God does all things by His powerful Word, not by His miracles. The devil imitates a lot too. The most important thing for man is what God has shown by His Word. The stars did not come by miracles but by the Word of God.
Ephesians 4:17
Ephesians 2:1-4
Paul shows us what we were before, as Gentiles with the same lusts as them. We must be aware of God's grace and goodness.
Ephesians 1:1-3
They were not saints but now they have become saints. We are blessed by God because He knew us before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 2:4-10 / Ephesians 4:17-30
Desires on the way can come back. Let us not be like dogs that after washing themselves return to the dirt. The pagans do this because they are in ignorance. But you who have received the grace of God, God expects you to be holy.
When you get into habits, when sin comes, you start to color it but sin is sin. We must stay away from anything that is not in accordance with the Holy Scriptures.
To strip, that is to say to detach yourself from everything that was in you: your character, your bad habits. God wants us to be holy. When you are holy, the demons cannot be around. We must fight the good fight of faith. If things are still going on like this, you are still pagans, there has been no conversion. When you argue all the time, there is a problem. For the Word to do its work, you must first believe it and receive it. The problem is that we dilute the Word of God. The Word has transforming power, but you put a filter on it. It becomes your gospel and no longer the gospel of God. The Word of God cannot leave you untouched. It is you yourself who make the Word of God inactive. You interpret the Word very much in your own way. You hear the Word and you interpret it to bring it to your understanding. But if you receive it in its purity, then you will see the difference.
God is responsible for His Word. Don't be afraid, take God at His word. He is responsible for what He has said. Ask Him the impossible things, He will do it! Let Him act! When you ask, be sure and certain. You can't imagine God's ability. We just have to believe. Talk to God and you will see!
We have the habit of reproducing what we have known in the world in Christ. With God, there are no buddies or comrades, but brothers and sisters in Christ. When you are a sister or brother, you don't need a boy friend or girl friend. We need to change the way we see each other. There may be stronger affinities but we all love each other.
The old man has gone to put on the new man. The acts of the old man, we had them but we put them away. The new man comes with his nature. It has nothing to do with the old man. When you make the old man go away, there are no more arguments. If the old man is still there, you can forget the rapture. The problem is not what you declare but what you bear as fruit. It is this Love that makes us followers of Christ. Love bears all things, forgives all things.
When God asks us to work, it is also to help others. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)
No matter what the person may have done to you, you can't have any bad words towards that person, any misplaced words. No matter what the insults are, we must always have good words. Even thinking about hurting, you have something inside of you that takes you back because it is not your nature. When a brother does that to you, then it hurts you but that person is not a brother, he is a heathen, pray for him. As long as you are sons of God, the devil will never leave you alone. Every day of your life is a fight until we are gone!
When you speak, what you are going to say has to be seasoned with salt, so that it brings the person back to Christ. We cannot have a dual nature.
How can you grieve the Holy Spirit? By acting against the Scriptures. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, every act you do is led by the Holy Spirit. When you do an act against the Scriptures, you feel it inside. The thoughts come from within. When the inner man is changed then he will take control of the outer.
Colossians 3:8-16
When the new man comes into place, then there is a filter. Christ has forgiven us, if the new man is in us, then I forgive too. Someone may hurt me, but I always forgive.
When the new man is in place, then there is a filter. Christ has forgiven us, if the new man is in us, then I forgive too. I can be hurt, but I always forgive.
"Love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8) You can only have it when the new man is inside. But what is the new man?
A true son of God is transformed from the inside out. When God changes, He does so totally. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) If you still have the insults, if you still have the hatred, do not lie to yourselves, you have not yet put on the new man.