New Creation - Withstanding Trials and Temptations

God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. I Cor 10:13

Greetings to everyone in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am glad to resume the New Creation series this year. There are plenty of new revelations I want to cover. But, I was stuck in this series for so long, around 1.5 years. There are few more chapters I have to cover and then we will be done with New Creation. We have seen about the goal of the New Creation in Christ in the last two articles, that is bearing fruits for Christ and walking in the Spirit fulfilling God's will. Now, in this chapter we are going to see what are the problems and troubles we face in the new creation life. We have to remember that each new creature in Christ have a common enemy in satan and the world. Both will fight in every possible way to make the new creation go weary and side track from fulfilling the God given goals. The main goal of trials and temptations that come from the enemy is to make us tired, lose the faith and then go back to the older ways of living thereby rendering us ineffective. We may remember the words of Jesus to Peter the night before our Lord's crucifixion. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Luke 22:32. So, we understand that the main goal of satan is to disturb our faith in God.

To learn more about the trials and temptations, please read my earlier chapters, TTT and Overcoming Temptations that I wrote in July and August 2017. Now, let's focus on the ways that the devil attacks the new creation. Being aware of the different ways make us ready to fight and give us half victory even before the test starts. There are essentially four main ways the devil uses to pull us back to the older ways. The first one is temptation. Temptation is about pulling back to worldly pleasures by hitting at the weak points of our old man. We should be aware even the inner man is born again and became a new creation still we live inside the old body which is prone to our older weaknesses. The lust of eyes and lust of flesh play main role in temptation. You may read more about the temptation of Eve and temptation of Jesus in my earlier chapters. In this, the devil will remind us of our older sins, attempt to throw new temptations to pull us back. Remember temptations are not sin in itself but it will lead to sin and we have to resist and reject the temptation to avoid sins. The primary weapon to overcome temptation and lust is knowing the Word of God and applying correctly to the situation. Please refer to my article on overcoming lust that will help a lot to fight back lustful thoughts. The Holy Spirit help you to overcome the temptations through the Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17

The second one is trials and troubles. Often the devil will be attempting to bring in lot of troubles in our family, work or profession or through any other external ways. If that doesn't work, he will try to affect our health or the health of our family members. Remeber how satan tested Job. If not, then he will bring some quarrels and unnecessary strife between our family members or friends and try to target our peace. Be aware that these things will happen for sure because it is written that, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" 2 Tim 3:12. If you are going through this, remember Jesus is with you and He will deliver you at the appropriate time as He delivered Paul. "Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me." 2 Tim 3:11. The title verse shows that God will make a way to escape. But, pray fervently when you go through these situations that God will strengthen your faith. God will eventually deliver you from all troubles. These troubles are very much needed to bring us more glory. Remember a Goliath is needed for David so that he can eventually become a king. Same way, the worst troubles will help to exalt our faith and give us more eternal glory. 2 Cor 4:17. Peter also writes "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" I Peter 1:7

The third approach the devil takes is to make us feel tired, bored and worried when we wait for our Lord to prepare us. He will make situations such that we often get into troubles and temptations so that we grow weary and distract from God seeking our own ways instead of pursuing God's ways. Often we feel like there is nothing happening from God's side and even we think whether God hears our prayers, whether God supports us during our distress, whether He loves us any longer. It may look like God is turning His face away from us leaving us to fight the battle all alone. But, all these thoughts are complete lies from the devil through the situations so that we walk away from faith or return to our older ways of living. How do we stay focused through all these situations and thoughts? Faith comes to the rescue. The stronger faith will overcome situations like this. It will always go back to the Word of God and through prayer and faith fighting back the situation. The Christian life is all about fighting like a warrior, staying strong like a wrestler and run our race like an athlete. Eph 6:11, 2 Tim 2:3-5 and I Cor 9:26. So, with practice comes endurance. Practice with Word of God and going through the situations strengthens your faith. This is a real test of a matured Christian character. You have to remember the metamorphosis process where a worm go through difficult changes and emerges out as a beautiful butterfly.

If you have overcome the first three obstacles, it will be a great journey and now you are a real tool in the hands of our Lord. 2 Tim 2:20,21. The fourth and rare attack of the devil is to make you feel proud of your successes and make you stagnant feeling you had achieved greater things. The spiritual proud and fame will pull down us from greater heights. I am seeing great and wonderful pastors and ministers and young musical talents who were bestowed with anointing of God's talents taking a different path and enacting the worldly styles and falling for heroism and misdirected from their direction. We have to remember one thing that Paul said in Philippians 3:22,23 he is not thinking he had already attained the goals and forgetting the past and reaching forth unto coming things, pressing on goals until the life endures. We are yet to make it to heaven and that comes either with our death or transfiguration when the Lord appears. The eternal rest and glory comes thereafter. But, until then we should remember the race is still on. We need to be watchful on the attacks that we are going through in order to overcome them.

I believe these are certain ways to overcome various fiery darts fired at us from the wicked. Ephesians 6:16. There is one central mandatory truth we must remember in order to succeed. That this new creation is entirely started by God and we are not fighting alone. I just think this verse whenever I face any of the above difficulties and that verse is, "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Timothy 1:12. This assures me that our Lord is faithful to make our run successful and bring me to eternal glory. Its not me but it is He who called me and I am sure that He will fulfill His calling and that makes me to keep at rest. Same thing applies to you as well if you are serious about New Creation.

Dear believer, if you feel like you are going through lot of sufferings and pains in this world, be assured that you have double portion awaiting in the next world. But, fight the good battle of faith. Remember the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. Final Victory is going to be ours. Our Lord fights the battle for us. One who called us for this new creation life is faithful and trust Him. He will be giving rest to you. May God's name be glorified. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. All glory, honor and praise, I give to you Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

New Creation - Walking in Spirit

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:24

Greetings to each of you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Again, it has been quiet some time from my last post. Usually, I write these posts on Sunday evenings. But, I had attended a Bible Study from April to October this year and hence I was not able to write these posts regularly. But, now that Bible Study was over and if God wills I will be writing more frequently from now on. Time flies by and it looked like we started the year 2018 and now we are in December 2018 and we are looking forward to enter 2019. May God's presence be with us all.

As I completed my last post of bearing fruits which is the ultimate goal in Christian life, I mentioned that I will be covering up the opposition to this new life in Christ Jesus. The opposition force is satan. The world around us and the flesh in which we live strongly inclined to satan and always try to drag back to our old lives. While I wanted to cover that, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I have to write one more post before that which is walking in the Spirit. To understand this, we are going to revisit what we had seen in the New Creation posts as a short recap.

Let's understand MAN. A man is tripartite being who is one together as body, soul and spirit. Gen 2:7, 1 Thess 5:23. This is exactly reflecting the triune God who is one God but exists as Father, Son and the Spirit. When Adam disobeyed God's commands, the spirit died immediately, the soul was separated from God and the body was as it is. But, there was something called flesh, which is the selfish nature that entered the man through his body. That's what exactly happened when Eve gave in to the devil when she was attracted to the forbidden fruit, she just yielded to temptation and satisfied her bodily needs and gave importance what her self/flesh needed than obeying what God expected. Now, 'I' (Mine) took precedence over 'Him' (God) and in the life of Jesus we saw that it is complete opposite. In his life everything was God (Him) rather than his own wishes. That's exactly revealed at the garden of Gethsemane when the flesh in the Jesus tried to direct him away from the cross, He prayed three times to Father for an alternative solution which He very clearly knew was against the will of God. But, He overcame the flesh and His self nature when He surrendered saying, "Not my will Father, but yours be fulfilled."

Apostle Paul later wrote that when Jesus was resurrected back from dead, "He hath quickened us from dead". Ephesians 2:1. Paul was writing about the revival of our Spirit which was dead when Adam transgressed. Now, the spirit is made alive in us through the Spirit of God, our soul is now connected back to God's soul and renewed every day by the Word of God and Spirit (2 Cor 4:16), but the poor body was still in the fallen condition. It was not redeemed yet and it will be redeemed only during our resurrection or during transfiguration. Romans 8:23 So, we need to understand that man was also created as a spiritual being but as Adam was fallen all the human beings were born in fallen state. Psalms 51:5 But, those who accepted Jesus are revived in the Spirit are considered alive in the Spirit and this is New Creation in summary.

Now, as you see, the real problem is the flesh which still works in us. We have the soul and spirit contained in the body which was pulled towards the flesh. James 1:14. So, there is a real trouble and there is a constant battle. This is a very tough battle and even the great saint like Paul too not an exclusion to this. He details this battle in Romans 7. Please read the entire chapter of Romans 7 and understand the works of the flesh, its lusts and how Paul struggled to overcome it. How to overcome the flesh is the most important study and Romans 8 deal with this in detail and hence that's why I said in one of my earliest chapters that Romans 8 is the most important chapter in the entire Bible (whereas John 3:16 is the most important verse and Isaiah is the most important book in my opinion).

So, what is the solution to for this struggle? The actual solution detailed in Romans 8 for this problem is about walking in the Holy Spirit. Most of the old testament saints who were under the old covenant never received the Holy Spirit in the same way as that of the ones in the New testament. Some of the OT heroes who were mentioned in Hebrews 11 were identified by God directly and anointed for a specific purpose. They received the power of the Holy Spirit to achieve specific tasks. For example, Moses have the spirit of God to release Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Joshua received the anointing of the Spirit of Wisdom to lead Israelites into the promised land, Samson has the Spirit of Strength, Samuel has the Spirit of Prophecy, David received the divine anointing of a King/Prophet/Priest. All of them were hand picked by God and anointed for a specific purpose to bring change to the nation of Israel. But, after Jesus Christ, the Son of God died on cross, shed His blood as a ransom for many and established the New Covenant, the most important blessing under the New covenant is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside every man who truly accepted Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:14. The promised Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers on Pentecost and it continues till to this day.

The Holy Spirit is called a helper who assist us to focus our thoughts and mind in heavenly things instead of focusing on the flesh and that's why Paul writes in Galatians 5:24 to walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to overcome the flesh on our own. On the other hand, even if we have the Holy Spirit, we will surely be tempted and still it is certainly possible to sin. But, it is up to us to choose whether to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. So, it is the soul that decides which path we have to take. We might fall at times to temptation but a Christian who is matured in his new life knows how to walk in Spirit and not to fall for lust. He knows how to carefully avoid temptation. Because, he constantly endeavors to please God in his thoughts, speech and action. All these things are not possible without the Holy Spirit and that's how the new covenant Christians are made perfect by the Holy Spirit and that is the greatest blessing.

So, here is the crux of this article. Every believer who is a new creation in Christ lives inside the physical body which is prone to temptation because the lusts of the flesh will be at work until our death or our bodily transfiguration. But, the Spirit of the new creation is actually in connection with God's Holy Spirit which will actually call the believer to please God. This is a great struggle. Who will win ? It is up to the believer, his will to support either the Holy Spirit or the flesh. If the believer chose to support the Spirit of God, then He will not fulfill his lust and please God. If his will support flesh, then Holy Spirit will be grieved. He will caution us, speak to us, warn us and even help us to overcome the flesh but if we keep disobeying, He will leave. So, it is up to us. That's why it is written, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Romans 8:13. Without walking in the Spirit, obviously we cannot bear spiritual fruits and hence we will not be able to fulfill our call and there will not be any purpose driven new creation life. But, if we walk in the Spirit, then we will be taught and lead by the Chief Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This chapter turned out to be a big one but this cannot be shortened because this is the most essential one. To walk in the Spirit of God because we are the Children of the one true Holy God and it is written For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14
Need to cover plenty more with respect to walking in the Spirit but I will try to make it part of a different series. I suggest all the readers to read and meditate on Romans 8 and Galatians 3-5 and understand about this important revelation of the Spirit.

I will get more into the fight and struggle we have against the new creation from next chapter on wards and going forward I hope to write article more often. Please continue to pray for me, that God give more revelations through His Word so that I can help many to see the true light of gospel. All glory, honor and praise to you Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

New Creation - Bearing Fruits

He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. John 15:5,8

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. With last chapter, I have successfully wrote 40 articles which was the grace of the Lord. I am grateful to God for empowering me to write these things. I had really difficult times in the past but God had brought me safe thus far. Please pray for me that I do more of His will and the Spirit of truth reveal many hidden wonders in His word of God and I reveal them through this platform.

As mentioned at the end of the last chapter, this chapter is about the goal of the new creation which is bearing fruits. If you are reading the new creation chapters from the beginning, you would understand that we started the series to put focus on the goal of the Christian life on this earth. The Christians may wonder what they are supposed to do as children of the almighty God in this earth. One might wonder is the goal is to attend the Church and giving offering, living as a good law abiding citizen or doing the ministry of the Lord and bringing many souls to salvation or what else. The series started to address this important question and we actually came to the point where we deal about the goal of the Christian life. The goal of the Christian life is to bear fruits and bring glorification to the name of the Father.

Fulfilling God's will bring glory to Him. If you consider the world around us, from the tiniest of creatures to the huge creation, everything exists to do God's will. Even Jesus came as a human, to fulfill the will of God. Jesus says in His own words, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." John 17:4 It means that fulfilling His will is glorifying Him and like Jesus if we too fulfill His will in our lives, we bring glory to His name. What is His will in our lives ? Whatever brings glory to the Father is His will. The verse of this topic says that "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit". John 15:8. So, it means that though there are different goals and challenges in the calling of the individuals, the common will of the Father for every Christian is to bear spiritual fruits in His life and that way the Father's name is glorified.

How do you bear fruits ? That's the complete subject of John 15th chapter. Please read this full chapter with this perspective. As per the title verse, if we abide in Jesus, we automatically bear fruits as Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. If we are connected to the vine, we will automatically bear fruits without efforts. John 15:1-4. The real meaning is the branch alone cannot give fruits, instead the fruit comes from the vine plant. It really means that it is impossible for us to bear spiritual fruits on our own. But, instead we should have JESUS living inside us through the Holy Spirit and if the spirit lives in us, He automatically bears the fruits of Christ for the glory of the Father and without Him we cannot bear fruits.

What is the spiritual fruit? It is a well known verse of Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of Spirit is love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self control. Do you know why Paul used singular term fruit instead of fruits. The singular term is used to represent all these divine qualities are considered to be within a believer who has Jesus dwelling inside of Him through the Holy Spirit. So, all these qualities are considered to be one fruit of one spirit, that is the spirit of God. We give all these qualities over and over again throughout our walk in the Christian life and hence we are known for our fruits. That's why Jesus said when He talked about finding false prophets, He mentioned that we can find them by their fruits. Matthew 7:16. Because, most of them speak and project themselves like a holy person but we cannot find fruit of spirit in their lives. Contradictory to them, the true saints of God will never talk much about themselves rather about God or His word.

We saw that the will of God is to bear much spiritual fruits for Him and what are the spiritual fruits and how to bear them. Let's see who bear these fruits. Bearing these fruits is not a straightforward task. Even though we have the Holy Spirit within us, we are not exempted from constant trials and temptations in our lives. A just born again Christian is considered to be babe and only a matured grown up new creation who is constantly revived by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit and who constantly walk with God by overcoming temptations and sins will eventually start to yield fruits. But the one who keeps growing, walking through all the worldly sufferings and still stands with the Lord, will reflect Christ in His day to day life.
It is written that, "but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." I John 5:18, one more verse in 1 John says, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." I John 3:3. So, it is not a short term goal but it is a life long goal and only one who is serious about His born again Christian life and one who is serious about the eternal glory will stand through and bear much fruits. One who doesn't stand in the Word of God and prayer cannot continue to bear fruit as Jesus said if the branch is not connected with vine, it cannot bear fruits. John 15:6

So, dear brother or sister, if you have reached this level and you think you are bearing fruits for Christ, then you are a blessed person. Because, you don't need teaching from others instead God Himself will teach you through His anointing and you will lead a successful new Creation. All you need to do is continue to lead the way and finish your race on a high note and then for sure you will receive your rewards for your good works that you have done in this earth.

With this chapter, I actually explained the main goal of the Christian life which is the purpose of this series. But, we haven't reached the end of the series yet. There are few important areas to be touched as we have an enemy of this new creation life and it is imperative to understand the devil's schemes in order to overcome. So, though the goal of the new creation life is bearing fruits, it is just not only about bearing fruits but it is one more thing which is overcoming because without that we cannot finish God's will in our lives. There are many rewards promised by Jesus for the overcomers in the book of revelation and we are going to start the exciting new journey which is a continuation of the new creation series.

All glory, honor and praise to God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

New Creation - Fellowship

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. I John 1:7

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this chapter, we will see another important aspect of the Christian life which is fellowship. The fellowship is all about having a continuous relationship with fellow Christians and the disciples of Christ. If Christian life has to be defined in one word, then what you think as the most appropriate word? For me, the most important word that came to my mind is "LOVE". Everything about Christian life is based out of God's love expressed through the cross of Christ. Simply put, John said, God is love in I John 4:8. [It has to be understood that God is love and not love is God because many people misinterpret this verse. The actual meaning of the phrase "God is love" is God has many characteristics but the main defining character of God is love.]

So, to love and being loved are not only the part of Christian life but an essential core of life itself that even animals express love towards their young ones. So, every human loves and wants to be loved. But, the love that John spoke here is all about the selfless love, Agape love that God showed towards us. So, we have to reflect the love of God to others. How do we love each other? The answer is through fellowship. I can explain the meaning of the word fellowship as being united with fellow believers who are also called our brethren. Fellowship is not possible unless and until we have the God's love is poured in our hearts through Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. As we all have self nature in us, unless and until the new creation takes over with the help of Holy Spirit, we are prone to criticize and blame others for anything and everything. It is often easy to find faults in others for even minor things. But, being in fellowship means God's love is in us and that never minds others' shortcomings but instead love others as God loved us when we were still sinners. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

That's why the verse at the beginning of the chapter says, if we are in light, we have fellowship with one another and that means we are in God's love. Now, let's see why fellowship is required. When God created Adam, He said that it is not good for Adam to be alone and He created a help meet in Eve. So, from that we can understand that man is not created to be alone and he has to be in fellowship with his partner. Same way, a new creation too needs to be in fellowship with spiritual partners to be nourished. This is why it is most important for a believer to marry a believer so that both of them care and nourish the other's spiritual needs as well.

Apart from husband wife relationship, it is necessary for every believer to be in fellowship with the brethren who are part of their church or prayer groups or any other Christian associations. If you notice, when Jesus sent His disciples, He sent two of them together and didn't send anyone alone. Luke 10:1. If you read Acts, you can find Peter and John were going to the temple together Acts 3:1, we see Paul was accompanied by Barnabas for most of his earlier ministry and then he joined Silas and later with Timothy. It is very important that we too don't be living the Christian life alone.

Do you see why this is necessary? It is very important because each of us have our own physical or spiritual problems, difficulties and shortcomings so that they want fellow believer to support him/her spiritually and physically. Following are the different ways one believer support other. Exhort, Pray, Help and Comfort.

Apart from the above points, where I mentioned about how we support fellow believers and we receive support from others, the Holy Spirit is manifested when the brethren is in fellowship with one accord. That's why Jesus said wherever two or more unite in my name, I am in their midst. That's the power of the fellowship. When two or more join in His name and ask for something, it is given to them. That's the power of fellowship. We see when the disciples joined in one accord, they received the fire anointing of Holy Spirit through which the church of Christ is established. That's what the psalmist mentioned in Psalm 133 where he speaks about the anointing when brethre are united in one accord.

Thus, we see how much importance for the new creation to be in fellowship with God and other believers. In next article, we will see about bearing fruits, the main goal of the new creation.

May God who is my rock and foundation be blessed for now and for evermore. All glory, honor and praise to Him through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

New Creation - Growth, the conclusion

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. With this chapter, I am planning to complete the growth of the new creation. This should be a very short chapter.

If we keep ourselves reading the Word of God and spend quality time with God through Prayer every day, God's Holy Spirit will keep us growing the new creation in us. Actually, for a successful growth, the contribution of both ourselves and Holy Spirit is needed. If we do our part, then definitely God will do His part and help us overcome every obstacles or problem created by devil against our growth. Now, the important question is when shall we know that we are grown to full level of
growth ? The simple answer is we cannot grow completely in our spiritual growth but gets advanced day after day as we learn and serve the Lord. That is what the starting verse says, Paul, the apostle who wrote 13 books of the New testament, who had more revelations about the Word of God than any one else and who had established many churches, just say that he had not attained yet and not perfect yet. So, we are getting grown day by day in our inner man. We also see this point in 2 Corinthians 4:16, For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward  man is renewed day by day.

So, we understand that our spirit has been revived once we accept Jesus and gets into covenant with Him through baptism where as our inner man which is the soul that changes into new creation and it gets renewed day by day. So, now the question that remains is, when the growth shall be complete? The growth will complete only when we get transfigured to God's own image and during that time we will considered to be equivalent to Him. So, for that either we need to die here in earth or we need to be alive until Christ's day of rapture. This is as per the verse 1 John 3:2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. So, until that growth and bearing fruits are necessary for our spiritual life.

At the same time, there is a difference in the growth level that the scripture calls most of the believers as babes instead of fully grown up matured persons. We can read this in I Cor 3:1,2 where Paul addressed the believers of Corinth as babes, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able  to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." and the author of Hebrew calls the audience as babes as well, "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which  be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." Hebrews 5:12,13. Here, both Paul and the author of Hebrew says that most of the believers are like babes in Christ whereas they have to be like fully grown up matured person. So, obviously the growth was stagnating. The growth was triggered once a person becomes new creation in Christ, but later if the new creation is not fed the Word of God which is obviously the milk for new born as mentioned in I Peter 2:2 that says "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." and the Word of God and the hidden revelation in the scriptures is the meat (strong food) that matured persons can take in.

So, one thing is obvious. For growth, the meditation of the Word of God is essential. Prayer and the assistance of the Holy Spirit is also essential. But, meditation is the first and foremost stuff through which the Holy Spirit works and Prayer helps to build ourselves on the foundation that is Christ Jesus. So, now there are two things that are clear. One is whatever we grow, our growth is not complete until we die and then resurrect to be with the Lord or transform to His likeness in rapture. But, at the same time, we cannot use this as an excuse for not growing our new creation as there are different growth levels and different stages of maturity so that we cannot say that we can only be complete after our death or during rapture. Because, unless and until we grow, we can never be complete.

Now, I want to quote from a book called Power for Living written by Jamie Buckingham where he expands each letters of the word GROWTH.

G - Go to God in prayer daily
R - Read and meditate the Word of God
O - Obey God's Word
W - Witness Christ to others
T - Trust God for every detail of your life
H - Holy Spirit's dependence

We will touch these areas in the upcoming posts. But, let's close the growth chapter and will see about the maturity and bearing fruits in our lives for Christ and few other important topics before we complete the New Creation series. As you keep growing in the Christian life which is the life through the new creation, no need for others to teach you. The Holy Spirit's anointing with you will teach you and reveal His truths which are required to fulfill His will in your life. I John 2:27

I would like to complete the New Creation series and move on to other general articles as there are many other new revelations but this series is one most important for our Christian Lives and it has been dragging since last year.

May all Glory, Honor, Praise to our God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

New Creation - Growth via Prayer

New Creation - Growth via Prayer

Abide in me, and I in you. John 15:4

Greetings to all of you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. After a long break of around 6 months, I am resuming the articles. The reason behind my long break is because I am really difficult to find right time to write the articles. I am getting occupied with more and more professional and personal tasks. I usually write these articles on Sunday afternoons and my daughters were keeping me busy for the past 2 to 3 months. Please pray for me, my family and that God help me with all aspects of my life so that I will touch and transform many lives through God's Word. The Word of God gives us life. Matthew 4:4, John 6:63.

Let's continue the growth chapter as I forgot to mention another important aspect of growth which is Prayer. If reading the Word of God is the food for growth, prayer is like the breath of a true Christian. Scripture meditation and prayer are like two eyes of a Christian. In my opinion, both Bible reading and Prayer are equally important. Few people put prayer above Bible reading and few put Bible reading above prayer. For me, both of them are equally important in its own aspect and one without the other will usually go useless and wouldn't benefit much. So, one must continue to read and meditate the Word of God as well as should remain steadfast in prayer to grow in his spiritual life.

There could be many definitions for Prayer. All the religions have prayer and most of the people in the planet pray for one thing or the other. For me, the simplest definition of prayer is a form of communion (not just communication) with God where we speak what is in our mind with Him. It is like speaking to your friend or your spouse. Usually, we love to speak to the person whom we love and we like to spend more time with him or her. It may be your spouse or best friend or your dad or mom. One must have the same kind of relationship with the Father in heaven. He loves to hear from us and He wants to share back His feelings. When we communicate with our friends more and more, we learn more about them and they learn more about us. Say for example, if you are joining a new job or a new school, there we start communicating with our team mates or class mates and slowly start knowing about them. It is a gradual process. The more and more we spend time with our friends, we understand more about them and they understand about us and the friendship blooms. Best friends are those who easily say about how their friend react to a situation or what their mind would think in a particular situation because they are in sync with their thought process. Same applies for long married couple who have the same mindset. Same thing is expected out of each of the new born Christian to have with God. We slowly understand God's ways and thought process as we spend time in prayer and meditation. The friendship and love blooms as we spend time together with God. This is what Jesus said in Revelation 3:21, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. This actually means Jesus will share His mind with the one who spends time with Him in meditation and prayer.

If we continue to remain in prayer, slowly we get the mindset of Jesus and will reflect His nature. This is really essential for the growth. For a plant to grow it needs water as well as sunlight. While reading the Word of God is like water, prayer should be like sunlight. It is like seeing to Him. I could quote many examples from Bible on prayer and victory and I believe you should be knowing them on your own. But, just to quote a verse from my favorite Psalm which is Psalm 34. Verse 5 says They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. Our hearts will be lightened as we spend time with Him as Moses face was bright when He came out after He spent time with the Lord.

Lets look into some more aspects of prayer and wrap this chapter.
A prayer need not be formal but being formal or casual is not a mistake. But, what God looks for in a prayer is the heart behind and the thoughts from which the prayers come. If the mind and thoughts are right, then we have a right platform to communicate with God and we are assured that He hears it. It is about telling God our feelings and requesting for His help in our day to day life. Reading the Word of God and meditating more in the Word of God increases the measure of spirit filled prayer and results in unleashing of the power of God in our lives.

There are 3 basic aspects of prayer. First is about God Himself. This is about fulfilling God's will in our lives and in others' lives, in the earth. The second is about us. This is mainly telling our requests to God, asking Him to supply His needs both spiritual and worldly as well as asking for solutions for troubles and problems in our daily lives. Third is for others, like our friends, relatives, known persons, unknown persons and for the society. Jesus gave many promises for the prayers and I could quote many examples from the scriptures. Just quoting few here. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13, Ask, and it shall be given you Matthew 7:7 and That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 18:19.

Next, the prayer unleashes the power of God in our lives and helps us achieves the things that are unachievable by our own strength. Elijah's prayers did wonders, His very short prayer brought down fire from heaven I Kings 18:36-38, another prayer stopped rains for around 3.5 years and again brought back rains. James 5:17-18. The more you are closer to God, more the miracles and powers you witness in your life. God has solution for every difficult problem that we undergo. It may look like impossible situation but still God has unique out of the box solution for the difficulty. God says, I am the God of all flesh, is there any thing too hard for me to do? Jeremiah 32:27. So, prayer brings miracles in our lives and it gives us victory over every trouble.

Actually, prayer could be a very long chapter if I have to deal with each and every aspect of it. But, you should be obviously aware of those things. In the context of our chapter, prayer is essential for a growth of the Christian who is a new creation as it helps to have a continuous relationship with the Lord almighty and helps us to know His mind and reflect His character. It helps us to keep ourselves holy and overcome the temptations and difficulties that we face in our day to day lives. It is the way through which we communicate our needs and requirements to God, the Father and get our needs supplied by Him and finally Prayer brings miracles and victory in our lives overcoming every difficult situation that we face. Above all, prayer life is a way of living that is a basic necessity for every Christian and help us abide in the Lord and grow up. I repeat, if reading and meditating Word of God is like food, Prayer is like breath for a Christian and both of them are essential for the growth of the new creation.

All glory, honor and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May God bless you all. Amen.

New Creation - Growth

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: I Pet 2:2

Greetings to everyone in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I wrote my last article which was just a revisit of many of the new creation series and I hoped to get the series going. But, to be honest, I am finding it difficult to keep writing. My worldly commitments are increasing where it looks like I am losing my spiritual discipline with growing pressure due to family needs and my professional works. In short, I am turning weary and tired. But, I know my redeemer is alive and He is standing at the door. I know I will see Him with my own eyes. Job 19:25,27 And, I know very well, the spiritual life may take ups and downs as I wrote in one of my previous articles. Sometimes, it looks like it gets in a drained state for too long but I do remember the one who said "I am with you always even unto the end of ages" is faithful and sincere. Matthew 28:20 He sustains me. I never dare to say that I stand in my own. If I claim such a thing, I am prone to failure like Peter who told to Jesus that even if he had to die with Him, he will not denounce, only to fail eventually. The reason for his failure is he counted on his own strength when he made that statement. He thought he could claim witness to Jesus on his own mortal strength, but when the testing came it was more than what he can face. He failed. But, the same Peter, indeed gave his life for the Savior, not in his own strength but by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Praise God. By Him, we are more than conquerors in everything. Romans 8:37 Things which are not possible for men are possible for God, for that nothing is impossible for God. Luke 18:27  Hallelujah.

So, instead of quoting Peter, I would like to quote Paul, who said "for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Timothy 1:12. It may look like that the enemy may be winning all posts, but be assured that the ultimate victory is  ours through our loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. No matter what, we are destined to win. Our Lord knows it all. He is sovereign. All things are by Him, through Him and for Him. To Him be the glory for ever and ever. To every one reading this message, please keep me in your prayers. Our prayers are mighty. Our spiritual armors are mightier than of those of the powers of this world that they pull down the strongholds. 2 Cor 10:4

Coming to this chapter, we resumed the new creation series from last chapter. The core verse is 2 Cor 5:17, that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature and all old things had gone and everything became new. We also saw how Jesus told Nicodemus about the need for a person to be born again to enter the kingdom of God. John 3:1-10  Now, this is exactly going to be the same as such that of a birth of a new baby. Any unbeliever who puts his complete faith in Jesus and accepts Him as a Savior becomes a new person in Christ. But, he is equivalent to a new born baby and he needs to know the truth. Once he becomes the children of God, he automatically becomes the enemy of the powers of darkness. The spiritual battle begins. Now, we need to see how a baby grows to a child in order to understand how a new born Christian should grow up. When a baby is born, the first thing it needs is food. It cannot take anything. It only needs the mother's feeding for the first few days in order to receive the strength and grow thereby.

Exactly, that's what the Word of God does to a new born. The Word of God is the spiritual manna which builds, strengthens and enriches the soul. One should learn the basic teachings of the gospel, understand the power of the sin, temptation, our requirement and our support from the Word of God. He should attend a regular bible study from a church that preaches truth in a right way. It is good to listen to some of the popular preachers but my personal advice is to get into a proper fellowship in a Church or a prayer cell and start to learn. Before that, the new born Christian should take his spiritual life seriously and should be willing to spend time to know Jesus in person through the Word of God. Moreover, the bible reading and meditation should go along with the prayer life. If not, it will be like a seed planted on a land without water and die soon. Prayer is like a water to the seed which is the Word of God.

The newborn baby should be properly vaccinated regularly for diseases. Caution should be exercised on what vaccination the baby is given. A high powerful vaccination shouldn't be administered for a new born. We can only give what it takes. So, a new born person should have proper spiritual mentor for his spiritual growth and should learn about the truth and the armor of God. Ephesians 6:12-18. He should read the Word of God regularly but too much reading at initial stage is also not good as it will exhaust a new born. Too much feeding is obviously bad. Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint where one runs fast and then falls down. We need to properly pace our run to be victorious. Initially, all these things may not be possible but with sustained reading, meditation and prayer, it is possible.

The Old testament is definitely important to understand but the New Testament is a must. Old testament shows the various characters who won and lost their battles. God shadowed many things there which are yet to come. But, one cannot understand them quickly. Both OT and NT are like two sharp edges of the sword. But, we live in the period of New testament so one should learn how to run our day to day life based on the truths of new testament. But, one is considered spiritually mature when he is able to understand how Old testament serves as the shadow to the New testament. How the Old testament promises are fulfilled in New testament. If one has that level of understanding, he is considered mature. The author of Hebrews explains that the readers are like babes. He wonders they are still not grown. "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which  be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk  is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." Hebrews 5:12,13. So, the growth according to the author of Hebrews is really get mastered in the scriptures to the level of connecting the OT and NT.

It is interesting to see where the author says this verse. He was just telling this when he quotes about Melchizedek and he sighs that the hearers are babes. He says this, "Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.". Hebrews 5:10,11. So, the expectation of the author is the mature reader should be able to preach all these things by themselves with the help of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the author of Hebrews considers a believer or Christian is mature when he or she is able to understand the old testament figures or foreshadows with the association of Jesus Christ. An important point to note. He defines that such a person should be able to discern what is right and wrong and should be able to exercise the Truth of God in their day to day lives. "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Hebrews 5:14. Moreover, the author wants us to be mature instead of laying the same foundations again and again. Hebrews 6:1-3.

Even Paul writes the same thing when he addressed the church of Corinth in his first epistle. The church of Corinth didn't show enough maturity, they were fighting, there was adultery and fornication in church members, they were divided in groups and were not united for Christ. When Paul addressed he told, "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able  to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas  there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" 1 Corinthians 3:2,3. Sounds like modern day churches? No wonder, Christendom is going like that. But, Lord knows His flock. So, what we understand from here? It is the wish of the Holy Spirit for us to grow. Think how an adult who doesn't have mental growth behaves. How difficult it would be for his parents? Would be terrible. That's how it will be for our Father as well when He sees us only drinking milk after so much of years living as a Christian. He expects us to grow. The advice is straightforward given in the title verse, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: I Pet 2:2. You may ask but after attending some level of maturity, how to grow further. Again the same verse applies, we can say, as children, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow again you can take the same verse to grow from child to adult, adult to matured man, etc. But, one difference is as you grow in the spiritual life, Holy Spirit helps you out at every stage. You will win more and more challenges. Remember the struggles will make you more stronger and make you more matured in Christian walk.

When the growth stops? or when the challenges stop? Only when we die or meet our Lord and that will be the time when our faith completes. Jesus is called the author and finisher of our faith. Heb 12:2. When we see Him, our faith completes because faith is not required any longer as it is written "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" Romans 8:24. Until then, we are supposed to run our race patiently. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;" Hebrews 12:1,2. Until then, we need to grow in our every day life. As per our physical growth, we should grow in our spiritual aspects too. I remember a modern saying, "Even if we are on right track, we will get run over if we don't move." So, move on my dear brother and sister. Our Lord promised that He will help you when you are blocked. Cast your burden on the Lord, for He will sustain you. Psalm 55:22.

With this I complete this chapter. If Holy Spirit helps me with more points about growth, I will either update this one include in my subsequent posts. Pray for me so that I get the strength and motivation of the Holy Spirit and right time to carry on writing for Him. All glory, honor, praise, wisdom, dominion, power and strength to the one who was, who is and who is to come. Majesty to the lamb who sits upon the throne. Amen.