By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

When Jesus was crucified, we were also crucified with Him. When He died on the cross, we died with Him too. When He was buried, we were also buried with Him. Then when He triumphed over death, that is when He resurrected, we became alive in Him with a new life. The implication of dying with Jesus Christ is that we now closely identify with Him. Jesus did everything in our place. His death became our death, His resurrection became our resurrection and His life became our life. We are one with Him. Our sinful nature died with Christ and was replaced with a new life in Him. This is eternal life! Zoe (Greek word for eternal life) is the very life of God. The very life of the Lord Jesus is what we have in our new man; our spirit man. Peter called him the hidden man of the heart. This spirit man cannot be touched by the devil or destroyed by death. Only God can kill the soul and body. The devil does not have the power to do that. He can only destroy the body if we let him. If we disallow it, then he is done!!! Defeated as the loser he is.

• • “Matthew 10:28 Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

You need to believe that dying with Christ means that your old sinful nature died with Him too so that the devil doesn’t confuse you by identifying you with your old nature. If he succeeds in compromising your true identity it will severely limit your ability to work in the new reality of the new life in Christ

• • Rom 6: 11 “So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”

What you believe about yourself is what you experience in real life. A believer that understands that he has been crucified with Christ sees himself in a new light. He begins to notice a change in his life because of the new life which is now active in him, he loses appetite for the things he used to crave that are sinful. This comes naturally to all who are genuinely born again by faith in Christ Jesus alone. Not by faith in their works which is not the saving grace at work. Nobody earns salvation. It is a gift of God. Salvation that is genuine produces the fruit of the new life on its own.

• • Philippians 1:11“May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”NLT

This new life will no longer find comfort in fellowshipping with his old friends. He does not belong there anymore. The old life is gone and a new one has begun. We are freed from the sinful nature we inherited from Adam and now have a new nature we were given in Christ Jesus.

• • Romans 6:7 “For he that is dead is freed from sin. For if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” KJV

Since we died with Christ and were resurrected with Him, God has given us victory over sin and death. Our faith activates this truth, just as our faith activates all spiritual realities for good or evil. If we believe and expect negative things, that God did not give us, then those things become our reality. As we believe so it shall be for us. If we believe and expect the things God gave us, then that becomes our reality.

Therefore, believing these truths makes it work for us in real life. It does not work by human effort because it is a life in the spirit. Not life in the natural, but living in the spirit. It works by faith. That is why the just shall live by faith, not by human effort. All things are possible only to those who believe. But, for those ignorant of these truths and those who know but will not believe, not a single thing they reject will be their experience. Believe and you will experience all of the privileges through Christ. Doubt and you will not experience any. By doubting, you reject it but by believing you accept it.

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor of Fountain Of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.