All things new?

I was in a Baptist church during the 1970 when inner healing began to be popular. During that outpouring of the Holy Spirit, people begin to realise that the Spirit of God was bringing emotional wholeness and freedom to Christians in a new way.

I read everything I could and confessed and renounced everything I could think of. I cast out every devil I could imagine as well. Some of it was probably not necessary but neither did it do me any harm.

Some people felt there was no need for any specific inner healing because of verses like “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.” (2 Cor 5) End of story. But what does that verse mean? All things become new, doesn't mean you go home and you meet people that you don’t recognise or you get to your old house and it’s repainted. It also doesn't mean that your past is all of a sudden totally different. Being born again doesn't change your past, it doesn't obliterate past pain or abuse or the difficult times that you grew up in.

What it does mean is that everything becomes new because you are your new creature and therefore your perspective on the past and your relationship to the past is totally new. Therefore the influence and the impact of the past on you can be totally new and different. Your past does not have to dominate you any longer or control you any longer. Our experiences and upbringing and circumstances all affect who we are, the values we have and the memories we have.
Friend, God is forgiving but the consequences of sin are sometimes not. Our sins are instantly removed but the complete removal of the effects of sin in our life may take a longer time. If it is taking time, our Father is a Physician, not a magician. You will be healed by love and wisdom. He knows what needs to be healed before other needs are attended to.



The Discipleship Processjim