1. To begin with we need to understand what happens when we get saved or born again.
   1. When I put my trust in Jesus Christ to have paid the entire cost of all of my sins, past, present and future, once and for all and I trusted Jesus to the best of my knowledge and understanding to rule my life, I became "born again."
      1. In order to trust God to have paid the cost of all of my sins and be saved, I must first agree with God that I am a sinner (confess that I am a sinner, Romans 3:23) and that I need a savior to pay the price for my sins because I cannot pay the price without going to the Lake of Fire forever (Romans 6:23a & Revelations 20:11-15).
         1. Then I must recognize by faith that Jesus is that Savior and that He has already paid the price once and for all. (1 Peter 3:18) If you have access to a concordance or reference Bible you may look up other verses which establish this fact.
         2. I must also recognize that, since Jesus paid the whole price once and for all, I cannot do anything to earn my salvation, including doing good works or obeying ordinances and rules supposedly established in the Word (Romans 6:23b; 3:20; 3:28; Ephesians 2:8,9)
      2. Now I must confess, by faith, that Jesus is that Savior and that by faith I accept Him as Lord (absolute ruler) of my life in the place of my own will, plans, goals, dreams, etc.. This is the Lordship of Jesus. Unless we have made Him Lord in our hearts to the best of our ability, knowledge and understanding, He is not Lord of our life--we are or whoever or whatever we give ourselves to in obedience as slaves is. I.e.: drugs, alcohol, sex, money, pleasure, comfort, TV., fame, prestige, power, position, family, spouse, children, tobacco, etc.. Whoever or Whatever controls our lives is our god and our lord.
   2. When I became "born again" here is what happened.
      1. God washed away all of my sins by the blood of Jesus.
      2. God forgot our sins forever (Hebrews 10:17).
      3. God made us the "righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
         1. The Bible says "all of our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;" (Isaiah 64:6b).
         2. Keeping in mind that God, Jesus, is always present, the I AM and not the I WAS or the I WILL BE. When I made the above decision, God took my filthy garments (filthy with sin) and put them on Jesus' beaten and bruised and bleeding body on the cross of Calvary. Then He took those beautiful white, perfectly pure (absolutely no sin, perfect and pure light with no variation or shifting shadow) garments of Jesus and put them on me, clothing my nakedness in perfect righteousness in the eyes of God.
         3. Then He said to me, "Therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that you may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16).
      4. Now that I know I can come before the throne of grace or the throne of God with confidence (assurance) that I am accepted by God, not on the merits of my own goodness or righteousness, but on the merit of God's Righteousness which He has clothed me in, He has also assured me that:
         1. "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)
         2. He "is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs18:24b)
2. Now that I am saved (born again) I know that I have several things:
   1. A brand new spirit which is alive and in close communication with the Holy Spirit.
   2. The Holy Spirit living in me to bring about the transforming of my mind (Romans 12:2) through the "washing of the water of the Word" (Ephesians 5:26). Jesus prayed for us that we should be "sanctified by the Truth; Thy Word, O' Lord is Truth (John 17:17).
   3. That God is not going to give up on me just because I fall short and sin or even fall back into former sins, but that the Holy Spirit will continue to call me back to Him until I repent and return to Jesus. (Philippians 1:6).
   4. That I don't have to sin because sin no longer has power over me. (Romans 6:14,18)
   5. That I am no longer in bondage to anything except that to which I choose to remain in bondage to or that bondage which I choose to return to (Galatians 2)
   6. That, although I don't have to sin and I do not any longer "practice sin", if I should sin (1 John 1:8,10), I have an advocate before the Father (1 John 2:1,2) and I need only repent of my sin and "confess it (agree with God) to God and He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) God has given me a means to stay washed and clean regardless of my weaknesses.
   7. Now God has begun the process of transforming me into the image of His Son Jesus. (Romans 8:29 & 2 Corinthians 3:18) This is sanctification.
      1. This takes place as we study the Bible daily after having (every time we read the Word) asked the Holy Spirit in prayer to reveal the understanding of the Word to us and to show us what He wants of us each day through His Word. We do not just read the Word as a novel, or as a rule book, or as a guide book and we don't stop with asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His Word to us as we read it. We must recognize the Word as the revelation of God, Jesus Christ, to man and read it with the intense desire and goal of having Jesus revealed to us in His most intimate thoughts and ways. God said, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8,9).
         The Word of God cannot be understood by the natural mind because it is spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:6-13,14). Therefore the Spirit of God must give us the understanding of the Word as we read and study it and He must also reveal to us the flaws in our own character so that we can repent of it, confess it as sin and let Him cleanse us of its effects. Now we must not only ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Bible as we study it, but we must also expect Him to do so while we are reading it or studying it. As we accept what He shows us about ourselves and as we accept the understanding of the Word He gives us and then step out in faith, obeying Him, He changes us trial by trial, pain by pain, error by error, sin by sin, victory by victory, little by little into the image of Jesus. The Word of God washes away the old values, perspectives, goals, dreams, opinions, self-esteem, etc. as the Holy Spirit reveals it to us (Ephesians 6:25b,26).
         We must not think of the Word of God as a book of rules to be obeyed like we would obey the Arizona Revised Statutes. The Word simply reveals to us our weaknesses and failures and then reveals to us God's infinite mercy and loving kindness which not only has satisfied His Holy Justice through Jesus' death on the cross of Calvary, but which has raised us up in newness of life with a brand new spirit (II Corinthians 5:17) which is alive and in communications with the Holy Spirit Who is now living in every true believer, making it possible for us to be changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ.
         Now be sure,".....that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
3. Conclusion
   I am saved on the basis of my faith or trust in Jesus to have paid the whole price for my sins and to have forgiven me of all my sins (that is, I have trusted the His grace, Ephesians 2:8,9) because of my step of faith.
   1. My old self, the unsaved Jim, has been crucified with Christ and is now dead (Romans 6:2,3,4a,5a,6-8a,11).
   2. The new Jim, the Jim born when God put a new spirit in me to replace the old one which was "dead in trespasses and sins" is now made alive in Christ (Romans 6:4b,5b,8b,10b,11b).

NOTE: My personhood is not in this body. This body is only a tent which my spirit lives in. My personhood is not even found in my mind (soul) which is the go-between for the spirit and the body (flesh). My personhood is found in my spirit. I.e.: God is Spirit, God is a person.

NOTE: This does not mean that man is spirit and not flesh as the New Age movement might interpret it. It simply means that although we as human beings recognize one another by our physical appearances, God identifies us by our spirit. We communicate with one another by our fleshly vocal means. We communicate with God in "spirit and in truth." We must also not assume that man is flesh and not spirit, for man is at one time both and neither. Man is incarnate, having been made in the image and likeness of God. That is spirit in flesh. However, as we are told in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the flesh or natural came first and then the spiritual as is described in John 3:5,6. This is what distinguishes us, man, from animal and from Angels. Angels are spirits. Animals are flesh only. Man is flesh housing spirit or a combination of both.

CONFESS THESE PROMISES OVER YOURSELF DAILY

• I am being transformed (sanctified) into the image of Christ outwardly by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit working together in me.
  • Romans 8:29 "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;"
  • 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."
• I am accepted by God on the basis of His righteousness which covers me and not on the basis of my own shortcomings, weaknesses, and failings.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
• My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
  • Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
• I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me!
  • Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
• I do overwhelmingly conquer all issues and trials through Him (Jesus) Who loves me!
  • Romans 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
• I can have peace that "passes all comprehension" because I have given all my needs to God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and I trust Him to do what is right for me.
  • Philippians 4:6,7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

You will discover many more as you seek to know Jesus more intimately and to know His will and desire for your life by studying His Word diligently and listening to His Holy Spirit as He speaks to you through His Word.