New Creation

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.

Confession:

I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  Therefore, I am in Christ.  I am in the Anointed One, and I am carrying His anointing (power, ability).  He gave it to me.  He has made me a new creature.  I am a new creation.  I am literally a new person.  I am a new species of being.  There is now another species on this earth—-Christian—-and I am that new species.  I am a Christian.  I am a new creature.  I am new.  The old things have passed away.  They are gone.  ALL things are become new in my life.  I am a new being.  I am a God being, with His attributes and qualities.  I am in Him.  I am no longer my own.  My old self is gone.  He and I are one.  We are one now.  I am united with Him.  He is in me.  I am in Him.  We are one.  We’ve been blended together.  All people see is a Christian.  I am yielding to Him so that people will see Jesus Christ and not me.

God Created Me

Job 33:4, Amplified Bible

[It is] the Spirit of God that made me [which has stirred me up], and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life [which inspires me].

Personalized Confession:

Holy Spirit of God, You have made me.  You created me from the foundation of the world.  You saw my every cell before You ever created me.  You saw my eyes and ears and all the parts of my body.  You saw the way I would speak and act and live in this world.  Thank You that You created me.  I am so grateful for my birth.  I am even more grateful for my new birth in You.  I am born of the Spirit of God.  God is my Father.  Almighty God, You are my Father.  You are the One Who gives me life.  You are the One Who breathed the breath of life into me and I became a living being.  How totally wonderful that You breathed Your life into me.  Now I live, not by my own power, but by Yours.  Your might, Your power and strength are mine because I am born of You.  Almighty God, You are my God.  I have Your life flowing through me.  That flow of life is abundantly supplying me with strength and vigor and power.  Your breath has given me life.

The Lord Is My Confidence

Proverbs 3:26, Amplified Bible

For the Lord shall be your confidence, firm and strong, and shall keep your foot from being caught [in a trap or some hidden danger].

Personalized Confession

Lord, You are the One Who is my confidence.  You give me confidence.  I put my confidence in You.  You are immovable and strong and mighty.  That is the reason I can be strong and immovable.  I place my confidence in your strength, in your might.  That makes me immovable and steadfast and keeps me from fear.  You are in charge of my life.  You keep me from being trapped by satan.  You reveal to me any dangers that are hidden to me.  Everything that is hidden is revealed to me by the Holy Spirit.  Sweet Spirit of God, thank You for protecting me and keeping me.  I am so grateful and thankful to You for Your keeping power.  You are my confidence, firm and strong.

The Lord’s Counsel

Psalm 32:7,8 Amplified Bible

You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Psalm 33:11

The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Personalized Confession:

Lord, You are my hiding place.  I rest in your secret place, the place of the Most High God.  I abide, I rest in you.  You preserve me from trouble.  When trouble comes, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.  I will bless You, Lord, and sing songs of praise to you and shout until the walls of trouble come down.  Yes, You deliver me.

Thank You, Lord, that you will instruct me and teach me in the way that I should go.  You will guide me in the path of life that I am supposed to take.  Your perfect will is done in my life.  You counsel me—-it is Your counsel that I hear and obey—-with your eye ever watching my footsteps.  You keep me in Your pathway that you have designed for me.  It is a pathway of peace and joy.  In You there is life forevermore.  Your counsel stands forever.  Your thoughts are ever toward me and my family forever.

By Grace, Through Faith

Ephesians 2:6-10, Amplified Bible

And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith.  And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God.

Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast.  [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself].

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned before hand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

Most of us know this scripture in Ephesians 2:6-10.  Have we really, truly taken a look at it to understand what this means for us personally.  Let’s do that for a moment here today.

God Almighty, Father of Glory, our own dear heavenly Father has made His whole kingdom available for us as His children.  Everything He has is ours.  Why did He do this?  Because of His intense love for us, He has extended His grace, His all in all, to us.  All we have to do is accept it—-that is faith.

Faith takes what has been given to it.  Faith is an action word.  We act on what we believe.  That is faith.  What is God saying to us?  I have already planned a good life for you to live.  It is ready; it is available for you; it is already there, planned beforehand, for you to walk in it.  You are delivered from the ravages of this world system and satan’s control because of God’s grace and because of your faith, which actually is His faith imparted to you.  It is a win-win situation.  Let’s enjoy the grace of God which is extended to us every day.  His mercies are new every morning.  That means:  NEW!  I’m going to enjoy a new day every day with my Father.  How about you?

God Of Peace

1 Thessalonians 5:23,24, Amplified Bible

And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

Faithful is He who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and he will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].

Let’s look at the meaning of words in this scripture reference and see what we are focusing on in our verses for today.

PEACE:  To join, one, prosperity, quietness, rest, deliverance and freedom from all the distresses experienced as a result of sin.

SANCTIFY:  To withdraw from fellowship with the world by first gaining fellowship with God.

PROFANE:  Impure, unholy, defiled

PRESERVED:  To guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon; to keep from destruction or decay; defend from evil; protect, save, keep intact.

INTACT:  Untouched by anything that harms or defiles, left complete

SOUND:  Free from flaw, healthy, not weak or diseased, firm, strong, safe, robust of body and mind.

COMPLETE:  Filled up with no part lacking

BLAMELESS:  Without fault, free from fault

Here is our confession of these verses with all the understanding we have of the words now.  This is actually an all-inclusive scripture.  It touches on everything that involves us.  This scripture is a powerful one to meditate every day for your life.

And may the God of peace (freedom from all the distresses experienced as a result of sin) sanctify me through and through, separate me from fellowship with the world, (profane, impure things) into fellowship with Him.

May my spirit, soul and body be preserved (guarded from loss or injury, because God has His eye upon me to protect me and keep me untouched by anything that harms).  My spirit, soul and body are kept free from flaw.  They are healthy and not weak or diseased.  They are strong.  They will be found blameless, free from fault at the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ.  I am complete, filled up with no part lacking.

Faithful is He Who is calling me to Himself.  He is worthy to be believed.  He is steadfast to His Word.  He is utterly trustworthy.  He will fulfill His call on my life by hallowing and keeping me.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Today is a day which is all about love between two people.  Cards are exchanged.  Candy and flowers are bought by the armloads.  Restaurants are full of couples celebrating the day of love as they spend time together.  For so many people, it is simply another day where they pretend that everything is OK in their lives.  It is a dream unattainable in their estimation.  People get hurt.  They are disappointed with one another.  Bitter words are exchanged many times.  Human love eventually wears thin.  That is understandable.  As the old expression goes for churches, so it also goes for marriage.  When you have more than one person in a relationship, you have the potential for problems.

Love is a beautiful thing when God is intertwined in it with two people.  There are so many facets to His love that life is never boring, always exciting as we discover new beauty in our loved one.  The Lord causes us to see the strengths and goodness of our loved ones.  He causes us to find no fault in the other one.  The problem is that human love fails after a short period of time.  In any relationship, there comes a point in time when people look at one another and there is not the spark there used to be.  What happened to it?  There is a better way to have a relationship of love.  It is when God is the third person in the relationship.  His love never ends, never fails, never wears out.  His love is not temporary.  His love is the same forever, never bending to circumstances or time.  When we are hooked to Him, we are hooked to the greatest love in the universe.  His love makes our love for one another the greatest love in the universe because we choose to look at each other through His eyes.

On the dresser in my husband’s and my bedroom is a plaque to remind us that love is forever and includes God in the equation always.   Marriage:  A successful triangle between a man, a woman and God.

I know 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is a passage of scripture which is used over and over where love is concerned, but nothing can top it.  I am going to read it from the Amplified Bible and from the New Living Translation.  If we will put these words into actions in our relationships and not just talk about it, we will live days of heaven on earth.

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.  It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.  Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking,; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].  It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.  Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].  Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].

Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  Love will last forever….

Know this of a certainty:  GOD’S LOVE IN US NEVER FAILS!

We have inherited everything that our Heavenly Father has and is.  It is His good pleasure and delight to give us our inheritance.  Unlike earthly inheritances, our inheritance from our Heavenly Father is not subject to change.  It is beyond the reach of change

Incorruptible Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-5, KJV and Amplified Bible

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who by His abundant, boundless mercy has begotten us.  We have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

We are born anew into an INHERITANCE INCORRUPTIBLE and undefiled, an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay, an inheritance which is imperishable,  This inheritance is reserved in heaven for us.

We are kept, guarded, garrisoned by God’s power through our faith until we fully inherit that final salvation that is ready to be revealed for us in the last time.

We have inherited everything that our Heavenly Father has and is.  It is His good pleasure and delight to give us our inheritance.  Unlike earthly inheritances, our inheritance from our Heavenly Father is not subject to change.  It is beyond the reach of change.  I like that.  What my Father has given me is there, never changing.  All I have to do to access it is say:  “Yes, I believe I receive that.  That is mine.  I take it now.”  Your mouth signs on the dotted line for you in God’s Kingdom.

Incorruptible

1 Peter 1:18,19,23

Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever.

You and I as God’s children have been redeemed from the vain, sinful way of living on this earth.  The price paid for our redemption is the precious, incorruptible blood of Jesus.

We are born again, born to a new life in Jesus, by the incorruptible Word of God which lives eternally and abides or stays forever.

What does it mean to be redeemed?  What has happened to us because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood?

Let’s go to the dictionary and Strong’s Concordance and understand what has taken place in our lives as a result of the blood of Jesus Christ being shed.  To redeem means:  To purchase back; to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying an equivalent; purchased and brought into the possession of; to ransom.

Let’s also define the word “ransom.”  It means to redeem, rescue or deliver from the possession of an enemy or bring prisoners out of bondage who were kept by their enemies by paying a price deemed equivalent.

I see from all these definitions that the precious blood of Jesus Christ was shed to rescue us from satan’s bondage to the fear of death and from his captivity of us in darkness.  Not only were we rescued, but also we were delivered into God’s Kingdom, to live victorious lives in His presence while we are here on this earth.  Victory begins here, not when we all get to heaven.  Our dear Heavenly Father wants us to have and enjoy life to the fullest while we are here on this earth.  In fact, He does tell us in this passage in John 10:10 that He wants us to enjoy that life to overflowing, in abundance (Col. 1:13; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 2:14,15; 2 Tim. 2:25,26).

Finally, we see that we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God.

Incorruptible:  Cannot be changed or perverted from a pure, sound state; cannot be broken, separated or dissolved.

SO, we can say it like this:

I have been redeemed (rescued and delivered from satan’s captivity and bondage) with the incorruptible (not capable of change) blood of Jesus and born again by the incorruptible Word of God which lives and abides forever.

There is no change in God or the blood of Jesus or the Word of God.  They are the same yesterday, today and forever.  In us, they are the same yesterday, today and forever.  The blood and the Word mean what they say and say what they mean.  The same Truth of the Word of God is a fact in each of our lives.