Do nothing to revive the old nature!

Hello mi neighbour! Our world seems to be spinning out of control and its inhabitants must find an anchor for body, soul and spirit.

A few of us who embarked on a faith journey a while back, for the past two years, have been meeting in the mornings for prayer and Bible reading to help fine-tune our faith in the Almighty, thus making the journey more enjoyable in a world where so many persons have been losing hope. The experience has been life-changing, and it would be ungenerous of us not to share it with our neighbours. During the process we came to understand how persons can be Christians for may years without any identifiable shift in their ungodly behaviour. No difference between theirs and that of the “sinner”.

So disappointing!

The Bible admonishes Christians in particular to “Walk in the Spirit so that they will not fulfil the lust of the flesh”! Christians understand this to mean living a life which is guided by godly principles and in keeping with God’s nature.

Unfortunately, not all Christians understand this concept let alone abide by it. Whenever someone is converted to Christianity, he is expected to change his lifestyle from one of worldliness to Christlikeness. Of course, that is with the help of the Spirit. ‘Worldians’, as non-Christians are often called, will backbite, gossip, fornicate, covet, lie, steal and the like, with little or no remorse because of their sinful nature. Christians must do the opposite!

At conversion, the individual takes on a new nature which is powered by the Spirit of GOD. This new nature does not replace the old sinful one immediately though. However, a battle between both natures is here ensued: the old nature wants to continue with lust, fornication, anger and lying, while the new nature is putting up a fight to end those practices, and to replace them with things like chastity, honesty, truthfulness, etc. The conflict created by the second nature forces the individual to make some critical choices!

The converted individual must now know that if he capitulates to the desires of the old nature it could blight his eternal future or if he surrenders to the pull of the new nature it will brighten his eternal future.

Having decided with the help of the Almighty, that he will yield to the new nature, he must now set to work. He must:

· Communicate with God through prayer

· Meditate on the Scriptures

· Worship and honour God

· Connect with other true Christians

· Drop some friends, etc.

Must also develop an attitude of gratitude. He must focus on God’s goodness and release bitterness by forgiving others.

He must exercise self-control and manage emotions/desires and endure trials.

It is also important that he understands spiritual warfare and learn to resist temptation.

With a strong determination and the help of the Spirit, the new nature will begin to produce the fruit of the spirit as follows:

1. Love

2. Joy

3. Peace

4. Longsuffering

5. Kindness

6. Goodness

7. Faithfulness

8. Gentleness

9. Self-control

By this time, the old nature would have been decommissioned and the converted soul is now free to walk, talk and live like JESUS!

And make sure you do nothing to revive the old nature!

Enjoy!

REMEMBER YOUR NEIGHBOURS WHO NEED YOUR HELP WITH:

1. Stove

2. Refrigerator

3. Bed

4. Food,

5. Medication

6. Financial assistance to start a little business.

To help, please call Silton Townsend @ 876 649-9636 or 876 884-3866 Email: helloneighbour@yahoo.com. Visit hellomineighbourja.blogspot.com. Townsend exclusively manages the collections and distributions mentioned in this column and is neither an employee nor agent of The Gleaner.