You Are A New Creation!

1 John 3:8 says, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” That’s why we need miracles, because the Devil has been working from the spiritual realm into the natural realm to wreak havoc from the very beginning of time. He’s been using spiritual power and spiritual force to try to wreak havoc in the Earth and in our bodies and all around us for centuries. God wants you and I to be the ones who use spiritual force to work righteousness – the Truths of the Kingdom of God – into this Earth. We truly can be the agents to bring Heaven into the Earth; that’s what we’re called to do. We’re called to bring heaven into the Earth.

Remember, Jesus taught us to pray the way He did. He said to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, here on Earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-13). An easy way to know whether something is God’s will or not is to ask, is this happening in heaven? If it’s the same in heaven, then it’s God’s will. God’s will already happens in heaven, so that’s a really easy gauge to use. If we see something going on in the Earth and you know it’s not right, then say something. You could say, “This is not heaven or covenant, and I signed up for heaven.” Right when you were born again, you signed up for heaven. You signed up for a relationship with Jesus Christ, where you were born into the Kingdom of God. As you were born into the Kingdom of God, all of a sudden your heart becomes brand new. You become a new creation in Christ Jesus. According to II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.” 

I had a scar on my hand before I was born again. It didn’t disappear after I gave my life to Jesus, yet all things are “made new” in the Kingdom. As you begin to understand the power and authority we have in Christ, God’s will is done in the Earth. When something happens on Earth that doesn’t line up with heaven’s agenda, that’s when you and I are to stand up and speak.

When I was in my senior year of high school, there was this one teacher who was really giving us seniors a hard time. This teacher taught our religion class, and he was just unnecessarily mean. We had to write a two-page paper every week, a 13-page paper at the end of the year, and a bunch of other things throughout the year. Well, one of my classmates got a little angry with the teacher over all that we were expected to do for him. Right in the middle of class one day, my classmate got up and walked out the door, went into the boys’ locker room and turned on the shower. Then he walked back into the classroom and put the teacher in a headlock, picked him up, and was about to carry him out of the classroom. This student was used to throwing bales of hay on his family’s farm, so picking up our teacher was no problem. As I was witnessing this, I realized that it wasn’t right. I stood up and told the student to stop, and he actually listened. Why did he stop? Because I said to and because I had exhibited authority. It wasn’t the kind of authority that said, “I am in charge over you.” No, it was spiritual authority because I was a believer, and I knew my authority in Christ.

When things are happening that are unjust, you have spiritual authority through Christ, my friends. When things are happening that are wrong, you have authority and you have the ability to change those situations. You have the ability to change what’s going on in the Earth, and you have the responsibility to do it. We can’t just sit around waiting and wondering when somebody else is going to do something. Some people go to God and say, “Lord, why did you let this happen?” And He looks right back and says, “Why did you let it happen?”

Genesis 1:26-28 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” 

God gave us authority and He want us to use it. If we don’t, the devil will gladly pick up where we leave off. And we’re not supposed to leave off; we’re supposed to pick up our responsibility and move forward and do the things that God’s called us to do. So, when you see something that’s not right, you have the responsibility to say or do something.

I was babysitting my brother’s kids once when my nephew said, “My tummy hurts.” And I said, “Well, let me pray for you.” So, he laid down on the couch and I started to pray for him. While I was praying for him, I perceived this black ball or a mass in his belly. I perceived that it was something demonic, so I started to bind it, but I couldn’t cast it out. I don’t know why I couldn’t cast it out of my nephew, but I kept binding it smaller and smaller. I said to my nephew, “Tell me when it stops hurting.” It got to be bound pretty tight before he said his stomach had stopped hurting, but I could still see that it was in there.

I went on with the rest of the evening taking care of the kids, and later on my nephew said his stomach hurt again, so I prayed for him again. We started praying, and right while I was praying for my nephew, his sister threw up all over the floor. I picked her up and ran into the kitchen, and while I was getting her cleaned up, my nephew got sick too. But when I went back in to look and perceive in the Spirit after he had gotten sick, the black thing was gone out of his belly! The thing that I couldn’t cast out earlier had left. I had been given a spiritual perception in that moment to be able to perceive what was actually happening in him, although not completely accurate, but it was accurate enough to get the job done.

God gives us these gifts to use. These gifts are not just for “super-Christians”. You and I one of the called ones because we are followers of Jesus. If you’ve never had an experience where the Holy Spirit leads you into the working of miracles or any of the gifts of the Spirit, venture in. You need to learn how to do these things. It’s time to lay hands on the sick and pray for people to be healed. When Mark 16 talks about people being healed after having hands laid on them, it doesn’t always mean they’ll be healed instantly. Sometimes it happens right away, but most of the time I would say it happens over time. However, I have heard so many testimonies where people receive healing hours, days, even months later. God is always faithful to complete the work He started (Phil. 1:6).

2 Corinthians 4 – Paraphrase

I’d be interested in your thoughts about this. I think one of the best ways to study the Bible is to write your own paraphrase of it. I’m hoping to catch all the meaning and be true to the text. I don’t think I’ve nailed it, but I sure feel like I understand this chapter better now.

VerseKJVBarlow Paraphrase
2 Corinthians 4:1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;God has commissioned us with this ministry to take the same mercy we’ve received from God and give it to others. The commission comes with the strength and ability to complete the work; so we’re not running out of energy here.
2 Corinthians 4:2But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.You know all those things you try to hide, afraid that you’ll be found out? We can give all that up. And we do. We’ve got to bring forth this beautiful, pure Gospel through beautiful clean hearts. People can tell if you’re fake.
2 Corinthians 4:3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:If this Gospel is hidden to anyone those people are lost, not found yet. Let’s not present anything in ourselves that would block their view of the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 4:4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.Satan, the ‘god of this world’ works to blind the minds of those who haven’t seen the truth yet. Once they see the reality of Jesus, Satan loses them for sure, because the light has found them.
2 Corinthians 4:5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.We’re not the Savior, although we bring His salvation. Jesus Himself is the Lord. We serve Him and you so that He would be increased in this world.
2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.The One who originally said, “Let there be light!” has performed the same miracle in our hearts. The light of knowing God is shining in our hearts as we behold Jesus’ face.
2 Corinthians 4:7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.This light that shines in us, this treasure, is what we hold. It doesn’t come from us, it flows through us. So everyone knows this light is from God not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;Those are the spiritual realities, but in this world we deal with tons of difficulties; Satan makes sure of it. But because we hold the spiritual realities in view the opposition doesn’t wear us out.
2 Corinthians 4:9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;The world cuts me down but God hasn’t given up on me. They might throw me down, but they can’t destroy me.
2 Corinthians 4:10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.This substitution thing that Jesus did by dying for me seems to be having an effect on me. Its seems I constantly experience death but His life in me keeps me living.
2 Corinthians 4:11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.It seems we keep getting delivered to death but life keeps rescuing us keeping our mortal bodies alive!
2 Corinthians 4:12So then death worketh in us, but life in you.Because we keep surviving these death attacks that results in more life for you as we continue to minister more and more truth and you receive it.
2 Corinthians 4:13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;We are people of faith. That’s how we survive. And as such we speak as those who have faith. We follow the example of those written about in the scriptures. They believed and therefore spoke. We believe therefore we speak.
2 Corinthians 4:14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.We can see this with our faith, God raised Jesus He’ll raise us also. Together we’ll be presented before the Most High!
2 Corinthians 4:15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.This is amazing. This was all done for you. Abundant grace came to you. Thanksgiving rose up in you. God receives abundant glory. I love it.
2 Corinthians 4:16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.We feel eternally energized by this work. Outwardly it seems we are wearing out but there is internal energy that keeps rising up day after day.
2 Corinthians 4:17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;Seeing things from a spiritual perspective all of our difficulties seem pretty small and short lived. But everything we endure is remembered by God Himself; it will be glorious as we receive our reward.
2 Corinthians 4:18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.So let’s keep looking at the spiritual ‘unseen’ things; they last forever. The things we see with our eyes will all be gone someday soon.