Dressed for the New Life

Are you dressed in grave clothes or wedding garments?

Now that we have been saved by grace how then shall we live? How are we to walk in this new life?

The apostle Paul uses an illustration in terms of taking off one set of clothes and putting on another in Colossians 3:9-10. “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”

The verbs in this passage are in the past tense. “You have taken off your old self . . . and have put on the new.” The aorist tense indicates something that has already taken place. It has already happened, and not something to be done.

The action is to take off completely; to strip off one’s self. If the old self really has been put off, one must not at a critical moment revert to the way one acted before his conversion. The plural describes the deeds, which characterized the former life.

In Colossians 3:10, the idea of “new” is the newness in quality, and it is the continual action “which is ever being renewed.”

We are to take off once for all, definite concluding action. Stripping off is to be done at once, and for good. The old manner of life is to be done with.

“In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self (Lit. man), which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

The “old man” is your manner of life which Paul described in 2:3. Westcott said, “The whole character representing the former self was not only corrupt but ever growing more and more corrupt.” Every aspect of the old man’s behavior is putrid, crumbling, or bloated like rotting waste or cadavers, stinking, ripe for being buried and forgotten.

The other action is to “put on” one’s self, to cloth one’s self. It is newness in quality that is put on. Paul is not suggesting the restoration of the original state. The old and new is contrasted.

The present tense in Ephesians 4:23 emphasizes the continual renewing. We are to put on in the sense of putting on a garment (v. 24). Thus, the believer puts on, or fulfills the divine demands God places upon men. This is the habitual action that is to characterize the life of the Christian (v. 25).

The “renewing in the spirit of the mind” of which Paul speaks in Eph. 4:23 is to make new again, or to renew. It is also found in Rom. 12:2 when he speaks of “the renewing of the mind.” This renewal is kin to make new, different. It is an adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God. The stress in Rom. 12:2 is on the continual operation of the indwelling Spirit and the willing response of the believer. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Paul is speaking of a radical change, “being transformed” which is the same word for “transfiguration” of Jesus in Matthew 17:2. It is “to change into another form,” which is an inner change, a radical renovation. We are changed from the inside out.

Our practical everyday sanctification is the restrained and obedient powers of the personality brought into subjection and submission to God’s will by the Holy Spirit.

Are you responding to the appeal of the Holy Spirit to put off all conduct associated with your former life apart from Christ and put on a new pattern of behavior that looks like Christ? We are to follow Christian standards because God has already made us new creatures in Christ Jesus. The apostle is demanding a high form of behavior on our part because something decisive has already taken place in our lives. We have already been made new in Christ by the new birth. Because that has already taken place, we must live like it.

Old grave clothes are ok for a corpse, but they are completely inappropriate for wedding garments in preparation for the wedding supper of the Lamb. If you are the Bride then dress like one.Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Dying Daily and Our Life in Christ

Spiritual growth is making real in our daily experience what is already true for us in Christ.

Our progressive sanctification is an ever putting off all that belongs to the old man, and putting on all that belongs to the new man in Christ.

The old nature of man in Adam has not evolved better over the last two thousand years.

Has the carnal mind with its urges become so good to the Holy Spirit that we no longer need to subject it to the Holy Spirit?

Undisciplined self-gratification has never been compatible with strong, vibrant, mature spiritual growth.

You cannot be a mature believer and live anyway you choose. You cannot give nature all that it desires without defrauding the grace of God.

Romans chapter seven pictures every Christian’s spiritual battle in progress. Our old nature, though judged and condemned and deposed in the death of Christ is forever revolting against the sentence of death. It struggles daily to regain its lost supremacy.

The believer who is in Christ not only has died with Christ, but is bound to “die daily” with Him so long as he is in the flesh.

The two natures, at present are dwelling together, even though they are at perpetual war with one another. When one is weak the other is strong. When one loses the other conquers.

The crucifixion we have undergone as believers in Christ is personalized in our own person. The believer is “always bearing about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” Our spiritual battle is a spiritual intimacy with Christ against the forces of Satan. Christ began a spiritual warfare that has not ended for us (Col. 3:9, 10).

We are new creatures in Christ whose inward man is “renewed day by day.” The new man from above battles daily with the forces of evil.

The cross and the resurrection of Christ extend their influence and power over the Christian’s life until the day we are presented perfect to our Father in heaven. The development of the Christian toward perfection is always going in two opposite directions. There is the mortifying, suppressing, subjecting the natural man, and the nurturing, renewing and developing the spiritual man who lives within.

In the crucifixion of the old man we make the death of Christ our own. The carnal mind must always be delivered up to death for Christ’s sake. This is our life-long experience.

If we are to become like Christ in our daily practice we must subdue our sinful desires, behaviors and bring them under the influence of the cross.

Our sanctification is prolonged and perpetuated in our daily experiences.

We are to have the same mind of Christ. We have been judged in the person of Christ knowing that He bore our sins in His death, follow on in the path of the cross judging and mortifying all that we find in our lives contrary to Christ. Anything that is opposed to Christ in our lives must die. We must deny and die to the expression of the old life as we knew it before we become Christians. We must refuse the indulgence of the old man.

The Holy Spirit is always bringing us to the surrender of self in all its forms to the will of God.

Our Savior’s suffering is never more beautiful than when reproduced in our daily lives as we die to self, fleshly desires and unholy ambition.

However, no amount of self-denial of the old nature will make us holier, unless we are brought at the same time into a deeper intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. As we abide in Christ we walk as Christ walked.

Self-denial creates voids in our soul that must be replaced with Christ and divine affection. It is our desire to appropriate the eternal life Jesus has given us. This new life in Christ creates within the believer a hunger and thirst for more of Him. Meditation on the Word of God and contemplation of the character of Christ promotes that end. In the process He conforms us to the likeness of Christ until, we have attained the fullness of the stature of Christ, His life constantly imparted and His character reflected in our lives (2 Cor. 3:18).

Daily communion with Jesus is a certain way of overcoming sin in our lives. Our growth in grace and knowledge of Christ can never fail to promote the subjection of nature. Our natural man cannot endure the burning heat of the unclouded presence of Christ.

May our steady gaze upon Christ blind our hearts to the desires of the unregenerate life-style.

Oh, blessed day when the battle is over and we cease from our putting off and putting on and we are presented spotless in Christ “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortal.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

The Hand of the Lord

Even though it looks like evil is winning the hand of the Lord strikes quickly with no mercy. Then let’s see how arrogant they are. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Fix Your Thoughts On

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

I used to be tormented by demons ( if a reoccurring negative thought continues to torment you whether it is from past abuse or anything else it is demons tormenting you.

Do not be deceived.

They are real and they are smart .

Since praying to the Lord to send The Holy Spirit to free me from this mental torture now, whenever these thought comes, He gently but strongly just says: Stop it. Then He guides me to positive Bible verses about Jesus’ love for me.

This is not a one off occurrence but a daily one It is amazing how many negative thoughts bombard us every day and we are so used to them they control us unless The Holy Spirit frees us from them.

Of course we have to work with Him and stay away from sources of negativity like friends, music, movies and TV. Instead read your Bible, get Christian devotionals and read Christian books. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Prayer: I praise you Jehovah KalEl (voice of God Isaiah 30:21) for blessing me sending The Holy Spirit to stop me in my tracks when negative thoughts start to take root in my mind.

Thank you that the Holy gardener instead plants beautiful verses of Your love for me in my heart.

I praise You in the name of the most beautiful flower of them all, Jesus Christ. Amen

indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

Seleh- stop and think about it.

This photo and article @ Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah 2024

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it but it may not be sold without authors consent

As you think so too you are. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A GOOD SITE ON HOW TO DEAL WITH TOXIC PEOPLE AND GET HEALING IN A CHRISTIAN MANNER PLEASE GO TO https://www.youtube.com/@Kris_Reece/videos HER ADVICE HAS HELPED TREMENDOUSLY

Train Yourself to be Godly

What will it take in the Christian’s life to overcome broken resolutions and commitments?

It will be a great benefit to realize that there is no such thing as instant godliness. There are no “one minute,” thirty days, or “three easy steps” to a life of righteousness that pleases God. That is not the way God planned for our sanctification.

We are justified instantly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  But justification and sanctification are completely different.

We have spent a life time developing patterns of sinful attitudes, thinking and behaviors. These habits will not be broken and replaced with godly behavior and thinking without commitment and discipline.

The apostle Paul uses an athletic image to tell us we must discipline ourselves to live godly. “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Why is it so important? The next verse tells us “it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” It has immediate pay offs in this life, and eternal rewards.

Discipline is that determined effort on our part that corrects, molds and perfects the character of a person. Holy character does not come all at once, but over a lifetime.

This “discipline” is the training that is needed for the unhindered pursuit of God’s will and purposes.

Discipline puts into daily practice our commitment to live a godly life. It begins in the mind. “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

This inner transformation takes place as we memorize, meditate, and put into daily practice the precious truths of the Bible.

Old sinful habits and patterns of behavior and thinking are changed as we form new habits of obedience to the will of God. As we put these new attitudes and behaviors into practice over a period of time we form new patterns of thinking and behavior. It then becomes easier and easier to live a life that is pleasing to God. We are responsible to put into action a plan for daily Bible reading, study, prayer, etc. The Holy Spirit can then apply to our inner person the Scriptures we have learned. I cease to be amazed how He brings to my mind in time of need passages of Scripture or principles I have learned in the past. He gives us inner strength as He applies His Word to our daily life. We have to do our part by disciplining ourselves to study and meditate on the Word of God. If you will not discipline yourself to get into God’s Word you will not grow in Christ-likeness. No one else can do that for you.

Just as physical exercise is good for the body, the apostle Paul tells us our mind, emotions, will and spiritual life needs vigorous exercise as well. Just as the Greek athlete would discipline himself with vigorous exercise in order to win the athletic games, we are exhorted to exercise in such as way as to excel in godliness.

M. R. Vincent notes, “Godliness has promise for the present life because it has promise of the life which is to come. Only the life which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:1) is life indeed (1 Tim. 6:19).”

Are you training yourself toward the goal of true godliness? “The reason why we toil and struggle so hard is that we have set our hopes on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). That is what makes the effort on our part so worthwhile.

As we have stressed before, we live a life of obedience as we yield to the presence of the Holy Spirit. We must daily know Jesus Christ better if we are to grow in Christ-likeness. To know Him better we must feed our minds and nourish our faith in Him.

Are you training your soul in holiness? Are you in a determined pursuit of godliness in your own life?

When we keep in mind of the ultimate goal we realize the pursuit is worthwhile.

Our goal is the pursuit of holiness. It is nothing less than to be presented to God the Father whole and complete, perfect, in Jesus Christ.

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

The Day I Died

God takes sin seriously. Sin is a terrible thing in the Christian’s life. That is why God did not overlook sin, but dealt with it in one complete stroke of judgment by sending Christ to die for us on the cross.

Now that we have been saved by grace can we live any way we so please? Can we sin it up now that our fire insurance has been paid in full?

The apostle Paul responded to that arrogant attitude saying, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2).

We died to sin. “Died” is in aorist past tense, indicating a once for all death in a judicial sense. We legally died (vv. 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 18). It refers to a single action that has taken place and has been completed in the past.

The idea of our death to sin is basic in this great chapter, and is essential to the sanctification of all believers.

“We died to sin.” When did you die?

The apostle Paul does not say we are going to die to sin, or we are presently dying to sin. He does not say we are continually to die to sin. The apostle has in mind a completed past action.

We “have died” to sin is already true of us if we have entered into a vital union with Christ. Charles Hodge notes, “it refers to a specific act in our past history.”

The apostle Paul tells us there is a watershed, a before Christ and after he came into our lives. Before Christ describes the old man, the old self, what I was like before my conversion. The after Christ came in describes the new man, the new self, what my life has been like after I was made a new creation in Christ. The before Christ ended with the judicial death of the old self. I was a sinner. I deserved to die. I did die. I received my righteousness in my Substitute with whom I have become one. It describes my resurrection. My old life is finished, and a new life to God has begun.

Our continuing in sin is unthinkable says Paul because God by His grace took us from the position of being in Adam and transferred us into the kingdom of Christ. It is something God has already done. It is not something we do, or have done, but something God has done to us. We have been joined to Jesus Christ. The old life ended in that transaction, and a new life has begun at the same time.

In Romans 6:1-11 the apostle Paul compares our dying to sin to how Christ died to sin. Although He had never experienced personal sin, He died to sin by suffering its penalty on the cross. “The wages of sin is death.” He died as our substitute. He was punished for our sin in our place once for all on the cross. Jesus died to sin once for all. His relationship to sin is finished forever. By dying in our place on the cross He put an end to its claim upon us once for all. Jesus died. That will never happen again. It will never be repeated. It is a completed action in the past. Paul makes this emphatically clear in verses 9-10, “knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”

Moreover, Paul tells us that our old life of sin in Adam is over. We died. Just as Christ can never go back and die again, we can never go back to the old life in Adam. That part of our lives died. The result of our vital union with Christ in His death and resurrection is that our old life in Adam is past, over with, and we now have a new life in Christ.

Our life is divided into two parts at the point in which we believed on Christ and were born again. At a specific act in past history we accepted Christ as our Savior and we became new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

Can you point to a time in your life and see the change before and after Christ separated by the new birth? When we put our faith in Christ as our Savior and were born again the old self died through union with Christ and was buried. The penalty of our sins was paid in full by Christ’s atoning death. At the same time the believer rose again from death, a new person, to live a new life in Christ. We were crucified with Christ and rose with Him to new life.

We died to the life of sin. God counts the utterly perfect righteousness of the risen Christ as ours. He sees us risen in Him. We live a new life in Christ. The old one died, and it was buried.

Does your life have a dividing line marked Christ?

“O for a thousand tongues to sing. . .” the triumph of His grace in a thousand different languages!Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Custom Made by God

Our great God and Savior knows everything, is everywhere, and is all-powerful.

The LORD God knows me because He made me, and since He made me, I am responsible to Him for my actions.  That’s probably the biggest reason why people do not want to accept the fact that God created man.  But whether a person acknowledges the facts about creation or not, he or she will still have to answer to Him personally.

The Psalmist David observed that the LORD God “formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).  Our Creator not only created the first man Adam, but He continues to create.  There is not another person on the face of this earth with the same genes, DNA, and chromosomes.  I am a unique person, custom made by God for a specific purpose in history.  No one else can fulfill that purpose in history; no one else can fulfill my purpose.

God’s dealings with you and me are not a duplicate of His dealings with anyone else in time and space.  It is unique to me because I am unique.  There is no one else like me.  A person who wants to be something different from God’s purpose for him is like a cancer cell. We become like cancer cells in the body of Christ when we want to be like someone else and not what God wants us to be.  God deals with each child differently.  We do not trust Him when we ask that our experience duplicate someone else’s.  No one is inferior or unspiritual because his or her experience is not just like someone else’s.

Thank God that you are who you are. His resources have already been revealed in creating you.  “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14).  Have you thanked God for making you just the way you are?   “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them ” (Psalm 139:15-16).

I worship a God who knows me and is near me.  He created me for today.  There is only one me.  I am a pattern that God will never use again.  In all the time to come, there will never be another me.  I am somebody. I am a unique creation of God.  Therefore, I must be found doing the will of God.  My responsibility is not to seek the praise of men, but to be what God made me. 

Have you considered who you are in God’s eyes?  Have you in humility thanked Him for making you so wonderfully complex?  The Lord’s work is marvelous.

The Psalmist catches his breath and declares, “How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God!  How vast the sum of them!”  (v. 17).  “How weighty are your designs” (NAB). 

 “How immeasurable your concepts are” (R. K. Harrison). 

 “How hard it is to grasp your thoughts” (Jerusalem Bible). 

 “How deep I find Your thoughts” (NEB). 

 “How precious and weighty!” (Amplified Bible).

How odd that in our day the U. S. government and the politically correct no longer refer to the unborn child as a baby. The fact is no one likes to think about killing an unborn baby so it has been renamed a fetus or an embryo or human tissue. God said it is His creation fearfully and wonderfully made. It is a baby custom made by God.

The LORD said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Each one of us is custom made by God.

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

And Working in The

I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested going out and working in the garden. Boy was weeding ever easy. And, you should see how much the garlic is growing. This is Canada. We should be having two feet of snow now.

I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested mixing powdered bone broth soup, with the cats food in the morning and coconut oil and magnesium with their evening meal ( I buy coconut oil only in glass jars as the toxins from plastic are absorbed in the coconut ).

I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested getting my once a week Chinese food during the week instead of on Saturday because I do my grocery shopping while waiting for the food. Of course the weekend is always busy while the wee day usually is not ( except when the off shores are in ).

I am grateful The Holy Spirit reminded me not to get upset when Jezebel starts being a drama queen but to just shut my mouth and walk away. Another fight averted.