Dying to the old man, rising in the
new man
Being free from your past
Happy New
Year everyone, I pray you all are enjoying these first days of the New Year. I
know I am. When this year started I asked God to just give me a heart more like
his, give me a mind to be more obedient, to trust him more, and to serve him
more. In starting this New Year I want to challenge everyone to take a self
evaluation of your life. The people around you, the places you go, and the
things you do, and ask yourself. Is this glorifying God? God wants all of you
and in order for that to happen you have to die to yourself, die to that flesh
and rise in the spirit man, the man ready to do whatever it takes to get more
of God. This year doesn’t have to be like 2012, make a proclamation right now
to do whatever it takes to get more of God. Alright let’s get into this topic…
Before we
come to Christ or even sometimes in our walk with Christ we have this entire
set of conditions when it comes to serving God. God I want to serve you but, I
also want to have my little boyfriend on this side, God I want to serve you but
I want to still curse at people when I pop a attitude, God I want to serve you
but I still want to go to the club. What we are basically saying is God I want
to serve you and my flesh at the same time. This can’t happen. Either you are
serving God or the devil there is no in-between the bible says in Matthew 6:24:
”No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.”
What this
scripture is saying is that if we claim to love God we can’t be making excuses
to not serve him and to cling to the devil. Put that bottle down, let go of
that man or woman, stop lying, tell your girls you can’t go to the club and
start seeking more of God. Surround yourself with those who will help you grow,
go to more church activities, work on your relationship with God daily. It is a
process yes but there comes a point in time where you have to let all that mess
go. When you come to serve God whole-heartedly, you want to stop sinning
because you know that God hates sin and therefore you hate it too. You want to
please God so you die to your old self and rise up in your new man just as he
did. As Christians our mission on earth is to love one another, to be obedient
to God, and to spread the news of Jesus to others. We can’t do that if we look
just like the world, do what the worlds doing. We have to be transparent, we
have to be holy (set apart for God purpose), we have to die to our old desires
and get new ones.
I won’t go
verse by verse but in Colossians 3:1-17, Paul is discussing dying to the old
man and taking on the new one to the church of Colosse. In this first verse of
this chapter he starts by telling the church the following:
“If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God.” Colossians 3:1
What Paul is
saying is, IF (only if) you are risen with Christ (in the power of his resurrection),
THEN you will seek things that are above (think of eternity), meaning you will
take on the mind of Christ. If you say God I’m going to die to myself and rise
up in you, your saying just as you died and rose up in the spirit I have to die
and rise up in the spirit. You are telling your flesh it has to die, you are
telling your little boyfriend or girlfriend sorry I can’t kick it with you no
more, sorry we can’t fornicate any more because I know that’s only temporal and
in no way will benefit me for eternity. In this life we are just passing
through, all things we do now determine where we will spend eternity. So Paul
is saying keep your minds on eternity, keep the mind that Jesus has.
“Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2
What Paul is
saying here in verse 2 is don’t put your affection, do not put your caring;
your emotions into the things here on earth but rather the things of eternity.
We have to be kingdom minded, in all we do, how are we benefitting or keeping
out mind on the kingdom of God, on our eternity?
Then verse 3
tells us once we die our lives become hid in Christ, once we die, we seek God
more, pray more, fast more, go to church more, love on people more.
“For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
Why? Because
our lives are hid in God, we become more like the one whose presence we are
hiding in. Once we die to ourselves we just CANNOT be the same. This point is
stressed in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where it says:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Once you’ve
truly been in the presence of God all mighty, once you truly surrender to him
you cannot be the same, you just can’t. You become a totally new person, you
mind becomes like the mind that your Father has, you don’t want to do anything to
upset him, you just want to please him, to walk in him will and to give up
those things that compete for his throne in your life.
Through the
remaining verses in Colossians, Paul tells us to MORTIFY, put to death those
things unlike God and to put off the old man and his deeds. The old man is a
fornicator, a coveter, a blasphemer, a liar, and the list goes on. Verse 10
says:
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him:” Colossians 3:10
Just like the scripture from 2 Corinthians, Paul is stressing
that we have to put on a TOTALLY new image, and that’s the image of Christ! We
are to bear fruit of the spirit such as to be kind, humble, meek,
longsuffering, forgiving, and loving just as God is to us (his image). I
blogged on the fruit of the spirit here -> http://www.whichpathdoitake.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-fruit-is-on-your-tree-fruit-check.html
also check out Galatians 5:16-26
How would
you feel if when Jesus came to the earth, he had an attitude, he was
fornicating, lying to you, seriously how would you feel? Would you trust him?
Would you want to serve him? I think not. What if he popped an attitude when he
got on the cross and said God look I’m not doing this because I don’t want to
they don’t deserve this, they hurt me so why should I do this for them? Just
take a moment and imagine that. Then imagine how God feels when we do it to
him? When we put God on conditional terms? When we say God I’ll serve you if
you bless me financially instead of saying God I trust you to increase my
finances. When we say God I will serve you after I go to the club and have a
few drinks with my friends. How do you think that makes God feel?
God loves
you and he wants all of you but first he wants you to die to your flesh just as
he died. He wants you to stop bearing the fruits of the flesh and bear the
fruits of the spirit, to start living by his example and stop living by the
worlds. God requires us to change once we come to him. I encourage you to study
and meditate on Colossians 3:1-17, to ask God do I truly die to myself, do I
truly surrendering every area to you, is this person or that thing stopping me
from entering into my purpose? Sit down and really do a heart check. Sometimes
we get off track sometimes we make mistakes, but God is a God of forgiveness,
he is willing to forgive you but are you willing to do what it takes to make
sure you stay in his will? Are you willing to get rid of that man or that woman
you keep sleeping with? Are you willing to not entertain gossip? Are you
willing to pour that alcohol down the toilet? Are you willing? Truly ask God to
examine you and show you what needs to be taken away and then pray for him to
give you a mind to be obedient. It won’t be easy, you are going to get tested,
but God is always there to see you through.
I love you
all, keep walking in what the Lord has for you.
God loves
you and so do I!
Send prayer requests to: wpdit@yahoo.com
Send prayer requests to: wpdit@yahoo.com
Love, Tamika
“But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans
5:8
