Since
the fall of Adam and Eve, man’s relationship with God was disconnected. God is
a spirit and man can only in contact with God thru the spirit of man (his
heart). In Genesis 2:7, when the Lord God formed man, God breathed into his
nostrils, which mean God gave his Spirit to man, then man became a living soul.
I
was born in a Christian family. A
family who consistently attended church and diligently followed many of church
programs. My family has a good reputation, quite a well-known family in their
ethnic group because my grandpa was a preacher. People honored my grandfather
and grandmother in their hometown. Well,
it is not only because I have a good background, but also I love the Lord and I
honestly believe the bible in my heart. I
still kept my bible that I used in 1974 in the drawer.
I have put many colors on the bible, many scriptures were underlined, and
a lot of important scriptures were already marked.
If people meet me, they will immediately notice that I am a Christian,
meaning I am a follower of Christ.
I found out in the dictionary the meaning of “follower”: someone who follows another, his beliefs, a cause, or the like, a follower of Jesus Christ. Honestly, at that time, I was not suitable for that predicate. I became Christian because it is an ascending believes from my ancestor. My parents were Christian, they told me to attend the Sunday school and suggested me to attend church activities. I was left with no choice but to follow family’s custom and tradition. In case my family believes another prophet, surely I’d do the same.
Now,
let’s get back to my old bible, where there are many, many scriptures already
colored. I have memorized (in my
head) many scriptures, I know and I am familiar with many others, but those
scriptures were not in my heart. Therefore,
what I did was contrary to the word of God.
How could that happen? I
quickly said that I understood when I heard the word of God, but when I got home
from the service, the word vanished. It
was like studying History, Geography at school, when we were graduated, within
months the memory was gone from our mind.
But
everything was changed after I was born again.
After I invited Jesus to come into my heart to be my Lord and my Savior
(Romans 10:9-10). Well, this is
awkward, me who is a Christian since birth, should do such a thing.
You may question in your heart, “What kind of teaching is this, is this
a false teaching?” Do not jump
into conclusion, continue reading, don’t go, the blessing is waiting for you.
Jesus
says to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enters the second time into his
mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.
Water is a symbol of the word (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary,
page 668).
It
was the beginning of the new spirit; I became a perfect spirit man, born of God
(Ezekiel 36:26-27; 1 John 5:1). The
result of inviting Jesus into my heart, I was given a new heart (formerly it was
a dead spirit man, because of the fall of Adam and Eve). At the same
time, the Spirit of the Trinity God came also into my heart. Now, with the new
heart, I am able to communicate with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Glory to
God! A perfect spirit man, born of
God, is all that we need. All power and wisdom is in us. It is great!!
There
is peace in our new spirit, which creates desires to read the bible. The
beginning of a born again man, is to make a decision to follow the new spirit
man not the old man, the flesh. The
new man’s desire is to read the bible, not to follow the flesh, the old man,
who wants to do carnal thing such as watching TV, reading some pornography
magazine etc.
I
made a decision to follow the desires of my spirit man, I began reading the
word, because the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh. (John 1:1,14).
The word became as light, I can fully and clearly understand it. I started to imagine, to meditate the word, so that the word
is engrafted in my heart. That is
the beginning of the process of metamorphosis, from caterpillar to chrysalis,
and to butterfly.
As
anew born baby, the first feeding is only milk, then progressing to biscuit,
porridge before he can take rice or potato. Babies are helpless; they are
depending on other. The
process from a baby to toddler, is try to crawl, learn to stand, walking step by
step, firmly walking and at the end running.
No one can skip the process; some can do quicker, and some slower.
The process in the natural is a copy of what is going on in the spirit
realm. The same is with the
development of our spirit man.
We
are feeding the natural man. We
keep the body healthy, continue exercise physically, so that our body become
strong not weak. We should apply the same process to our spirit man.
We have to feed him, exercising to become strong, and mature, and of
course with spiritual food, the word of God.
We should do it with discipline, constant, continually, diligently.
Without proper food, do not ever dream that we can have a mature spirit
man. You cannot count the spiritual
growth by very often come to church, attend all kind of church activities or
become an intercessor. The
efficient and effective way for spiritual growth, is that the book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and
night, as written in Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. The Holy Spirit (in us) is
our teacher, John 14:16 and the anointing in you will teach you, 1 John 1:27.
The
word says, “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And
be not conformed to this world: but be ye transform by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, will of
God”, Romans 12:2-3.
The
word renewing your mind, means the old mind is renew by the mind of Christ,
which is the word. We dispose the old mind.
This is the lifestyle of saints, a process that never end until
“rapture” or we leave this world to be with the Lord. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, ”therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new”.
Brother
and sister, I am not only talking, but I do everything that I wrote, and I felt
changes and freedom in my life. I
defeated my flesh. The flesh wants
to watch TV, go to malls, to the movie or gossiping.
I instructed my emotion and my will to submit to my spirit man, who is
hunger and thirsty of its food. I
overcome many opportunities trying me to back off, praise God!
It takes action, and we have to do it.
We cannot ask the pastor or priest to pray for us, or anoint us with oil
or praying for us with all kind of prayers.
All of that is marvelous, but those activities absolutely cannot renew
your mind.
Test
yourself, where you are, are we still bearing the carnal mind or new mind.
Without meditating the word of God, we will always comeback to the same
problem. Smith Wigglesworth, an
apostle of faith says: “check where you are, if you are on the same place as
yesterday, that means we are backsliding.”
God
allow me to mingle with people, to see, to hear and to have some experiences
among Gods people and I can tell, who have renewing their mind and who have not.
It needs action not church activities.
If not we will be trapped into religious activities.
We should stand as The apostle Paul who very boldly says: “but we have
the mind of Christ” (1 Cor.2:16).
It
is not an easy process. It is not some things that we cannot do, but it needs extra
effort, consistency, willingness to make a change: fed up with family problem,
tired of being broke, tired of always be in lack, rebellious children etc.
We have tried the recipe world people gave to overcome the problem, we
pray, fasting, but it is still the same problems. It seems that the life that we
undergo, is different than what the bible say.
Then we say word to comfort ourselves that we will have a good life in
heaven. Everybody knows that, sinner or believer.
The important thing is how do you live now, on the earth, how do you
undergo it. We then pray asking the
Lord to comeback soon, because we are tired of our problem.
Why
do not try the best and a very effective recipe, never fail, guarantee for
success. Do you want to know?
I assure to follow Matthew 6:33, ”seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Brother
and sister, I know the Lord, and the Lord know me (John 10:3).
All the promises in the bible is ya and amen, cause He is God who cannot
lie (Titus 1:2). Quit trying with
your own understanding, cause you will face dead end.
Do not waste your time, next is following Proverb 3:5-6, “Trust in the
Lord with all thine hearat; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”.
Then,
we do as written in 1 Peter 5:7,”casting all your care upon him; for he careth
for you”. Make a quality decision
to cast all your worries, what ever it is: husband, wife, children, financial,
job, girl/boy friend – to Him, after we cast all our worries, do not take it
back! Otherwise He cannot perform.
Anxieties, worries are in your mind, and it is not from God.
If not from God, then it must be from the devil.
Every good thing comes from God. Stop
trying to help God!!
Very
often we do it, because we need instant answer to our problem, and we think if
we cast our care to God, it will take some time for the result, while the needs
is now. Think for a moment, how
many times have we make God as our servant, we ask Him to do this and that, we
ask this and that, we ask Him to be a “watcher” for us. We are instructing Him, right??
The
next step is, ”Be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10).
God will do his part, while we are doing our part, which is meditating
the Word of God.
Brother
and sister, we will have all the promises written in the manual book, the Bible,
to enjoy our life now, on the earth, not in heaven.
For most of the reader the news is a shock, because many of those who
called “Christians”, do not know that they could enjoy the blessing now, on
the earth. We have been deceit by
the devil, and that is enough.
There
are many Christian families separated, dysfunctional, broken, with rebellious
children. Now, we dare to stand
firm and say to the devil, that his time is over. It is time to arise and to
take over all of our possession from the devil; everything that he has robbed
from our grandparents and parents. This
is the time! Now is our turn to
bankrupt the devil, we will take everything that belongs to us.
The
devil controls the economic and financial system of the world.
And due to lack of knowledge we cannot get and enjoy the promises.
Therefore, there are plenty of poor children of God.
To
preach the gospel to the whole world needs a lot of money.
Poverty in the body of Christ, stagnate the spreading of the gospel,
while Jesus gave the disciples the great commission (read Matthew 28:19-20, Mark
16:15). The devil prevents the
children of God to know the covenant promise, so that they cannot claim their
right.
He is able to do more than you can think or pray (Ephesians 3:20), even eye had not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God prepared for them that love him (1 Cor.2:9). We can have those promises, if we only renew our mind, so that we can see things thru the eye of Christ. Starting now to renew your mind, do not delay it. Begin to benefit the all the heavenly blessing now, in this life.