Tuesday, March 15, 2016

"Submit To God!" (Parts 3 & 4)



Recap: You Are Already Spiritually & Physically Healed
Just to recap what I have discussed so far: if you have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, by Jesus’ stripes, you are already healed spiritually and physically, from sin; Jesus cancelled your sin debt with God (Colossians 2:13-15). We do not have to die for our sins (the wages of sin is death); Jesus has paid the price with His life and by God’s grace, we now have eternal life through Jesus (Romans 6:23).

We Are Crucified With Christ
Apostle Paul lets us know in Galatians 2:20 that we WERE crucified, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. The life we now live in the body, we live by faith in Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself for us. In Romans 6:6, Apostle Paul said: “We know that our old self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin” (biblegateway.com – AMP). This passage of Scripture clearly shows that sin has no more control over us – UNLESS WE allow it to! I would suggest you read the whole chapter of Romans 6, asking Holy Spirit to give you understanding, so you can walk in the liberty that Christ HAS given you. Apostle Paul tells us we have liberty in Galatians 5:1: “It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed]” (biblegateway.com – AMP). Once Holy Spirit gives you full understanding of Romans 6, YOU will know that sin no longer has dominion over YOU; then you will be able to stop listening to the lies of the devil which is causing you to make excuses to keep sinning. If you keep yielding your members (all parts of your body) to sin, you will keep sinning.
Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:12-16:

“12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and passions. 13 Do not go on offering members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. But offer yourselves to God [in a decisive act] as those alive [raised] from the dead [to a new life], and your members [all of your abilities—sanctified, set apart] as instruments of righteousness [yielded] to God. 14 For sin will no longer be a master over you, since you are not under Law [as slaves], but under [unmerited] grace [as recipients of God’s favor and mercy].
15 What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under [God’s] grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that when you continually offer yourselves to someone to do his will, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either [slaves] of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness (right standing with God)?” (biblegateway.com – AMP).
We Are New Creations (IF We Accept Jesus)
Apostle Paul and Timothy lets us know in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are new creations IF we are in Christ (accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior). Once we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we become reborn and renewed by Holy Spirit; old things (our previous moral and spiritual condition) have passed away and all things have become new (we are awakening to the things of God which gives us new life).

Yes, the old man (old nature) might try and rise up, but we should not give in to it’s lusts and desires; we must walk in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). It is not because you are not born again that the old man will try and rise up, it is because we are made up of three parts: Spirit, soul, body – we are a triune being, made after our God, who God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are a spirit being, created in the Trinity’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).

Click Here For PDFVersion (The pages numbers are correct - this is part of the full document which is 12 pages).

In His Service,
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks


"Submit To God!" - Parts 1 & 2




Jesus has already cancelled our debts of sin; He wiped out our debt to God when He was nailed to the cross. Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2:13-15:

“13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross” (biblegateway.com – AMP).

Spirit Healing
Jesus has already healed us spiritually and physically from the sickness of sin. Apostle Paul lets us know in 1 Peter 2:24: “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed” (Note: the word “Healed” here means generally spiritual healing from the illness of sin but it also means physical healing, which is also a part of Christ’s atonement for our sins – biblegateway.com – AMP).

Sin is a sickness which can lead to death because the wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God (grace) cause us to have eternal life through Jesus; Jesus has delivered us and healed us from the sickness of sin (Romans 6:23).

Physical Healing
Isaiah 53:4-5 refers to our physical healing; it tells how Jesus has borne (endured) our griefs, Jesus has carried our sorrows and pain which are physical consequences of our sins. Sins on the inside is what causes physical damages on the outside, to our bodies.  The disciples asked Jesus in John 9:2, who had sinned to cause the blind man to be born blind, because suffering in most cases were due to sinning. However, in the case of the blind man, Jesus told them no one sinned to cause the man to be born blind but he was born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him” (John 9:3, biblegateway.com – AMP).

Isaiah 53:5 says: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrong doing]; The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His strips (wounds) we are healed” (biblegateway.com – AMP). Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]” (biblegateway.com – AMP).

Apostle Paul goes on to say in verses 2-4 of Romans 8, “2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son], 4 so that the [righteous and just] requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not live our lives in the ways of the flesh [guided by worldliness and our sinful nature], but [live our lives] in the ways of the Spirit [guided by His power]” (biblegateway.com – AMP).


In His Service,
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks