Of course! If you have a new heart, a new spirit and God’s Spirit living in you, then your desires are all new and bearing the fruit of the Spirit is your new genuine desire. The old man/woman has died and you’ve been made new in Christ and therefore you desire to do what is right, pleasing and good. This is the good news of the gospel which has set you free from the slavery of sin and has made you slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18).
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24
Friends, without the work of Jesus on the cross our hearts would continue to be “desperately sick” and full of “evil thoughts” (Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19). If we were to remain with our old sinful hearts they would be working against us attempting to separate that which has been joined together by God. But God in His great love for us would not leave us with our hard hearts but promised to give us a ‘new heart’ and a ‘new spirit’ (Ezekiel 36:26).
Sylvia wrote; "I knew back in my early years of High School, I didn’t like who I was. I remember asking God to change my heart, but little did I know my heart was already new in Christ when He suffered, died, and rose and that it was my mind that was still being renewed. Jesus is in me and I am in Him, I don’t have parts of Him I have all of Him in me. I wanted so desperately to shine the love and light of Christ but no matter how hard I would try to be nice or think nice thoughts, I couldn’t do it, but why? Because my works and living under the law by ‘doing’ cannot save, cannot redeem, cannot renew, cannot cleanse, cannot love, cannot circumcise, and cannot forgive. God in His great love started renewing my mind and little by little I started having peace of mind in my identity (being made perfect in Him) which gave me peace of mind as a wife, to be me and not try to be anyone else. As I look at our marriage now, it was my changed heart through Christ’s love that attracted my husband all over again to truly love me, cherish me, adore me and forgive me all through the precious blood, which has blessed our marriage as we have grown and matured so wonderfully and continue to do so moment by moment."
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your mind.” Ephesians 4:22-23
Question 3. Since your heart has been changed, are you seeing how you are being made new in the attitudes of your minds and in the way you think? Please share.
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
As we bring this lesson to a close we wanted to share two passages that demonstrate how your marriage is changed without hands (without human help) but a work of Christ in your hearts, through faith by the Spirit. We need heavenly not human help. We need the Spirit to work in us, not the flesh to work against us.
“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:11-12
“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” Romans 2:28-29
Question 4. Do you see how the circumcision Jesus performed in you was ‘without hands’ and is a ‘matter of the heart’? Please share.
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
Dear friends, please do not miss the power of the gospel as this will change your marriage forever. Our hearts were circumcised as we believe in the gospel through faith. As we look to the cross and believe Jesus was bleeding and pleading with His wounds for us. We cannot ‘will’ our marriage to become better. We cannot ‘hope’ our marriage to become better. We can go to marriage classes and seek the best instructors. We can make vows to do better and make promises to never separate or argue in front of the children. But unless our hearts are circumcised by Christ ‘without hands’ no amount of human effort will help.