The Inner Man

 

The Inner Man
2 Corinthians 5:17

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

As we yield our lives to Christ we must read and study the Word of the Lord. First, we must love God with all our mind, heart, soul, and strength. Also, love our neighbor as ourselves. These are Jesus’s commandments. Our minds and hearts must not lean to our understanding about governing our lives. The Word teaches us about how we should conduct ourselves, how-to live-in peace, honor God by obeying His Word and forgiving those who have hurt us.

When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior our lives will change into becoming a new man in Christ. Our minds and hearts will become awaken to the life of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will make His presence known in us through an encounter of His choosing. Our spirit within us will become awaken to the Spirit of God. This is the regenerative process of a believer when he or she becomes born again. We will be able to comprehend the spiritual things that the Holy Spirit teaches and downloads within us.

As followers of Christ, we must learn how to follow Jesus and live the way the Bible says to please God. We cannot do this on our own or with other methods that we may feel right in our abilities and capacity. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to seal us to Him when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are submitting our will and lives to Jesus and believe that He is the Son of God, died for our sins, and rose three days later from the grave. We believe the good news of the gospel and put our faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Now that we’ve confessed with our mouths the Lord Jesus and have picked up our cross, we are now walking a new path to learning, growing, maturing, and becoming ambassadors for Christ. The Holy Spirit is our helper and teacher in guiding us every day of our lives until the day of redemption. We must yield our will and allow Him to lead us into righteousness by humbling ourselves and thanking Him for His presence in our lives. He knows how to show us the Father’s will and keep us moving forward on the right path.  

He knows what’s going on in the spirit realm to guide and instruct us to victory. Because there is evil present every where in the heavenlies that we cannot see nor discern the wickedness and deceiving spirits that are in the air and how Satan only wants to kill, steal, and destroy us. Our hearts should always be grateful and thankful for the Holy Spirit living inside us. 

During the regenerative process our old man is dying as our new man is being formed within us. Our old mind and ways that we learned are no longer ruling our decisions nor are we doing the things we did wrong anymore. The old life we lived pleasing ourselves is dead we must renew our minds with the Word of the Lord. We are like babes in the beginning stages of our new life in Christ. Remember we gave Him our lives and accepted Him as Lord. Now we must surrender to His will and follow Him.

Every day is a process in learning what is God’s standards of righteousness for right living e.g., some people use cuss words to express themselves and in how they communicate with others and think nothing more about it. However, when we become born again, we must not let that kind of talk come out of our mouths. Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

The scriptures are God’s words given to us for right living and it is our responsibility to read, study and rightly divide the word of truth and apply it to our lives. The scriptures reveal to us the wrong things that we should not do as children of God as well as those right things to do as we follow Christ. Christ is the head of the church, and He is sitting on the throne interceding and advocating on our behalf to the Father for our good. If we say that we follow Christ, the Messiah then our fruit will show it. John 15:1-3 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 

The new spirit is our inner man and that is where God comes to meet us and communicates with us. He’s revealing His Spirit to us through our spirit. We must keep our hearts and minds free from all matters of evil and protect our spirit from the things that do not please God. By not allowing corrupt behavior, sinful living, and wrong desires to entice and entertain us. We must remove our members e.g., eyes, ears, mouths, hands, and our bodies from unclean things. Our inner man is pure, and it is the part of us that God created new in us to prosper and bless us with the spiritual things to equip and empower us to do miraculous and amazing things and to connect us to Him.

We are victorious when we feed our inner man with the Word of the Lord. God opens our spiritual understanding so that we can discern the things in the spirit to follow His truth and righteousness. Our lives will be different, and our fruit will be multiplied as we remain in the presence of the Lord as we grow in our obedience to Him. This is what happens when we die to self and live for Christ. We will hunger and thirst after God’s righteousness and be filled.

The old desires and old man will no longer have a grip on us, and we will not go back to living a life of sin. The old dirty garments we use to wear; anger, rage, filthy language and lying will not fit us. Because our new clothes that we’ve been given by the Holy Spirit will show how we love, pursue peace, walk in humility, kindness, and forgiveness. Our minds are being renewed in His knowledge and wisdom. As we yield to being conformed into the image of His Son Christ Jesus.

In closing, we must continue to strengthen our inner man with the Word of the Lord and lean not to our own understanding but acknowledge the Lord in all our ways. The Holy Spirit is living within us and will never leave nor forsake us. We must not take Him for granted or grieve Him. Let us continue to show our gratitude and love as we sing praises to God. Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

             

The Eyes

Don’t be deceived by the things you see

You must not believe that everything is true

Many times, you’ve been disappointed

Eyes are open, but you’re walking dead

 Going by your physical sight could be fatal

Pray, listen, and obey God

The Word says try the spirit by the spirit

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

Stop and listen

Not in the carnal, but in the spirit

On the inside is where He dwells

He utters messages to your inner man

Stay, or leave and don’t look back

God has given you a spiritual gift

You must discern the things that live in the spirit

ã2004 “Naima’s Inspirational Melodies”