EVERYTHING ANEW:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our opening scripture tells us something remarkable. It says, "...all things are become new." What's the meaning of "ALL"? It means everything that is, with the exception of nothing. I want you to carefully notice the tenses: "...old things ARE passed away; behold all things ARE become new." Praise God!

Therefore, when God looks at you, He sees that whatever was wrong in your life before you became Born Again is now passed away. You may not "feel" or think so, but that doesn't negate His truth. Besides, that's the reason He told you, because you couldn't know any other way, except through the Word. How should you respond, now that you know?

Here's what God expects; let's assume that you came into a meeting, not knowing much about Jesus, then you heard the Gospel and believed; however you came into the meeting with cancer. The Doctors already said there was no chance of survival. Now, you've believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, and have received him into your life; you've declared that He's now lord over your life and have received eternal life into y our heart.

Then you read, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away, behold all things are become hew." You ponder for a moment, "Hey! Old things are passed away? What about the cancer I came with?" Well, old things are passed away, all things are become new, and the eighteenth verse explained that all the things that have become new are of God. So, the cancer is not of God! So you say, "Old things are passed away. Therefore this cancer is passed away!"

Now, you may still feel it in your body, but God says it's passed away; so whose report will you believe? just keep saying what God has said, "Cancer, you are passed away, my body has become new, because I have a new life in me now, and this new life is impermeable to cancer." That becomes your proclamation and expression of faith. It'is on the basis of what God has said, you trusty His Word that indeed, "All things are become new." Hallelujah!

Further Study

Galatians 6:15

Romans 6:4

Colossians 3:9-10

Andy Agim

Christ Realities 

REAL FAITH NEVER FAILS:

"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13).

One thing you must settle in your mind as a believer is that faith always works. Our opening scripture outlines faith, hope and love as three creative and abiding principles of the human spirit. That means they are not unstable; they’re well founded and will always produce result; they never fail. Our study today, however, centers on the first of the three—faith! Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 "…If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

The Master never lied or exaggerated in His expressions. He spoke absolute truth. Therefore, if He said this, it must be true. Some Christians, however, would say they believe the words of Jesus above and yet cite instances where their faith didn’t work. The truth is, they really had no faith. It reminds of a similar experience the Lord Jesus had with His disciples, after the disciples had tried fruitlessly to cast out devils from a little boy. The father of the boy then besought Jesus saying, "Master, if you can do anything, please have compassion on us and help us" (Mark 9:22). Summarily, Jesus cast the devil out of the little boy, and he was healed.

Afterwards, the disciples came to Him privately and asked, "Master why couldn’t we cast the devil out?" (Matthew 17:19). He answered them pointblank: "Because of your unbelief"; meaning, lack of faith. The disciples must have thought they had faith and believed they could cast the devil out, otherwise they wouldn’t have tried. But Jesus made them realize that the reason they couldn’t cast the devil out was their unbelief.

If you are one of those who still wonder why your faith isn’t working, you might just be paddling the same boat of unbelief as the disciples when they tried fruitlessly to cast the devil out of that little boy. Real faith in God and His Word always works! So get back to the Word, build your faith strong and put it to work today.

Further Study: 

Mark 11:22-23

Andy Agim

Christ Realities

LIVING JOYFULLY:

"You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore" 

(Psalm 16:11).

God doesn’t have the responsibility of making you joyful. What He did was to put His joy in your spirit. Having been born again, you have been brought into the life of unending joy. Joy is inherent in your spirit; all you have to do is let it out. The Bible says in Romans 14:17 "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." There are certain features in your recreated human spirit, and one of them is joy; but it’s up to you to live joyfully all the time.

God isn’t going to make you any more joyful today than He already did when you were born again. Also, no one in the world has the responsibility of making you joyful; that job rests with you alone. So whether you live joyfully or not is actually your personal choice. Choose to be joyful; it pays. The Bible talks about the curative and therapeutic effect of a joyful heart: "A merry heart doeth good like medicine" (Proverbs 17:22). Joyful, happy people are hardly ever sick.

You may say, "I’m joyful, it’s just that I don’t show it!" No. Joy has expressions. You can’t claim to be joyful and not express it. James 5:13 confirms it; it says, "Is any merry? let him sing psalms." Joy has nothing to do with what’s happening to you or around you; it’s got nothing to do with what others have said or done against you. It also has nothing to do with your experiences. You can be joyful in the midst of trouble, just like Paul and Silas when they were slammed in prison (Acts 16:25).

The Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). When you are joyful, you are strengthened. If you think you are weak, your recipe for strength is the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord doesn’t come because someone said something funny to you; it’s spiritual. The Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 1:8 "…ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Perhaps you were feeling downcast, abandoned or neglected, right away, you can stir up joy from within. When that joy wells up in you, you will be strengthened by the Lord from inside through the Holy Spirit who lives and functions in you.

Further Study:

Isaiah 12:3

Philippians 3:3

Philippians 4:4

Andy Agim

Christ Realities