Jesus our Surety, overcame the world, therefore, we are dead to it and it to us. Nevertheless we live and are brought into a state of justification unto life, and thereby enabled to bring forth living fruits of righteousness. Jesus told his disciples, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Yet this life of justification and sanctification is not owing to anything in us, but only to Jesus, who by virtue of our spiritual union to Him, lives in us. And the life of pardon, acceptance, and holiness, which we now live in the body, is only by that faith of The Son of God. The faith that makes us overcomers is the faith of Jesus our Messiah that is given us by God.
“With the Messiah have I been crucified; and living no longer am I, but living in me is the Messiah, while so far as I now do live in flesh, by faith I live, the faith in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up in my behalf.” (Galatians 2:20)
Man in his own limited ability in his fallen human nature, is not capable of producing the faith necessary to his salvation. Faith is the gift of God that is planted in the hearts of those who acknowledge Jesus as The Son of God and surrender their wills to Him.
“For by His favour have ye been saved through means of faith, and this hath come to pass, not from you, of God the free-gift!” (Ephesians 2:8)
“On the contrary now, no longer are we gaining it, So that, if any one is in the Messiah, there is a new creation! The old things have passed away, Lo! they have become new!.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It is therefore the principal point of the Christian Religion, that if any man, be in the Messiah, an entire change of his state, nature, and practice has been affected in him, by The Almighty creating Power of God.
The old man is dead and buried and those things of the Messiah, are implanted and fixed in their stead. God’s ability to work in you will consecrate you and make you profitable to Him, fit and ready for any good work. God is able to do all that He says He can do in you: “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” but it is only “according to the power that works in us.” The power that raised Jesus from the dead! (Ephesians 3:20)
You have the same Spirit, the same power in you that raised Jesus from the dead. “That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in the Messiah when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:19-21) This is what this power is like which God has promised us.
God has promised you strength and overcoming power. Become aware of how The Holy Spirit is moving in your life. We are crucified with the Messiah, therefore we live by the Holy Spirit and are no longer ruled by the flesh. Although God purposely gave man a will, when we are born again our lives no longer belong to us. When you are truly born again of The Holy Spirit, your old man dies and Jesus lives His Life and Will through your totally surrended life. The “crucified self” life!
When you come to Jesus you surrender your will. This does not mean that all your decisions will be made automatically that you will have no control over your actions or that you will no longer have a will. No, you do not lose your will. You will continue to face decisions involving right and wrong, but it means that your will must be kept continually in line with the Word of God. Your will must becomes Jesus’ Will. His desires must become your desires. And, His purpose must become your purpose. Do you want to be used by God? Then this process of dying to self is not optional. It is a requirement if we are to be true followers or disciples of Jesus. (Galatians 2:20)
“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Philippians 3:10) Jesus said, “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
There are few Christians today who know what it means to die to self, and even fewer who have experienced it. This is another reason why there is such a lack of power in many of our churches today. Most Christians aren´t willing to die to self.
To be truly dead to self to walk with Jesus our Messiah on the road of obedience to God’s will, to be united with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings and death you must be willing to give up all claims to your life. Every day of your life you must be willing to deny “self” take up your cross and follow Jesus!
Even before the earth was formed, Jesus gave up all claims to His life. He did not choose to come on His own initiative He was sent by the Father. He chose to be obedient. He emptied Himself. He did not come to do His own will. He said; “Then said I, Lo! I am come, in the heading of the scroll it is written concerning Me, to do, O God, Thy will.” (Hebrews 10:7).
Throughout His entire life and ministry Jesus did not follow His own desires. He did not live His life to bring honour and glory upon Himself. He lived to glorify God.
Jesus’ entire life was spent in setting people free from satan´s power setting them free from sin, sickness and death. He lived to die for our salvation.
On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus did not shrink or pull back at the thought of pain and death. He was determined to do God’s will regardless of the cost.
In Gethsemane, Jesus wept, He agonized, He struggled with the forces of hell until He totally emptied Himself and said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” Before His accusers, Jesus did not try to save His own life. He did not defend Himself. He did not strike back. At the whipping post, He stood there in our place, and took the punishment of our sins upon Him. As Jesus carried the heavy cross on His back, He struggled and fell beneath its load. He carried it for you and me. As His bruised and bleeding body hung upon the cross, He did not struggle to hold on to His life, He laid it down willingly. This is what it means to die to self!
If you want to know Him in the power of His resurrection, if you want a full demonstration of the power of God in your life, if you want to be seated with Him in “heavenly places,” you must be willing to die. You must be willing to walk the road to Calvary with Him. You must be willing to walk the road of obedience to God’s will. You must be willing to consider yourself dead, that you no longer have any rights, that you no longer have a will, that you no longer have desires of your own.
The one driving force behind all your thoughts and actions must be knowing and doing God’s will. You must longer seek to do your will to fulfil your goals your plans your ambitions. You must no longer seek to promote yourself but live only to bring glory and honour to God.
You must be willing to suffer misunderstanding, persecution, pain or discomfort that arises as a result of doing God’s will. You must be willing to lay your life down for the lost.
As you are willing to identify with Jesus’ suffering and death by dying to self in your day-to-day living, you will be able to know Him in the power of His resurrection. The power of God will be released in your life and you will be able to face every circumstance, every trial, every temptation in total victory.
As you daily walk the road of obedience to God’s will, daily live the life of the “crucified self” you will be able to face satan knowing there is a power working in you that will give you the ultimate victory over him!
God has placed His Spirit within us, which gives us the power to obey Him and keep His commandments. We are “set free” to obey as we depend upon the power of The Holy Spirit working within us, and believe God to do exactly as He promised when He said, “I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27).