From the Inside Out

[Laurie KRB]

When we receive Jesus as our Savior and ask Him to baptize us in the Holy Spirit, an amazing transformation begins. From that moment on we begin a process of renewal. Not one from the outside, but from the inside out.

Revelation 21:5 ESV

" And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

Often the Word speaks of our “renewal”:

“He renews [returns] my life” (Psalm 23:3)

“…and renews [rebuilds, repairs] a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)

“...youth is renewed [rebuilt, repaired]” (Psalm 103:5)

We read that the Lord “will renew [hasten, spring up] their strength” (Is. 40:31) and are told by Paul to be transformed “by the renewing [renovating] of your mind” (Rom 12:2).

This change occurs because the fleshly, outside, sinful part of us dies and our spirits, our hearts, our righteousness, becomes empowered:

Romans 5 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- ...17 If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ… 21 …so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:8 ESV

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Colossians 2:20 ESV

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—

Colossians 3:3 ESV

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Hebrews 9 (ESV)

27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

According to these scriptures, we died with Christ, and in Col. 2:12 Paul goes further, stating that we were buried with Him in baptism and resurrected with Him through faith in God who raised Him. He also says that God raised us up with Him and that we are sitting with Jesus in the heavens.

Paul is speaking of our spirits, now one with Jesus. The sin nature, at one time ruling our lives, is in the process of being overtaken by the new nature of God in us. We are being renewed (mind, soul, body) by the Spirit, from the inside out. And what of the body?

Romans 8 ESV

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Our “mortal” bodies are receiving life from the Spirit. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11 ESV)

It may not be something that happens all at once, overnight, or in matter of weeks. But it is a process that is occurring, right now. If you are filled with the Spirit, the Life of that Spirit cannot help but renew your body, renew your mind, renew your youth. You are being renewed by the Life-Giving Spirit of God, from the inside out.

John 15 ESV

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser…. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you… 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

If you have ever grafted a branch on to a tree or a shrub or vine, you have a pretty good idea of the process He’s talking about here. A broken or non-producing branch is attached, or grafted onto, a healthy productive tree. The branch is tightly secured to the tree and bound up so that no outside infecting agents can enter the fresh gashes. The branch and tree must both have wounds so that they can be joined together; the healthy tree’s nourishment flows up from the roots to feed the newly joined branch so that the branch is fed by the tree. Eventually the branch and tree will grow completely together and become one structure with no apparent separation.

Romans 11 HCSB

17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them, and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, 18 do not brag that you are better than those branches. But if you do brag—you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you… 24 For if you were cut off from your native wild olive, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree?

As Jesus calls Himself “the true vine” (John 15:1) and Paul explains about the Gentiles being given the opportunity to be grafted on to this vine, we can begin to get a picture of ourselves as part of Jesus. And as we begin to receive His nourishment, we begin to receive His life, which renews and rebuilds us from the inside out. We are receiving His blood, and His life. In fact, there is no life apart from the Creator of Life.

Leviticus 17:14 ESV

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life… for the life of every creature is its blood.

John 6:53 ESV

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

John 6:54 ESV

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

We drink of His blood, the blood of the new covenant, and receive eternal life, from the inside out. Jesus referred to this life as “living water”, “eternal life” and "the gift" of the Holy Spirit:

John 4 ESV

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." … 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." …23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

John 5:24

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

As we allow the Spirit to operate within us, praying in the Spirit and acting in faith as He guides us, we will begin to be renewed from death to life.

John 7:38-39 HCSB

“The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been received, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

How hard is it, to begin the process of renewal? Not hard at all! Jesus has done all the work for us, and has offered us this gift, free of charge. All we have to do is ask.

Luke 11:13 HCSB

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Peace, saints!

 

[ImHisServant]

Great study... I will come back to this again to study further

 

[Laurie KRB]

Thanks! Have a great Thanksgiving, all who celebrate...

In His peace,
Laurie

 

[brinny]

From the inside out.....amen.