Behavior modification vs new creation

Do you as a professing Christian feel like a hypocrite?
Do you live with a sense of deep guilt and shame?
Are you bound to perverse passions?
In our last Blog we stated that most of our contemporary churches preach a soft, and popular gospel;
one that pleases the hearer. Because of this soft gospel many have not really been born-again, and as a
result church buildings are filled with unbelievers who believe that they are saved, but in fact are not.
This is a clear victory for Satan because a "miss is as good as a mile." The worst part of all this is that it
keeps folks from breaking through to the freedom they so desperately long for.
Hopefully, if you were the victim of a soft gospel, you have since become genuinely saved. What
follows will only work for a truly born again Christian.
This week we are going to look at "Behavior Modification" versus "A New Creation in Christ."
Are you ready for a truth that can really set you free?
I want to share a very powerful truth with you. This truth is potentially life changing and can
literally set you free; free from the bondage and self condemnation you feel over your failure to be all
that you believe Christ wants you to be. I cannot overemphasize this truth:
you cannot overcome your own shortcomings
no matter how hard you try
.
Attempts on your part to do so will be futile and only end in failure and frustration. These attempts
that we make to do so are what is known as \x1cbehavior modification.\x1d We are attempting to alter our
own nature and it just simply cannot be done. Oh, it can seem like it's working for a season, as long as
we keep our guard up, but as soon as we let our guard down we will revert right back to who we were
before; kind of like those New Year's resolutions we make each year.
Psychology can only "keep you on the wagon"
There are some excellent psychology based programs out there that have done wonders for people
suffering with addictions such as drugs, alcohol, marital problems, loss of loved ones, etc. These
programs truly do work if adhered to. AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is one of them. Thank God for
these programs; they have kept people alive and given many a semblance of their lives back. The
problem usually comes about when a person thinks they're finally well and stops attending the program
meetings. It isn't long after that they find themselves slipping right back into the same morass they
\x1cBehavior Modification\x1d versus \x1cA New Creation\x1d
If in our hearts, we
desperately

desire
to change, this following two-step process is
all
that is
necessary:
1. Acknowledge our inability to get there on our own -- set it by faith at Jesus' feet -- and leave it
there. Do you know what will happen next & ?
2. The Holy Spirit (
not you
) will go into action and convert that area you desperately desire to be
well in (supernaturally) and will birth a new facet onto the gem of your new nature in Christ.
You will be given the victory freely and without your self-crucifying efforts at self change.

You cannot wage a spiritual battle on the natural plane!
All the ugliness that keeps us bound in our emotions has spiritual roots. Our enemy is a
spiritual
enemy and must be defeated on a spiritual battlefield. If we attempt to battle this enemy on the natural
(emotional) plane, through behavior modification, we will be absolutely ineffective. The warfare
must
take place on the spiritual plane. This spiritual warfare process will be covered in our following Blogs.

Note:
during this process it is important that we simply surrender and give God permission to do
whatever is necessary to bring us to overcoming victory. Just be patient and we'll take it one step at a
time &
In the meantime take a look at some of these
spiritual
scripture versus:
1. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63 ).
2. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new (2 Cor 5:17).
3. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

4. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the
law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God\x14
through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:21-24)!
5. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12).
were lifted out of. The reason for this is that we cannot effectively alter our own nature. We will always
revert, or default to who we were in our old sin nature.
Psychology is quite effective in digging up the pain, but seems inadequate in eliminating it. In some
cases the emotional state of the person can worsen. This is where the psychiatrist comes in with all that
medication to numb the emotional pain. Some of these medications are potentially dangerous and must
be carefully monitored.
Now please don't be offended by this next illustration; it's not meant to
be offensive but just simply to illustrate a point. If you had been born a
pig instead of a human you would have a natural propensity to dwell in
mud and gorge yourself on anything that even slightly resembles food --
such as garbage, tin cans , etc.
Now if someone were to take you out from the mud and give you a
nice warm bath, and even put a nice sweater made of lamb's wool on
you, along with a big red ribbon with even a bow around your neck --
and if they were to give you a nice dry place to live with good clean food
-- do you know what you would do? As soon as you could you would look for a nice, cool mud hole
and run right for it, because under all that trim, you're still a pig. Once a pig, always a pig (2 Pet 2:22)!
Now a lamb, on the other hand, likes to be dry and clean. No matter
how hard one tries he can never make a gentle lamb out of a pig. It is
simply not possible. The Bible tells us that even when we are
functioning at our very, very best what we produce is analogous to
filthy rags (Isa 64:6).
This is who we are in our fallen sin nature state.
All
have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. The soul that sins shall die, for the
wages of sin is death. As hard as we might try to be righteous and pure
before God we will always fail!
Now for the good stuff!
Now, let's get to the good part of all this. When we were born again we become a brand new creature
in Christ "Therefore, if anyone
is
in Christ,
he is
a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new"(2 Cor 5:17). " In Christ" means that we are saved. Within the Greek word
for salvation is contained: salvation, healing and deliverance.
Did you catch that beloved? I was a sinner and Christ made me a saint; I was a pig and because of
Christ now I'm a lamb! A brand new creature in Christ! And I didn't do it ... Jesus did it! All of it! Jesus
said without me you can do
nothing
(John 15:5). Now what Jesus means here is that short of a
supernatural (spiritual) event nothing can, or ever will happen to change me; whether it be salvation or
behavior modification. All my efforts are futile in their attempts to convert me from any one my fallen
nature attributes into something victorious in Christ.
So what does all this mean?
It means that whenever we are trying to get from point \x1ca\x1d to point 'b\x1d in our Christian walk we can
know for sure, that short of the Holy Spirit's intervention, we will fail. So what should we do? The
answer is to
stop trying to change ourselves.
We can read our Bibles until we're weary and we can pray
until we just can't pray anymore. We can even cry out to God to give us the strength to change
ourselves until we're blue in the face \x13 it simply will not happen.