“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Romans 8:9-11 NLT
http://bible.com/116/rom.8.9-11.nlt
In writing these articles one thing I appreciate is taking the time to think on the music and to just think on the goodness of the Lord. I’ve been saved for over 20 years now and it honestly still feels like it all happened yesterday. I remember that moment that I encountered Jesus and how meeting Him changed my life. I remember coming home bouncing off of the walls like “I got saved today!!” My mom looked at me like I was crazy. Thanks be to God now she’s in church serving the Lord.
Even just now I had a moment thinking back on the goodness of the Lord. He’s been so faithful and there is nothing I could ever do to truly repay Him. So I laid my life at His feet and surrendered to Him. God do your will in and through me. I had no idea what I would ever do for Him. I didn’t know how or where He would use me. Like they say in sports, “The best ability is availability.” I made myself available and when I look back on how I used to be it still amazes me. Looking back and see how Christ has made me different.
One thing I never wanted to be was a robot. Even after walking with God for awhile one thing that discouraged me was someone being very cookie cutter. It’s like they weren’t genuine. I’m like how are you connected to the Creator and being fake. Seeing that I could see why folks didn’t want to come to church. They don’t want to feel like they are losing their genuine selves. Yes God changes us. Yes He goes into the core of who we are, but it’s not to make us into something we weren’t meant to be. He comes into our dead souls and gives us life eternal.
Your quirks and things of that nature play a part in who you are. God wants to use those things for His glory. He doesn’t want to use them to shame you about being uniquely you. God changes who we are in that He gives us a new identity in Christ. In sin, we were children of the devil. In Christ we are children of the Most High. Who we are God does that part all by Himself. Then He helps by His Spirit to change how we are. How we act, how we sing things and how we present ourselves to this world.
Some may say you’re in church so you’ve got to wear dresses down to your ankles and suits and ties. Your clothes aren’t what changes you on the inside. We are to be fashioned after Christ. That can be done in a suit, in a dress, or in a t-shirt and jeans with Jordans on. Christ lives in the heart and not in your outfit or anything external. He makes the heart new by His Spirit. Then we must die daily to surrender our will to change our minds and be more like Him.
That leads us to our Throwback Song of the Week. We’re going with a little old mix of hip hop, r&b and pop with the ladies of Out of Eden. This is from their 2002 release entitled “This Is Your Life.” The featured track is a banger called “Different Now.” Click on the link below, enjoy this hot track. Rejoice about Christ making you different and new on the inside. No Trackstarz show this week, but the guys will be back next week with more new music and plenty of great topics. Until next time…
Peace and blessings,
Damo
https://open.spotify.com/track/397JfinM7eKUneMWozvqqU?si=lz0XXQueTKyAbSptotbf-Q
