OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - WEDNESDAY - 22/1/2014 - NEW LIFE IN JESUS I BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

NEW LIFE IN JESUS I

MEMORISE

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

READ

Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

MESSAGE

No doubt, there are lot of things that Apostle Paul wrote which are hard to fathom. How can somebody be crucified and yet be alive? A crucified fellow is bound to die; but in Galatians 2:20, Paul says

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live”.

What he is saying here is that ‘the man that I used to be is dead: the fornicator is dead; the liar is dead; that man who used to be angry is dead; that man who used to defraud is dead; the man with the unforgiving spirit is dead; thank God, that man on the way to hell is dead; now I am going to heaven; I am a brand new creature’.

What message is Apostle Paul trying to convey when he says: “I am crucified”? What really does he mean when he says: “Christ is living in me”? When we become born-again, the Bible says we become brand new creatures in Jesus Christ. Quite a lot of things change when we become born-again; all of them are inward things which later reflect on the outside. Assuming you attend a church service and you become born-again during the service, if you came in as a black fellow, you would still leave as a black fellow. After salvation, the colour of your skin does not change and you don’t grow taller or shorter. However, inwardly, certain things have changed. Your spirit now is in communion with God. Your spirit man that was dead before is now alive; but you are still living in the same body. The devil will try as much as possible to use that body to drag you back to his ways, but you must not give in. I pray that you will not backslide in Jesus’ Name. It is now your duty to keep on renewing your mind to keep the cravings of your body under the control of your spirit. You need to keep reminding your mind and body that your flesh has been crucified. Apostle Paul writing in Galatians 5:24 said:

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

There are certain things that the body loves to do and it is eager to do them all the time. Many will claim that they are already crucified with Christ, but their stomach is still their lord. For instance, if a fasting period of seven days is declared, many people will be very sad. Why will they be sad? It is because almost immediately, their stomachs will start rumbling in agitation: “What are you trying to do? Do you want to starve me and deny me food?” That is the flesh grumbling and crying out. What you must do at that moment is to silence the flesh, declaring by faith that it has been crucified, thus bringing it under and subjecting it to the dictates of the Spirit.

ACTION POINT

Decide as from today, which day(s) of the week you will be fasting. This is one way of bringing your body under subjection to the Spirit.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

1 Timothy 1-6; 

Psalm 21