Living in newness of life
The ultimate result of process is where God takes up residence in our lives. We all have a story and we are all on a journey. Our journey needs to be a shared journey with who Jesus is. The reality of God is that He will not accept second best. He will not accept being a little part in the story of our life.
If we don’t understand process and how vital it is to developing a relationship to God, our own story cannot grow to the height that God wants it to. And our journey can never be long enough to take in all that God wants to be for us and that God wants to do for us.
There are believers who have been Christians for twenty years and if there life was a movie they wouldn’t be the star, but an extra in the story of their own life.
The process delivers us from being present past in our life style. It means in the present we are still being affected by stuff in our past. That stuff can still come through and haunt us in the here and now, this is not fair on us, our family and friends or Jesus who died so that all of our past could be forgiven and upgraded into a brilliant life.
We need process so that we understand newness of life. We need process so that we can put off the old man and put on the new. We need process so that we can learn how to upgrade our thinking, so that our very lifestyle is absolutely, radically transformed. None of this happens by magic. It does not happen solely by impartation. None of it happens completely by encounter. All of it happens by encounter and by process.
Process is a series of steps where we walk out from the old and walk into the new. Process is a series of steps where we put away old thinking, old perspectives, old mind-sets and we learn a new perspective of ourselves. We learn to think of ourselves and the world around us differently. We get a new language, we learn how to stand, walk, and we learn how to move from measure into fullness. We learn to move from mediocrity to excellence. And all of that is a step by step process, walking joyfully with God and learning how to joyfully overcome self, the enemy. Learning the process of living from the inside to the outside, learning how to move in the fruit of the spirit, so that all our negative emotions can actually be killed off and we learn how to live in a state of joy and peace in believing.
Process, all of it comes with a careful, thoughtful, measured walk with Jesus into fullness, abundance and favor. We learn the process of how to live in favor. Favor is the outcome of learning first of all how to trust the Lord in all things. We cannot trust the Lord and be anxious, because our anxiety says that you don’t trust. We cannot have anxiety and trust in the same space. We can’t have them both because they will fight against each other. They can inhabit the same space. One of them has to go and we get to choose. At some point if we are going to trust the Lord, we have to do violence to our anxiety. It is the only time we are allowed to be violent in church
We have grown up in a world surrounded by problems, surrounded by other people’s opinions of us. We have grown up learning how to be betrayed and wounded. When we have grown up bad things have happened to us, we have grown up with a lot of stuff. A lot of things have happened to us that have been traumatic and awful, but now we are in the kingdom which is the safest place ever. and we are learning how to be in that place, and we are learning how to stop being wounded. We are learning how to get healed quickly. We are learning that God is safe, that He can be trusted. We are learning of not operating about who we have been, because who we were is dead. The cross is the end of our old nature. We were to bad to be cleansed, we had to be crucified.
The Lord is not trying to change us. he is making us into a new person. Jesus is not into behavior modification. If he was into behavior modification, he would not have had to die. Our old nature cannot be renovated. We are to entrenched in our own fear, anger, sinfulness, the patterns of our life are to set. We would need ten lifetimes to being even close to new and different. He is not trying to change our old nature into something new. We do not become a new person by changing our behavior.
Jesus was crucified before he made the first man and woman, that creation was destined for failure. He has made a new creation in Christ.
Let us create a whole race of people so that we can share everything we have with those people. They cannot be like the angels who just follow us because they don’t know anything different. If we want to be loved, we have to give them a choice, and they will natural choose to trust in their own understanding because they are individuals. Then when they suffer because of their choices, we can enter into them and make all their decisions for them, because they will fear trying to govern their own lives.
If we want them to have the adventure of knowing us, then we have to give them free will, which means they need to be allowed to fail. That means they need to be free not to choose us. So if they want to go their own way they need to be free to do that, otherwise they will never receive our fullness, in the sense of fullness.
The question is how do we help the people who don’t choose us, how do we draw these people into the community so that we can obtain the same objective whether they choose us or not?
For those people who don’t choose us but walk away from us, who ignore us and say that we do not exist, I will come at a point in time and give my life for them so that they can find a way back into the kingdom through my sacrifice.
He that is dead is free. The father has given us permission to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In order for God to be working on our sin, he would have to tread underfoot the cross of Jesus Christ. God is not working on our stuff. We don’t council people’s old nature. When God looks at us He doesn’t see anything wrong with us, because everything that was wrong about us, he put upon Jesus on the cross. Does the Father put our old nature upon Jesus, and then still see it upon us? does He say we are dead to this, but then he keeps it alive because when He looks at us that is all that He see’s.
A religious spirit is the devil coming through Christian doctrine, saying that you’re free in Christ but you’re not really free. You are technically dead in Christ, but we are still working on your old stuff.
Eph4: 20But (on the contrary) ye have not so learned (specific point past, to have learned something, to have experienced it so as to understand) Christ; 21If so be that (if at least, spoken if that which is taken for granted) ye have heard (specific point past, hearken to obey-to understand) him, and have been taught (to tutor, direct, advise, to influence the understanding) by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Some of the stuff we have been taught about this is not biblical; it is not the truth that sets us free. It is a religious spirit keeping us imprisoned in a present-past life style. Because when a religious spirit can keep us in prison there, it can control us. It is the spirit of control saying that you will never really amount to much. The Lord is still working on your stuff and you will never be good enough.
22That ye put off (specific point in time not continuous, to renounce, cast off, lay down) concerning (the object toward which anything tends or aims) the former (prior, previous) conversation (behavior) the old (former) man, which is corrupt (continuous, bring to a worse state) according to the deceitful (delusion) lusts ;( desire resulting from the diseased condition of the soul);and be renewed(continuous action, renewed in spiritual vitality) in the spirit(innermost part, disposition, vital principle, the breath of the spirit, the God part, the regenerated spirit) of your mind.(organ of mental perception, the consciousness preceding action)and that ye put on (a specific point in time 1-intimate union 2-go in or under- to put on as a garment, to clothe oneself.) the new(qualitatively new) man, which after God is created(definiteness of action, to create, produce from nothing, to create and form in a spiritual sense) in righteousness(the essence of him who is righteous, God himself the standard) and true(the unveiled reality lying at the basis of and agreeing with the manifestation) holiness.(holiness manifesting itself in actions)
The Lord is saying to us that we are not working on the old self, because it is dead. We have already crucified it in Jesus, everything that was against you, I nailed it to the cross. I took all your negativity, all your sin, all your weirdness, all your upbringing, all the environment that you were a part of, everything that hurt you, wounded you and betrayed you,made you feel less than what you are, I took all of those things, everything that was against you becoming brilliant I put upon Jesus and nailed it to the cross and when He died, you died. And when He was buried you were buried and when He was raised again from the dead, you were raised in newness of life, not the oldness of life. Your old life was not raised back up with you. It is in the grave.
You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. and the life you now life, you live in faith, in terms of who Jesus is for you, and who you are becoming, and the process that you are engaged in, is the process of learning how to walk in newness of life. So now we put aside the old self, and we put on the new self, because God is not working on the old self, he is only working on the new self, the true you, the real you. God is not working on our sin; He is working on our righteousness. He is not dealing with our sin, because He has dealt with it once and for all.
So our process is not about getting free, it is just about living free. We are free because we are dead. When Jesus gets annoyed with us, he is saying give me back my stuff. You took my stuff and I want my stuff back. But all the stuff I have you gave me, no, you have stuff that belongs that belongs to me and I want it back. The anxiety, the fear, that resentment, that bitterness, that wound, that offense, I paid for it, it belongs to me, it is mine, give me back my stuff. We have been allowing these things to live in our life experience that we are already dead to. We become appalled at ourselves and become repentant and sorry. He smiles and says I was thrilled to die for you, I was thrilled to take everyone of those things and put it in my body so that you would never have to experience it again. It hurts the Lord to see us going through that agony, when he already experienced it in his soul upon the cross, in order to set us free from that agony. The lord paid a price joyfully, I bought all of that stuff, it belongs to me, you cannot have it. it does not belong to you anymore, it belongs to me. Son give me back my stuff, because if you don’t give this back to me you can’t receive what I want you to have, all the fullness. You are the one person blocking your abundance. You are the one person who seems dedicated to obliterating your fullness and your favor. All the time that you take that stuff that belongs to me, and you take it and you own it as being yours, you cannot receive the fullness that I want to give you.
This is why we need a two word counseling ministry, stop it! Don’t do it. Don’t do it anymore.
We don’t realize how beautiful we are to Jesus, he was thrilled to take our place upon the cross, and how thrilled He is for us to inherit Him as our place.
When we talk about process we are not talking about us getting rid of stuff, because He already got rid of it. we are talking about walking into newness of life, learning how not to be angry. We don’t have to be angry anymore because we have a new nature. Learning how not to be anxious or worried because we have a new nature that is easy to trust. We have a new nature that does’nt get offended, because we have the comfortor. We have a new nature that forgives, that heals, that restores people, we have the nature now that loves our enemy. We have a nature now that blesses people that persecutes us. that prays for people who abuses us. we don’t have to bother with all that negative stuff because we are dead to it.
Process is not about fighting off the old stuff, it is about totally embracing the new. It is about us learning, well I got situations like this, and I remember in the past how I would deal with that, but now I got a new nature, I can deal with it differently. It is about us understanding that we are a new creation, and all the old things have passed away, everything has become new, and all those new things are of God.
All the times we are working out of our old nature, and we are bothered with trying to change our old nature with something new, we are not getting it. we are free.
We are free; our process is about learning to stay free. It is about learning how to abide in Jesus. He is standing and looking at us and saying give me back my stuff. We don’t need that suff anymore we are dead to it.
The old man says, If your going to get to know me, you need to know some stuff about me, I have struggles with myself, I really don’t like myself, there are times when I hate myself. Which self is talking? Is this the old self or is this the new self. Would the new self use words like I hate myself? Our new self has nothing to hate. When we are walking in newness of life, if we hate ourself we are double minded, we have two souls. I hate myself, which part Is doing the hating? The I or the self? The I is our conscious awareness, the self is the ego that is identified with thought form. When we hate our self, it is the old self hating the old self, it is the beginning of a spiritual awaking, but we don’t realize that our spirit is not our old self, but our new self. Our spirit is not aware of the new nature at that moment. We are not two people, but one person. when we say I hate myself we are processing our life in negativity.
When we are angry at people, we are in our wrong self. We are the one who needs to change. If we are offended at people we are in our wrong self, we have no right to be wounded; we have a right to be healed.
We are going to pick up wounds and offenses in the course of life, if we are not careful. There may be people in our life that are trying to hurt us. What is our response to that-love? If we choose anything else we become like them. We have to think this thing through. Who do we want to be in this life? When we have Jesus on the inside of us aided and abetted by the incomparable Holy Spirit what really is so difficult. It is about choosing. If we are the kind of person that is easily offended at stuff it proves one thing, we don’t have a relationship with the comforter. When we have a relationship with the comforter He is the first person we talk to.
When a person does something and it hits us, it cuts us, we don’t want to respond to that person, we want to step back into our spirit and look to the Lord to touch that wound. If the Lord doesn’t touch it, we are going to bite back. Well I know something about you-pal. If we do that then we have missed it, we have fallen short. What is the difference between us and them, none? What is the difference between an Islamic fundamentalist and a Christian judge-mentalist, absolutely no difference whatsoever. It is still a religious spirit. we have our own terrorists in the church.
Process is where God takes up residence. Process is about our understanding that there is only one objective in our life and that is to walk in newness of life. It is for us to start thinking in the way that God thinks, to see in the way that God see’s, speak in the way that God speaks. Stand and act and walk and live in the way that God would if He were living inside of us, which miraculously He is.
Our process is not about getting out of the old nature into the new, that has already been accomplished on the cross, jesus took care of business, he took care of all of that. Our process is now walking out our newness of life.
Most of the pastoral systems, most of them are not set on present-past. Some of them have to be because some people need a unique deliverance in certain situations to get free of occult activity or some weird family relational stuff that has damage us, so we need deliverance, we need to be cut off. But most of our pastoral systems should be geared to the new man, not the old.
The pastoral is working hand in hand with the prophetic, because our role is to teach people to live from present to future. Certain people need specific deliverance from present-past but not everyone. Most of our pastoral ministry is guiding us, mentoring us, equipping us, training us, releasing us, empowering us to walk in newness of life. So that we talk like the new man talks. We think like He thinks. We are being made in the image of Jesus and pastoral ministry is to teach us who we are in Christ, not deal with who we are not. Jesus has dealt with who we are not. Now we are teaching people, no we are not talking about that, we are not going to deal with that. You just lay that aside, lay aside the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. What should you be thinking about? How should you be thinking about this, now lets put on the new man
Anger management- are we going to go on tour and manage our anger. Are we going to do stand up routine’s in pubs, how is this all going to work out for us. I am suppose to go to anger management, but I am trying to put that off. Put I am going to go to anger management classes so that we can manage our anger. We cannot manage something that God has already killed off in Jesus.
We are resurrecting our old nature and putting it back on. Grave robber’s incorporated. We do not want to be wearing grave clothes and chains. One moment we are free and the next we are back in the old mind set and the old thing. Renewal in our mind says that doesn’t belong to me, I am not putting it on anymore.
All our process is about becoming a new creation. it is about walking as children of light. It is about putting on Jesus. our process is really about learning how-to walk-in newness of life. Our process is about learning how to think differently, see differently, to see people differently. Whether they like us or not is utterly irrelevant. We have only one picture of humanity and it is a good one.
It doesn’t matter what a person does, we don’t relate to them as an enemy. If a person expects us to react to them in the way that they are responding to us, it will never happen. We have one enemy and we hate him with a passion that we cannot articulate. We love our enemies just the same as if they were our friends, this is the way the kingdom works. This is a newness of life that we intend to walk in.
It is not about what people say or do to us, it is about how we show up. We don’t have to react to people. We don’t have to speak negative about people. All that old stuff has passed away. We are a completely different person if we want to be. We have been made radically free to choose the right thing. We don’t need to work through what a person said to us. the Lord is saying give me back my stuff you can’t have it anymore.
The little child says I have to give Jesus some stuff back, I am scared of the dark, I always want the light on and the door open. But that is not my stuff that belongs to Jesus. Jesus this fear of the dark belongs to you because you died for it, so I give it back to you, will you give me peace instead. Then the little sister tells her mommy, she took her stuff back from Jesus, she is scared, the little sister is telling on her stuff, she is really offended. So she gives his stuff back to him and leaves it with him and puts on His peace and never fears the dark again because godly sorrow displaces the fear.
The fear no longer belongs to us and Jesus has no intention of working on our stuff. When God looks at us He doesn’t see anything wrong with us, because He put everything that was wrong upon Jesus. He sees what is missing from our experience of Him, and He is totally committed to giving us that experience. This is what process means.
Process is God giving us the experiences we need in the situation that we face. So that we don’t face every situation just defaulting to our old nature, we actually turn around and claim the new nature that belongs to us and process is where we are in this old situation, but we are in it with our new life, our new mind set, with brilliant thinking, perceptions, a new language to talk about it differently, a new posture, a new position, a new placement in God, we are walking in newness of life. We are cooperating with the new self. Walking in newness of life is process. Where we are putting on the new man and having fun. Learning how to live with joy and peace in believing.
All of us our enfranchised in the love of God, we are all different we are learning how to be a new creation that is our process, because God is not dealing with the old creation because it has been crucified with Christ.
We have to learn how to not make agreements with the old you. Process is making agreements with the new man.
Process is about God taking up residence in us. We need to be aware of the stuff that we are giving back to Jesus, because the enemy will tempt us to put it back on. We are going to be tested on this. The test is not something to worry about it is something to look forward to. Testing in the kingdom is not difficult it is always joyful because the testing is about establishing who we really are. The testing is not are we good enough; it is, are we aware of how brilliant we really are. The Lord will engineer a couple of situations just so that we can establish the fact that we are dead to it.
There is a lightness of spirit coming into the atmosphere, we are children of light, it does not mean we just walk in light, our whole persona is light and free. The Lord is taking away the heaviness from us because it does not belong to us. Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden light. There is a lightness of being. The lord touches our head so that band around our head, that tension around our head can disappear. The weight on our shoulders is falling away from us. the heaviness in our heart is leaving us. we are free from sin and negativity, from improper thinking, wrong perceptions. We have a new mindset, a new heart, voice. We are free from the burden that the enemy puts upon us. the lord says consider yourself dead to sin and everything that it provokes and we are alive to God a child of light walking in newness of life. We take up the joyful process of becoming radically new in every single area of our life, and we are never talking about the old nature again, says the Lord. We are only talking about the new you. The Lord is going to teach us how to walk with Him in newness of life. Every situation, difficulty, attack from the enemy, the Lord is going to teach us how to face it as a new creation. The old has passed away, everything is going to become new for us as we walk with the lord. So our process is really understanding newness of life, embracing it, taking it on, enjoying it, loving the freedom, the thinking, the peace and the joy, the freedom in our heart to rejoice and worship. The lord is going to teach us how to stay free. Our spiritual condition is a gift, the Lord teaches us how to maintain it. The Lord is not teaching us how to get free, that is a climatic experience in the opening of our spirits eyes, what we need to learn is how to keep our eye good. The lord is teaching us process which is how to walk in freedom, how to embrace the freedom, how to put on the new man, how to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We need to understand that this process is going to be wonderful, because one of God’s names is wonderful. Because we are in God, he is teaching us how to be wonderful also. We are going to walk in newness of life and we are going to make up for lost time. No longer subject to the old, we are not vulnerable to the new man and we are learning a joyful vulnerability.