This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20
How many times do we think thoughts similar to this:
"What's WRONG with me?"
"Why on earth did I respond that way?"
"What's going on in me to make me act like this?"
"Here I go again....must be something broken on the inside of me."
<can you see me raising both hands?>
But let me share what God showed me is INCORRECT about these thoughts that I was having. Y'all, this revelation set me FREE!
If you're born-again, you've actually been crucified with Christ (see Galatians 2:20). Being crucified means that you've DIED. That's right, you're dead. And if you keep reading that verse you'll see that you're actually so dead that it's now Christ living IN you.
Jesus lives in you. Wow.
If you don't believe me, have a look also at 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling[b] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We're new creations...reconciled to God...He makes an appeal through us, calling us His ambassadors....and we are His righteousness.
And what does Romans say?
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. - Romans 8:9-11
One more, just for good measure. I want to be sure you GET this.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own..." - 1 Corinthians 6:19
Now you may be thinking, "God lives inside of me...yeah, I get it. What's your point?"
1 John 1:5 states that there is no darkness in God. And if there's no darkness in God - and God lives in you - isn't the logical conclusion that there's NO DARKNESS in YOU???
Darkness doesn't necessarily refer to just evil such as murder (or worse). The word "darkness" here is the Greek word skotia which means lack of light, but also wickedness as well as things done in private that result in misery.
So the thoughts that we think (in private) that don't produce or increase the Light but bring misery - such as, "what's wrong with me" are NOT coming from within us.
Ok, let me ask you this question: Who told you that something was "wrong" with you? It certainly wasn't Holy Spirit. The Bible says that there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (so He wouldn't speak in condemning or guilt). The Bible says that's it's the kindness of the Holy Spirit that leads to repentance ("something's wrong with you" definitely isn't a very kind thing to say). The Bible also says that Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin BUT believers of righteousness (we were convicted of sin when we first got saved...now, He exposes any lies that we may be believing that would cause us to act contrary to our righteous nature, but He'd never tell us anything is WRONG with us because HE LIVES INSIDE US and we have a NEW NATURE and 1 John 4:17 says that as Jesus is so are WE).
I am CONVINCED that thoughts like these come from external, demonic sources. The devil is a liar, and the father of lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44).
The devil is rejected, without hope, without peace and incredibly ticked off so he will do whatever he can to taint the thinking of a born-again soul and thus contaminate your mind and behavior to be like his.
The devil SUCKS.
But we DON'T.
Precious friend, there is nothing WRONG with you. There can only be something wrong with your thinking.
You have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and the helmet of salvation to guard your mind (Ephesians 6:17) and you have weapons of warfare that are NOT of this world (2 Corinthians 10:4). Maybe this is an invitation to USE them!
Remind yourself who you are. There is no darkness in you! Ephesians 1:6 says that He has made us accepted by the Beloved. You are accepted. Loved. Chosen. Valued. You are not rejectible, and there is nothing wrong with you. You are the sweet aroma of Christ. And by faith you do nothing BUT shine.
So keep shining that Light!!!!!
Much love,
Mandy xoxoxox
