Believers know of course, that they must stop sinning and they pray to God for forgiveness and help to walk a sinless walk. In our pursuit of godliness we do all we can in our own strength to put off evil and sin and embrace the proper things like patience, generosity, and humility. We even come into knowing our spiritual gifts, begin to experience the joys of ‘witnessing’ and answered prayers. 
Yet Father has designed it that even as we ‘achieve’ these good things, by doing so in our own strength we have inadvertently empowered SELF. We can’t even tell we’re doing it and there is no way we can stop from doing things in our own strength either.
What we were pursuing was definitely good and not bad though! Right?
Well, yes, and no. Let me try to explain.
In the realm of our humanity, yes, these things are good. In the realm of spirit, not quite. It’s the difference between the tree of knowledge of good and evil versus the tree of Life. Of good and evil, the good is better, but even the good isn’t Life.
If we can only become born of the spirit by His spirit in us, having begun in the spirit we are NOT going to be spiritual if we try to FINISH in the flesh. ALL of it MUST be by His SPIRIT.
So we’re turned on our heads when, through a process of stripping, God would also begin to remove our knowledge and confidence in ‘good’. When we think it is just the bad that needs to be put off.
What’s the good?
- our religion,
- our spiritual gifts
- our ability to witness
- our understanding of scriptures
- our prayers that avail much
- our patience
- our generosity
- our goodly/godly relationships
- our tithing
- church attendance
- ‘ministering’ in church programs
- etc
Everything we have worked so hard for to put as much distance between us and our sinful nature and to be a good little Christian. It all HAS TO GO!
We can’t get rid of it ourselves though. It must be Christ growing in us and transforming us from the carnal nature we now have into His nature. This process is the overcoming He refers to in Revelations.
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’ Revelation 2:7
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’ Revelation 2:17
‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5
and others.
The only way to overcome is by way of the cross. This way of the cross is our own crucifixion process.
