Rosie1Rose

Any ruling power is only in power as long as its citizens obey it. In earthly terms when coups occur it is because the citizens have chosen to obey another ruler. In sin's terms it can only reign in my life as I choose to obey it. When I give my allegiance to Christ, I choose to obey another ruler and sin's reign is over.

I am to know with complete confidence that Jesus' death on the Cross broke the power of my old sin self and all sinful habits. I claim the promise of being dead to sin and alive to God and repent of sinful strongholds that have not been demolished in my life. I AM A NEW CREATION.

When Jesus was crucified, He took all my sins past, present and future on Himself and took the punishment. In baptism I became crucified with Jesus and my old self was crucified and left dead in the water - grave. Its a bit like being haunted by a phantom, because it once had power, my old sin self thinks it still has power It doesn't, it is dead. To quote Jesus on the Cross - IT IS FINISHED. Temptation is a whisper from my past, I might fall and sin occasionally, but I do not listen to or follow it. I AM NO LONGER A SLAVE TO SIN BUT TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

Paul is referring to an actual spiritual death - the death of our old selves and the recreation of our new selves. In some way I don't fully understand, in baptism spiritually I join Christ on the cross, I die with Him, am resurrected with Him and will reign with Him in Heaven. I cannot see how it can be theological mumbo-jumbo when I see the reality in my life. I do not need to know how it works, to know that it does. It's like I was asleep but am now awake, was dead but am now more fully alive than I have ever been.

In going under the water I am uniting in Christ's burial and killing my old life. In rising from the water I am uniting in Christ's resurrection and entering my new life. My old life is dead and buried; I am a new creation, living solely for Jesus.

Baptism brings about my union with Christ because in going under the water I die with Him and in rising from the water I become resurrected with Him. IT IS NOT I THAT LIVES BUT CHRIST CRUCIFIED IN ME. Baptism is a physical representation of the spiritual death and life I undergo in Jesus. How I wish I could have understood this at the time of my baptism.

I move from the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ when I accept Him as my Saviour and am baptised. ALL I NEED TO DO IS ACCEPT THAT JESUS DIED FOR MY SINS AND ASK HIM INTO MY LIFE AS LORD AND SAVIOUR. Once I have done that I no longer live controlled by my earthly desires, but learn to live controlled by the Holy Spirit. See colossians chap 3

Adam was the first created human. From him comes all human kind. Christ was the first Spiritual man. Born of a virgin, He broke Adam's line and became the first of God's Sons. As our first Spiritual man, Jesus needed to negate Adam's sin and lead us into a right relationship with God. His death is only effective if we become a spiritual man through accepting it. Through Adam I am a human being; through Jesus I am a spiritual being. Through Adam, I am a sinner condemned to death. Through Jesus I am forgiven and restored to the original relationship with God.

I love the examples given both about the child and cookies and the fantasy thoughts. While there was wrong doing before the Law, it was not counted as sin because there was no Law against it. The Law was given that we might know what sin is, that once we have turned to Jesus, we would know how to live holy lives. Some one said that only christians can sin, because non believers have not come under the Law. I would now dispute this and say that God has written His Name in Creation and written His Law in our hearts. We all sin whether we are believers or non believers.

I can think of many examples, some already mentioned, families, nations, businesses. God has put on my heart peer pressure and gang membership. How many of our young folk lose their way to Jesus in their teen years because of needing to belong to or fit in with their friends. Often there is no safe way out of the gangs, initiation rites tie them in so tightly. They scream out in silent need and live in fear, their lives ruled by the gang leader or friendship group. LET'S ENCOURAGE THEM TO JOIN JESUS' GANG

Reconciliation means turning from being God's enemy to being His Friend. It is being allowed into a right relationship with Him. Reconciliation is the only way to having a relationship with God and having my sins forgiven and forgotten. Jesus life, He lives in me, keeps me in right relationship with God and enables me to live my life as God intends me to.

Jesus died for me when I was at my absolute worse. I can never be that bad again while I am truly seeking to follow Him. Therefore NOTHING I do now can SEPARATE me from Jesus - NO sin is that bad IT IS LIES FROM THE DEVIL. THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE

I am not to rejoice about my sufferings, it insults God. If my child dies, I am allowed to grieve, to be angry, to feel all the emotions Jesus felt. But I am to rejoice that through them, my faith muscles are strengthened and it brings me closer to God. Perseverance gives me stickability and stronger faith and trust in God. Tried character gives the aroma of Christ to a dying world. They see the difference as I respond not react to my circumstances. Hope gives me joy, keeps me believing.

Abraham was counted right with God because He believed in Him. We are counted right with God because we believe Jesus died for our sins. My belief in the death of Jesus as a sacrifice for my sins causes me to be counted right - justified- with God. To be justified means that God looks at me through the Blood of Jesus and sees me as righteous, pure and holy.

While Jesus was physically killed by the Roman soldiers, Pharisees, Saducees and others at the time, the responsibility lies with each and every one of us. God knew before He even started, that the angels would fall, thus man would fall, and He would need to come to Earth to be crucified. In accepting Jesus' death as atonement for our sin, we take responsibility for our part in His crucifixion. For every sin since then, the accidental ones, the deliberate ones and the ones we don't know we do Jesus prays Forgive ....... for he/she doesn't know what he/she does.

Verse 11 in the Good News Bible states 'to HIM be the POWER for ever! Amen. Praise God that at this moment when spiritually I am struggling and weak, I need no Power of my own, but that which God gives me, which never fails, fades or runs out.

Peter urges us to be vigilant, to never let our guard down. To have a firm foundation in our faith - it helps to know what we believe in and why - memorise Bible verses. To stand firm against temptation, even the minor, everyone else, temptations. To be able to recognise temptation, we need to know what God considers sin. TO KNOW WE ARE NOT IN THIS ALONE. To acquire spiritual friends who will help keep us strong. Eph 6:10-17, gives us more detail, not to do it in our strength, but to put on God's armour. To recognise it as a spiritual battle To use truth, righteousness, evangelism, faith and salvation as our weapons and above all else to pray, at all times; in all places; for all situations.

I love Pickledilly's likeness to a thermometer. You are instantly filled with the Holy Spirit when you become a Christian, but how you CHOOSE to live your life affects how effective He can be and how fruitful I can be. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is an ongoing command in several places in the Bible. I need every day to be filled anew with the Spirit, to be surrendered to Him and to remain in Him.

Somewhere it talks about taking EVERY thought captive to the glory of God. The battle starts in the mind. By allowing God to renew my mind I am allowing Him to transform me. By focussing on God and filling my mind with His praises and memorising Scripture, I allow the Holy Spirit to work within me and I get to know the mind of God

Obedience to the Law cannot save us because it has no power. The weak link is our sinful selves whereby saying no increases the desire to do it. To save us we need a saviour, one who can fulfil the law and obey its commands.

If we are not taught about the devil or spiritual warfare, then we are open and vulnerable to attack. Ignorance in warfare is dangerous. We need to be aware of the devil without seeing demonic activity around every corner or blaming it for something that is our sin. We need discerment and Godly knowledge. While the verse tells us to be on the alert for his attacks, interestingly Peter says to be self controlled and alert. If we are focused on Jesus and not giving in to our flesh, then we can stand strong. We can resist and stand firm in our faith. We are warned to be aware of him NOT to be scared of him.

2 Tim 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I have a choice on how to deal with fear and worry. I can believe the promise in 2 Tim 1:7 and use it to obey 1 Pet 5:7 or I can choose to call God a liar and carry my burdens on my own. There is another promise that I think is in Jeremiah where God promises to carry my burden. I am called to serve God and do good works. I can't do that if my mind is cluttered with rubbish. I am learning this slowly, but I am CHOOSING to obey God and refuse the devil and his negativity room in my life.

I always thought Paul was talking about himself after his conversion. Recent events have led me to become sharply aware of my flesh self - 2 years old, kicking and screaming for it's own way, and my spirit self, mature and ready to sell out for God. In this battle these words have become living words of flame for me. For as long as I draw breath on this earth I will always battle the way Paul is battling. Sometimes I will be victorious, sometimes I won't, but this much I know, I will stick in there and battle until I go home to Jesus. He won the war, i am just finishing off a few already won battles. Yes we can walk in victory, but we are inherently sinful and as Paul said it will never be easy to do what is right because it is against human nature. Every battle fought won or lost for Jesus produces more fruit and Christlikeness in our lives and marks us as His own.

I struggle with knowing my sinfulness and unworthiness before God. I find it frightening and awesome that despite the ugliness of myself He finds me special, worthy and valuable. Jesus Blood gives me back the identity and relationship that Adam destroyed. God sees me as the original perfect being He created me to be. I always thought I was an ok sort of person, but recent events have shown me just how devious and 'self-full' I really am. People need to know that they are ok, decent and really not that bad. Telling them they are sinful, attacks their identity and they need to know their true identity in God. I find it hard to find the balance between glorying in my sinfulness and telling myself I am not really that bad.

The only true way is accountability before God through Church Elders. I knew a Pastor without Elders and he made some seriously damaging decisions. With Elders, you have a sounding board, people who care, who will pray and fast and correct you when you are wrong. If a pastor is not willing to come under the guidance and authority of his elders then you have to question whether he is truly under God's authority. Leadership in Church has to be carried out under God's authority whether we think He is right or not. If there is a silence, we wait for an answer or search ourselves for sin. Look at the Old Testament to see the problem of choosing leaders outside of God's guidance and authority