FOREVER CHANGED

SCRIPTURE: 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a 'New Creation'; old things
(ways) have passed away, behold, all things have become new.'
II Corinthians 5:l7.


You and I have been forever changed, from the inside out. We have a new
name and a new nature, and we can't ever go back to where we came from. God,
Himself, has taken our lives into His hands, and He has come to indwell in us and
has made us new.


I heard a story about a business man who was selling a property. The building
on the property had been empty for quite sometime. Vandals had gotten in and
had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and trash was everywhere. As
the owner showed a buyer the property, he said that he would replace the
windows, correct all the damage and clean up the garbage.
"Forget about the repairs", the buyer said.


"When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't
want the building. I want the site."


That is the kind of change the Bible is talking about in us when we invite Christ
and His Presence to come dwell within us. God doesn't want 'the old you' or the
'old me'. We belong to him now. The one that wrote that scripture was for sure
changed into a new creature.


The Apostle Paul, whose name was Saul before his conversion was the worst of
'percecutors' of the church. He had Christians arrested and killed. He was a
religious Pharisee. He kept the law of Judiasm. He upheld the Law of Moses.
The works he did was by his 'religious' mind and not done by the 'light of Christ'.
When God came to this Earth in the form of Jesus, Paul along with many others
saw a threat to their 'religion'. So, anything that was a threat was done away with.
Paul was already a seasoned religious man. So, what caused him to have such a
drastic change in his life and personality? How did he go from being a murderer
and so critical, judgmental, and angry at Christians to one who ended up writing
most of the New Testament? How could there be such a change in anybody?
Paul had an alive encounter when Jesus appeared to him on the road to
Damascus. When Jesus reveals himself to us and we see Him and believe on
Him and as we accept Him into our hearts and lives, there is a 'miraculous' change
that occurs - a rebirth of who we were into now who He is.


When we ask His Presence to come into our life, His Presence comes as the
Holy Spirit and starts to clean out every area of our lives. A change in our whole
being will be evident. Man, in his own strength could never overcome their anger,
hatreds, judgmentalisms of others and sin. Adam and Eve found that out. They
met the devil by their own strength and the devil prevailed and they were
conquered.


God said, "Thou shalt surely die" - Not only must mankind die in our flesh but
we, all, are dead spiritually before Jesus comes. But, the great news is that Jesus
Christ came into the world and conquered Satan so that we could have the
opportunity to come alive spiritually again and be born again.

CLOSING PRAYER: Lord, I cannot become 'born again' on my own. But, I must
seek your 'divine light' to come enter my dark, abysmal nature which is extremely
bad, immeasurably low, wretched, ignorant self. Clean out the brokenness and
trash in my life and make me clean. I now set my eyes on Your thoughts, Your
character, Your ways from this day forth. Make my life shine as is written in Isaiah
60: 1-2...'Arise, shine, for Your light has come. And, the 'glory' of the Lord has
risen upon you (me). For darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the
people. But, ('Hallelujah!), the Lord will arise over you (Me), and His glory will be
seen upon you.

In Jesus' Name...Amen.

The Wilderness Preacher