How to CHANGE and STAY CHANGED

You are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  The Apostle Paul

As many as received Him, as many as believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of human will, but of God. 

The Apostle John

If anyone is united to Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.  The Apostle Paul

We all have default settings, or automatic habitual responses that we learned and practiced to the point of skillful identity.  When we are angry, we have an automatic response.  When we feel anxiety, we react like we always have in the past.  We learned these responses in our families and upbringing, a combination of temperament and environment.

How do we change our default settings?  Our automatic habitual responses?

We must be born again, become new creations, given new default assumptions.

The default setting of believers is belief.
The default setting of unbelievers is unbelief.

Put this another way.
The default setting of unbelievers is SELF TRUST ALONE.
The default setting of believers is GOD TRUST ALONE.

As it is written,

Trust in the LORD with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding.  In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Unbelievers trust in themselves with all of their hearts, and totally lean to their own understandings.  In none of their ways do they acknowledge God, nor do they seek Him to direct their paths.

But those who were born again were born again by faith in the Lord Jesus. 
And their lives are characterized by this very faith, or complete God trust, as it is written,

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The believer's new, changed life begins by faith and continues by faith.  It is the defining principle of their lives, the new default setting, the new automatic response, the new habitual reaction.

When  believers disbelieve, or do not live by the same faith that changed them, they are not being true to who they are, to their new identity.  This is why they feel convicted by the Spirit in them.  That is what conscience is, consciousness revealed to the soul.

R.A. Torrey said these powerful words,

Every act of sin is an act of distrust in God.  Trusting God deprives sin and temptation of all their power.  The one who trusts God will do right though the heavens fall.

Whatever your default vice is if you are a believer, it is not in agreement with the new principle of your life:  God Trust ALONE.  You used to live by self trust, and thus respond or react accordingly.

How did you express faith in God?  Prayer!  You confessed your sin through prayer, and you accepted God's Son through prayer.

Now live by the same expression of faith.  Pray before, during, and after every action and interaction as an expression of total trust in God and total distrust in yourself; totally seeking God's direction and not your own.

The prayer of faith is your new default setting.

BEING BORN AGAIN (PART 2)

All possess conscience.

All will die.

All face their Creator.

All choose their destiny, for all eternity.

All choose where they want to be, for all eternity.

All choose heaven.

Or.

All choose hell.

All in heaven wanted heaven.

All in hell wanted hell.

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Birth happens without our choice.

Rebirth cannot happen without our choice.

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Slavery exists. 

Slaves exists.

All are slaves of Satan from birth.

All are slaves of God from rebirth.

All choose slave masters, and none can possess two masters, unless one loves one master and utterly hates the other.

Those reborn submit to One:  The Spirit of Life.

They refuse to respond to selfish desires, to the ways of this world, to external laws, and especially Satan and demons.  They possess laws, but internal, written on their minds and their hearts by the Spirit who is in them by faith in Christ Jesus. 

They choose a spiritual mindset, focused on spiritual things; focused on the desires of the Spirit.

This is therefore how you know them, and how you know yourself as one of them:  by what they have chosen, and by what you have chosen. 

Being Born Again

God formed Adam’s body.

He breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life—his spirit. 

Spirit+body=living soul.

Spirit=God consciousness:  Conscience-intuition-communion-divine conversation between God and man

Soul=Self-consciousness:  Mind-self comprehension; emotion-self experience; volition-self expression

Body=World consciousness:  The physical-visible, tangible, audible

God’s Breath or Spirit is Adam’s breath or spirit.  There is a connection between Creator and creation.

Adam sinned, bringing a separation between Creator and creation.

His spirit and body died, meaning they became unresponsive to God.

His spirit followed his body instead of his body following his spirit. 

All of his children experienced the same.

Enter Christ, the last Adam, the second man.

Christ became a man, son of Mary, son of David, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Christ became the last “Adam,” the last of son of Adam, the last son of God.  He was born of God and woman.  His connection to God was the Spirit, and His own Divine Identity.  His connection to Adam was Eve.  God decided Christ was the last Adam, the last descendent of Adam.  All humans came from God through Adam, thus from Christ through Adam.  So Christ is the true father of the human race, the true source. 

Being the God Man, He is in time and beyond time.  So in time He is a son of Adam, and beyond time He is a Son of God.  He takes all before Him and all after Him into Himself, because all before Him and all after Him come from him.  So He has the right to be the last Adam and the second man, being the beginning and the end of all creation.  At the resurrection He became the firstborn of the new creation.  All who accept Him join him, being one with Him.  Their old spirit died with Him on the cross, since spiritual reality is not bound by time or space.  His death is eternal.  Our spirits journey back in time and die with him, rise with Him, and ascend with Him.

The old me was a slave of idolatry and adultery.  The new me is a slave of the spirit, completely free.  Only the Spirit has authority over me.  This takes faith.  I believe God can do more than I imagine.  Amen. 

PURE VIRGINS

"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him."  2 CORINTHIANS 11:2

where are the pure virgins today?
at church...
really.
they are THE church!
...really!!

purity seems an impossibility in a world of unholy fantasies.  but it is a necessity to be holy if YOU WANT TO SEE GOD!

ONE HUSBAND ONE DEVOTION
ONE CHRIST ONE SAVIOR
ONE LORD ONE MASTER

i've heard of the idea of believers who lost their virginity physically that claim a "second virginity."  some slander them as hypocritical deceivers AT BEST!  after all, either you are a virgin or you are not.

understood...on both sides.

on one hand, it is a deception to deny sin that indeed happened.
on the other hand, the sin is forgiven AS IF IT REALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN!
but it did...
so, where does that leave those who want the virginity that they lost?

forgiven.  cleansed.  starting over again.  a new creation....and therefore...a virgin?

not quite...but exactly!

yes, in the body, one who lost his or her virginity cannot claim virginity physically. 

"what use is 'spiritual virginity' if one is not a virgin physically?" one may ask legitimately.

first, let's clarify the spiritual reality of being forgiven and thus being a new creation.

as i said, so i say again, when one is forgiven because of Christ's crucifixion, one is truly and really forgiven, with all sin forgotten, as it is written,

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I remember your sins no more." 

yes, God forgives and forgets!

He even erases, or "blots out," so that there is no record in hell or heaven of sin.  this includes those who are no longer physically virgins.

if the sin of fornication is forgiven, forgotten and forsaken,
then the one who is a new creation is indeed reborn a "virgin,"meaning one spiritually reborn and without any sin, including the sin of fornication.


for the fornicator who believes in the Lord Jesus, his old adulterous self is crucified with Christ, the body of adultery is destroyed, and he is no longer a slave of fornication, but is indeed a new creation.  if he never commits adultery again, and lives out his physical consecration, then for all practical purposes he is a virgin, meaning from the time of his new creation, he resisted all temptations of fornication, and maintained his purification until marriage.  he offered his new body and new spirit to his new wife alone. 

"so he should tell her he has never had sex?" 
no. 
he need not do that any more than he would need to say that because his sins are forgiven and forgotten, he never committed sin. 
no. 
what he can tell her is exactly what i've said, that from the time of his salvation he lived in a state of spiritual and physical consecration, which made him a "second virgin" if you will.

put this another way.  he was born, then born again.  but he has the same body and life as he had before he was reborn, yet a completely new and different life as well.  he has a new heart and a new spirit, and his body is now in a new state--destroyed, rendered powerless or inoperative through faith in his union with the death of Christ.  so on one hand, nothing has changed, but on the other hand, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!!

"what if the man or woman who is no longer a virgin had their sins forgiven, but they committed the sin of fornication again?  now they are no longer virgins...again...no longer "second virgins...?"  this seems like crazy hypocrisy insanity to me!!! no wonder atheists make fun of christianity!"

"i mean really....!!!  is there a second, third, and fourth virginity?  how many virginities are there, REALLY!!!???"

this begs the question, "how many times are we 'born again?'" 
we are born once.
we are reborn once.
Jesus was born once.  He died once, rose once, and returns once.
how many times are we forgiven?  seven times seven?  no.  seventy times seventy!!!
my children are my children, before and after they are forgiven, if they commit sin.
after being forgiven, the barrier to intimacy is removed, but their status as my children didn't change.
"but does the status of the 'second virgin' change if he or she sins again sexually after their 'rebirth?'"

the second virgin concept is only useful as it expresses newness...a new start, new identity, new focus, new purpose.  so the PURPOSE of virginity is purity and exclusivity, spiritually and physically.  the one who sins, confesses, asks forgiveness, and stops, is indeed forgiven with his sins forgotten. 

think of it in marriage.  a woman commits adultery, and is truly and deeply sorry.  she confesses to her husband without making any excuses or blaming him, as if any fault of his excuses her broken promise.  she asks him to forgive her and forsakes the adulterer forever.  she genuinely decides to NEVER commit this sin again, and decides to be faithful to her husband.  now, when she committed adultery, she was an "adulteress" as long as she committed this sin.  but upon confession and being forgiven, what happens?  she returns to her status as wife.  in fact, it is safe to say that her status as wife never really ended, BUT WAS ADULTERATED!


the beauty of being forgiven, whether of fornication or any other sin, is that believers can start again, and their new start is always as God's children, never left or forsaken, confessed sins forgotten!  in this way, they are "pure virgins," promised to One Husband, destined for heaven!

JESUS

"I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for my sins."

As I said before, I say again, after saying the words above, I felt peace cover me like a blanket, and I no longer wanted to die.  Before I said these words I felt intense turmoil and suicidal.  Jesus saved my life.  Jesus gave me life.

"Jesus is God, and He died for my sins."

I gave this answer when asked point blank, "Who is Jesus?"  The one who asked this question questioned "religion," and knew my devotion to the only one who gives salvation for sin.

Jesus is the truth, the meaure of all reality, the means to the end of knowing God by His Spirit.  All of the word of God is measured by these words of God:

"Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures.

He was buried.

He rose the third day, according to the scriptures."

Jesus is the truth.

His gospel is the measure of all words of truth.

By these declarations one knows the Spirit of God:

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

To see Jesus is to see the Father.

To love Jesus is to love the Father.

May all who read be certain of the identity of God's Son:  JESUS!