Joshua, standing before the
angel, was dressed in dirty clothes. The angel spoke to his attendants,
"Get him out of those filthy clothes," and then said to Joshua,
"Look, I've stripped you of your sin and dressed you up in clean clothes. "I
spoke up and said, "How about a clean new turban for his head also?"
And they did it—put a clean new turban on his head. Then they finished dressing
him, with God's Angel looking on. The Message
When we confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and
invite Him to take charge of every area of our lives, we have become new in our
spiritual selves. We are “born again.” This second time we are born of the Spirit.
The first time we were born of water as we came out of our mother’s womb (John
3:5), but our minds, our human spirits, our emotions, and our wills need to be
renewed to the truth of the Word of God.
Just like Joshua the high priest was once filthy with sin as
stated in the above passage, so are we when we enter the Kingdom of God. We are
filthy with sinful behavior, mindsets, cultural and generational sin, the
worship of other gods (idols), and traditions that caused us to adapt to the
things of this world which do not glorify God. It takes being led by the Spirit
of truth to guide us through the Word of God that cleanses us from the filth
that has kept us in bondage to decay.
The Random House Dictionary defines decay in this way among
others: to decline in excellence,
prosperity, health, etc.; deteriorate. These are good words to describe what
happens to a life that is not lived under the direction of the Holy Spirit of
Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for our sins and shed
His blood, so we could be made righteous (standing in the right place with Him) when
we believe in Him and what He did for us. His sacrifice gave us a great example
of the sacrifice we are called to make so others can experience the abundant
life Jesus died to give them.
But before we can accept the challenge of making a sacrifice
for others, we need to renew our minds to the word of God that helps us walk in
peace, prosperity and security (Jeremiah 33:6, 9 AMP). Ezekiel 36:25-27 says, “25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,
and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness; and from all your idols will
I cleanse you. 26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit
will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My
ordinances and do them.
By reading God's word continually, worship
and adore Him by singing songs that lift His name higher than any other name, and by choosing to live a life that pleases Him as we obey His command and statues for us, others can be drawn to Him through
our example. This way we are yielding to God to cleanse us from everything that caused
decay in our lives. Jesus died on the Cross to give us life in abundance, to
the full, till it overflows (John 10:10 AMP). There is no decay when He reigns
in our lives, but prosperity and health to our souls (3 John 1:2). This then reflects on the
outside as well.
The Word of God causes us to renew our minds to the truth of what Jesus
died to give us. Thus, when we allow the Lord to put the “turban of renewal” on
our heads, we can learn to walk out of bondage and decay into an abundant life.
As we learn to endure the process of having the old mindsets and beliefs replaced
by the truth of God’s word, we can rest assured that the life Jesus died to
give us will become more evident and His light will shine brighter each time in
and through us like a cracked vessel that has yielded to be broken off the bad
and ugly ways of this world that is influenced by the enemy of life, the devil,
who came to steal, kill, and destroy.
Romans 12: 2 explains, Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and
adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by
the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so
that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in
His sight for you] AMP.
Seeking after the wisdom of God’s word for our lives and the lives of those
around us just as we would search for treasure that is hidden in darkness
(Isaiah 45:3), will cause us to continually be cleansed from those things and situations that we could not be free from on our own. This happens at every level of the process and His grace and mercy make it possible
for us to walk in such freedom when we put Him first and yield to be led in the
path of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3). This will certainly make God attractive in the sight of those who are hungry for such freedom as well. Then we can tell them what God has done for us because what we have in Him becomes enticing and alluring and draws them to Him as well. To Him alone be all the
glory.
Image by Google Images
Image by Google Images
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