Overcomer...

...began with all of my articles focusing on end times. You have probably noticed that I have branched out from that theme. The Lord has been opening exciting doors in my life as of late. One is teaching, the other is counseling. I've been reading Elyse Fitzpatrick's book, "Women Counseling Women" and have posted some of her nuggets from that book here at Overcomer. On page forty-eight you will find the goal of the biblical counselor: "to facilitate change in the counselee's life so that her character is changed to conform to the likeness of Christ." The Lord has graciously brought women into my life all along my walk with Him who He used and is using to work Christlike character into my life through His Word.

I love the word justified and I love how Elyse Fitzpatrick defined it. I heard this definition at her "Am I My Sister's Keeper?" conference that was held here in the Northwest in February. Justified means just as if I've never sinned and just as if I'd always obeyed. Our obedience in practice is not perfect but we are not condemned for it because the Lord's perfect obedience is placed to our account. Does this mean we can live life any way we want now? Absolutely not! To do that would be to slap grace in the face. Paul tells us we were buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. We are to consider ourselves now to be dead to sin and alive to God. This is how we are to think.

I've learned that Paul's put off and put on principle in Ephesians 4:22-24 is invaluable and absolutely necessary for our sanctification - that change in which the Holy Spirit takes the Word and uses it to conform us into Christlikeness. Here it is: "that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

We are able to walk in newness of life because the power of sin has been broken. How do we deal with sinful thoughts and behaviors? Here are a few Paul named in Ephesians 4 - lying, sinful anger, stealing, unwholesome words, bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, malice. Here are a few more that I thought of - lust, overeating, gossiping... We deal with these sinful behaviors by remembering that we are dead to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. We recognize our thoughts and actions as being sinful, we confess it, we ask forgiveness, and we repent or turn from it. Here is where we lay it aside, we put it off, seeking to renew our minds by being in the Word, and then put on new habits. The thief stops stealing and begins working. The liar stops lying and speaks the truth. The gossiper stops gossiping and speaks words that bring edification. Gals, if you are in the habit of reading those cheap romance novels instead of delighting in your husband, take them out and burn them and get back to delighting in your husband. Guys, if you are in the habit of sitting in front the computer screen instead of delighting in your wife, take a baseball bat to your monitor and delight only in your wife. As we seek to comply with God's design for our lives, we will be changed! As we walk in obedience the good work God began of conforming us into the image of Christ, He will perfect it until the day of Christ, the day the Lord returns - Philippians 1:6.

Speaking of the day of Christ, Prewrath Rapture Dot Com posted a great article today entitled "The Prewrath Rapture - A Biblical Synthesis." Be sure and check it out!