"New Life In Jesus Christ"

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6) What we are talking about here is an eternal soul; I hope everyone understands that? Let me put it another way: If we are living in the present, as to satisfy this present body and it's needs and desires, then we are living in the wrong body. For that body which is of this present world, with the lust thereof, is to reckoned crucified with Christ. Therefore, if we still long and care for the things of this world, just as James said in verse 4:4, "know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"; which means that we will begin to make God our enemy by placing the things of this world before Him. God does not stop loving us, but we stop loving Him and those things which draw us closer to Him. This is really not that hard to understand; because the things of this world are ever present, and within our reach; meaning that they are of this present world and worthy of the old man, or the old man is worthy of them. But, what happens when we start to feed that old man with these present things of the world, is that our New Life in Christ, which has a hope for things to come, is placed on hold while these current pleasures are taken in. Unfortunately, this holding pattern that the New Life in Christ is placed in, gives life to the old man; the longer the life, the more love for the things of this world. This is why we must resist temptation; we must resist the desires of the flesh; and we must resist the devil. "Do you think the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But He giveth more Grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth Grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:5-7) 'Pride cometh before the fall', is more true than we know; because the easiest way for the devil to take you down, is to try and make you proud. To truly submit ourselves to God, we must be humble; humble with a humility that says 'HELP ME!!!: Dear God, Please Help Me!' After all; what we are talking about here, is not this temporary flesh, but our eternal soul; and the love which really matters to our eternal soul, is not of this temporary world. Even our love for one another, goes beyond this temporary life that we are living; which makes for the things that cause division and fighting among those that are brothers and sisters in the Lord, seem futile and unworthy of our strife. If we are going to have victory in this world, then this world must not matter any longer; in other words, the love of this world, and the things which are attached to it, must be far removed from our eternal soul. Now then; what to do? oh what to do? 'BUT GOD!!!' "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in The Sight of The Lord, and He shall lift you up." (James 4:8-10) This is the lifting up that is required; not being lifted up off our knees from prayer; but being lifted up in the sight of the Lord, to behold His Love, to behold His Beaulty, and to behold our eternity with Him...