Devotional For Week 1: New Life Through the Spirit

Here is the weekly corresponding Devotional for the Fruit of the Spirit 15-week Bible Study we are going through.

Devotional For Week 1: New Life Through the Spirit

Key Verse:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
—2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Devotional Thought:
You don’t have to be who you were.

Let that sink in.

The enemy will try to drag your past into your present. He’ll call you by your old name—failure, addict, hypocrite, angry, rejected, too far gone. But none of that belongs to the new you. Because the moment you gave your life to Jesus, the old you died. It wasn’t put in time-out or slapped with a warning label—it was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). And now? You are brand new.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about position. You’re no longer defined by what you’ve done—you’re defined by what Christ has done in you.

But here’s where many believers get stuck: they’ve been made new, but they’re still living like the old version of themselves. Why? Because they’ve never fully accepted what Christ says is true about them.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just forgive your sin—He changes your nature. He shifts your desires, redirects your heart, and begins growing fruit in your life that you couldn’t produce on your own. This isn’t behavior modification. It’s spiritual regeneration.

You don’t have to fight for identity—you get to live from it. So walk like you’ve been made new. Speak like you’ve been made new. Love, forgive, worship, and grow like someone whose past has no hold on them anymore.

Because it doesn’t.

Reflection Question:
Where are you still living like the “old you”? What truth from God’s Word do you need to declare over that area?