PICTURE FROM http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/pages.asp?pageid=50730
I read in the message translation “self SACRIFICE is my way to finding your true self”. I also read “put off the old man and put on the new man created in the image of him who created it.”
The way this works in me is, well here is a example. Lets say my son Ben messed up my cd drive on my laptop (true story). Now my first reaction is to yell and be upset, saying things that make my boy upset as well. However since I have learned about Christ and his burden removing, yoke destroying power of God. So right away I “put on Christ” through faith. I draw from the vine. By trusting Christ right away in this little crisis I activate the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” that supercedes and inactivates the “law of the sin and death.” Kinda like how the law of lift on a airplane supercedes the law of gravity. About Christ it says “living in you as you trust in him”, so I am trusting, right now when I need it. What happens is I “tap into” Christ through that trust and am very calm with my boy. I explain to him how to use the cd rom, how he should call me to help if he has trouble. I don’t yell, no mean tones. Wow now thats living right. What a gift this is. No more evil me and I can be the kind of dad I always wanted to be. Not in my own strength but through the strength of trusting Christ. These are spiritual laws and they work just like the law of gravity or thermodynamics. Turns out that as I go with this that God wants me to live by trusting Christ all the time not just when I am in crisis. Christ becomes my self control and my wisdom. The Annointing has broken my “yoke”.
This goes along with abide in me and you will produce good fruit. I now also understand what Paul says when he says “I die daily”. He also said I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me. So now I can be a good person and no longer moved about by my flesh. Jesus said I have to give up my life to save it and if I cling to it I would lose it. So now I know what this means. “AS YOU RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS SO WALK YE IN HIM. It says to those that recieved him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to those that believe in his name. So we have power to be able to be good, no longer just having to follow rules. (the law leads to death)
When I was in sunday school I was told a lot of stuff I could do adn stuff I couldn’t. I tried to play that game but found I would mess it up and do bad stuff anyway. Then later when I really wanted to know how this worked I read romans 6, 7, 8. I found out it wasn’t up to me to be good, but that I had help. I could trust Jesus to be good in me. That ended the frustration of trying to be good by myself. The power to be good is through trusting Christ
It sounds like God has unlocked your heart and is helping you to plant the seeds in your son to produce equally good fruit.
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