SIMPLY ME- SIMPLY YOU

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Sometimes we can get all knotted up about who we’re meant to be, who God wants us to be. The thing is, we know we’re all a work in progress and God tells us He gives us a completely new identity in Christ when we get saved and ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives.

Scripture tells us the old ‘me’ was crucified with Christ, buried with Christ and the new creation ‘me’ rose again with Jesus from the dead. The same goes for you if Jesus is your Saviour, but the trouble is we forget and still have the mentality of the ‘old’ me. That is why Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If we don’t take the trouble to renew our minds according to what God says about us we will be trying to live the Christian life with the ‘old’ identity which doesn’t work, which accounts for why we feel frustrated sometimes!😊

God has written all the days of our lives in His book and nowhere does He ask us to be like someone else, or to compare ourselves to anyone else. He calls us to run our own race and not try to run in someone else’s lane!  He hasn’t called us to compete, but to be complete. He says we are complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10 NKJV and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.)

In other words He calls me to be simply me; the complete ‘me’ He has already created me to be in my spirit, the me He is continually making me to be in my soul, and the complete you He has made you and is making you to be.😊 The new me, the new you, is anointed by God, seated in heavenly places in Christ at the right hand of God far above principalities and powers. We are filled with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. We are joint heirs with Christ and He won’t withhold any good thing from us. He has given us His authority, the same authority Jesus had when He walked on the earth.

We are all of the above and so much more, if we’ll study and find out what God says we have and are, because that’s who we simply are! Simply ‘me’ is all of the above. Simply you is all of the above! 😊

Father, please give us revelation of our new identity in Christ, of who we really are and help us to simply be who You have already created us to be in Christ. Amen.

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BEARING LOVELY FRUIT

Proverbs 12:14 NIV From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.

It’s the season of fruitfulness with blackberries, plums and apples on the local trees and bushes all for free, so we’ve been busy bees and now have a cupboard full of plum jam, blackberry jelly and apple and pear chutney! Lovely treats to come.😊

Our verse though is talking about the fruit of our lips and the things we are saying will produce a harvest one way or another. If our words are negative, complaining and grumbling we will draw more of the same things to ourselves and we really don’t want that! 

But if our words are positive, full of faith in our God, full of praise and thanks, prophesying good into our futures we will have the fruit of our lips, we will have the things we say.😊 Mark 11:24 NKJV …but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. What a promise!

I’ve heard it said that where we are now is a result of words we have spoken in the past. In other words if our words have been doom and gloom, declaring things never work out for us, that things always go wrong, I’ve had this illness for ever, I always worry, and nothing good ever happens to me, then we will reap what we sow. Those kinds of words are not what God says about us!

Instead we can be declaring by faith that the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter so our future is going to be bright. We can say that no weapon formed against us will prosper, that the Lord is watching over us to protect us so we have no need to worry. We can declare that everything we put our hand to is going to succeed, that we are anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to rise to whatever He calls us to do. That we are above the circumstances, not beneath them, that we have the joy of the Lord and His peace in our hearts so we will go out with a smile on our faces and bring joy to those we meet. All of that is in scripture and we will have the fruit of what we say! That inspires me to say the right thing! It’s called walking by faith, not by what we see and feel.😊

Next time you want to say something negative, zip it up because you don’t want to have a bad harvest!  

Let’s deliberately think of something to be thankful for, declare that God says Jesus came to give us an abundant life, full of health, all our needs met, and we believe and receive it by faith, and say it’s what our lives are going to be like.😊 

Proverbs 13:3 NIV Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. 

Lord help us to guard our mouths, so we only bring forth lovely fruit. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Tomas Sobek on Unsplash