No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. - Romans 2:29
The man who can articulate the movements of his inner life need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the spirit from entering. - Henri Nouwen
There is an old southern saying ... what is in the well comes out in the bucket. The “inner world” is a world with a dictator. Either the false self/flesh runs the inner world or the true man or true woman runs the inner world. The true is on the side of God and is in alignment with God and, when operational, runs a full and abundant Kingdom Life. The false self/flesh plays the imposter, it is self focused and outward concerning. It is aligned with the kingdom of darkness and will always make casualties or victims out of others and absolutely will make a casualty or victim out of its host, the true man or woman living less or worse, lost.
When we are “spiritually dead” an image bearer of God has only one nature … a sin nature. When we are made alive in Christ, align our lives with God, invite Him to take up residence within us ... a transformation takes place, what was once dead is now made alive. When I really think about how this is illustrated, it’s not the Frankenstein kind of made alive but more the Sleeping Beauty given a kiss and wakes up, comes alive.
Jesus is very much about loving, loving us back to life! He gave His life so we could have one. In the great transition, the transformation from death to life, “stuff” comes with us. Stuff from our old life somehow makes across the line, in the move, the sin nature is replaced with a "new nature" but has a leftover presence known as the false self/flesh. See Galatians 5 in the Amplified or Message versions of the Bible to dive in deeper.
The works of God in our lives are ones of healing and training. Healing us to whole heartedness and training us in guarding our hearts while fighting for the hearts of others. This is the Kingdom way ... this is a deep and glorious transaction! The monsters we used to be are transformed by love into real boys and real girls, the kiss of God wakes us from our sleep and turns us into our true selves, who we are. Amazing!!!