I pray that I will keep on changing so that only Jesus remains in me.
Beautiful! ~ amen!
To be religious...without true repentance [which should not be confused with lip service]...is like covering a gaping hole in your old coat with an unshrunk patch...the scripture say that a man is the worse for it...and history has proved it to be true. Wash that coat in hot water...see what you get
I`ve known more than a few 'professing christians' in my life...and seen and read enough of what 'works of darkness' were done under that "patch". Religion can only provide a cover for the sinful heart for so long...and soon, even if a man thinks it to be hidden, the dark stain of sin comes seeping thru the patch.
Mar 2:21
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. (talk about a waste of time!)
2Pe 2:20
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
What? Does a man think he can remain who he is, and show up to fellowship with the church, and play the "new" man? Does he think he can talk 'christian' on a forum, and behind that window, indulge himself in drunkenness, or sexual immorality or fits of rage, that usually only his family is privvy to? Of course the patch must stay on in public at all costs, even at the cost of his soul.
I must ask, oh religious man, (woman) hows the "patch" working for ya? The old man is the 'worse for wear' isnt he? A man has to recognize, that playing the part of a new man, isnt going to make him one! Self has to die, to get this new life Christ offers. To do that, first we must get sick to death (literally) of hiding behind the patches (of our own goodness)...then, and only then, will we cry out to God in true repentance!
Rom 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:24
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Rom 7:25
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Rom 8:7
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Eph 4:17
In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint. That was not what you learned about Christ!
You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus. So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to---the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.
* * *
2Co 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
* * *
Rom 13:11
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Act 3:19
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus...
