2 Cor 5 v 17.... "For if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone & the new has come"
Talking with a friend the other day who's really struggling; it's hard to see. She's broken free of some destructive influences in her life lately but is really experiencing attack. She said that she feels she needs to be 'born again again'. All her sin keeps making her feel a 'bad' Christian etc... She is so aware that she has made, what the world (or, in fact, the church?!) would call big mistakes, since being saved. (Can't get through to her on the basis that God doesn't see them as 'bigger' sins... )
And I recently discovered that someone else who, in their early Christian walk were full of joy & led by the Lord in everything, but then fell under legalistic teaching and 'lost' their freedom for a while, with major affect on her life. What about that?
It made me think about the mystery of gradually overcoming & gaining freedom from strongholds - which for me has only been in the last couple of years. After years of being a Christian.
How come, then, 2 Cor 5 v 17 says the old has 'gone'? Well - I noticed, when I'm telling this truth to myself, the emphasis seems to naturally fall on the second part of the sentence - 'the new has come'. (I mean, emphasis not by me, by the Holy Spirit). It's doesn't have to be (or seem) a contradiction for anyone. The old may be go-ing (something expressed in other parts of the NT...) but the new has come! It takes us a while to get there - but the victory is THERE for us already.
Dave Holden (in Battle for the Mind) mentions vulnerable areas in his thought life, certain ways of thinking that continued for years after becoming a Christian.
Karen Burton Mains "Being born again …. is an event which is the catalyst for a process … some seared & barren fields are forever being discovered, then harrowed & furrowed to yield produce"
And then of course we have an enemy who is constantly battling for our minds & aiming to set us back in our walk. Bringing us back 'under law' where we feel we can never quite get it right and have a full and free relationship with our heavenly Father - that's what he's aiming for surely.
Whether it's through guilt /sin or wrong teaching or whatever.
"Satan doesn't want to give way without a fight, there is a battle on, he has dominated your thinking... he knows your weak spots, he knows where you have surrendered ground to him - & he's built strongholds there" (D Holden)
Corrie Ten Boom talkes about disobedience breaking the "circle of God's protection" so Satan can attack that weak area to oppress & harras us in it.
S Gaukroger mentioned compromises that, with each one, cause us to "step a little further back into the shadows" (& therefore, inherently, away from God's light & truth)
What I'm realising more & more is - that it's all for our own good. All that teaching about how we should be living as Christians - is for US first and foremost. When we get it wrong - we just give the enemy more leeway to target us with bitterness, unhappiness or regret; guilt and condemnation.
Knowing the truth and renewing our minds with it just has to be the key. You may need some kind of ministry of course; whether it's in church during worship (through which I've been tremendously blessed in recent months) or praying with friends & on your own. All of these at different times in my life, have caused 'strongholds to come tumbling down'.
But then it's a matter of walking in the freedom that we've gained. That's why I was so chuffed when I discovered the Freedom in Christ ministry with it's emphasis on biblical truths as the basis for inner healing - knowing God's word and speaking it out in faith.
DH says - Ministry may be needed, but it's also up to self discipline and filling our minds with God's truths ... rather than concentrating on the lie;
KNOWING the right thoughts - God's word
AGREEING with God
For you will know the truth and the truth will set you free - (John 8 v 32)
Worthy
9 hours ago
