Understanding my identity in Christ is absolutely essential in order to deal with the past or the future.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer
Galatians 2:20 is a statement of truth to be believed; not a standard to be achieved. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live BY FAITH IS BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD. I live, yet I don't live, yet I do live --??
What does that actually mean to me in my practical, everyday life?
This is the overwhelming thought that suddenly flashed into my mind early one morning some years ago. Because I am dead, having been crucified with Christ, I will never have a wrong thought, word or deed which originates from me. This really shook me because I have many wrong thoughts, words and deeds.
Romans 6:6-7 Loosed from the power of sin
Romans 6:11 Dead to sin
Romans 6:12 Let not sin rule as king to make you yield
Romans 7:15 *confusion - I do what I condemn and don't do what I approve
Romans 7:17-20 It is not I, but sin
Romans 7:23 Because habits, appetites, thought patterns, etc. of the flesh, have long been engrained in me, they respond to the temptation to sin.
Instead of laying a burden of guilt on myself, I need to recognize the Arch Deceiver. It is Satan who suggests the sin with all kinds of plausible rationalizations and it is Satan who bitterly accuses me if I yield. This is where our God-like power of choice comes in. God does not tempt us but by the right choices we make when tempted, God enables us to turn the natural into the spiritual.
If I see myself as an up and down, usually failing Christian, if I am always down on myself, then I have bought into Satan's lies and given him a foothold. If I recognize that every wrong thought originates with Satan and not with me, then I will be down on Satan and then I can freely exercise my authority in Christ to reject this defeated foe and all his wiles. I have been transferred out of the control of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Colossians 1:13).
Therefore, Satan has no dominion over me but I have authority in Christ over him. Satan was disarmed at the Cross and the only power he has against me is the power I give him when I let him deceive me. I can take every thought captive and make it obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5); I can reject, refuse, repudiate every lie of the devil because of my unchallengeable, unshakeable, unchangeable position in Christ (Ephesians 1:2-3). That position is a glorious life of "not I but Christ" and I never have to yield to Satan's deceptive attempts to make it a miserable life of "not I but sin." It has to be Christ or sin. No matter how good it may look, whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). I think that someday we will realize with awed thanksgiving, the great and high and holy privilege of choice. The Omniscient knew all that would happen when He conferred this honour of free choice on angels and mankind; and He thought that it was still all worth it. Praise to the Lord, Who has so, blessed, elevated and trusted us!
A breakthrough in truth: Whenever I'm tempted to use the wrong food at the wrong time for the wrong reason, as a comfort, etc., even though I know it's wrong, I've always related it to the loneliness and rejection of the past when food was often my only comfort.
(That was when we had food; sometimes we didn't, which could be wrongly viewed as an option to further self-pity.) But now I see this as a complete deception. There can be no true link between past hurt and present temptation because I am dead. Habitual appetites may respond in the same way but it is Satan's lie that I am powerless or that poor me might as well have at least this bit of comfort or enjoyment. The guilt that follows is also his deceptive work. I need to see that all inclination to wrong is the Liar attempting to seduce me and then blame me. He can never force me. I have the choice, the authority, the power, in Christ over him. There is no satisfaction in food, pornography, self-righteousness or anything else. There is no satisfaction for the believer except in the Lord Jesus Christ because He is our LIFE, a Life free of the pain of failure and guilt.
I can see how Satan traps sincere believers. When a wrong thought assails our mind, often the very next thought is, "What kind of a rotten person am I to have thoughts like this?" Not recognizing that this thought, too, comes from the devil, we immediately begin to condemn ourselves. Having in this way already given a foothold to his lies, we keep falling, blaming ourselves and feeling guilty. Sometimes we blame God for not coming through for us. We blame ourselves and/or we blame God; and the Deceiver chalks up another victory. Victory lies not in more power but in more TRUTH. The victorious response to a wrong thought, is:
"That thought didn't come from God because He is holy.
That thought didn't come from me because I am dead.
So it had to come from the devil.
I submit to God and I resist you, Satan. Get out!
The chorus of a hymn says,
Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails.
You might as well "Get thee behind me, Satan,
you cannot prevail,"
Because Jesus never fails.
Satan is a liar and a deceiver from the beginning. He goes about as an angel of light to deceive us. If that fails, he goes about as a roaring lion to frighten us. And he never stops accusing us. Let's stop listening to his lies.
Our greatest need is to permeate every aspect of our lives with TRUTH.
We've been tricked into believing that what we do makes us what we are. Who I am is not determined by what I do but what I do is determined by who I am.
It is important to understand that my old nature has been removed by spiritual circumcision (Colossians 2:11) and I am a partaker of God's Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
For several years, thanks to the gracious enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, I have understood the LIFE side of Galatians 2:20, that the Christian Life is not a set of rules or a standard of behaviour; it is a Person, Jesus Christ living His life through me. I think I could have explained the DEATH side rightly and Scripturally. But early that morning, years ago, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind one flashing, piercing, sentence and with it came freedom. I find more and more that I need to dwell on the "big things" of God. Why did Jesus die? Surely He did not suffer physical, emotional, mental and spiritual anguish and death in order to take my sinful nature to the grave, only to bring it to life again! For years I'd been taught that believers have two natures, the old and the new.
I was never comfortable with the idea of a "who knows who will win tug of war" between the devil and the Holy Spirit. Through years of study I cannot accept this theory at all. Consider Adam in his human perfection in the magnificent world yet untainted by sin. How did he suddenly acquire an extra nature, a sin nature? No, he had one, beautiful human nature, as Jesus had thousands of years later. When Adam CHOSE to sin, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn, his human spirit died and his nature fell into total depravity. Now think of Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ." When I was born again, which part of me died by this crucifixion? Not my body -- I'm still here. Not my spirit which had been dead (Ephsians.2:1) but came alive by the blessing of Abraham (Galatians 3:14), the restoration of the Holy Spirit to my human spirit.
When I was buried with Christ (Colossians 2:11-13) the whole, corrupt, carnal nature (which was subject to God's wrath Ephesians 2:3), was stripped off by spiritual circumcision and left behind in the tomb. Now risen to new LIFE in Christ alone, I have become a partaker of the Divine nature and received everything necessary for victorious life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4). The old has gone, the new has come -- I am a totally new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). I have been crucified with Christ.
Everything I inherited from fallen Adam has been left behind in the tomb. With the second Adam I have been raised in newness of LIFE.
Jesus is the only One Who ever did or ever can live the life which pleases God. If He is not living His life in and through me, then, no matter how my life appears, it is simply not the Christian Life.
Understanding my identity in Christ is absolutely essential to my success in the Christian Life. I cannot consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with the way I perceive myself.
Understanding my identity in Christ is absolutely essential in order to deal with the past or the future.
God will not force us to walk in the Spirit.
Satan cannot force us to walk in the flesh.
We have all the authority IN CHRIST!
Now I can live in the freedom of death and the victory of Resurrection Life.
Whether I do or not is my choice.