Changed Inside-out (1)

When a man receives Christ, two forms of change happen to him; while the first change is instantaneous and absolute, the second change, which is renewing of the mind, is progressive and continues throughout the man's sojourn on earth.

At the instance of the new birth, a man receives a brand new spirit, born of God; the literal description of this spiritual phenomenon is  that the dead spirit which a man had before he met Jesus goes into extinction and it is instantly 'replaced' by a new spirit.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

The new creation is the spirit, the real man, not his soul or his body.

There is such a thing as being born of  God. It is actually birth of a new spirit. It is not a change of religion, it is a change ("replacement") of spirit.

Every being reproduces after his/her/its kind; God is a spirit (John 4:24), and He only gives birth to spirits:

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 (John 1:12-13 NKJV)

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (I John 5:4 NKJV)

This is the first change that happens to a man and it is this change that makes him a citizen of heaven: it is being "born again" which the Lord talked about in John 3:3:

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”" (John 3:3 NKJV)

Peter explains same:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:3-5 NKJV).

It is not refurbishment or renovation of the old spirit, it is rather "...[the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5 AMP).

If you have accepted Jesus as your savior by believing the gospel, you have the recreated human spirit (RHS) am  talking about. The RHS is the fountain of righteous living (righteous acts) and the foundation for the second change (i.e. renewing of the mind).

You can control Anger (2)

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32 NKJV)

You are at a weak and vulnerable point when you are in anger;  you can hardly make a good decision when angry. The strong man is not he who can vent his fury with lousy words and shouts. Real strength lies in the ability to put your emotion under control especially when you have seemingly justifiable reason to be angry.

Ever considered how the story of Jesus' birth would have taken entirely  different turn if Joseph had rashly exposed Mary's supposed adultery; He acted in wisdom:

“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

(Matthew 1:19-20 NKJV) 

Wisdom and patience are siamese. If only you will be patient, you will begin to see other sides to issues and you will be able to make informed judgement. There are certain assignments I believe God cant trust you with until you have passed certain tests of patience. 

Jesus never spoke or acted rashly, He spoke the right words in season.  There were times He didn't even speak at all. Proverbs 29:20 says:

“Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” 

Jesus was never caught apologizing for speaking wrong words because He didn't speak "them".

If you are born again, the same Spirit of Jesus that made Him live such an excellent life on earth is in you. Don't give excuse that you cant control it, the truth is that you can control it, if you will renew your mind. There is a world of difference between who you were in the flesh and who you are right now, in the spirit, in Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). 

Thats who you are right now; once you begin to think and act accordingly, you ve started renewing your mind and the result is the lifestyle full of wisdom and strength which is typical of Jesus. understand?

You can Control Anger (1)

“Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.” (Ecclesiastes 7:9 NKJV)

Beware of anger, don't excuse it or explain it away under any guise. Nearly in all cases, if not all, anger is a manifestation of self-centeredness; anger grows up and increase its compelling influence over your heart, not only when you express it but mostly when you condone it by giving excuse for it; why claim you are not angry when you still want to get even with people who offended you, why should you pay people back in their coin, why should you rejoice at your "enemy's" downfall.

“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.” (Proverbs 24:17-18 NKJV)

You cant be given over to anger and still be walking  in wisdom concurrently, "for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” 

There is wisdom in refraining from anger; He that has control over is temper is stronger than he that controls a city and has no rule over his heart.

you have what it takes to put your temperament under control because you have the nature of God in you. Be wise!

Happy? Praise!

"...is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” (James 5:13 NKJV)

Before you throw a party to commemorate your achievement, before you place that call of 'good news',  even before you stand in front of the congregation to give the testimony;  calm down and ponder. 

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:16-17 NKJV)

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27 NKJV)

Beyond the the sophisticated security system of your street, remember  "Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.”

You didnt just buy that car nor build that house because of your financial discipline and good saving culture, for "Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it"

Before you talk about the smartness of the driver when you escaped from an accident, remember no one can preserve except God.

Remember all these and give God thanks; give Him thanks privately before you publicize it. Acknowledge Him sincerely as your ONLY source and sustainer. And if you must throw a party for the goodness you have received, why not through a 'worship party'. 

Service of songs should not only be done during funeral; we can have collection of songs that talk about the greatness of God; and call friends and family together for a time when every participant is ministering to the Lord as they behold His majesty and splendor. 

Every other thing including food in such gathering will be an addendum. God would be exalted and the name of Our Lord Jesus would be glorified. how about that?

Suffering? Pray!

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray."  Period!
Affliction should not be an excuse for rage, neither are you excusable if you have to go for counseling on every matter of your life.
When the believers were persecuted in the book of Acts, they did not throw tantrums under the guise of 'holy anger' nor did they engage in verbal assault. ALL they did was to PRAY.
“And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,... And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
(Acts 4:23-24, 29 NKJV)
In the multitude of godly counsel there is safety. I would have made some detrimental mistakes in life if not for some godly counsel I got at the nick of time. I have sought counsel many times and I will still do, yet, I know that, the believer's life is not meant to regulated by external guidance.
Seek counsel when you need to, but more importantly do what the bible says... Pray!
Most of the things we do as humans are habitual, you can thus develop an habit of prayer.
If you will form an habit of making prayer your first resort, in most circumstances, it ll end up becoming the only thing you have to do get direction/guidance.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” (James 5:13 NKJV)
got it?

Beware of Pride (3)

Sense of unworthiness before God is pride, though it mostly appear as a shade of it. You cant get access to God nor win His approval by talking down on yourself before Him.
If you are not born again, access to God is simply by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
If you are a believer, you already have uninterrupted access to Him and you already have His approval.
See what the Bible says about you:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have ACCESS by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2 NKJV)

“according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and ACCESS with confidence through faith in Him.” (Ephesians 3:11-12 NKJV)

“And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have ACCESS by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”
(Ephesians 2:17-19 NKJV)

If you still want to keep your sense of unworthiness after seeing these scriptures, then, I have no apology for saying you are proud.
You are proud because you are exalting what you know about yourself above what God says about you.
God, the most holy God, says He has granted you eternal access freely, through the blood of Jesus, and you are insisting its not so. Are you more righteous than God?
You can not align with the tax collector in the parable of Matt. 18:9-14.  The tax collector was right to have called himself a sinner because as at the time the death of Jesus that brought us the gift righteousness and access to God was still in the future.
After Jesus died and rose again, we received the very life of God that makes us worthy to stand in His presence unashamed - This is grace.
He qualified the unqualified; He discharged and acquitted the guilty because Jesus paid the price.

“Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light.” (Colossians 1:12 AMP).

“Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:24 NLT)

Blessed?

Beware of Pride (2)

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3 NKJV)
Pride is not just arrogance (exerggerated estimate of self), low self-esteem is also pride. Arrogance and low self-esteem are polar ends of the same stick.
Low self-esteem is expressed in inferiority complex, looking down and talking down on yourself, constantly seeking approval and affirmation from others, having a sense of unworthiness before God etc.
Consider this hypothetical  scenario, a man spent a minute before his rendition to talk about his bad voice and other inadequacies he has in the area of music, yet he secretly relished the commendation and the applaud that attended his rendition; his sincerity is put to test, if anyone tells him after his rendition, 'you sang real bad and your voice is as bad as you described it' ; he will most likely throw some covert tantrums in his heart.
True humility consists in accepting what Gods says about you while you talk, live and carry yourself based on His report of you. No more, no less.

This God is our Friend

“For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even to death.” Psalms 48:14 NKJV

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

John 15:15 NKJV

At crucial moments when you need a friend, conferring with God as friend might continue to look like an 'impassable gulf' until your heart gets acquainted with Him. 

When the heart is not intimate with God, it cant relate with Him as friend because in a deep sense of friendship, God is a stranger to that heart; and its typical of humans to be reserved towards strangers. 

The hearts of many precious saints are enstranged from God, hence the symptom manifest in the fact that human beings seem to be the only 'realistic' source of counsel for them in times of need.

Tests and trials have revealed time and again that a lot of believerss dont know God as friend; their view of best friend is only confined to relationship with humans. Even when they call God their best friend, they deny the claim in practice. 

While I do not undermine the importance of godly relationships among humans,  it suffices to affirm that, our God is a faithful and trustworthy friend, and No one is as tolerant as Him.

Constant fellowship with God in prayer and the word endears the heart to Him. Its in the course of such incessant communion with God that the heart progressively becomes 'aware' (conscious) of God as friend and even as all in all. At such point, sharing your burden with Him and seeking His counsel become the 'natural' thing to do;

He wont betray you, 

He will not backstab or backbite you,

He wont even make jest of you, 

your mistakes or weaknesses will not be a loop hole for attack when you offend Him, 

your private issues will now remain 'private' indeed because you are now walking with the most reliable confidant in heaven and earth as your friend. seen it?

Remember! (6)

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

(Ephesians 4:32 NKJV)

The sacrifice of Christ is the greatest expression of love and forgiveness; the love that offered the innocent for the guilty without reservation. 

As a believer, you must always remember in your relationship with people that you are a recipient/beneficiary of a great love you didn't deserve otherwise you will be guilty like that servant who was forgiven much and refused to forgive someone who owed him something little (Matt. 18:21-35)

You hold someone in unforgiveness  because  he keeps repeating the same 'fault'(may be he often speaks to you rudely) and you dislike him for it; but do you realise that by the standard of God's holiness and righteousness most of your attitude you explain away under the guise of 'innate weakness' is sin before God? and yet He put up with you in love. 

There is nothing anybody can do to you, no matter how bad, that could match what you have done to God. 

Before you create a hype around people's fault, remember how "...God in Christ forgave you” - you did not only deserve death, but you were doomed to eternal destruction before Jesus forgave you.

Having been forgiven so much, you can't have excuse for not forgiving others.

If you still hold people in unforgiveness, its either that you don't know the magnitude of God's love for you or you have forgotten it. got it?

Remember ! (4)

REMEMBER ! (4)
"I will [earnestly] recall the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will [earnestly] remember the wonders [You performed for our fathers] of old. I will meditate also upon all Your works and consider all Your [mighty] deeds". (Psalm 77:11-12 AMP )
Your faith will be strenghtened to handle present opposition if you will concentrate your thought on the past victories and miracles wrought by God.
The miraculous killing of Lion and Bear by David through the power of God became a strong basis for his faith and an indisputable premise for Goliath's downfall - David remembered...
"Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The Lord , who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine...”  (1Samuel. 17:36-37).
You are doing a great damage to your faith when (in your thought) you dwell on the symptoms, severity of the circumstances, the likelihood of failure, the impending danger and the negative facts; you cannot be thinking on negative things and be in faith at the same time.
Instead of thinking about people that have lost their lives in similar circumstance or people who failed, why not think on people who have been helped by God and have come out life threatening situatuation unhurt.
Remember he parted the red sea and "So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were  a wall to them on their right hand and on their left."
(Exodus 14:22 NKJV ); remember He openned blind eyes, He raised the dead, the famine in Samaria turned to surplus overnight, the demon possessed were delivered, deaf ears were unstopped, the lame walked, He fed multitude with five loaves and on and on... and ultimately He died and rose again by the power of an indestructible life.
He has done many great things that will boost your faith if you will call them to mind.
Dont complain about your lack of faith anymore, rather settle down and contemplate His mighty deeds, and faith will rise in your heart like a giant. selah!

Remember ! (3)

REMEMBER ! (3)
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
(Psalms 103:3-5 NKJV)
Man was never created to be self dependent. The original divine design is for him to  be wholly dependent on God. Gratitude to God, thanksgiving and worship are part of the ways man is meant to express his reliance on God. Ingratitude is a symptom of pride and self-sufficiency (Acts 12:21-23).
Thats why you must not forget the goodness of God in your life. God is a good God and the heart must be taught and trained to always keep record of His goodness.
Never trivialise the goodness of God, nor take it for granted.  There are countless things to thank God for if you will take time to remember them.
I guess you need to sit down for a while and cast your mind back to the days gone by.  Remember the  kindness of God to you. Remember Jesus' sacrificial death, the narrow escape, the miraculous provision, the so-called incurable condition that He Healed you of; remember the safe journeys, the victories, His benevolence, mighty help and all.
Count them and recount them to God, sing Him songs of thanksgiving.
Remember and do not forget!

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
(I Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV)

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (II Corinthians 9:15 NKJV)

REMEMBER (2)

"You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led."
(I Corinthians 12:2 NKJV)
Paul was beginning his remarks about spiritual gifts by reminding the Corinthians that they had once been deceived into worshiping idols.
The design seems to be to remind them of their former miserable condition as idolaters, in order to make them appreciate their advantages as Christians.
You need to remember where and who you were before you met the Lord, when you were threading the path of destruction, when your heart is ladden with sin and guilt, having no hope and without God in the world, but God in His mercy sent His son in the likeness of men and with His mighty hand brought eternal salvation unto you.
Apostle Paul often refers Christians to their former condition, to excite in them gratitude for the mercies that God has conferred on them in the gospel.
You must remember the mighty intervention of God in your case when you were helepless, lest you are tempted to view it as something you could have done by your power or as one of those things. Your heart will be full of gratitude and it will make  you see the goodness of God in a clearer light.

Remember!

"Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel" (II Timothy 2:8 NKJV )
The redemptive work of Christ  is done and accomplished once but it has a continous effect till eternity. Healing and health, prosperity, sanctification, all round victory, justification, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, are few of the gracious benefits of redemption; they are free gifts of grace which are paid for by the blood of Christ.
"being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Romans 3:24 NKJV.
As sure as the benefits are, a believer might not be enjoying them except he makes conscious effort to always remember what Christ has done to procure these benefits.
The believer must establish and maintain a sound reminder system that will keep the work of Christ bright in his memmory.
If you notice a "fading" benefit in your life, it is nnot becuase God withdraws it, "For the gifts and the calling of God are  irrevocable. "  Romans 11:29 NKJV; It might just be that your heart has lost touch with the work of Christ as recorded in His word.
I beseech you to latch on to God's word and let your heart be stirred up to remember what Christ has done for you.