More on the “Re-Programming” of our souls

Last week we looked in Romans 6 how our old sinful natures (the old man) was crucified, died, and was buried with Christ at the moment we ask Jesus to save us from our sinfulness. Once the new nature of the Lord Jesus Christ (the new man), is living inside us, we naturally want to do what is right and good and please God in our spiritual natures, but in our souls we are used to the old ways.

Therefore, from the day of our salvation, the goal, the challenge, the job so to speak is to re-program the old ways in our souls to mirror our new natures. 2 Corinthians 3:18 states this clearly in saying, “And we all, who have that veil removed (sinful nature) can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit – continues to transform us into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Now - let me revert back to the Book of Romans to illustrate this, after I shared two stories with you.

When I met the Lord at the age of 23, I had smoked for about 6 years. I knew how bad it was the whole time, but just did not take it seriously. I got saved (born-again) in May and immediately knew what I should do with my Marlboros, but I was in such a habit of smoking, I just continued to light up. About 3 months later, I was in a Toyota Dealership getting the oil changed in my brand new Celica. There were no smoking restrictions back then, so I decided to light one up in their waiting room. As soon as I had it in my mouth, this vision of Jesus Christ lighting up a Marlboro came into my mind, so vividly I choked on the smoke and felt sick. I put the cigarette out, threw my new package of Marlboros in the trash, and never touched another one. That was the new nature of Jesus Christ inside of me, transforming one of my old physical habits and patterns, and conforming it to His image. Jesus never smoked and nor would He if cigarettes would have been around then. Now, He continues to do the same thing (in all of His children/Disciples) with other old patterns or habits, whether they be physical, mental, emotional, or intellectual – for the rest of our lives. His presence in our spirits will not be silent or passive.

Years ago, as I was going from house to house sharing Christ with neighbors, I met a man who had just retired from the US Post Office after 50 years of service. He had the same rural route for the entire 50 years and he knew everyone and loved it. Then his retirement day came. They had a party and celebrated with him. He drove home for the last time, ate dinner with his wife, and went to bed as unusual. That first morning after retirement, he woke up at his normal time, put his uniform on, ate breakfast, and drove to work. About half way to the post office, he remembered how he retired yesterday. He literally asked himself what he was doing and where he was going. Then he turned around and drove back home. He told me he had to begin transforming all of those previous work habits into retirement activities (that were in harmony with his retirement freedom). My point being, he was now free from his work at the post office and he could now to do anything he wanted with his time. You, as a new creation in Christ, are now free from your old life and ways as a sinful person (you are a retired sinner). Little by little, day by day, you will be able to transform those old ways and habits, and enjoy your new life with Christ.

Romans 6:7: But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:17: But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Romans 7:5-6: For while we were in the flesh (the sinful nature), the sinful passions were aroused by the Law and were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound (the sinful nature), so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Romans 8:5-9: Those who live in the flesh (the sinful nature), have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in the Spirit (the nature of Christ) have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh (the sinful nature), is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh (the sinful nature), is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

If you still had the old man (sinful nature), you would not be a child of God (no matter how religious). If you still had the old man (sinful nature), you could never please God. You would actually be hostile to God and would never submit to His ways.

BUT…the wonderful news is that if you have experienced the death and burial of the old man (through your co-crucifixion with Christ), then you were freed and made pure from the sinful nature and have become slaves to Christ (and the righteous desires of Christ) and now your natural desires are to do what is right and pleasing to God.

So one way the devil or demons can get you to sin is by projecting wrong thoughts or desires into your mind or imagination and then trying to make you believe you still want or need to do those things from the old life. Or to put it another way, demonic forces imitate or emulate the thoughts and ideas and imaginations and the habits (patterns) of your old man (the way you used to think, feel, imagine, etc…as a lost person), wanting you to believe you are still sinful and really don’t have any moral or spiritual freedom at all. If you were really free, why would you still think, feel, or imagine things like this? BUT - this is such a deception, like Satan asking Eve if God really did mean she could not eat the forbidden fruit or suggesting to Eve how God was just trying to hold her back from true freedom and really living the life.

Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that a large part of spiritual warfare is rejecting any and every thought, idea, or concept that does not spring from the nature and mind of Christ living in us (after our conversion). Paul said, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”.

ILLUSTRATION: In 1858 the slaves in Jamaica were set free. The night they were liberated a large mahogany coffin was made and a grave was dug. Into that coffin the liberated slaves threw the reminders of their former life of slavery, which were whips, torture irons, large hats, fragments of a `treadmill, and handcuffs. Then the lid of the coffin was screwed down. At the stroke of midnight the coffin was lowered into the grave and buried. Then the liberated natives sang the doxology.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

They practiced 2 Corinthians 10:5 and demolished every argument and every pretense that they were still slaves and buried those remnants forever and started living as free men and women.

To check every thought at the door of our minds or imaginations takes real discipline and practice. When any idea or thought first comes into our minds, the Holy Spirit will bear witness (confirm) if that thought came from the mind of Christ or not. If it did - embrace it. If it did not - reject it and move on.

This is doing what Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”. Renew your mind one thought or idea or concept at a time by taking that thought captive (evaluating it or giving the Holy Spirit time to bear witness with it or not).

In so doing, you are testing it and letting the Holy Spirit approve this thought or idea to confirm if it is good and pleasing and within God’s perfect will (according to the mind of Christ)….Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:16). Do you realize you have the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ living inside of you?

God does not want you as His child to see yourself as “SINFUL”, because you are not. As we addressed earlier, your salvation is in your spirit, spiritual growth and maturity occurs in your soul (our soulish activities). You and I, as children of God, can still blow it (so to speak) by failing to live up to the light and knowledge we have in Christ (we call that sin) or by going too far in something, beyond what God allows (one of His holy limitations….we call that a trespass) or becoming stubborn (the Bible calls that iniquity….we know what He wants and we resist it for some false reasoning). BUT we cannot blame this on our old man or our old sinful nature, when it is really the struggle to grow in our souls. In the end, we have no excuse.

Christians are commanded not to sin and don’t have to. God would never command us to do something we are not capable of doing as His children or command us not do something we cannot control. So – we never have to sin. If we do sin in our souls, we don’t lose the salvation in our spirits. When you or I sin (as Christians), it is so much worse than a lost person who sins, because that lost person still has their sinful nature….but we don’t.

When we do fail, it exposes one of two things. Either we have seen a part of our soul (mind, will, emotions, attitudes, etc..) that has not been re-programmed yet - according to the mind of Christ or we have fallen for one of Satan’s deceptions, where he emulated our old man and made us think we really did want to do this or do that. So, we confess it and forsake it and keep walking with the Lord in the process of transforming our souls (spiritual growth and maturity).

As we continue to grow in our conscious realization that we are one with Christ in our spirit natures, then our souls will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our souls will continue to mirror more and more what is in our spirits….the holiness and righteousness and purity of Christ. A story from the life of Queen Victoria’s childhood illustrates the concept of learning to live in the fullness of our sainthood (our oneness with Christ).

She did not realize who she was and that she was in line for the throne of England. As her teachers and tutors tried to prepare her for her future, they became frustrated, because they could not motivate her. She just would not take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to share with her that one day she would become the Queen of England. When she heard this, Victoria quietly replied, “Then I will be good”. The realization of who she was and the high calling she had inherited gave her an overwhelming sense of responsibility and motivated her life from then on even at her young age. Would not the same thing happen to every Christian who fully realized who they are in Jesus Christ and the high calling they have inherited?

Ephesians 1:18: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.

Yours in Christ,
Gene

PS: For much more on these topics, please see my first book called “How To Experience Your Oneness With Christ” found at https://genegobble.com. The whole book is devoted to these concepts.