Romans 6:11 (NKJV) Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, what does it mean to “reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin?” Many translations render this phrase “consider yourself to be dead,” but what does that look like?
Another good word for “reckon” is “believe.” We must believe that we are dead to sin. But that is not the end of the verse. We must also reckon (believe) that we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. It means we need to stop judging and thinking of ourselves as “sinners” and start believing and thinking of ourselves as forgiven, redeemed sons and daughters of God. The problem is, thinking and believing do not change automatically; they are changed by what we continually look at and meditate on.
Without daily intimacy with the Lord and continual exposure to His living word, we will stay focused on our failures and shortcomings, never actually becoming all Jesus paid for us to be. Reading and hearing the word of God, fellowship with other believers, and listening to good preaching are all good things. However, nothing will transform us faster than spending time with God when no one else is looking. Intimacy is where the most extraordinary transformation takes place. It is where grace has its perfect work.
Intimacy with the Father builds faith, dispels doubt, and corrects wrong thinking. Beholding Him and His glory shapes our perspectives, confirming and strengthening our identity by changing how we see Him.
The Bible says that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45 Matthew 12:33-37)
What is in our hearts and minds (believer and thinker) will eventually come out of our mouths, and that is the other thing that must change.
We will never be free from sin while allowing it to reside in our thought life and keeping it in our conversations.
We must not talk about how normal it is for us to sin. Saying things like, “We all sin, everybody sins, we are always going to sin,” strengthens a sin consciousness and reinforces the strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing.
There is a time and place to confess our sins and weaknesses to others for needed ministry, restoration, and accountability. However, filling our prayer life with wrong declarations of our sinful and unworthy nature is counterproductive and anti-finished work. That is not humility; it is blasphemy. He made us worthy.
Talking and thinking that way is “reckoning” ourselves alive to sin. It is saying in our hearts that sin still has power over us and therefore suggests that the finished work of Jesus did not accomplish anything.
Sin only has power over us when we empower it.
If we miss it and sin, run to God in prayer and declare.
“Lord, I thank you for your mercy. I am sorry; that is no longer who I am Lord. That is certainly not what You look like in me. Thank you for making me clean and transforming me into your image. Thank you for perfecting your work in me and bringing me to the place where this is not an issue anymore. I am so thankful that you don’t see me as dirty or unworthy. Thank you for redeeming me. I so appreciate your work in my life, thank you for Fathering me.”
You won’t pray like that without a healthy understanding of who you are in Christ. Spend some time with Him alone today.
Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto
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