THE POWER TO LIVE ABOVE SIN 3

12 THEREFORE DO NOT LET SIN REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY, THAT YOU SHOULD OBEY IT IN ITS LUSTS.
13 AND DO NOT PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS TO SIN, BUT PRESENT YOURSELVES TO GOD AS BEING ALIVE FROM THE DEAD, AND YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GOD. 14 FOR SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU, for you are not under law but under grace."
Romans 6:12–14 (NKJV)

II. The Human's soul or mind.

• At new birth the human spirit of whoever acknowledges Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord becomes a new creation—as said in the previous part of this teaching—but the soul and the body are not, they remain unchanged (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 12:1,2).
• The human soul also has three functional aspects: the mind, the emotion, and the will.
  a. The mind is where the thoughts are formed or made.
  b. In the emotion; we have affection, love, happiness, sadness, anger, and others.
  c. The will is where the decisions are made—where you determine to do or not to do whatever is thought of in the mind.
• The Will is so strong and powerful; even if the mind thought of a thing, and the emotion is enthusiastic about it, If the Will does not approve it, It would not be done or carried out.
  WHAT is just shared here is the way which or how the human soul functions.
• Thus, a believer has the responsibility to work on his or her soul, that It might be made submissive to the regenerated human spirit—the inward Man.

• The soul or mind had to be saved or renewed, and this is done through the knowledge of the Word of God: "THEREFORE LAY ASIDE ALL FILTHINESS AND OVERFLOW OF WICKEDNESS, AND RECEIVE WITH MEEKNESS THE IMPLANTED WORD, WHICH IS ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SOULS" (James 1:21 NKJV).

"AND DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND [soul], THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD."
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

• The transformation of a believer essentially takes place in the soul or mind (Romans 12:2). Failure to do it would be detrimental to your relationship and communion with God.
• As you begin to hear the Word of God; read it, study it, and meditate or ponder on it, your thinking would begin to change, and your perspectives about life generally would begin to change and be aligned with that of God—the Word of God, the Bible—and you begin to see things in God's point of view.
• When this started happening, your attitude and behaviour, response and reaction, to things will begin to change positively.
• The change of character in you would be noticeable to the people around you. Those who have known you before would know something good has happened to you.
• Note: the points mentioned here is the problem with the present day believers. A number of people who claimed to be born-again are not Christlike in their characters at all. Some believers are just like unbelievers who had not heard the gospel at all—they are not different from the unbelievers in characters or behaviours. In fact, some so-called believers are worse than the unbelievers.

• If you did not give place to the Word of God for the washing or renewing of your soul or mind, the transformation that would effect a change of character in you would not take place or happen.

• If you claimed to be born-again but did not give attention to the feeding on the Word of God, for transformation; you may not experience any change in your thought life, through which your character would be changed (Hebrews 5:12).
• You cannot but be behaving like the unbelievers because your mind, which is still dirty or polluted or reprobative—morally corrupt or depraved—has not been saved or renewed (Romans 1:28; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
• It takes your deliberate effort and your cooperation with the Holy Spirit to get your mind transformed through the Word of God (Romans 12:2; James 1:21). The opportunity for the change or transformation of the mind would be made available for you severally, by the Holy Spirit, but He would not force you to do it.

• The ball is in your court.

• You may be hearing the Word of God and decided not to do anything with it.
  Hearing the Word of, reading and studying it, is not enough, you take a step further to put what you heard or read to work in your life. You had to practice the Word! You live your daily life by the principles found in the Bible.
• The doing or practicing of the Word might be challenging or difficult, but the outcome would be Christlike character:
  22 BUT BE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY, DECEIVING YOURSELVES. 23 FOR IF ANYONE IS A HEARER OF THE WORD AND NOT A DOER, HE IS LIKE A MAN OBSERVING HIS NATURAL FACE IN A MIRROR; 24 FOR HE OBSERVES HIMSELF, GOES AWAY, AND IMMEDIATELY FORGETS WHAT KIND OF MAN HE WAS. 25 BUT HE WHO LOOKS INTO THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY AND CONTINUES IN IT, AND IS NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER BUT A DOER OF THE WORK, THIS ONE WILL BE BLESSED IN WHAT HE DOES (James 1:22–25 NKJV).
• Note: the doing or practicing of the Word, the Bible, might provoke persecution, but it worth it: "YES, AND ALL WHO DESIRE TO LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION."
  2 Timothy 3:12 (NKJV)

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

• Whatever is contrary to your health is rebuked and rooted out completely in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
• The hold is totally broken and never to rise or be formed again in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
  Peace!
  TO BE CONTINUED

STEPS TO SALVATION
• Take notice of this:
IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).
a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).
b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).
c. As you took the steps A and B your name is written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).

• If you took the steps As highlighted above, congratulations, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!