Justification through the Blood, Sanctification through the Spirit.

Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God: to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:24-26 KJV.

Redemption, apolutrosis, Strong’s #629. “To deliver by paying a price.” The N.T. records the fulfillment of the O.T. types and prophecies of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. The completed truth is set forth in the three words which are translated redemption:

1. Agorazo, “to purchase in the market.” The underlying thought is of a slave market. The subjects of redemption are “sold under sin” (Romans 7:14), but are moreover, under sentence of death (Ezk. 18:4; John 3:18, 19; Rom.3:19; Gal.3:10). And the purchase price is the blood of Redeemer who dies in their stead (Gal.3:13; 2Cor.5:21; Mat. 20:28; Mk. 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1Pet.1:18).
2. Exagorazo, “to buy out of the market.” The redeemed are never again to be exposed to sale.
3. Lutro, “To loose,” “To set free by paying a price (John 8:32; Gal.4:4,5, 31,5:31Rom.8:21). Redemption is by sacrifice and by power (Ex. 14:30); Christ paid the price, The Holy Spirit makes deliverance actual in experience (Rom.8:2).

He is our Redemption, He is Risen, let us rejoice.

What Inner Healing is

What Inner Healing is.

Pastor Manny

“God’s methods are many, His principals few, the methods may vary, the principles never do.” Al  Ells

Inner healing or, more accurately deep-level healing is a ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit aimed at bringing healing to the whole person as expressed in the Hebraic  understanding of wholeness.  David expressed it this way: “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You make me to know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6.

From that standpoint we are provided a much closer understanding in the Greek method of expressing wholeness from compartments, of our Tri-part being as expressed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Since the majority of human aliments are closely tied to damage in the emotional and spiritual areas, I.H. focuses there.

I.H. seeks to bring the power of Christ to bear on healing the roots from which damage springs. The soul of man provides a rich potting soil for the cultivation of memories which serve as nutrients of long term memories. Specific bad roots are often uncovered and related bad fruit exposed such as, unforgivness, anger, bitterness, rejection, low self esteem, fear, worry, and sexual issues.

Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Inner Healing is the renewing of your mind.

As we go through life, we get hurt. When we are hurt, we do our best to keep from falling apart or reacting in such a way that our behavior is considered socially unacceptable. Either way, we suppress our honest (truthful) reaction. Ideally, we would have dealt honestly with each hurt at or soon after the time it happened. But in the course of our lives we stuff the hurt and believe the lie that it’s ok, just go on.

This unwillingness to “keep a short account” with our hurts, leaving them to fester within us results in mild to severe disruption in three relationships: with God, with ourselves, and with others. Disruptions in these areas create most of the garbage, rats like to feed on.

The ideal relationship with God would see us as new and growing creatures (2 Cor.5:17). United with our Lord and one with Him in spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) and living as close to the Father as Jesus did (John 5:19, 30).

The ideal relationship with self would see us accepting, loving, and forgiving ourselves as God accepts loves and forgives us. We are full –fledged children of God (1 John 3:1; Rom 8:14-17; Gal 4:4-7) as joint heirs with Jesus. Such a relationship frees us to totally forgive any who hurt us.

The ideal relationship with others, would see us as accepting, loving, and forgiving others as God accepts, loves, and forgives them as he has enabled us to accept, love and forgive our selves. We relate in a healthy, constructive manner with all others, especially Christians.  We relate properly to all God-ordained authority.

These are the ideals. In reality we are far from these ideals. So we find spiritual illness in our lives as the results of factors such as sin, neglect of our relationship with God, wrong views of God, and anger at God for what He allows to happen. In addition, we may have inherited a generational spirit or curse and be under satanic attack due to the garbage within us.

Such relational illnesses tend to show up in emotional problems. Our reactions to what others have done to us or what we have done to ourselves often result in damaging attitudes such as guilt, anger, bitterness, forgiveness, and fear.

Improper family conditioning often ushers in responses such as perfectionism, performance orientation, and a critical spirit and feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness.

Note: That, it is the reaction, not the hurt itself that becomes the problem. This proves out so many times in sessions with wounded people. Wallowing in even a legitimate reaction, then, results in the build-up of the emotional garbage demons feed on.

We often have the right to be angry or even take revenge. But Jesus knows if we hold onto that right, the inner infection will destroy us. So He says, “Give it to me.” He is concerned with how you reacted to what happened to you and the fact that you are holding on to it. He is saying “give it to me so I can free you up to receive healing in this wound on your emotions.” As long as you hold onto it He cannot heal you.

Emotional Illness is often signaled by a fear of facing the past. Our brains (spirit brain knows everything because it is linked to the person of the Holy Spirit, physical brain) record everything that happens in our lives. However, they also hide and suppress the recall of the heavy stuff. This is helpful for immediate survival, but if it is kept buried, it infects the present.

Many of us have suppressed hurt for so long and know so little of what to expect if we let it surface that we respond with fear at the very suggestion of dealing with the past. And the enemy is very active in encouraging such fear. Hiding our inner stuff without dealing with it, however, affects the three relationship’s mentioned above.

 

 

Sanctification is a process.

The heresy of instantaneous sanctification

RSpanos

Not all things become new!

“And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:15-17)

I would like to bring up a very touchy subject, but one that concerns me deeply. I know that it is not easy to change a doctrinal point of view knowing that I myself once had to do so and it was a difficult experience.

The truth is it would be very foolish to make a doctrine centered on verse 17 of this passage in relation to curses by saying that all things have already passed away and that all of our past has been taken care of because we accepted the plan of salvation.

It is not wise to create a doctrine upon a verse which has been isolated from its context. In this situation, Paul exhorts that Christ died for all, and for this we must not relate to other people based on their appearance or previous reputation. He emphasized the importance of breaking down barriers and avoiding any prejudice against new Christians. In other words, he told his readers not to evaluate people through the flesh or through a natural prism, but through the perspective of their new birth.

The context surrounding this verse is Paul’s explanation that Christ died for all, and that is why believers should not treat new believers differently because of their appearance or past reputation. Paul emphasized the need to break down barriers and avoid acting on bias against new believers, not looking at them according to the flesh but according to their new birth as new creatures.

An example of this would be if a punk rocker with long shaggy hair, tattoos, piercings, and accompanying attire were to receive salvation and start attending your church. How would you treat him? Would you treat him with open arms and hospitality just like any other believer?

Deliverance is a step in the process of regeneration of the soul that makes sanctification and fruitfulness a possibility. This doesn’t occur automatically with the new birth. The new birth doesn’t automatically cancel or exempt us from curses, diseases, sicknesses, temptations, debts, etc.

The danger therefore, is to use this verse as if the new birth does everything for you. To tell someone who just got saved that everything in their life is now in order, would be to deceive them. This would cause them to gloss over situations that are much more serious. This ends up becoming a pretext for the irresponsibility of many and leads to apathy and lack of spiritual growth. This type of teaching turns many churches into spiritual prisons. No matter how much people try to maintain their spirituality, many still continue to battle serious sins, conflicts of conscience, spiritual and emotional disturbances, depression, crisis in relationships, and so many other symptoms that point to concentrated demonic influence.

If we teach that salvation causes everything in life to line up as it should making everything all right, many Christians will lose hope and become spiritually frustrated after perceiving that their behavior has not changed as promised. This is why so many remain unfruitful and even backslidden within the church, and many even abandon the faith.

We must receive each benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice personally as well as specifically, corresponding to and through the appropriate principles. Suppose that before getting saved you had a large financial debt.

Would the fact that you received the new birth cancel the debt? Of course not! But one could argue “Isn’t it true that God’s Word says that old things have passed away and all things have become new?” In the same way we need to deal with the worthless inheritance curses passed down to us from our parents and with respective consequences of our own sins.

Nothing is automatic in the spiritual kingdom. Every action of God is always endorsed by human attitude. Jesus died so that we can all receive salvation, healing, deliverance and sanctification. Are all saved? No, not yet! Only those who repent are saved. Have all who have been saved been healed? No. Only those who have had or have received faith for this are healed. Have all been delivered? Have all been sanctified by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire? If this were so, the whole world would be evangelized by now.

Salvation is, in fact, a definite instantaneous experience. When we make a covenant with God through the sacrifice of Jesus, our spirit is re-created and we receive the new birth. The soul, however, demands a daily conquest that involves humility, restitution, brokenness, self-denial, discipline, revelation, discernment, intercession, obedience, perseverance, etc. This is the path God takes us down towards higher spiritual consequences.

The bible likens the conquest of the soul to that of the conquest of Canaan. Canaan symbolizes the promises of abundant life in Christ. For this, many enemy chains and fortresses need to be overcome. The land needs deliverance. Joshua as a type of the Holy Spirit needs to tread on every area of our soul. Everything that we submit to the Holy Spirit is under the power of the Redeemer Jesus Christ. Everything that we fail to submit to the Holy Spirit continues to be vulnerable to evil influences.

https://spiritualdeliverance.wordpress.com/category/sanctification/

The spirit must be reborn and the soul converted

New Birth vs. Conversion

By RSpanos

The spirit must be reborn and the soul converted

Most Christians believe that the new birth and conversion mean the same thing. Confusion regarding the difference in these terms can generate mistaken theological paradigms.

The Bible says it is necessary to be born again (John 3:3). It is logical that new birth includes the initial aspect of conversion. What is new birth? It is the new birth of the human spirit. The Holy Spirit re-creates the spirit and begins to live in it. It is a regeneration of the spiritual life. We call it salvation. The spirit is born again instantaneously. All you have to do is believe in Jesus and make a decision to follow him. This faith comes supernaturally from repentance through the message of the gospel. It is easy to be born again.

But there is another word: conversion. Conversion has a completely different meaning. Conversion is the continual process of regeneration of the soul. This takes time and it has its costs.

Therefore, being born again is an instantaneous regeneration of the spirit, and conversion is a continual process of deliverance and regeneration of the soul. Salvation is free, but to become a disciple costs everything.

You can be saved and not be converted. Why is this? The answer is because conversion takes place in the soul and salvation takes place in the spirit. You can be saved, have the Holy Spirit within you, live in God’s presence, be a new creature in Christ and still not be converted in your soul; your thinking, feelings and will.

What is your soul? You are a triune being: a body, soul and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). Your spirit is you; the real you that God created. Your soul is basically your mind, your will and your emotions. Your body is your house. Jesus can save your spirit in an instant, but your soul requires much more time to be converted.

Nothing is more dangerous than one who has been saved but not converted. You know that you are born again but you still think with your old mind, your old habits still dominate you, and many of your old opinions, sins, desires and ways of life continue to be struggles for you.

All negative convictions still remain. Evil thoughts still frequent your mind. Corruption, bitterness, and hate continue to remain in you. You still fight with some uncontrollable desires. But you are saved. You may not know how long the Holy Spirit will contend with your fleshly attitudes, but you must know that you have been born again and thus you are God’s child and your spirit is eternally saved.

Now it is up to you to cooperate with God so that your soul (mind, will and emotion) may be converted and this involves the lifelong process that we call “sanctification”

 

Are you in the Word enough so that it is converting your soul?

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple… Psalm 19:7 NKJV.

That the “law of the Lord is perfect” is direct reference to the absolute, complete, and entire trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures, which constitute the Bible.

The Word of God is perfect in its accuracy and sure in its dependability. There are two terms generally used to describe these features of God’s Word:

1. Inerrant (perfect) means that, in the original copies of each manuscript written by each Bible book’s respective author, there was nothing mistaken or tinged with error. (Further, the excellence of the Holy Spirit’s protection of the Scriptures over centuries has insured that the copies delivered into our hands from generations past are essentially the same. Even literary critics who claim no faith in the truth of the Bible attest to its being the most completely reliable of any book transmitted from antiquity, in terms of its actually remaining unchanged and dependably accurate.)
2. Infallible refers to the fact that the Bible is unfailing as an absolutely trustworthy guide for our faith (belief in God) and practice (Life and behavior). This is so because God is true (John 3:33; 17:3), because His Word reveals His truth (17:17), and because God cannot lie (Num.23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb.6:18).

 

Is the attitude of your soul directing you?

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 2 NKJV.

Prosperity is a result; as it pertains to salvation (soteria) and in the over all results God provides for believers. It is certain that God wants His children to prosper. Can anyone deny that? However, prosperity should not be the end in itself. It should be the result of a quality of life, commitment, dedication, and action that is in line with God’s Word.

In our text the word “prosper” (Greek—euodoo) literally means “to help on the road” or “succeed in reaching.”  Its meaning is significant in that divine prosperity is not a momentary, passing phenomenon, but rather it is an ongoing, progressive state of succees and well-being. It is intended for every area of our lives: the spiritual, the Physical and emotional, and the material.

However, God does not want us to unduly emphasize any one area. We must maintain a balance. The last expression of our verse translated “ just as your soul prospers,” actually means “in the measure that your soul walks in a proper and right manner.” In other words the Apostle John is saying to Gaius that his wish is that everything about him is doing well and that he is healthy, (sound) and doing well and being healthy depends upon the right direction of his soul, or his attitude.

 

Healing, Restoration and Holiness are you walking in them, or are you already Perfected?

It needs to be said that true restoration of relationships involves more than choices to forgive and be forgiven and a great deal more than fleshly striving to be kind and loving.

Holiness is not achieved merely by working to order our behavior according to the laws of God. Holiness is a matter of giving ourselves so completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ that by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us we are transformed into His likeness. His purposes, motivations, and responses become ours. Our behavior is then the outward manifestation of what He has been allowed to accomplish in our innermost being.

Many in the church have not understood that a deep transformation of the inner man needs to happen for everyone in the process of sanctification. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted: but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” 1 Corinthians 4:4, 5. 

Hidden things in the heart (hardened heart, bitterness) often block us in our Christian walk and keep us from becoming one with each other and with God. When born-again Spirit-filled Christians cannot walk in Christ, often what is involved is one must minister through counseling to the evangelization of unbelieving hearts of believers. Hebrews 3:12.

Many Christians resist the very idea of sanctification as a process. Rather, they see it in terms of a single happening, an experience. They celebrate the fact that their sins are forgiven and they are new creatures in Christ, which indeed they are (2 Cor. 5:17) However, many fail to see that the new creation has yet to put off the practices of the old man (habitual ways of seeing, thinking, feeling, and acting) and to put on the new self who is “being renewed” (Col.3:3-15).

Many do not seem to understand that they must be renewed in the spirit of their minds (Eph. 4:23) so that they may learn, for example, how to “be angry” but “sin not,” Eph. 4:26.

Our renewed mind must be trained to take authority over the emotions of our heart so that choices to act are not directed by emotions but by the mind of Christ in us. We are crucified with Him (Gal.5:24 and 2:20) but Paul also says that we “die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31) as we reckon ourselves dead to sin and present ourselves as alive to Christ as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:11-14).

“By one offering He has perfected for all times those who are (being) sanctified” Heb. 10:14; this passage speaks of a process. In Hebrews 12:14 Christians are told to “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord.”

We are commanded to: “see to it that no one come short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” (Heb. 12:15) we are to do as Paul did, “…I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12). We are to “grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2) and “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12).

Christians who do not understand that our positional perfection in Jesus must become experiential in this life have counted their born-again experience as the end accomplishment rather than the beginning of a new life empowered by the risen Lord, supported, and nurtured by life in the family of God. (The Church).