I was reading a discussion on another site, to which I answered (although I wasn’t exactly invited to comment ;-p)  The biggest issue they were discussing was ‘Is a born-again Christian a sinner? Or a saint and without sin?  The reference scripture was Rom 8:10: “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life bcause of righteousness”

Well…

 The body (flesh) is dead because of the original sin of Adam and therefore our inherited sin. When you are born again, you receive a new divine nature.  The Word of God says in 2 Pet 1:4:

 ”Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

2 Cor 5:17 tells us that “… if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  When you are born again (in Christ), you become a new creature (creation).

Gal 6:15 says “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”  Being that new creation is the only thing that holds any weight, the only thing that can excercise any force… the only thing that will prevail (availeth ~ ischuō in Greek: From G2479; to have (or exercise) force (literally or figuratively): – be able, avail, can do ([-not]), could, be good, might, prevail, be of strength, be whole, + much work.

We now have the nature of God in us which is incorruptible (1 Pet 1:4, 23) and is housed in flesh with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).  Your body is what gves you the right to function here on earth, and is a gift from God.  It is a ‘temple’ but not the real you that God deals with.  You will need to differentiate between the three parts of each of us; the body, soul and spirit (1 Thess 5:23).  That ‘inner man’ (spirit) that Paul speaks about (Eph 3:16) is the one God deals with because He is Spirit (John 4:24).

To lay it all on the line, I feel the best way to show it to you is through Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Love and mighty blessing to you all…

Today there was such a great entry in the Rhapsody of Realities… “Put Your Fath To Work” written by Pastor Anita Oyakhilome.

The opening scripture is Hebrews 11:1 which is “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.  The Amplified says : “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].“

I just love that!  My faith is my proof, my evidence… my assurance.  People wonder how we can believe in something we may not neccessarily see ~ but we have proof, and our faith is that very evidence.  Notice in the amplified how it says the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].  Our faith perceives things that our five senses cannot, our faith perceives facts our physical senses are not sensitive enough to ‘tune into’.  Our faith connects us to the realities of the realm of the spirit (where all creation begins).

So if our faith is our ‘Title Deed’, there is no need to be passive any longer.  If you have something then acting passively and as though you do not seems foolish in a way.  Pastor Anita uses the example of James 2:17 which says “…faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone“.

So “… we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18).  We keep our focus and attention on the eternal  things of the spirit, because that is more real that what we can see with our eyes.  We live in the spirit and function in (walk by) faith… we are the children of God (Who is Spirit ~ John 4:24).

So if your faith is your evidence, proof, perception as real fact, confimation and title deed… how do we put our faith to work?

Pastor Anita puts it this way : “…if you truly believe God’s Word – that He is who He says He is, has done what He says He has done, and that you have what He says you have, then you must talk, act (behave) and live that way.” (parentheses mine).

We need to live the reality that what we receive by faith is more real than what we have in our hands.  We’re not pretending when we behave this way, we’re not trying to ‘attract’ something, we’re not trying to bluff ourselves in believing something by restrictng our actions, we’re not trying to convince ourselves… we’re simply walking in a higher reality, looking with the eyes of our spirits and walking by faith.

Put your faith to work… don’t stagger at the Word of God.  Your faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).

Take care, God bless you mightily!