By Ken Fletcher
“Believers. Presently, in this life, we have 2 natures. The soul, which is spirit, created in Christ, and the fallen nature that is all too apparant. The key is to have our spirit being in control of our fallen nature part that is in contact with a fallen realm.
You, my believer friend, are perfect! Created in Christ Jesus. I said, you. You are your soul. And you have a spirit body right now. So, in reality, you are more spirit than anything. But, do you perceive it so?
The fallen realm we are in contact with through our fallen bodies is constantly trying to keep our attention. Trying to keep us distracted from the truth.
Some believers think they do not sin. Well, they, the spirit created in Christ does not sin. And is sealed that way. But, the outward fallen man does. To say that we do not sin is to deny the truth. Also, to say that the spirit, the new creation, can sin is also in error. So the outward man that is connected with the fallen material realm sins. You don’t think you do? That fallen nature sins. But, praise God, the real man in Christ does not sin.
We need to understand the real truth of who we are in Christ. I believe if believers can realize who they really are in Christ, they would live in it here in this life. They would be in domination and control of their fallen nature. Almost automatically. If they could see who they are in Christ and what they have because of their union with God.
It is not a fairly tale. We believers really are one with God! The ramifications of that thought is beyond our understanding right now. But, the unlimited nature of our union with Jesus causes us to reach for more understanding of who we are. Our other temporary nature, that is in contact with this present world, is against us. It is against God. It does not naturally want to do what He wants. Which means that it does not naturally want to do what we, the spirit part, wants to do by nature.
We are born of God. By His Spirit. Through faith in Jesus. We are born to want to do His will. That is our nature now. Where, our bodies are not new. They are presently the same. In connection to the world the same as before. Yet, the real person who is spirit inside of these bodies is new. And, in connection with God now. What needs to happen? The renewing of the mind.
Understanding who you are now that you are a brand new person in connection with Jesus. We are a blend. A fusion with Jesus and the Father. We are what Jesus prayed we would be. One! He brought us there!
So, the thing is, we are to understand what is going on inside of us. We are to dominate our outward man to the will of God, which should be our will also, to do what we want it to do. It must comply. Notice I said, “it”. Because, “it” is not you! “it” is where you are residing right now. To keep you in connection to this present world.
You can actually get your body used to doing what you want to do even though it naturally does not want to. It can get used to doing what we want if we are consistent to keep it under. Because of the fallen nature of the world and our connection to it, we must keep a close eye on our outward man. It keeps wanting to be in control of our being. So, we keep it on a short leash.
Some things that used to be a struggle before you came to Jesus now are no big deal. Because, your focus changed. That IS a big deal. Where is your focus? Well, the more we can focus on Jesus inside, the better we can rule our being in His will for us. Growing in our understanding of our union with Jesus is a process. We are growing. We are learning. As we do, we understand how to live in this present fallen world in these fallen temporary bodies.
One day in the future, we will have bodies like the body the Lord Jesus has right now. A perfect body that is not subject to death anymore. A body that wants to do what we want it to do. Because “it” wants to do it also. No more struggle to keep the domination over it. “it” will want to cooperate with us. Things will be different then. Boy, I’m looking forward to that! How about you? Well, in the mean time while we are here, we touch people with His good news. We work for Jesus. And, our fallen body will just have to come along while we do!” KF KenFletcher.org
