PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF, WHICH IS BEING CORRUPTED BY ITS DECEITFUL DESIRES…AND PUT ON THE NEW SELF, CREATED TO BE LIKE GOD
(Ephesians 4:22). 

We all have a CORRUPTED PERSON living inside of us: a being, shaped in us by the father-of-lies, filled with negative, destructive beliefs of condemnation, shame, abandonment, and rejection—the OLD SELF.

When these OLD SELF beliefs of condemnation, abandonment, shame, and rejection are triggered, we hurt so much that we want to bandage the pain as soon as possible.  And the father-of-lies stands ready with his SOLUTION: sinful habits and patterns of hiding, running, and blaming others.  THESE ARE THE PRACTICES OF THE OLD SELF.

Some people think that in order to become holy, they only need to put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  They think that all they need to do is to stop their harmful habits of hiding, running, and blaming in order to become whole and holy.

SINCE YOU HAVE TAKEN OFF YOUR OLD SELF WITH ITS PRACTICES
(Colossians 3:9).

But I have discovered that it does not help to only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  You have to put off the PERSON of the OLD SELF, first.  If you only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF, the OLD SELF PERSON is still in you.  This deceived OLD SELF PERSON is void of God’s Love, Hope, and Truth, and feels unloved, unworthy, and unacceptable. The OLD SELF PERSON NEEDS ITS PRACTICES OF DEFENSE, so it can take care of its pain.  If you take its defense patterns away, it will find new ones.  You cannot do this backwards.

Have you noticed the OLD SELF PERSON that lives in you? What are the negative, destructive beliefs that keep it alive? What are its practices—the harmful habits that take care of its pain?

I urge you to invite the Lord Jesus to put off the OLD SELF in you, and to put on HIS SELF in you, who is filled with new beliefs of Love, Truth, and Hope.  Then, your harmful habits will disappear, because it is only if there is someone NEW living in you with whole and holy beliefs that you do not need your sinful defense patterns anymore.  Know that you cannot better your SELF from the outside; you need to be exchanged on the inside for a NEW SELF—the SELF of the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I lay my corrupted OLD SELF PERSON by Your feet. Please come and replace it with Your Self—the NEW SELF. Then, I will not need my harmful habits anymore. Then, I will be new.