3John 1:2(NKJV) tells us, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.” In this verse, God makes His desire for us very clear, and He puts it in very plain terms. He wants us to have prosperity, health, and a prospering soul. It is important for us to understand that through His Son, Jesus Christ, we can live in this state of abundance in every area of our lives. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NLT), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” This is the reason why our precious Savior came to the earth. He left the throne of God to show us the way to live. We don’t have to feel that we’re just existing from day to day. We can live in such a way that we go from blessing to blessing, and from glory to glory.
This is not to say that we will not have trials, temptations, and tribulations, because life is full of these. In John 10:10, Jesus Christ did not keep us in the dark, but told us why the thief is in the earth. The thief is the devil, and he wants to destroy the believer. God warns us in 1Peter 5:8(NLT), “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” God doesn’t want us to be ignorant of the devil’s devices. He wants us to recognize that we have a spiritual enemy that is dastardly and unmercifully evil. But God also wants our faith to be fully immersed in the reality of Romans 8:37, which tells us that through Jesus Christ who loves us, we are more than conquerors.
As spiritually mature Christians, we must understand that God has given us the knowledge of our identity in Christ as more than conquerors because we need to know that spiritual warfare is real. We have an enemy, and he has already been defeated by Jesus Christ. Our responsibility as Christ’s ambassadors is to walk in this victory through our faith and believing. Overwhelming victory is ours because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. The Lord has purchased us back from darkness. But although we have guaranteed victory through our Redeemer, some of us think, feel, and behave as though we’re still defeated. We still have the remnants of darkness operating in our minds and hearts. Because of this, housekeeping is very much in order.
Why is having remnants of darkness operating in our hearts and minds so damaging to our lives? Ephesians 4:24 tells us to put on the new person that God has created, because this new person is fashioned in the exact image of Christ, which is exactly what righteousness and true holiness are all about. Colossians 3:10(NLT) also tells us, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” God’s goal is for us to renew our minds to His Word so that we take on His nature and become like Him. The person that you and I were before the love of Jesus came into our lives is referred to in the Bible as the ‘old man nature’. This old man nature is corrupting every day and will ultimately reach destruction. In Romans 8:7, God tells us that this corrupting nature is an enemy against Him, and that is why we must get rid of it. Heavenly Father tells us to put off this old way of thinking, living, and being, and put on the nature that is of Christ.
Acknowledging the wrong
The housekeeping that is required of us has to do with sweeping out the old stuff and making room for the new stuff. 2Corinthians 5:17(NLT) says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Through Christ we have been made brand new, and we must reprogram our minds to our new reality in him. This means that many of the old habit patterns we had must vacate the premises; they no longer have a right to be in our hearts and minds. We’ve been purchased by God, and He doesn’t want negativity, fear, and doubt to have any parts of the new creations we’ve become through His Son. This is absolutely critical in the life of a believer. We must reject the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and not identify with any aspect of their betrayal against Heavenly Father. To the extent that this betrayal abides in our own hearts, it must be rooted out, and this is a process.
Most of us don’t just eradicate all our bad habits overnight. As we realize the extent to which the ‘old nature’ still hangs out with us, we should acknowledge, confront, and eradicate it by putting on the Word of God. In other words, we must renew our minds and hearts to what God says. To renew is to take off the old and put on the new; and this renewing process is one that doesn’t end. Many believers never even get to the stage of acknowledging the sinful thoughts and behaviors that are holding them back. We live in a culture where people run from accountability and responsibility for their actions or inaction. They absolve themselves and deflect the blame on others. This is not the way of a spiritually mature believer in Christ. To acknowledge our wrongdoing is not self-punishment, it’s self-affirming.
The acceptance of the liberty of our new selves happens as we reject the negativity that imprisoned our old selves. This is not to place us in condemnation, where we feel bad and insecure. Feeling bad about ourselves is not God’s Will. We’re His masterpieces. He tells us this in Ephesians 2:10 because He wants us to recognize the value and worth He has for our lives. Therefore, we should value ourselves as He does.
1John 1:6-9(NLT) says, “6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Acknowledging the poor choices, bad decisions, and wrong actions of our past is necessary to repent for those things we have done out of fear and not faith. Then, as we walk in newness, the Spirit will guide us in the process of renewal so we can put off those patterns that do not serve us well and put on the ones that do. But there must be an acknowledgement of what those are. We can no longer walk around in the dark about how we’ve been operating in fear and darkness. As we confess those sinful actions and behaviors to God, He will forgive us and continue to help us walk in His love.■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“The Renewal Process” by Alexandra Copeland. Springfield Fellowship © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.