Even a superficial look at Romans 6 tells us that our old man or old nature is crucified with Christ and is therefore dead and buried. We are given permission to consider ourselves dead to sin and to only live as those who are alive to God, walking in a newness of life that He is creating in us, using our life situations.
In whatever situation we are in we ask the Lord who He wants to be for us, to become within us.
We are permitted to think from a place of death not towards it. Death automatically means we are dead. This is indisputable in the natural world. It is also certainly the case in the realm of the Spirit. Therefore, crucifying the flesh is a consequence, not an action. We are dead in Christ. It is our pleasure and privilege to stay dead.
When we practice being alive to God, death is made more real and more permanent in our experience. We walk in newness of life by putting off the old man (Ephesians 4: 20 -24; Colossians 3: 9-10) and putting on the new. We do not work on the old nature; we leave it in the grave. We work on our new nature in Jesus by establishing His righteousness internally using every adverse situation available to us. As we practice being alive to God we will be inspired and stimulated by His nature, not our old habits.
We are dead in Christ; therefore God does not see what is wrong with us because he nailed all those things to the cross (Colossians 2: 14) and has no desire to resurrect them. He does not see what is wrong with us; He only sees what is currently missing from our experience of Christ. He is deeply committed to that ongoing experience by the power of the indwelling Spirit. He is focused on our new nature in Jesus. That means when He puts his finger on a part of our life that is not fully functioning in relationship with Him, He’s actually pointing to the site of our next miracle, our next upgrade in Christ and the appropriation of His nature within us. God has no bad thoughts towards us, only a desire to see us conform to the image of Jesus!
Our new nature, with its new voice, must take control over the old self and the stress it provokes. The presence of Jesus as the Prince of peace must wage war on all anxiety, fear, and intimidation. Jesus is the antidote to all negativity. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23) makes joyful opposition to all bad habits.
Our new nature, conforming to the image of Jesus creates a new realm within that overcomes the pressures of the external world. Stress is a byproduct of a life not focused on Christ within. The Prince of peace must take up residence within us. It is the work of the Spirit to take what belongs to Jesus and make it real to us-John 16: 15. As we partner with that process, we learned to face life in all the character and attributes of Jesus Christ.