It’s my prayer the Spirit of the Living God ministered to you in a special way in my previous blog post Letting Go Of The Old Nature. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you and yielding to His leading’s even when the flesh is not willing, will only bring out the best version God had ordained for you for greater works. As I have plainly stated in my previous post, it’s never a walk in the park to die to self yet it is the best life we can live as believers here on Earth. There are benefits of dying to self and consequences of failing to die to self which I will share with you on this particular blog post.
Blessings of Dying to self.
1.Access to the presence of God is kept open. The thing that gives us access to the presence of God is the blood of Christ, but what maintains that door open is our daily willingness to die to self. When we refuse to die to self, our natural life or let me say our carnal nature, will become more real to us than God. When we die to self, the presence of God becomes more real, and it becomes easier to experience and to enter into it and to operate the will of the Father on Earth as it is in heaven.
2.Change and transformation are permanently maintained-Transformation produces changes that can only be sustained if we continue dying to self, every day, constantly, and progressively. If we want to retain the change that God has done in our lives, we must die a new death.
3.Self-denial is the most effective way to continually maintain the blessing – The benefit of dying to self makes it possible for us to remain free and blessed because you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free John 8:32(NKJV). The condition to be free and remain free is to die to self.
4.Dying to self makes it easier to walk in the spiritual realm. Do you know the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the initiation and the activation of the spiritual realm within us? When we are aware of God within us, things on the outside are no longer real because what’s real on the inside determines what’s real on the outside.When we die to self, we become more sensitive and capable of perceiving the spiritual dimension at a deeper level. We live in a dimension that is above the corrupt natural dimension from where it is easier to release the supernatural onto this world. Our life gains a greater sense of eternal purpose, and we become more relevant in our generation.
5.Death to self gives us access to the supernatural power of God- Dying to self is one of the ancient paths to the supernatural power of God. When there is a voluntary death of the carnal nature, power is guaranteed. This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16a(NIV). God empowers you where you die to self. The more you die to the old nature, the easier it will be to access the supernatural power.
6.When we die to self, spiritual maturity accelerates- Death to self is measured not by the level of faith but by the level of maturity that has been developed. When a man is mature, God gives him an assignment, and from there he is on the path to carry out his purpose on Earth. So, do not be surprised when God presents you with opportunities to die to self-daily, because through those deaths you will be fulfilling your purpose. But solid food is for the mature, whose spiritual senses perceive heavenly matters. And they have been adequately trained by what they’ve experienced to emerge with understanding of the difference between what is truly excellent and what is evil and harmful. Hebrews 5:14(TPT)
There are several consequences of failing to die to self.
1.We lose sensitivity to the presence of God- When the heart is set on other interests or priorities, when death to self stops being a priority, God’s presence no longer moves us.
2.We return to old habits and mentalities- The enemy will again find access to our mind and begin to sow thoughts of fear, doubt, conformity, impossibility, rejection, and more; these are the same things that were uprooted from our mind through death to self.Matthew 12:43-45 (NIV) When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.
3.The flesh or sinful nature grows again- Refusing to die the next death allows the spirit of this world to seduce us, producing the spiritual deceleration that will lead us from the supernatural to the natural.
4.We stop changing and being transformed- If we want to be like Christ, in His image and likeness, His character must be developed in us; to love what He loves and to hate what He hates.
5.We lose spiritual perception- When we reject to die to self, our spiritual perception weakens because it depends on our connection with God. We lose contact with His heart and with the very essence of His existence.
6.The old man, falls back to old habits- he or she starts tending to the rights of the flesh by justifying every action with all manner of excuses.
7.The flow of supernatural spiritual activity will cease- When we choose not to die to self an immediate deceleration of our spirit is produced, and every supernatural activity ceases in our daily living. Deliverance is replaced by human psychology or counseling. Salvation is replaced by religion, and so forth. When we lose speed in the supernatural in our lives, we descend once more into the natural realm, the realm dominated by time, space, and matter. Little by little, sin creeps in.
8.We become spiritually stagnant – Spiritual growth is always connected to self-denial.
9.We turn mechanical and rigid in everything we do- the activity of the Spirit is lost, and we begin to function in relation to past glories; always remembering what God did in the past but having nothing new in the present.
10.We cannot exercise our faith- People tend to rely on head knowledge instead of operating from faith when they draw away from God.
In my next blog post, I will share the evidence of dying to self in the life of a Believer who has made this choice . This is a simple mirror which will assist us have an honest self-evaluation and help us embrace a lifestyle of dying to self.
Love ReinaBeaty
