Breaking The Chains Biblical Recovery Ministry

You Have Been Resurrected!

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

(Matthew 28:5-7)

One day as I was having a difficult day with thoughts of insecurities and I sat down to pray and read the bible. I was led to Matthew 28 and as I read verses 5-7 the Lord was already speaking to me saying "don't you know that you have been raised from the dead and are no longer that old creature but a new one! Once you were dead in the world but when you came to me and received salvation you were resurrected and made new!"

Many times when we are trying to go with the flow of the Lord in changing ourselves and renewing our minds (Romans 12:2), we hit periods where our thoughts, words or actions may seem to lead us back to that old creature. Then at that point we may begin to feel we are that old creature but that isn't true. The enemy likes to make us think we haven't changed and to have us dwell on circumstances that may have bothered us in the past, but we need to remember that once saved, we went from that old creature to a new one:

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We will all, at one time or another, be tempted by the enemy of things of our past. If we stumble here and there that doesn't make us the old creature we once were. Even the righteous will have troubles at times as stated in Psalm 34:19:

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

This shows that we will have troubles but the Lord will deliver us from all of them. One of the biggest misconceptions is that Christians shouldn't stumble or make mistakes but that is not so. Christians are human and we stumble just like everyone else but the one difference is that we trust in a Heavenly Father who will be there to lift us up when we do stumble. The problem for some Christians is that once they stumble they may feel ashamed to even go to God feeling they have automatically gone back to their old ways. God always wants us to go to him when we've made a mistake or done something wrong just as we want our children to come to us when they have stumbled or done something wrong. There is no difference as parents are patterned after God. Often times our children don't come to us when they've done something wrong because they fear getting into trouble or that we will not love them anymore (more so small children). We sometimes feel the same way with God and we shouldn't. The Israelites stumbled and fell into sin many times and all God wanted was for them to realize it, acknowledge it and turn from it:

Jeremiah 3:11-13

The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.  Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
       " 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
       'I will frown on you no longer,
       for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
       'I will not be angry forever.

        Only acknowledge your guilt—

We must learn to put up that shield of faith and stop the enemy in his tracks from convincing us we are that old creature every time we mess up. This doesn't give us permission to be lax and allow ourselves to stumble and fall all the time with the thought that God is just going to accept us back when we repent. We must continuously fight against the flesh. But when we do fight and we are wounded and have fallen, we have a God who loves us and will restore us and strengthen us.

Have you stumbled and now feel ashamed to go to God feeling he wouldn't want you anymore? If so, that is a lie of the enemy! Put your shield of faith up and "submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7)! As God says "only acknowledge your guilt" and he will accept you with open arms and restore you and strengthening you.

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