Christian Living

Benefits of the New Nature—Augmenting Abilities

by J.W. Phillips
06/06/25
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Benefits of the New Nature—Augmenting Abilities

The benefits of the new nature include: the solving of sin, the inspiring of image and the determining of destiny. But now the important question is, how? How is a Christian to move into this divinely determined destiny?

Most of us know what it is like to worship, pray, and serve the Lord ineffectively—in fact, to live our lives ineffectively! This constantly occurs whenever we try to respond to God with our innate abilities.

If this truth hasn’t registered with you yet, I hope it will: Capacities of the soul are incapable of spiritual growth. Yet, when many of us come to church, only our soul participates. And when we engage other spiritual disciplines or duties, only our soul is activated for that, too.

Addressing this dilemma, Andrew Murray writes:

This is ... the reason for the weakness in the lives of many believers who read and know a great deal of Scripture. They do not know that it is the Spirit who quickens. The human understanding, however intelligent, however earnest, profits nothing.¹

We can read a passage so loaded with life and power; nevertheless, the words of that passage will drift in the shallows of the mental unless they engage our spirit, in which the Holy Spirit indwells.

Similarly, true prayer involves the Holy Spirit birthing in our human spirit those utterances that he will then bear to the Throne Room of the universe. It is a Spirit-to-spirit transaction. And for this precise reason Andrew Murray contended, “There can be no true worship except through the indwelling and unceasing operation of the Holy Spirit.”²

Judson Cornwall correctly observed that “worship is fundamentally God’s Spirit within us contacting the Spirit in God.” Cornwall further explained:

God knows what changes are necessary on man’s side ... to make worshipers out of us, so by living within man’s spirit, God is able ... to overcome the barriers of worship which may be sin-generated, culturally induced, or religiously ingrained....³

When the Lord undertakes this work, he, to us, will be more than a fuzzy image evoked from the pages of Scripture, or a fading memory jostled from some long-ago encounter. Instead, the presence of God will break upon us, exciting a wonder so full, so overwhelming, it defies description. This will set truth on fire, prompting alternate responses of holy fear and exhilarating joy.

Without this infusion of the Spirit’s presence, all will be hay and stubble, even if our efforts appear impressive in the eyes of the world.

Whether we’re talking about worship, prayer, or finding our purpose in life, the Third Person of the Trinity is essential to the success of our endeavors.

He must not only lead us (a task he will only undertake through the spirit within us where he abides), but he must also enable us. By an alignment of our heart with the providence of God, the Holy Spirit will set us on a course unique to our destiny, and will do so in a way that harnesses the passions of the heart.

Jessie Penn-Lewis explained: “Love converts what would otherwise be work into the spontaneous activity of the life within him. In doing what he loves to do he labors just as much as the birds do when they fly and sing.”⁴

Let there be another alignment, though, one not in accord with the divine life within, and the outcome will be different.

“Do you know you are a failure here, that you are making a great mistake in your ministry, that what you are doing does not count for much?”

These were words that D.L. Moody spoke to a supposedly successful pastor, Wilbur Chapman. And, as you might well expect, these were words that wounded deeply.

Could it be that if the Lord were to give a present assessment of your service to him, he would say the same thing? Maybe you’re not a preacher or a globe-trotting evangelist. Nevertheless, as you periodically examine your service to the Lord, do you at times wonder if you’re doing this right?

Deeper down, Wilbur Chapman knew something was missing in his ministry. Convicted at last by a truth he had routinely deflected, Wilbur Chapman became desperate for the Holy Spirit’s filling.

On the sixteenth day of October in the year 1892, Wilbur Chapman experienced what had been missing in his life. The result, history reports, was an impact so revolutionary that years later Wilbur Chapman said, “If there has been any helpfulness in my ministry, if there has been any ability to win souls, I know when the change came.”

There was a point in time, a specific date and a sudden occurrence, when all that God had put into this pastor’s new nature was finally set free to minister. And having thus been loosed, it was the gates of hell that came under siege!

Wouldn’t you want dynamics like that released in your life? Wouldn’t you want God to use you fully, without your flesh impeding his will?

To drive this lesson home, Andrew Murray asked:

Do you want to have a heart overflowing with love to every believer, even to those outside your circle? Do you want a heart of love which can set others on fire? Do you want the very love of heaven to flow out from you? Do you want the self-sacrificing love of Jesus to take possession of you, so that you can bear and forebear, so that with the long suffering and tenderness and gentleness and the very meekness of Christ, the Lamb of God, you are willing to be the helper and servant of everyone, however unlovable or unlovely? Then you need to be filled with the Spirit.⁵

It is only when the Spirit fills that the new nature’s attributes, anointed already, can be released to soften formerly hardened hearts and to illumine formerly darkened minds. G.D. Watson summed up the excellence and equilibrium of the new nature, once released by the Spirit’s filling, when he wrote:

A soul filled with God is serious but not sad, cheerful but not volatile; firm but not stubborn; gentle but not effeminate; discreet but not timid; bold but not rash; sweet but not sentimental; elevated but not proud; lowly but not cringing; holy but not harsh.⁶

There’s little wonder God can achieve so much through a personality like this! As important as the new nature is, though, it is imperative to put on record that our trust must never be placed in the new nature, as if it has resident powers that can function independently of God. It does not.

Jessie Penn-Lewis expounded this point, which should be obvious to all.

In union with Christ we become “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4), and have the very life of Jesus imparted to us. God revealed his Son—the very nature of his Son—in Paul, but Paul always proclaimed and relied upon the Man Christ Jesus in heaven, not upon his nature or his Spirit in himself.⁷

Our reliance must be on the provider of the new nature, but never on the new nature itself.

Still, we can rejoice over the benefits the new nature offers, and in gratitude we must do so, for as one of the Puritans put it, “I wrong the work of grace in my heart if I deny my new nature ….”⁸ The new nature must always be affirmed, understood, and activated if it is going to solve sin, inspire image, determine destiny, and augment our abilities to serve and worship God.

Such blessed benefits, wouldn’t you say? From such a great God! And for such a great purpose! 

Notes:

1. Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ, (Springdale, Whitaker House, n.d.), p.78.


2. Ibid., p.78.


3. Judson Cornwall, Let Us Worship, (South Plainfield, Bridge Publishing, Inc., 1983), p.96.


4. Jessie Penn-Lewis, Life out of Death, (Fort Washington, PA., CLC Publications, 1991), p.61.


5. Andrew Murray, The Believer’s Absolute Surrender, (Minneapolis, Bethany House, 1985), p.26.


6. G.D. Watson, Spiritual Feasts, (Salem, Ohio, Schmul Publishing Company, 1991), p.38.


7. Jessie Penn-Lewis, Spiritual Warfare, (Fort Washington, PA., CLC Publications, 2006), pp.73, 74.


8. The Valley of Visions, Edited by Arthur Bennett, (Edinburg, UK, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2011), p.51.