receive His words.
Whenever I think of a person giving their lives to Christ, automatically I think of sinner's prayer. That I will have to lead them in it, or check if they prayed it. That prayer has become the way to verify that a person is truely born again. Again, from scripture, it was not so.
In Acts, when Peter gave his first sermon, this was the response,  and his response:
Act 2:37& 38& 41 'Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
The receiving of God's word, and the believing in God's word is the door to being born again.
We hear God's word, we are convicted, we confess sins and repent of them, and we believe in and receive Christ.
Joh 1:12, 'But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:'
Do we truely believe this? This is God's word. Are we going to hold on to religious traditions and practices, or are we going to believe God's word and obey and follow Him.
(To be continued. ....)

Repentant Life

Repentance is not just confessing of sin and turning from our sinful life, it requires bearing fruit that repentance has happen. My life must show after repentance that I have repented, otherwise repentance didn't truely happen.
Most of us confess, and turn away from our sinful life, as should be done:
Pro 28:13 (NHEB) says: 'He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.'
But, where is the fruit? How does your life now, after repenting, shows that you have repented?
Mat 3:6 (NHEB) 'and they were baptized by him ( John) in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.
3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
3:8 Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of repentance,'
Mat 3:8 (NET) 'Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance,'
Repentance must be proven, it must show.
There is this story in Luke 11:24-26 about this man that was freed from the possession of demons. However, after the demons wondered around looking for another person to possess, and finding none, returned to the same man and found him all free and cleaned up. So they call some more demons and promptly took up residence again.
Forsaking our sinful live is not enough, we must produce fruit/proof that we repented. To do that, we must replace that life we once lived with Christ's life. Otherwise, not knowing how to now live, we will revert back to what we are use to, and it will be worse than before.
It is Christ that saved us and died for us, we must therefore now learn how to live His way. That is the only way we can produce fruit/proof of our repentance.
Being religious like the Pharisees is missing the mark completely. Making rules and guidelines for ourselves is also missing it.
We must learn from Christ Himself.
Who are you following to learn how to live a repentant life daily? Doctrine? Manuals? Rules?
Let us follow Christ.

His Resurrected Life!

*[[Gal 2:20]] NET* "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
The Holy Spirit has been bringing new meaning to this verse in my heart and life, to the point where I can confidently say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ"
Over the pass weeks I have been learning from Christ how to implement 'being crucified' in my daily life. In each daily doings and situations and moments and relationships.
I read John 11:26 from a devotional I read this morning, and, just when I thought that I got all of what He is telling me, BOOM! More truth. Confirming truth.
*[[Joh 11:26]] NET* "and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
The question jumped out at me and was pointed out in the devotional that as Jesus was asking Martha this, He now ask me.
"Do I believe this?"
I browsed through the previous verses as this was right in the middle of a conversation.
*[[Joh 11:23-25]] NET* Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.”
Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies,"
From Jesus's response in verse 25, it became clear to me that He was not talking about last day resurrection as Martha believed (verse 24). The resurrection life He was talking about is for now.  This is also pointed in the devotional I read.
"The one who lives and believes in Me..." is referring to me (verse 26). My new life in Christ, with all the embodiment of who Christ is the same resurrected life that I will have because I believe in Christ. As long as I remain in Him, stay connected to Him, keep submitting to His Lordship and His way of living,  that's the life I live. Christ resurrected life in all its power and glory.
Now I understand why mighty men/women of God  (not popular ones), are praised by men as good. It is Christ in them. The same glory Paul talks about. A glory that exalts Christ because it is from Him.
Are you one of those who are living and believes in Christ?
Are you one of those who have been crucified with Christ? Only then can you live His resurrected life.

Citizen of Heaven

I was re-thinking my title for this post, because it sounds too lofty and spiritual. Lol. I feared people might be turn off by that. But the truth is that, when we were born again, God took us out of the kingdom of darkness and put in His kingdom. His kingdom is heavenly and spiritual, so the title remains.
Satan has no more power over us. Oh he will try. He will whisper lies or remind us of our past life, but we must cling to the truth that we are now in God's kingdom.
We must actively pursue God so He teaches us what that should look like in our lives.
We must never forget where we are and whose we are. It will not automatically happen.
See, when we are born again, and God relocated us, we must now learn how to live in His kingdom. It is different rules, and different life. This means that all of my old life I must die to, stop living, and now live Christ way. I am a citizen of heaven. Hey!
BUT.....
We must have repented from sins and old life, confess our sins to God (not the priest)-by this we know that as God sees the sincere heart, He will rebirth us. And now, we deliberately learn how to go be a citizen of heaven.
It is more than going to go church, it is more than saying a few prayers, God sees the heart, and even acts like those can be done with a wrong motivated heart and God will not accept us.
I challenge you to become His disciple and accept His conditions to following Him in Matthew 16:24
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."
Will you truely follow Him?

Christ in Me?

Another new thing that came into our lives when we repented and confess our sins and became born again is that:
2. Christ lives in us. But wait, I knew that. You knew that, right? We were told that Christ lives in our hearts. But what does that mean?
Christ did not change who He is when He came to live in us. He is the same Jesus who died for us and resurrected and ascended. He is the same Son of God who we say we live for, who we say we love,  who we say we believe in.
So why is it that a lot of the time our lives does not reflect that truth? Why is it that we seem to endlessly struggle to make that a reality in our lives. Then, sadly, we have come to the point of justifying this struggle. We say, "I am only human" or "Everyone makes mistakes" or "God understands, He made me and loves me".
All those statements are true. But, do we see Christ like that? When Christ came to live in us, He came in all of who He is. He didn't adjust to our imperfection.
Gal 2:20 says, 'I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.'
Our old life/self/nature died when Christ died on the cross. That same Christ lives in us when we were born again.
We shouldn't be struggling to live for God, because Christ in all His glory and victory lives in us, and He runs things. Well He supposed to. If we are still struggling,  then He is not in control.
Let us ask God to teach us to deny ourselves and follow Him. To learn what it means for the old me, my self, to have died with Him on the cross. May He open our eyes to see our new life in Him and that we allow Him to mold us and conform us so we live a life that reflects that He lives in us. Always. Not just sometimes. Not struggling, but in Christ complete victory.

All Things New...

So, 2 Corinthians 5:17 continues with 'behold, all things have become new'.
God accepted me as the creature/person I use to be, and through His Son Jesus Christ, I am a new creation/creature/person. Awesome!
For the first time in my life, in the past few months, I learned what all is included in the 'new things' the scripture talks about.
1. I have a brand new heart
I no longer have a heart that is hopelessly bent towards evil, selfish, fleshy living anymore. (Yeah, that got me too. The Bible clear states that all actions and thoughts that are not of Him is evil.)
God took away that heart through Jesus Christ, made me born again, and gave me a heart that is able to freely walk in obedience to Him.
Awesome!
How does that play out in my life?
I want to do what God wants me to do now. I no longer want my way, even if I might find it hard and challenging to let go of my way. In Christ,  I am able to not only be obedient,  but desire to be obedient.
Ezekiel 36:26 puts it well, (Message) I'll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that's God-willed, not self-willed.
I have a heart that is God-willed. Whoop!
All of this happened when I confess my need for Christ, confessed my sins, and repented. God did the rest.
I must say that if you are still acting like you used to before you gave your heart to God, then I encourage you to check if you truely repented. God always meet a repentant heart with forgiveness and mercy.
My life now, as I choose daily to walk in obedience to God, will reflect that I have a new heart and that I truly repented.
Did you know all this? Let us walk as if we have a new heart. Let us produce fruit that shows we have repented. Let us ask God daily to teach us to walk accordingly.
Amen.

They are gone....

In the booklet I referred to two posts ago, there was a key truth about the 'old things' mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:17:
'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.'
THEY ARE PASSED AWAY. Alleluia!
1. I am no longer under Satan's control.
2. I am no longer in the kingdom of darkness where Satan dwells.
3. I am no longer under God's judgement.
4. I am now able to please God.
The last one ministered to me the most. I can now please God when I became born again. I don't have to try, I am able to. How?
Well through the Holy Spirit.
I just wanted to take a whole post to just revel in the joy and peace and rest at knowing what all have passed away. What is no longer a part of me. What I am not.
In my next post, I want to share what I learned about the new creature that I am become. I like how the bible put it 'all things are become new'. It is a continuous and completed event.
So you repented yet? You gave Christ your heart and life yet? What are you waiting for? You have no control over your tomorrow.  Plan all you want. We all need Christ in our daily lives and in every area of our lives. Call out to Him today.

Delivered through Christ

In my last post, I shared how after many years I am just understanding fully what it means to be born again. I now continue sharing the other things I learned.
A next truth I learned was what are the old things that pass away that's mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:17, 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold all things are become new'.
I knew I was a sinner under God's judgement. I was was a slave to sin. The new truth I realized was that I was a sinner not only because I committed sinful acts, but I was born a sinner and completely helpless to make myself right before God. Also, because I was born a sinner, I couldn't help but commit sinful acts. It was my nature. This is true of every human being.
That was a hard pill to swallow. Although I should have gotten this truth from reading about Adam and Eve sin in Genesis, I didn't. Not that specific one. I generally thought I am a sinner because of what I did and how I lived. I also generally thought that even though I gave my heart and life to Christ, and repented of my sins, that I will always be struggling with my old nature, and never be free of it, as Paul declares in Romans 7:24&25.
'Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.'
I don't have to be struggling. ..... I am delivered through Christ. Whoop.
When I was born again, I was delivered from the hold that sin and its consequences had on me. I now belong to Christ. I don't have to live according to the flesh anymore, once I remain in Christ.
Rom 8:9, 'You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.
Are you born again? Are you in Christ? If yes, then your sinful nature has no hold over you. You belong to Christ. 
In my next post I will share more truths I learned.
Be blessed and learn from Christ.