Three times the same word has been brought up this week. First in the message Pastor preached on Sunday. In a powerful illustration Pastor said whether being applauded or denigrated : dead men don’t /cant react.
We were reviewing the word in our cell group last night – chewing it over, chewing it over . Many of us sharing our own personal experience of being under attack and having to put /keep the ‘old man’ down….!
I shared how Pastor’s message really opened my eyes to how we ought to ‘consider ourselves as dead’. I know the scripture well, but it had been the first time that I had a new revelation and caught something tangible of how to practically work it out, as a believer. I reasoned and reckon that when Christ died , I died. When i was baptised (30 years ago..), the old Linda got buried. It is a new person living in me and through me and I have the mind of Christ.
I am now reclining on my bed at the start of the weekend and I say to myself , I will finish my book ‘A call to courage’ by Michal Goll which i had started in the week. The first random page I turn to says :
‘Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 6:11. The author is writing about Bertha Smith who had been on the front lines in 70 years plus of successful revival and healing ministry. Part of her mantra was ‘you cant consecrate the old self, you have to assign it to death’. Smith encountered many personal , societal, institutional, cultural , spiritual and denominational battles as a missionary to China and overcame . This included her own personal , physical healing through the level of faith she had.
I would say (as Apostle Paul would and wrote) the old self has already been assigned to death. When he died, we died , when he rose, we rose and are seated with him in heavenly places. There is no more you or I but Christ. But we cant live unless we have died , that is, completely confessed and surrendered everything (including wanting to retaliate following offence), to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
May we stay dead to sin so that we might truly live.
Prayer
My prayer for you and for myself is that we not only catch but hold onto the power of life through death. That we begin to live out the life through the acknowledgement of the exchange that has already taken place on the cross. May we realise that the old man (the old you and the old me) is buried , dead, cant react, cant hear, cant feel, and that we are a new creation in Jesus Christ. He too was tempted on all points and succeeded in his earthly life and without sin.
We declare through prayer that :
Our thoughts are the thoughts of Christ. We think like him and behave like him.
Old things are past away and behold we are brand new.
It is a brand new me walking and breathing singing songs of Zion.
It is a brand new me/us responding in ways that only Christ would.
Praying that the Christ in us, continues to be the hope of glory.
Praying that we continue to grow in grace and that this wonderful grace (the essence of Him) abound more and more .
Asking Him to fill up our new wine skins (our body, soul and spirit) with newness and richness of life.
As we abide in him and He in us, may the fullness of the Godhead been seen in us, bodily….
My brothers and my sisters :
May the old man (and all he ever stood for) never surface.
No more face on or face offs or one upmanships.
No more cruel jibes, cunning or manipulation.
No more secret sin, gossip or malice.
In times of need, may each consider each other before ourselves
Let us put each other first.
May we shine like the Son of God with grace on our lips and healings in our wings.
Because He bids me write and pray
Prayer Evangelist Linda J
Copyright May 2018