Living A Righteous Life

Living A Righteous Life

By Apostle Felix

9  My passion is to be consumed with him and not clinging to my own “righteousness” based in keeping the written Law. My “righteousness” will be his, based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—the very righteousness that comes from God.

Philippians 3: 9

Righteous living depends on our right standing in Christ and then right thinking. Righteous living is not a behavior modification. So often, we focus or rather invest our efforts in trying to modify our behavior. Christ did not target our behavior, but His mission was to give us a new nature of righteousness. Prisons and rehabilitation centres are for behavior modification, but the church’s mission is not to modify human behaviors but help them to become born again and then have their minds renewed by the word of God.

1  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
2  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

Romans 12: 1, 2

The believers’ labor is in the renewing of our minds. Once you are born of God, your spirit is recreated into the image of Christ and has been made righteous and holy. The challenge remains in the soul that has to be reeducated in the kingdom of God culture. Everyone of us is born into a culture that is mingled with ungodly beliefs and practices. Not every cultural belief and practice is evil but for the most part it is. Apostle Paul encouraged the church at Rome to stop imitating the cultural norms of the day by the renewing of their minds by the word. Leaving cultural practices in the absence of the word of God is close to impossible.

The hardest part of life is the effort made to try to depart from cultural beliefs and practices, after been saved. We have been trained and culture has become part of our nature. The believers’ struggle is the attempt to overcome such beliefs and practices. Some even resort to seeking deliverance from deliverance experts. However, their circumstances get worst for many of them. This is because, demonic entities are not solely responsible for man’s behavior. In most cases, demons are attracted to human behavior. If one has a lying problem then will attract demons that will come and make the situation worse. This can mainly be applicable to those who do not believe in Christ. The day you believed in Christ, your body became the temple of the Holy Spirit, and not the temple of devils. You cannot expect the Holy Spirit to cohabit with the devils in your body. That’s not impossible. For you as a believer, your behavior is not due to demon possession but due to evil thoughts possession.

3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

2 Corinthians 10: 3 – 6