And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)

Most Christians allow their bodies to have their spirits gagged and tied up in the basement. Mark Hankins

The part of you that is born again is your spirit. It receives eternal life, but you still must do something with your mind and your body. It is possible to be saved or born again and still have your body out of whack. Your mind can still be controlled with wrong thinking. You will stay frustrated if your body or your mind is dominating your spirit.

Paul said that they that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with its affections.  Crucifixion is painful. This means that you deny your body certain things it wants to do, wants to say, and wants to consume. If you do just the opposite of what your body wants, you will be pleasing God.

The Holy Spirit wants to strengthen your spirit. Then your inner man will rise up and tell your body to shut up and line up with the Word. Your spirit man — your inward man — will do this!

Confession: I am strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in my inner man. Christ dwells in my heart by faith and I am rooted and grounded in love. I am filled with all the fullness of God!  (Ephesians 3:16-19)

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. (Colossians 3:10)

Acting on the Word is the simplest definition of faith. Mark Hankins

Changing clothes is not something you do once in your lifetime. You do not say, “I changed clothes twenty years ago.” No, this is a daily thing. You did not get up this morning and say, “If God wanted me to wear clothes, He would have put them on me.” That is ridiculous, isn’t it? You cannot say, “If it is the will of God, I would have clothes on today.” No, you had to get up, pick them out, and put them on.

Often people say, “If it were the will of God for me to be healed, I would be healed because God wanted it.” No, did your clothes jump on you? In other words, healing is a part of your redemption, but you need to put it on.

Some people say, “If it is the will of God for me to have money, then I would have it.” No, God did not put your clothes on you; you put them on. Likewise, you have to “put on” prosperity.  That is what belongs to you in Christ. You have to dress yourself up by acknowledging who you are in Christ.

Confession: That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (Philemon 6)

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:23-24)

In order to put on the new man, you have to change clothes. Mark Hankins

In Ephesians 4:23-24, Paul was not talking about natural clothes, but he was talking about putting on something supernaturally. The new man is in you, but the outward man needs to make some wardrobe adjustments.

To change your clothes means to change your lifestyle, change the way you think, change your direction, change who you are hanging out with, change what you are watching on television, and change the kind of books you are reading.

How are you going to do that?  “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:14) When you expose yourself to situations that can cause you to fall, you need to watch your flesh. Although you are saved, you still occupy a body. You will get a new body when you get to Heaven, but right now you still have to deal with your flesh.

Confession: I am renewed in the spirit of my mind. I put on the new man, which after God is created in righteous-ness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:23-24)

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is free from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)

Wouldn’t you like to go ahead and lose your mind for a little while?Mark Hankins

Paul said in Romans 6, “I know this for a fact. I was crucified with Christ. Christ took me to the cross with Him.”  Some theologians believe that Paul had lost his mind because he was not even in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. But Paul said, “Christ lives in me now. I did not survive the cross, and there is nothing left of me. It’s all gone. I am a brand-new man. I was crucified with Christ.”

Paul was presenting the law of substitution to the theologians and to us. The law of substitution has to do with the two Adams. The first Adam got us into this mess, so God made another Adam. Jesus is the last Adam. To get rid of the old Adam, there had to be a resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Christ is a group picture. You have to find yourself in it, or the picture does not look so great. Once you find yourself, you can say, “Oh, there I am!”  This is not sense knowledge; the Holy Spirit reveals it to you.

Confession: Because Christ lives, I live! I am seated with Him and blessed with Him. I cannot be defeated! I cannot be depressed. Christ lives in me!