Bible Reading: Isaiah 29-30; Ephesians 6
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”– Corinthians 5:17.
This verse of scripture reveals how God sees the person who receives Jesus as Lord and Savior. It says “ANYONE,” that is IN Christ regardless of where he/she is coming from is automatically a new creation – a brand new species of being that has never existed before. This isn’t a promise that is going to happen after you’ve lived in a particular way and changed some things, rather it is a bible fact that must be received and believed.
God sees the believer as a new creation and the believer must see himself/herself as a new creation IN Christ and walk in the ‘consciousness’ of it in order to live victoriously.
The devil is a master strategist at keeping believers bound in guilt and condemnation. He would try to always remind you of your past; what you have done wrong and why you don’t merit and deserve God’s love and His best.
The moment he succeeds at keeping you trapped in guilt and condemnation he knows he can cripple your faith and weaken your confidence in approaching God. This is the reason some believers fail.
Apostle Paul before his conversion was a man who troubled the church. He persecuted and killed a lot of Christians. A notable case was that of Stephen as recorded in Acts 7:57- 60. After his experience on the road of Damascus, he got born again and God called him into the ministry. Many people knew his past and the havoc he caused the very church he was now a part of but he understood that if a person is IN Christ, then that person is a new creature without a past according to 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Stop thinking and dwelling on your past because it no longer exists before God. Looking at your past will keep you struggling and going back to the things you have been delivered from. Stop living in the past! To experience and enjoy the new life of victory, you have to reject the past and see yourself as a new creation regardless of what you’ve done.
When the devil comes to make you feel bad, guilty or condemned about your past, just throw your hands up in the air and tell him, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about, I’m no longer a criminal, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.” because you are one indeed.
Prayer: Father, thank you for my salvation through Christ, forgiving my past, and making me a new creature.