Galatians 2:20
Your new life in Christ includes the presence of God’s Holy Spirit living in you.
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20a)
“…you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…” (Ephesians 1:13b)
To experience the fullness of your new life in Christ, it will be necessary to surrender all that conflicts with the Holy Spirit.
“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
Sometimes a stronghold makes it difficult to live your new life. A stronghold is a habit or a way of thinking that controls how you live. God has given us instructions in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 for surrendering strongholds.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Paul mentions we have been persuaded to believe things that do not agree with God’s truth, resulting in strongholds. So, what can you do? God says, “Take them captive! Make them obedient to Christ!” Take a thought captive by asking if it agrees with what God says is true. Make it obedient to Christ by choosing to believe it (if it agrees with what God says is true) or by refusing to believe it (if it disagrees with what God says is true).
Further obedience requires replacing wrong thoughts with God’s truth. For example, if I believe I am not good enough, I need to realize that is not how God sees me. It is a lie! He says I am His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). I am His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). I must accept and embrace these truths to keep the lie from influencing how I live.
As you surrender thoughts and attitudes from your old identity, your new life in Christ will become an expression of His love, not your old self. You’ll become increasingly sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Satan will lose the ability to influence your thoughts. What a gift we have through Jesus Christ, who lives in each of us!
Sharon Chapman
EFCC Member