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A New Man!
Ephesians 4:22-24 '…everything connected with [your] old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life -- a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.' (The Message)
 It's funny how children's stories often reflect the real cry of the human heart. Most of us are like Pinocchio, the little wooden puppet who desperately wanted to be a real boy. Like Pinocchio, we know there is something missing in our lives. We may look like a real boy, we may even move and sound like a real boy, but we still feel decidedly wooden. We experiment with all kinds of pleasures and adventures to try to experience life. At the end of the day, though, we know we still fall short, we're not what we most want to be. Our only hope is that someday someone -- someone miraculous -- will touch us and bless us with a new kind of life. Then we'll throw off the wooden nature that's held us down and truly begin to live. According to the Bible, every Christian has been given a 'new heart'. We are no longer slaves to our natural disposition. The Bible calls this the 'old nature'. 'Old' because it's has now been replaced by something new, and ?nature' because it's the thing that dictated our thoughts, actions and behaviour before Jesus. Now, though, we each have a new nature, which is like Christ. We can choose to behave as Jesus would have done - and we have the power to do it! We can choose to work with the Holy Spirit as he develops a Christ-like nature within us. The Bible says that virtues like patience, hope, endurance, and truthfulness are all 'fruits of the Holy Spirit' -- they are the by-products of his presence in our lives.
Prayer: 'Jesus, help me today to live in the power of the new nature you could within me, and not to listen to the old nature of my former life.'
© 2003-2004 Mal Fletcher
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I was quite surprised to see the EDGES website - a human-transparent site with an inclination towards God. I really like the way you are posting your brilliant reports about issues. Keep up your good work.
Pavel, Russia
Hi Mal, you recently preached at our Sunday service at Rhema Bible Church in Joburg, South Africa. You preached God's word with such simplicity and I left church feeling really inspired. It's been a blessing going through the articles on this site.
Elaine, South Africa
God is true to His word. [Recently] it seemed as though I faced an entire mountain range. A friend blessed me with the Next Wave site. God bless you Mal and all the saints who knit your ministry together. On to massive revival in Europe.
Robert, Germany
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