“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is
here!” (2 Cor 5:17)

It’s not enough to know about Jesus. The adversary knows about Him, too. When I made the
decision to truly know Jesus everything changed. I came to realize my life was not my own. I
had to cast off my old ways of thinking and start doing things differently in an effort to begin
reconciling myself to Him. Every person making that decision becomes a new creation, not
merely improved or reformed, but truly transformed. Life looks – and is – completely different.

We begin to see His Creation with new eyes; we are given a heart of compassion. We don’t just
ignore sin, we avoid it. There is a big difference between continuing to sin and continuing to live
in sin. It’s impossible to reach sinless perfection in this life; however, the redeemed Christian is
being sanctified day by day, sinning less and less and truly cringing each time we miss the mark.
After all, we are now freed from sin and it no longer has power over us. (Romans 6:6-7) We
begin to walk in the fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22). We learn how to walk in the
awesome Power of the Most High God.

Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And
these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will
speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly
poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get
well.” (Mark 20:15-18)

Study the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to read it with you. The more we pray, the more His Holy
Word begins to work in our lives. We begin to produce in us what God intended for us all along.
We become more like Him.

We become aware that our “death” is the end of our old sinful nature which was nailed to the
cross with Christ. It was buried with Him, and just as He was raised up by the Father, so are we
raised up to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

That old me had to die, Lord Jesus. You knew it, I knew it. Thank you for pulling me out of the
mess I made of the life you gave me. Thank you for this second chance! Please help me to stay
on the right path with You. Amen