“But”, you might say “what if I struggle to resist sin?” The first thing to think about, is that in ourselves, we do not have power to overcome sin. But when you make Jesus your Lord, He will make you a new creature. “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It also must be pointed out though it is true we have received and have an inherited sinful natute through our first parents Adam & Eve onwards, yet what Jesus has powerfully delivered us from our wilfull perpetual habitual sins when we were lost in rebellion living in ways contrary to God's truths we then don't have to go back like a dog returning to its own vomit.
When Jesus makes us new creations in Him it is so radical, transformational, powerful and evidential. What Jesus did by his own life death resurrection and ascension leads us to such profound Godly sorrow. We are cut at heart!
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24 Matthew 25 Luke 13:22
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “ *Lord, will those who are saved be few* ?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
What Jesus has done is so amazing why would we want to undermine it in any way? By saying to people they can't be more than conquerors but Instead are indeed able to overcome wilfull sinning because all things are possible to the one who believes.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! *How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life* . 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 *We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him* . 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 *So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus* . 12 *Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness* . 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 *But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness* . 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now *present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification* . 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 *But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord* .
1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 *Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God* . 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
*For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment* and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has *profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace* ? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 *but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked* .
Ephesians 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that *you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ* !— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your *former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness* . 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
So that you may *live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people* in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:10-14
Amen! It's truly the miraculous outworking of Jesus in our lives, how we live as reborn new creations in Christ Jesus matters not only to our Heavenly father but should matter to us as well.
Sadly many don't want a very interpersonal set apart intimate relationship with their very Creator or with Jesus. There are many who have a form of godliness but deny & reject the true power of God that can make them Godly. They live their lives for self, & their self will, not for God's will, never discovering nor wanting to get to know what is upon the heart and mind of God & all He asks of those in covenant relationship with Him.
We are to be utterly consumed by Jesus turning all our hearts & lives over to him, renewing our minds in Him & our abba, father, forsaking all others. The enticements and entrapments of holding on to a public image of worldly agendas, ideologies, philosophies, fashions and understandings is still not completely dying to sin, to our flesh or to the world, or to satan. It Is not completely putting off our 'old man/woman', your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self. Putting on the new, him who is renewed unto the knowledge of the image of him that created him. God. (Eph 4:22-24)
The growing process of walking in spiritually maturing in Him. This is something Heavenly father, Jesus & the Holy spirit personally teaches those willing to submit, to abba father, Almighty true God. It is Jesus & His spirit whom convicts us and He humbles us into all understanding and obedience and brings forth Himself in us, it is a supernatural process enabled and empowered by the very person of Jesus Christ Himself. If we can't or stubbornly rebelliously refuse to give up the things of satans alluring system or the sins of our flesh we are primed to easily be taken captive into allowing satans kingdom to dominate in our lives and into taking the mark of the beast. Many already are identifying whose mark they have upon their foreheads, & right hand and actually who and what prevails over & in their minds thoughts & hearts and lives daily through their actions.
Whom they truly submit to and who their true father is. Many may identify as Christian yet they are of their father the devil.
When I had my spiritual rebirth and God's Holy spirit came to dwell in my spirit Jesus wasted no time in the transformation & sanctification process. Of renewing my mind & many things were immediate overt and obvious the 'big' fleshly worldly behaviours and sins as mentioned in Galatians 5, I was brought to my knees in heart stricken pain of repentance and Godly sorrow and with shame and guilt with much outcry & tears and sobbing for the various sins, mistakes, failures, asking for forgiveness & just the fact I was conceived with inherited sin, the sins I had engaged in and done & how I had deeply hurt my Creator father's heart & lived for my selfish desires & self will & for having been a lover of self & self pleasures, and other people I had hurt through having been careless unthinking & focusing only on self, even as a child then as an adult when I hadn't honoured my own father and mother but had been rebellious, and disobedient to their wisdom. Jesus delivered me from smoking 150 cigarettes a day! He delivered me from fornication, from idols, from the cravings for physical pleasure, a craving for everything of the lusts & enticements desires of this world, and pride in my own achievements. All these things are not from the Father, but are from this world.
He stopped me being at enmity with Him & from being his enemy by no longer being a friend of & with the world. He snatched me out of the grip of satans hand and system of influences & of thought.
Jesus said to me there are only two ways, two paths in this life, satans or His & I had to choose. I did cry as I realised what it meant to truly count the cost in following Jesus in my life and all the things I was willing to give up to make Him Lord in and over my entire life. Understanding His amazing grace even now makese completely undone.
His sanctification & purification process is still ongoing as it gets more finely tuned & adapted as it just gets & goes deeper & more profound. He still is purifying me many years later of the 'little' sins those dark parts of my soul of the flesh that wants to raise its ugly head in either wrong thinking, or wrong responses that are not humble, that are not fully bringing forth the fruits of God's Holy spirit. Learning to be content even in what seems very difficult extenuating circumstances, or to not engage in complaining, or moaning which is sinful, or having self pity, not going completely to my cross even in my thoughts when enemies are being hateful, cruel, ending up wallowing in sadness or hurt & any areas that are still not yielding or submitting to Heavenly fathers will or how He needs me to respond to others from the spirit and from the fruits of the spirit cutting away any & all fleshly ways of being that still need to die be destroyed and completely eradicated.
Looking at the author & perfecter of my faith Jesus, learning & observing so deeply from Him and how he was so incredibly selfless. He refused to employ on his own behalf the power He shared with God. His was a fixed determination never to use His powers to call upon Heavenly father to secure His own safety or agrandizement, nor in order to beat down the resistance of unbelief. Delivering others from the crushing bondage of the weight of nature all creation having been subject to futility. Yet Jesus was willing to be subject to it's heaviest laws.
Christ Jesus never performed miracles simply to display His power, nor to astonish people. He always used His power to aid and relieve the needy. We never find Jesus working a single miracle on his own behalf. He turned water into wine just for the gladness and joy of a marriage feast, he asked the woman at the well to give him a drink of water & when he was dying He depended upon the bystanders to assuage His thirst. He will provide an ample meal for multitudes as they listened all day to his soul inspiring messages, but would not convert the stones of the wilderness into bread to satisfy his own hunger. Though Himself wonderful (Is 9:6) & claiming to be the life (John 14:6) & raising the dead. He appeared to be helpless in His encounter with death. Enriching others, He elected to remain impoverished.
And I just think wow! I am truly humbled to the very core and the floor, absolutely realising my total inadequacies and how I sincerely need our Saviour Jesus Christ in each and every moment and that I can do nothing of my own initiative or in my own strength or power,
I have no power, strength, etc, everything always comes from Him! I am just His instrument & vessel to work and to will His good pleasure. Understanding there are still areas in my life where I'm still responding in my flesh and not completely by and through His spirit. Those parts of my emotional self, of my self mind, of self will.
I have discovered His transformational process it is also a supernatural empowering enabling by and through the power of the Holy spirit & Jesus and His grace, not merely a religious rhetoric but all that are Jesus' have been imbued and imparted the power to make us Godly. Where we keep growing and maturing, to be recreated in to Jesus' image and likeness. To replicate His character nature person & authority. To become the sons and daughters Heavenly father is raising us up to be. He the potter and we the clay in His hands as he sculpts us. Jesus being the first fruit of many. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Phil 3:12-14
It also must be pointed out though it is true we have received and have an inherited sinful natute through our first parents Adam & Eve onwards, yet what Jesus has powerfully delivered us from our wilfull perpetual habitual sins when we were lost in rebellion living in ways contrary to God's truths we then don't have to go back like a dog returning to its own vomit.
When Jesus makes us new creations in Him it is so radical, transformational, powerful and evidential. What Jesus did by his own life death resurrection and ascension leads us to such profound Godly sorrow. We are cut at heart!
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24 Matthew 25 Luke 13:22
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “ *Lord, will those who are saved be few* ?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
What Jesus has done is so amazing why would we want to undermine it in any way? By saying to people they can't be more than conquerors but Instead are indeed able to overcome wilfull sinning because all things are possible to the one who believes.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! *How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life* . 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 *We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him* . 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 *So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus* . 12 *Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness* . 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 *But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness* . 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now *present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification* . 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 *But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord* .
1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 *Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God* . 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
*For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment* and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has *profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace* ? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 *but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked* .
Ephesians 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that *you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ* !— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your *former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness* . 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
So that you may *live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people* in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:10-14
Amen! It's truly the miraculous outworking of Jesus in our lives, how we live as reborn new creations in Christ Jesus matters not only to our Heavenly father but should matter to us as well.
Sadly many don't want a very interpersonal set apart intimate relationship with their very Creator or with Jesus. There are many who have a form of godliness but deny & reject the true power of God that can make them Godly. They live their lives for self, & their self will, not for God's will, never discovering nor wanting to get to know what is upon the heart and mind of God & all He asks of those in covenant relationship with Him.
We are to be utterly consumed by Jesus turning all our hearts & lives over to him, renewing our minds in Him & our abba, father, forsaking all others. The enticements and entrapments of holding on to a public image of worldly agendas, ideologies, philosophies, fashions and understandings is still not completely dying to sin, to our flesh or to the world, or to satan. It Is not completely putting off our 'old man/woman', your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self. Putting on the new, him who is renewed unto the knowledge of the image of him that created him. God. (Eph 4:22-24)
The growing process of walking in spiritually maturing in Him. This is something Heavenly father, Jesus & the Holy spirit personally teaches those willing to submit, to abba father, Almighty true God. It is Jesus & His spirit whom convicts us and He humbles us into all understanding and obedience and brings forth Himself in us, it is a supernatural process enabled and empowered by the very person of Jesus Christ Himself. If we can't or stubbornly rebelliously refuse to give up the things of satans alluring system or the sins of our flesh we are primed to easily be taken captive into allowing satans kingdom to dominate in our lives and into taking the mark of the beast. Many already are identifying whose mark they have upon their foreheads, & right hand and actually who and what prevails over & in their minds thoughts & hearts and lives daily through their actions.
Whom they truly submit to and who their true father is. Many may identify as Christian yet they are of their father the devil.
When I had my spiritual rebirth and God's Holy spirit came to dwell in my spirit Jesus wasted no time in the transformation & sanctification process. Of renewing my mind & many things were immediate overt and obvious the 'big' fleshly worldly behaviours and sins as mentioned in Galatians 5, I was brought to my knees in heart stricken pain of repentance and Godly sorrow and with shame and guilt with much outcry & tears and sobbing for the various sins, mistakes, failures, asking for forgiveness & just the fact I was conceived with inherited sin, the sins I had engaged in and done & how I had deeply hurt my Creator father's heart & lived for my selfish desires & self will & for having been a lover of self & self pleasures, and other people I had hurt through having been careless unthinking & focusing only on self, even as a child then as an adult when I hadn't honoured my own father and mother but had been rebellious, and disobedient to their wisdom. Jesus delivered me from smoking 150 cigarettes a day! He delivered me from fornication, from idols, from the cravings for physical pleasure, a craving for everything of the lusts & enticements desires of this world, and pride in my own achievements. All these things are not from the Father, but are from this world.
He stopped me being at enmity with Him & from being his enemy by no longer being a friend of & with the world. He snatched me out of the grip of satans hand and system of influences & of thought.
Jesus said to me there are only two ways, two paths in this life, satans or His & I had to choose. I did cry as I realised what it meant to truly count the cost in following Jesus in my life and all the things I was willing to give up to make Him Lord in and over my entire life. Understanding His amazing grace even now makese completely undone.
His sanctification & purification process is still ongoing as it gets more finely tuned & adapted as it just gets & goes deeper & more profound. He still is purifying me many years later of the 'little' sins those dark parts of my soul of the flesh that wants to raise its ugly head in either wrong thinking, or wrong responses that are not humble, that are not fully bringing forth the fruits of God's Holy spirit. Learning to be content even in what seems very difficult extenuating circumstances, or to not engage in complaining, or moaning which is sinful, or having self pity, not going completely to my cross even in my thoughts when enemies are being hateful, cruel, ending up wallowing in sadness or hurt & any areas that are still not yielding or submitting to Heavenly fathers will or how He needs me to respond to others from the spirit and from the fruits of the spirit cutting away any & all fleshly ways of being that still need to die be destroyed and completely eradicated.
Looking at the author & perfecter of my faith Jesus, learning & observing so deeply from Him and how he was so incredibly selfless. He refused to employ on his own behalf the power He shared with God. His was a fixed determination never to use His powers to call upon Heavenly father to secure His own safety or agrandizement, nor in order to beat down the resistance of unbelief. Delivering others from the crushing bondage of the weight of nature all creation having been subject to futility. Yet Jesus was willing to be subject to it's heaviest laws.
Christ Jesus never performed miracles simply to display His power, nor to astonish people. He always used His power to aid and relieve the needy. We never find Jesus working a single miracle on his own behalf. He turned water into wine just for the gladness and joy of a marriage feast, he asked the woman at the well to give him a drink of water & when he was dying He depended upon the bystanders to assuage His thirst. He will provide an ample meal for multitudes as they listened all day to his soul inspiring messages, but would not convert the stones of the wilderness into bread to satisfy his own hunger. Though Himself wonderful (Is 9:6) & claiming to be the life (John 14:6) & raising the dead. He appeared to be helpless in His encounter with death. Enriching others, He elected to remain impoverished.
And I just think wow! I am truly humbled to the very core and the floor, absolutely realising my total inadequacies and how I sincerely need our Saviour Jesus Christ in each and every moment and that I can do nothing of my own initiative or in my own strength or power,
I have no power, strength, etc, everything always comes from Him! I am just His instrument & vessel to work and to will His good pleasure. Understanding there are still areas in my life where I'm still responding in my flesh and not completely by and through His spirit. Those parts of my emotional self, of my self mind, of self will.
I have discovered His transformational process it is also a supernatural empowering enabling by and through the power of the Holy spirit & Jesus and His grace, not merely a religious rhetoric but all that are Jesus' have been imbued and imparted the power to make us Godly. Where we keep growing and maturing, to be recreated in to Jesus' image and likeness. To replicate His character nature person & authority. To become the sons and daughters Heavenly father is raising us up to be. He the potter and we the clay in His hands as he sculpts us. Jesus being the first fruit of many. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Phil 3:12-14