For over four years now God has been leading me down this path of what it means to have a new identity in Christ. When scripture refers to our flesh, it is describing out old identity. Depending on context, when scripture refers to spirit, it refers to our new identity in Christ. To assist in the understanding of this new identity, in the following scripture, I have substituted the word flesh for old identity and the word spirit for new identity. Romans 8:5-8 NIV
Those who live according to the old identity have their minds set on what the old identity desires; but those who live in accordance with the new identity have their minds set on what the new identity desires. The mind governed by the old identity is death, but the mind governed by the new identity is life and peace. The mind governed by the old identity is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law (the new covenant), nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of (or live according to) the old identity cannot please God.
*Words in parenthesis added.
There is no way around this. It's pretty clear. There is no life or peace when our thinking stays in the old identity, only death. But when our thinking is in the new identity, the only result is life and peace. If we are not experiencing the abundant life and peace that passes all understanding in our lives, then the cause is our thinking. I know that some may be offended by this, but scripture is clear. “As a man thinks, in his heart so is he.” Proverbs23:7.
How we think, effects how we speak. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. How we think determines the path of our life.
So how do we change the way we think? Your thinking is changed by words; the words you read and listen to and the words you choose to speak. God's word changes the way you think when you hear and speak it, instead of hearing and speaking what the world and your old identity says. Although there is blessing and unmerited favor for us while continuing to think like our old identity, we only can access grace through faith, which requires thinking and speaking in agreement with His Word. We only prosper in all ways and are in health through His favor, as our souls (mind, will and emotions) prosper (thinks in the new identity).(3 John 1:2) We cannot please God in our old identity, no matter how hard we try. And nor can we know his specific will for our lives (Romans 12:2) while thinking in the old identity.
“So how do we please God?”, you may ask. Well His word is clear in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please Him. So if we can’t please Him in the old identity of the flesh, nor without faith, then it is clear that the opposite is the answer. By faith, that is believing in our hearts and speaking with our lips that which be not as though it were, in accordance with the word of God, and being transformed in our thinking in accordance with the Spirit, which is our new identity, we please God.
His word is the key. Jesus said that His words were spirit and truth. James tells us that the word is the mirror of our new identity. Walking in (living according to) the spirit, which is His word, is the antidote to our fleshly desires. (Galatians 5:25)
Friends, this not about being religious about the word. It is about understanding our relationship with Jesus through His word. If I want to get know someone, the best way is to listen to them. We listen to God through His word. So as we read and hear His word we are getting to know Him and is the means by which faith comes.(Romans 10:17) As we get to know Him, we find that we are also getting to know our new identities by looking into the mirror of His word (James 1:23-25), and come to understand that what the word says about Jesus is the reflection of who we are “because as He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.” 1John 4:17
Now we know how we can please God. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalm 35:27) and we prosper by being transformed by the renewing of our mind to our new identity in Christ. Then, as we come to believe in our hearts the truth of our new identity, we declare by faith, that is to confess with our mouths, the truth of that identity, whether we can see it manifest in the flesh or not. Because our new identity, which is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, walks by faith and not by sight.
Those who live according to the old identity have their minds set on what the old identity desires; but those who live in accordance with the new identity have their minds set on what the new identity desires. The mind governed by the old identity is death, but the mind governed by the new identity is life and peace. The mind governed by the old identity is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law (the new covenant), nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of (or live according to) the old identity cannot please God.
*Words in parenthesis added.
There is no way around this. It's pretty clear. There is no life or peace when our thinking stays in the old identity, only death. But when our thinking is in the new identity, the only result is life and peace. If we are not experiencing the abundant life and peace that passes all understanding in our lives, then the cause is our thinking. I know that some may be offended by this, but scripture is clear. “As a man thinks, in his heart so is he.” Proverbs23:7.
How we think, effects how we speak. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. How we think determines the path of our life.
So how do we change the way we think? Your thinking is changed by words; the words you read and listen to and the words you choose to speak. God's word changes the way you think when you hear and speak it, instead of hearing and speaking what the world and your old identity says. Although there is blessing and unmerited favor for us while continuing to think like our old identity, we only can access grace through faith, which requires thinking and speaking in agreement with His Word. We only prosper in all ways and are in health through His favor, as our souls (mind, will and emotions) prosper (thinks in the new identity).(3 John 1:2) We cannot please God in our old identity, no matter how hard we try. And nor can we know his specific will for our lives (Romans 12:2) while thinking in the old identity.
“So how do we please God?”, you may ask. Well His word is clear in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please Him. So if we can’t please Him in the old identity of the flesh, nor without faith, then it is clear that the opposite is the answer. By faith, that is believing in our hearts and speaking with our lips that which be not as though it were, in accordance with the word of God, and being transformed in our thinking in accordance with the Spirit, which is our new identity, we please God.
His word is the key. Jesus said that His words were spirit and truth. James tells us that the word is the mirror of our new identity. Walking in (living according to) the spirit, which is His word, is the antidote to our fleshly desires. (Galatians 5:25)
Friends, this not about being religious about the word. It is about understanding our relationship with Jesus through His word. If I want to get know someone, the best way is to listen to them. We listen to God through His word. So as we read and hear His word we are getting to know Him and is the means by which faith comes.(Romans 10:17) As we get to know Him, we find that we are also getting to know our new identities by looking into the mirror of His word (James 1:23-25), and come to understand that what the word says about Jesus is the reflection of who we are “because as He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.” 1John 4:17
Now we know how we can please God. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalm 35:27) and we prosper by being transformed by the renewing of our mind to our new identity in Christ. Then, as we come to believe in our hearts the truth of our new identity, we declare by faith, that is to confess with our mouths, the truth of that identity, whether we can see it manifest in the flesh or not. Because our new identity, which is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, walks by faith and not by sight.