God calls us to come to Him first. We are not to do anything else. Just come.
It is after our complete surrender of self to Him that He re-creates us. Daily, we must choose to surrender self. Again and again—every day—we must be willing to die to self and to selfishness.
God gives us the gift of repentance. His Holy Spirit will move upon our heart and cause us to be sorry for our evil actions, our unhealthy habits, and for our neglect in doing those things that honor God. If we accept it and exercise it by faith, we will not fight it. We will confess our sins to God, who promises (in 1 John 1:9) to forgive us and to cleanse us from all sin.
We will want to change. We will be willing to forsake all sin. In fact, we will be willing to forsake all—anything and anyone that works against this process—for God.
We will live uprightly. It will be our joy to live righteously, because it is God’s righteousness in us. We will experience the freedom that comes with having Christ live out His life within us. We will know that the Word of God is actually sanctifying us. We will find ourselves living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we will walk God’s ways. We will have His thoughts and hearken to His voice, as we prayerfully read His Word: the Bible.
Our entire lives will be affected. Everything we need to stop doing, we will. Everything we need to start doing, we will. Even our manner of dress will change. All that needs to come off, will. All that needs to be covered, will be covered. For “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24).
That’s right. Christ will do it all in us, because He is our Light. He is the Light of life. Since Light has no fellowship with darkness, and is greater than darkness, darkness must leave. Light dissolves the darkness. There is no fellowship between good and evil. Righteousness and unrighteousness cannot coexist.
Without Christ, none of this could happen in us. If we seek to do any change without confession and repentance, we will fail. We will not be converted. Therefore, we will walk in vain, because of ourselves, there is no power to do anything and fully succeed. Without Christ, we can do nothing. But ”I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Therefore to you, Reader, let ”the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20, 21).