Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Cor 5:17 NKJV
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we become a new creation and as Jesus said to Nicodemus, we are born again.
Becoming a Christian is not just turning over a new leaf, changing our behavior or becoming a better person, it’s becoming a new person in Christ.
Paul writes, the old things have passed away and ALL things have become new. We now have a new nature, we become a new person. We who were spiritually dead are made spiritually alive.
Water baptism is a perfect example of what happens to us spiritually. Our old nature is symbolically buried in the waters of baptism and we rise up out of the water as a new person, to walk in newness of life.
Even though our old nature has been buried, the struggle between our old and new nature, our flesh and our spirit is very real. Our old nature and our flesh, which have a bias towards sin, are always trying raise their ugly head, however God’s word says, sin shall no longer have dominion over us.
Galatians 5:16-17 NLT
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other.
Whatever we feed, will inevitably grow stronger. When we feed our spirit we become stronger spiritually, but if we feed our sinful appetites, then our sinful nature is awakened and grows stronger.
When we fast, we are denying our flesh so that we can awaken our and strengthen our spirit. We are taking off the old nature and putting on our new nature, so that we can live our new life, created in the image of Jesus.
The miracle of the new birth means that we are new creations in Christ, with a new nature, created to live a new and living way. As we fast and pray may our spirits be awakened, attuned to God in ever greater ways and may we live that new creation life.