Power filled Positive Thinking—Chapter 13A New Creation
It was late in 2008 that I finally laid down the fairy tale dream that Prince Charming would come to rescue me one day. It had been my dream and the driving force that lead me down a very crooked road of broken hearts. My greatest desire had been to find someone who would love me and by such validate my worth as a woman. Oh, yes as a Christian; I knew that God was most important. After all, had he not said if I seek Him first, he would give me the desires of my heart? So, I was angry with God that day as I shouted, “Why must you always break my heart? Why God can’t you give me this one thing?” At first, there seemed a long silence; as my anger grew—then I heard a soft whisper, “My dear child, do you not see? I have given you all of me. I have died that you might have life. I have taken upon myself all your sorrow. It is you who has broken my heart because you don’t see, I am enough.”
That day, I realized what a broken and messed up heart I have—the darkness that lurks within. I suddenly realized how self-centered and self-exalting my heart really was. My great thorn in the flesh which had brought me to my knees over and over again was that feeling of being a failure based on my inability to find a husband who would love me and adore me. No accomplishment as mother, nurse practitioner, or friend could fill that gap and Satan knew just where to stab me with his blades of lies.
We all have our own areas of brokenness. Each of us have our own personal thorn in the flesh. For some it may be pride, for some it may be lust, for some it may be fear, for some it may be anger; but, for certain for all there is something dark, hidden in the recesses of our hearts.
We all are born with
broken human hearts dead to righteousness and in opposition to God. Spiritually we must be born again into new life. In Christ we are a new creation. “17 Therefore if any person is [engrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 18 But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].19 It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor)” (2 Corinthians 5 (AMP). Our becoming vessels of righteousness, redeemed, clothed with Christ’s righteousness is all an act of mercy and grace by God. Since this is true; why do we still struggle with our old sin nature so much? Why is it that we keep reaching into the back shelves of our closet, pulling out the dirty, filthy rags and putting them on instead? Could it be that we so quickly forget our positions in Christ? We feed our minds with the garbage of this world rather than to be filled with the riches of God. We focus on society, TV, the fads, the trends and all that surrounds us; rather than to spend time alone with God. We fill our brains with so much that we leave no room for God’s wisdom and riches to enter our minds and hearts. We forget that we are new creations filled with the Holy Spirit to guide us. We forget that in Christ we have victory over sin.
This chapter and indeed this entire book is that, a reminder that in Christ we have new life, we are the chosen, redeemed, beloved, children of God. We need to write that truth in our hearts with indelible ink. We need to feast upon and focus upon that daily. That is the positive thinking which is filled with the power of Almighty God to live a life of victory. We need to know the truth of who we are in Christ and cling to it with all our might while seeking and savoring Christ with every ounce of strength in our being.
Listen to this song, Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace)
©2015 Effie Darlene Barba
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