Have you ever wondered why this new life in Christ feels like a continual push and pull?
Do you find yourself constantly trying to “do better” and “be better” but it feels like a no win battle most days?
Truthfully, we have a self-awareness movement that has made its way into the church and it’s costing us the ability to understand what it means to live by the Spirit. It’s confusing biblical concepts, leading many to believe we have to continually work on self, yet self is who we are supposed to “put off” so we can “put on” our new natures—to be like Him.
Here’s a pull from my latest book, Ripple Effect. We go DEEP into the many different ways we are stuck, blocking ourselves from living in the fullness and freedom that was paid for on the cross!
“I have literally, not figuratively, been on such a crazy stripping-of-self journey, and as I continually press into God, He shows me that everything I experience and go through is an opportunity to root myself deeper in what He thinks and says. Even while being torn down by others or by life.
And let me just tell you—there’s been a lot of tearing, trust me. Your girl ain’t got the perfect set up . . . I just got the perfect peace from my Heavenly Father moving through me no matter what.
I took God’s Word to heart and learned to crucify my flesh. I realized that in order to access the supernatural and live by the Spirit, I had to stop feeding into my thoughts and ideas that were keeping me locked into my old nature, and starve them!
When we begin to starve our own feelings, and what we believe about ourselves, feeding our souls by meditating on the Word of God and what He says about us, a powerful transformation takes place. God’s Word carries the power to transform us, and we become firmly rooted in who God says we are, no longer wavering in our beliefs about ourselves. Our confident trust becomes firmly planted in God’s Truth and from there we grow in spiritual maturity, becoming more like Him.
The body of Christ should be allowing God’s transforming power to bring us from glory to glory as we walk securely in who we are to Him. When we know our true value, we embrace the refining process that God wants to take us on, and the sting of crucifying the flesh doesn’t break us. We are secure and recognize that to get to a place of purity and spiritual maturity, we agree with Him that we have to remove some debris in our lives and belief systems that are in contradiction to His.
The self-awareness movement is keeping us in tension between our old self and our new nature in Christ. We are not supposed to be improving our human nature and flesh (unless we are talking about our physical health, but that’s for a whole other book topic, wink-wink), which is exactly what the self-care, self-examination, self-awareness movement focuses on.
We are new creations in Christ Jesus, called to live by the Spirit.
We are born again.
Our new life has begun!
‘This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)” —Ripple Effect: A Transformational Journey into God’s Heart That Will Change You from the Inside Out
Family, it’s time to undo these concepts that are confusing and polluting the powerful truth that we have access to life in the Spirit. In order to live by the Spirit, we have to stop fixating on self, thoughts, feelings, and belief systems that come against the knowledge of God.
What we need to do is renew our mind in truth, and put off the old, so we can step into the spiritual freedom that Jesus paid for!
Amen?
