Are you a dead man walking?

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Romans 6:2b,6-8 (NKJV)

 " ...How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who had died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,..."

The question I ask that you ponder on is, "Am I a dead man walking?"

 This may seem like a strange question to ask, or even answer for that matter, but if we look at what the apostle Paul was saying here we will then see the relevance of this question. Many of us have been saved for a while, and some are even serving in ministry, but there comes a time in this walk when we have to do a self check up. The bible says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (See 2 Cor. 13:5a) 

 Whether you've been walking with the Lord for a short period of time, or you've been running with Jesus for some time now the fact still remains that in order to fully have life we must DIE! I'm not speaking of natural death, but I speak of dying to our flesh or sinful nature. As a believers we know to die is to gain, and to die to a thing is to have nothing to do with it, and to be totally separated from it. Now to live to a person or a thing is to be fully given up to and have an intimate connection with that person or thing.

 We are to be dead to sin, but our life is in Christ Jesus.

 Having the old man crucified means that we have no further dealings with him. In fact, 1 Jn 5:18 says, "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God KEEPS himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

 Being dead to sin does not mean that the person or sin is dead, in fact they are very much alive, but they are non existence to each other. Sin is not supposed to lord over the believer, but the believer is to be lord over sin. This means sin submits to you, and if you are a dead man walking the sinful nature no longer has dominion over you.

 For so long it has been the other way around, and now is the time to make a choice. God has always given us a choice. He said, " ...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deu. 30:19b). This scripture let's us know that choosing either way can and will effect those connected to us. Your choice to say yes to God can very well bring salvation to your entire household. Remember being constantly lead by our sinful nature will cost us more than we are willing to pay. So let's be honest with ourselves. Is it the sinful nature or the old man that we're serving, or is it the one true living God? Remember God is a jealous God and He will not have any other god before Him, even if it is us.

 So are you a dead man walking?

 We must be dead to sin as the scripture pointed out.This is why the apostle Paul also tells us that we must walk in the spirit, so that the lust of the flesh is not fulfilled. There is a constant war that goes on within our members, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. The Lord has already equipped us with power not only over the devil, but over our sinful nature as well. Beloved it will always revert back us making the choice to obey the Lord. 

 I encourage you to meditate on this question and ask God to show you areas in your life that you are not dead in. Here are a few ways to let you know whether or not you are a dead man walking...

 If people are still able to bring you out of character... 
If you are still battling with lust and perversion ...
If you are still looking to be validated by people ...
If you're still gossiping or listening to it...
If you're still lying...
If you're still backbiting...
If you're still jealous...
If you're still having issues with forgiveness...

 Again this is just to name a few, but if these things are still ruling your life the truth of the matter is YOU ARE NOT DEAD YET!

 Some may say, "Well I'm not perfect and God is not done with me yet. I'm a work in progress!" I say to you, you are absolutely right. None of us are perfect in the sense of being 100% sinless, but we should be striving for holiness. You cannot stay in sin and keep telling yourself that God understands. He is a holy God and it is a commandment for us to be holy because He is holy.

 The grace (divine enablement) has been made available to us, so no longer can we use that as an excuse to stay in our mess. Jesus is saying to us, "Go and sin no more..." Saints His grace is sufficient for us.

 Just as Jesus our Lord died for sin once and for all and dies no more, so we should die to sin once and for all and live unto God forever...Selah

 God bless you!
Prophetess Shaquita Jones






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