Ideas from Matthew Henry plus thoughts from Ed.

Regeneration has two effects:

1. Weanedness from the world and 2. A thorough change of heart(renewed mind)

Weanedness- ” henceforth, we know no man after the flesh. ”  I do not own or effect or evaluate any breatheren after the flesh. I am enabled by divine grace not to mind nor regard this world, nor the things of this world, but to live above it. The love of Christ is in my heart and the world is under my feet.  By god’s divine grace I can enjoy the comforts of this life and my relations in this world with a holy indifference.

2. A thorough change of heart – ” if anyone is in Christ they are a new creature …”

The care of all who profess the Christian faith should be that they be new creatures, that they have a new heart and a new nature. Regenerating Grace creates a new world in the soul, all things are new. The renewed person acts from new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company.

Father,  I do not grieve your Holy Spirit who has sealed me until the day of redemption. I have put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, and malice. I am kind to others and forgive others as You, my Heavenly Father, for Christ’s sake, have forgiven me.

I am a follower of God and I walk in love as Christ has loved me and given himself for me as an offering and sweet sacrifice to you, father.

Thank you, lord, that now by your grace, I am light in the Lord and I walk as a child of light. I am filled with your spirit. I speak to myself in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. I made melody in my heart to you, lord.  I give thanks always, for all things unto you, father, in the name of my Lord Jesus, the Christ.

So I walk not as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds with their understanding darkened, being alienated from God. I have learned from Christ. I have been taught the truth in Jesus.  I put off the old man and the old worldly  lifestyle which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and I am renewed in the spirit of my mind. I put on the new man who is created by God in righteousness and true holiness.

I put away lying and speak only the truth. If I am angry, I do not sin. I do not let the sun go down on my wrath. I do not steal, but I labor with my hands and mind to be a good steward and to give to him who has a need.

No corrupt communication comes out of my mouth but only that which edifies and minister’s grace to the hearers.

I believe there is one body and one Spirit and one hope that I have been called to. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all and in all those who belong to God.  I have been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He gives grace for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.

By God’s grace I have come in the unity of the faith, and through knowledge of the son of God become a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Henceforth, I am no more a child tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but instead, speaking the truth in love, I grow up into him in all things, that is Jesus, the Christ.  In him the whole body fits jointly together … and edifies it self.

The Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, sent to save all those who belong to you, father. He is the image of you, father, the firstborn of all creation. He is the head of the body the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead,  that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by his blood through the cross.

I was once alienated and hostile in mind; doing evil deeds, but now I am reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order that he can present me holy and blameless and above reproach before you, my father.

I continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel, the word of God, that you, father, have chosen to make known among the Gentiles.  That is the answer to the mystery which is Christ in me the hope of glory.

Today, father, I give thanks to you that you have qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  You have delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of your beloved son, my Lord, Jesus Christ. In him I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

My Lord Jesus is the Christ, your Messiah, sent to save all those who are yours. He is the image of you, father, the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  By him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, …. all things were created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

I am not deceived. God is not mocked.  Whatsoever I sow is what I reap. If I insist on sowing to the flesh of my flesh I will reap corruption.  I choose to sow to the Spirit of God and of the spirit I reap life everlasting. I do not grow weary of doing life this way because I know in due season I will reap if I faint not.

As I have opportunity I do good unto all people, especially those who are of the household of faith. I glory in the cross of my Lord, and his love for me, and his courage.  I will glory only in the cross of my Lord Jesus, the Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world.  In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything or uncircumcision, but it is all about the new creature made alive by God and dwelling in me.

Today, by god’s grace I stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made me free and I am not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.   Through the Spirit of God I know my hope of righteousness is in my Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ what counts is faith working through love. I obey the truth of god’s word.

I walk in the spirit and do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I am led by the Spirit and not under the law.  The works of the flesh are obvious and those who practice them will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness  and temperance. I live in the spirit and I walk in the spirit. I am not deceived. God is not mocked. What I sow is what I reap.

Hallelujah!  I am justified by faith in Jesus Christ. I have believed Jesus and his word and that he is the Messiah and, therefore, I am justified by faith of Christ and not by works of the law.  For by works of the law shall no flesh be justified. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I am not so foolish as to believe that having begun in the spirit, I am now made perfect by the flesh.  Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law, being made a curse for me.

God’s word, with some connector phrases from Ed

Thank you, Lord, that by your grace I have received mercy. Mercy I certainly did not deserve. The god of this world had blinded my eyes, but you, oh Lord, broke through that bondage and filled my eyes with the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.  Now Jesus, the Christ, shines in my heart and mind.

My body is in earthen vessel filled with a treasure, your presence and power.  I know that power is you and not of me.  There are troubles all around but I am not distressed. I am perplexed but I do not despair, because of your living presence within me, Lord.  I am not destroyed but now I walk through this life filled with your spirit, led by your spirit and dead to my flesh.  The life of Jesus is manifest in my body!