God's Roadmap

Now may the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father God, who loved us and in his wonderful grace gave us eternal comfort and a beautiful hope that cannot fail, encourage your hearts and inspire you with strength to always do and speak what is good and beautiful in his eyes (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 TPT).


Saturday, November 2, 2019

If I am a New Creation...How can I sometimes act like I am friends with a Zombie?


by Barbara Latta 


 “Blood thirsty rogues and unrepentant cutthroats,” said Ezekiel as a crowd gathered around him. His
comment was meant to describe those who were hunting him and his followers.

This Ezekiel is not the biblical prophet, but a character from the TV series, The Walking Dead. I admit I have never watched an entire episode, but I have seen enough to know the humans are fleeing from zombies.

A dead body powered by an evil spirit in a post-apocalyptic world is out to suck the life out of those who are still alive. If a zombie bites or scratches a human, that human is doomed to become one of the walking dead. Wouldn’t you flee, too? A decaying, bloody skin-covered skeleton with all the characteristics of death wants your life.  Yeah, run!

The Bible says if we are born again, we are new creations. Then how can I sometimes act like I am friends with a zombie?

We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6 CJB).

Sin sucks the life out of us. We are born with a sin nature. We could say a zombie nature. Trusting in Christ takes away that nature and replaces it with His. We are now made new in our spirit, but our soul (mind) can still want to hang on the zombie traits.

That’s where the Word of God comes in to renew our minds and line our thinking up with the way God thinks. But when life gets in the way and disaster strikes, or sickness hits or someone gets in our way, the dead person wants to come out and influence our actions. I call mine Dead Girl. Dead Girl was buried when I was born again. She was placed in a grave and a new me was resurrected with Christ. 

But she knocks:
  • When someone drives like a maniac in front of me and Dead Girl wants me to get angry.
  • When I lose my keys, or my glasses or my cell phone that I had in my hand only moments before and frustration opens the grave. 
And she talks:
  • With the voice of condemnation and thoughts of regret over the past 
  • With the voice of envy by bringing comparison to others 

This is what Dead Girl does. She is an unrepentant rogue and a blood thirsty cutthroat. She is the old person. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, greed, envy, regret, condemnation and shame are the stench of death emanating from her. Romans 6:6 says, “Leave the dead girl in the grave” (my paraphrase) because our old self was put to death on the execution stake.

The blood of Christ is the nail in the coffin. The final nail. No matter what we have done or what we still may do, the voice of love, purity and redemption reminds us He has washed away the rottenness of sin. Dead Girl’s voice must be replaced with heavenly Father’s voice.

Dead Girl will still try to rise from time to time, but her time out of the grave can become less and less the more time we spend in the Word of God. The Word is life, and life and death cannot co-exist.

After all, a cemetery is not a tourist attraction. We don’t hang around the tombs for fun, so why listen to the voice of Dead Girl and obey what she says?

We can live for God instead of being friends with a zombie when we put the Dead Girl in her rightful place-back in the grave. 

Join the conversation and share your thoughts. 





10 comments:

  1. Barb, I so appreciated this post! The dead girl sits up at the most inopportune times! Yes! Thank God for the blood! It is finished! She is crucified with Christ! I am a new creature in Christ Jesus! God bless you for the reminder!

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    1. Thanks,Patricia, for sharing your thoughts. We do need to keep that Dead Girl dead! Blessings!

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  2. I remember this from this year's Enrich conference where you spoke. I was impressed then; and even more so today. Wonderful post, with great reminders that we all war with our carnal, human spirit. The more we give control over to the Holy Spirit's direction in our lives, the easier it becomes to put "dead girl", or "dead guy" back into the grave before they can wreak havoc in our lives. Well said author!

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    1. Thank you, J.D. And I enjoyed meeting you at Enrich. When we do rely on the Holy Spirit He helps us to keep those dead "folks" dead. Blessings!

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  3. Wow, Barbara!
    This is a perfect and culturally relevant analogy that I think many can relate to. I love the name "Dead Girl" because it reminds us of who we "used" to be ... before Christ. But as Paul said in Romans 8:12, we are "no longer obligated to live by that old sin nature (dead girl/boy)." When we feel that old "dead person" trying to take over, we can call it exactly what it is "dead" and take those old ways captive in the powerful name of Jesus!

    This one really moved me. I'll be sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
    Thanks and God bless!

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    1. Yes, Becky, I call it dead girl because when she talks and if I listen I do feel dead. Thank God for the blood of Christ who has resurrected us and set us free. Thanks for stopping by. Blessings!

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  4. This is a very clever post and it's filled with very important reminders. I love how you refer to the flesh as your "Dead Girl" and I think the life (or non-life) of a zombie is a perfect way to describe the dead part of us that tries to chase down our new creation. How wonderful that we have a cure for that deadly virus! Great post.

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    1. Thanks, Joshua. This is a constant battle for us while we are in our mortal body, but thank God, He gave us a way to defeat the dead person we used to be. Blessings!

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  5. I like the design of this post as well as the content! Very insightful.

    Life is a fight. I do find the fight grows easier as I grow older. Or maybe I should say "as I mature in my faith."

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    1. Yes, Candyce, as we grow in our faith and renew our minds, the battle does get easier and when the voice we hear is the dead person we can shut it down quicker. Thanks for stopping by. Blessings!

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