Shalom,

The message in Jerry Savelle's website devotional for today is one that many born again believers have trouble with, until they seriously study the Word of God.

Righteous Means Righteous

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).

Jesus didn’t come to help you overcome your sinful nature. He came to completely remove it so that you no longer have to be a slave to sin. The Bible assures us of this truth: 

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:6 NKJV).

Jesus took away every trace of your unrighteousness and gave you His righteousness. Righteousness simply means “right-standing with God.” He did away with your old sinful nature and gave you His very nature. You are not partly righteous and partly unrighteous, having to struggle with a split personality. The Bible says, 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).

When Jesus made you righteous, He didn’t do a partial job. He made all things new. We know that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. When you begin to see yourself as completely righteous in Jesus, your righteous nature will naturally manifest. God intends for you to think and act like the righteous person you are in Christ. After all, righteous means righteous.

Confession: I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am a new creation, no longer a slave to sin. I can go boldly to my heavenly Father, knowing that I am in right-standing with Him because I am clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.

In order to properly understand this, you must realize that we are spirits, who possess souls and live in physical bodies while we are on this earth (1 Thessalonians 5:23). At the new birth, the old sin nature was completely removed and replaced with the nature of God. This took place in our spirit man! We became a new creation with the Spirit of God living IN us! Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17:

17 Therefore 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! AMP

This MIRACLE took place instantly! Our physical bodies did not change, although they WILL be changed instantly when we rise to meet the Lord in the air at His appearing for the Church (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). Our souls (mind, emotions and will) did not change, but they CAN be changed, progressively, day by day, as we meditate on the Word of God, renewing our  minds (Romans 12:2).

2 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

So be willing to pay the price of daily study and meditation of the Word of God, learning and putting it in to practice. Spend time in prayer, praise and worship and in fellowship with HIM and with like-minded believers. All of these things will give you an advantage in renewing your mind to think like God! Remember that your souls is your mind, emotions and will. Renewing your mind with God thoughts will cause your will to line up with HIS will, so that your choices become those that HE would make! AMEN! THAN you will have HIS results! Totally worth the price, right? Here is Hillsong United with "Rhythms of Grace":

Shalom in Him!