Born Again; Again?

What if my entire Christian life up to now has been done wrong?

That is what happened for me. I had remained bound to my old life, never letting it die on the cross with Jesus. This was my fault; not Jesus’ and not the Holy Spirit’s. Even though I had obtained a seminary degree in 1995 and been a follower of Christ since 1985, I did not understand Romans 6-7 and dying to self. I have always struggled with anger, lust, alcohol…, etc. I was just a mess of a Christian. Sometimes I wondered if I really was a Christian. Had I given my life to Christ? Had I repented? If I had, why was I still doing or struggling with all the stuff I hated? There was so much shame and guilt that I was nearly useless to the Kingdom. The negative accuser voice in my head blocked me from freedom, relief and holiness. I believed the lie that I was the problem. I felt frustrated and hopeless for change or progress. My understanding of God, grace, forgiveness and redemption were shallow and flawed. But, boy did I know about sin, wrath, judgment and condemnation! I knew how broken I was. The trap was inescapable.

Then things started to change as we were getting new teachings at Outlook Christian Church. We began studying the Revival Cultures of Heaven in mid-September 2013. Slowly I began to understand with new eyes the story of the prodigal son or as Paul Manwaring calls it, the story of the extravagant love of the Father. His messages are available online and are fantastic. My hope started to grow. I started to believe that joy really was attainable. I was actually, finally starting to trust God now that I knew He IS good and that He loves me and wants me to become His true son. I had been stuck in problem situations with areas of my life portraying both the younger and the older son from the Luke 15 parable.

Then around January 7^th as we were preparing for the next teaching on the Culture of Heaven, I discovered Graham Cooke and started listening to his messages. I devoured several a day. My faith was being rocked, shattered and re-formed. [Reformation pun intended.] I was starting to understand who Jesus died for, what my proper response was and how God now sees me. This right thinking was beginning to set me free from the garbage of the first paragraph above.

This is the message that changed my life: “Graham Cooke ~ 02 'Living Our True Nature' (08/2013).” You can find it on Youtube. This is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkROc-ceLOQ

Please listen to a few of Graham’s messages. Start with the one above, then go find “01 Understanding Our Spiritual Identity.” If anything written above resonates with your life, this is a great place to start. It’s time for believers to be set free. We need to live in the new life not focusing on fixing the flesh. We need to pursue righteousness as the new man, the new person who is set free from sin, death and wrath. Because we are free from the old nature since Jesus killed it at the cross, it is time to live in joy, grace and freedom of the new spiritually re-born nature that is our true identity as followers of Christ.

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMM!!!

…much more to follow…