Shalom,

We began to look at some of the "In Him" Scriptures in our last post. One of the verses we looked at was 2 Corinthians 5:17:

2 Cor 5:17 (KJV)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Amplified Bible says this:

2 Cor 5:17 (Amplified)
17Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

As a believer we are not renovated or made over. We ARE new creatures--something which never existed before! One translation says "he is a new species." It is not our physical bodies that are made new instantly. It's also not our souls (our mind, emotions and will). The part of us that is made new is the spirit part of us. We ARE spirit beings, we POSSESS souls (mind, emotions and will) and we LIVE in our physical bodies. Our bodies WILL be made new, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Rapture of the church. Our spirits WERE made new at the moment of the new birth, when we accepted and received Jesus of Nazareth as our Lord and personal Saviour. Our souls ARE "renewed" daily as we spend time in the Word of God and in close, intimate fellowship with Him by the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. Finding out and confessing what God's Word says about us is one of the ways our minds are renewed.

God sees our new and recreated spirit when He sees us! He sees us "in Him!" He sees us this way:

Eph 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Notice that we are HIS "workmanship", the Greek word, poiema, which, means: a product, a fabric, a thing that is made, and comes from the Greek word, poieo, which means: to make or to do, to produce, to construct, to form, to fashion, to be the author of. We are "created", the Greek word, ktizo, which means: to fabricate, to form, to shape, to completely change or transform, in Christ (the anointed One) Jesus (Jehovah is salvation) unto "good", the Greek word, agathos, which means: good in any sense, useful, excellent, distinguished, honorable, "works", the Greek word, ergon, which means: business, employment, that which one undertakes to do, anything accomplished, which God Himself "hath before ordained", the Greek word, proetoimazo, which means, to fit up in advance, to prepare before, to make ready beforehand, that "we should walk", the Greek word, peripateo, which means: to make one's way, to make due use of opportunities, to regulate one's life, to conduct oneself, to be occupied with, in them. The Amplified Bible says it this way:

Eph 2:10 (Amplified)
10For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

So what should we be saying about ourselves from this verse? We should say something like this:

I am His workmanship. He made me a new creation. I WILL DO the works that God Himself created me for! I will be where God wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do.

Now don't even allow yourself to say something that is contrary to what the Word of God says about you here. Don't ever say, "I'm so unworthy. I'll never amount to anything." You're actually calling God a liar when you say things like that! That is NOT what you just found out that God says about you. Speak God's Words over yourself. You'll be agreeing with Him and He is ALWAYS right!!!

We'll look more at who we are in Him in our next post. And as always, the things we're talking about in these teachings belong ONLY to born again believers in Jesus of Nazareth. If you have never received Jesus as your Lord and personal Saviour, that is the FIRST thing you need to do! THEN get into the Word of God and find out who YOU are IN HIM! Check earlier blog posts or go to The Spoken Word Church site at the left of this blog and find out what YOU need to do to become a born again child of the One True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible!

Shalom in Him!