After Born Again What Next 3?

After you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Personal saviour, it doesn’t end there. There are certain things, though might have been static, must gradually be seen change in your life. Such things are the determinants that portray your growth or stagnation in the faith you express. Even in the physical world, children when born, are expected to grow. No parents would want their kids to remain kids despite all the efforts they put in they ensure their growth and development. And so it is also with the one who’s given his/her life to Jesus Christ. As a born again Christian, you must understand that you need to be deliberate in changing certain things about yourself.

The second thing you must understand when you give your life to Christ is that your body is still the same but you must keep it under control. Being born again doesn’t immune you against the evil influences of the flesh. The desires you used to have to commit sins or fall to temptations will still be there, but you must take calculated steps to tame your flesh. Until you realize that your flesh can’t offer you anything good, you cannot put it under control.

HOW TO PUT YOUR FLESH UNDER CONTROL

1. Be aware of the potential evil that’s in your flesh.

As a born again Christian, you must be aware that your body is older than the new spirit that you’ve found in Christ, therefore it can fail you or lead you to sin. It is only when you are aware of the potential evils in your flesh that you can overcome or put it under control.

2. Spend time to pray and fast.

The easiest way to control the flesh is to fast and pray. There are certain things in your flesh that can only go by prayer and fasting. Fasting is not simply one of those mandates in the Bible related to abstention of food. It’s about subduing your flesh and, more importantly, submission to the Holy Spirit.Fasting and prayer bring spiritual insight and wisdom and starves the flesh. When you cave into your flesh, it relegates you to a habit of submitting to your flesh, and the Holy Spirit cannot do the work in you that He hopes to.

3. Do not give any opportunity to the flesh.

Taming the flesh is a very real battle to a child of God. It takes faith and the Holy Spirit who lives in us to help us put to death the will of sinful flesh, pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ. But you must also train our flesh to do the will of God. You must understand that your body is always hungry and would want to be fed. Whatever you feed it with is what it becomes. If you feed it with negative things, it will also be negative and if you feed with it positive things also it will be positive. Do not expose your flesh to things that do not make you grow. However, expose yourself to godly behaviours.

The third thing you must understand when you give your life to Christ is that your mind is still opened to all kinds of thoughts and you must learn to think on the right things (see 2 Corinthians 10:5). After you come to Christ, you must learn to cast down every imaginations in your mind. Learn to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You do this by aligning your thoughts with the word of God (see Philippians 4:8). You must begin to think differently. You must understand that your mind is a battle ground for both God and the devil. But for the devil, his most powerful tool is suggestions. So whenever an ungodly thought comes into your mind, resist it immediately.

In conclusion, the fight of every born again Christian to keep the body and mind pure at all times is paramount to spiritual growth. As born again Christians we must develop an active faith and have a close relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, so we can have the power to overcome the flesh and the temptations of the devil and living unto God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him as our reasonable service to Him. Taming the flesh and keeping our flesh under subjection of Jesus Christ is key to living the new life we’ve found in Christ.