Each morning when I awake I read a devotional anthology for daily inspiration. After I have read the devotional I often read a Spiritual Anthology, both are based on bible verses and have served for much gain in a heartfelt rest in the spiritual provisions and direction The Lord has had for my life. This morning I read a devotional titled restful activity, and so I blatantly use the title supplied as mine for blogging purposes, as well as some of its content. I believe The Lord has a specific message for me and I will attempt to bless Him today as I use the helpful inspiration of men who long ago sought and wrote of the peace and rest found in actively seeking a life in Christ as total supply with all their heart.
Before I get into the thoughts from my readings I would like to comment on a sequence of the 60 minutes TV show last night. The title was the Lost Boys, and it was about a large group of children [over 1000] all male, age's 5 to 16 or so, who walked 1000 miles [most barefoot] to escape the terror of Muslim oppression upon their Christian villages in Southern Somalia. There were no girls on the march as the Muslim soldiers captured and sold into slavery their sisters and killed most of their their moms and dads. Well you can imagine their plight and suffering. Through it all many retained their confidence in God by their Christian faith and awaited their fate in refugee camps; finely by the Grace of God many through the kindness of The USA resettled here. My heart so breaks for these boys and I fear to contemplate how many more millions surrounding us live in such dire circumstances. Then I look at my life and many whom I come in contact with here in comfort entertainment and ease land, Christians who are caught in their own neediness of material supply, worried about what they will have and how much they may require, holding on for dear life to what they've gathered, surrounding themselves with as much as they can hold, for a supposed and hoped for secure future; only to be then enslaved by their material and wealth horded over the years, and worse losing their peace and a vision of God's provision, on their self centered road of busy acquisition, in a quest for self sufficiency, which eventually serves to bring a veil that enables blindness in them to much of what God might wish to provide in the way of spiritual wealth and knowledge; a far more valuable commodity, but one unfortunately little sought after in this modern world. Making us the perfect example of, "O we of little faith". As faith is not the necessary ingredient in one whose life is predominately occupied with his own need.
Don't get me wrong my friends I too enjoy my comforts, but they no longer are my life, nor do they hold a important place in the establishment of my happiness and restfulness, or is old age security of paramount importance any longer. While prudence is wise, dependence on self is death; as we live in the world of the father of lies on this earth and he ever lives to divert us from knowing The living God: and has used the gathered wealth of the American money culture to great benefit of his goal. Granted we still are wading around in the embers of capitalism and supposed free enterprise in America and who could blame us for seeking opportunity in material gain. But there must be a balance; for it seems as we acquire more and more or worry about what we will need, then we are impaired from observing God as active in our life and get less and less of Him as a observable power for our existence. The question for me, and I hope you, might be: if my god is a secure retirement and a present comfort where is the place for the God of creation as provider and The Son of suffering in my heart as life? What is my preoccupation on a daily basis, the World, my supply, or my place in The Son? Can a cord be struck, a restful activity found, in a busy world of our own making amongst our gathered material, and a all to often, in my case and past desires, a overarching consuming concern for comfort and bountiful provision in old age?
I recently had a conversation with a friend who has cancer which changed my attitude on this subject greatly. She learned through her suffering that her God was truly the God of her circumstance and found Him like never before in the suffering she went through. Now her motivation for life is others, with the hope they might see Jesus Christ in her. I think of the lost boys and how their circumstances, as horrible as they were, could and did glorify our Lord; then I look at the comparative extremely petty concerns of my life for material gain and security in this world and fill like hiding under the covers for shame! Not to mention the horrible loss of the awareness of God's Holy Spirit during my self centered journey to acquire the things of the world.
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" Isa. 30:15. It is one thing to be lazy and another to rest. There is also a great difference between constant apprehension, nervous busyness, and a Spirit-controlled activity. In the second we are working with God, having Him do His work though us in His timing. In the first it is all about ourselves.The infinite difference between Christ and self. I once knew a Christian man who every time I saw him and I'd ask how are you; he would reply "busy busy"; I felt for him, thinking he must be missing seeing the Lord's Spirit work in his life, lost in self acquisition the busy preoccupation and application of the worlds goods to his life. I used to feel sorry for my self spending so much time alone and in worry, with much time on my hands, no longer pulling the handle of the financial slot machine which so occupied my thoughts. Now I see my loneliness and dependence as a gift from God and have discovered His abundant supply, a time to rest in His Word and contemplate spiritual truth, a restful activity lived in the power of eternity provided to me and you by a realization of Christ as life and heaven as our current dwelling place.
When we work with God it is not in partnership each contributing their share. Rather it is a position of subordination we must take, we cooperate with His eternal plan. Jesus is our example here He depended entirely upon the Father for all His words and all His works. In other words as He Himself said "we can do nothing of ourselves". If we live and function with ourselves in mind it is only sin that we accomplish, for the natural man is only and constantly sinful in and of himself. That is a life of self effort not faith, a life not resting in God's provision but worldly activity, really of no value except here, not any glory to the God who sent His Son to the earth to save us from dwelling in its sin as a residence. How then my friends do we find the sanctified place, the new residence and come to be aware of the eternal power we have as a gift from God in knowing our heavenly position? The answer is: just in proportion as we yield ourselves as a truly passive instrument resting in the arms of The Father for all that we might acquire or need; we by that power, realized of faith, become a active new instrument of His will and power. The bottom line my friends, as I am learning: it is God's gift of a quiet passivity a heartfelt image of our presence in Christ, a lack of expectation of any true and lasting value in that which we acquire here where we will most completely realize the deepest experience of what the Christian life really is all about! A life of restful activity.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
THE ESSENTIAL IDENTITY
Paul said regarding himself: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith" Gal. 2:20. Let see, this statement when analyzed at first glance seems to me to be quite strange: Paul has been crucified, so he must be dead, and his former life has been replaced by someone else, but that someone [Christ] who Paul is now, by his own death, is only enabled to live in Paul's flesh [individual mind] by his faith that he is in fact dead. This all sounds very mystical indeed. Is the bible meant to be understood in a mystical sense? The answer is of course no! So what the heck is Paul talking about? No wonder these, and many other complex verses like it I've read for so many years were simply words to me, seen more are less metaphorically, not in a personal spiritually applied tangible way; in other words not received as a revealed truth of God to me, which I could easily apply to my identity as a Christian. Probably not what Paul and The Father had in mind when they wrote them! I think for the most part I simply skipped over these more difficult truths and any attempt to understand them in a deeper sense, and just sort of allowed a feel good attitude about them, never spending the time it takes to acquire the spiritual skills to tackle their deeper meaning. I know that was my story anyway. How about you? Who is to blame? Perhaps the culprit is the essential identity.
Our individual or essential identity has and will always be the same, even though we pass as Christians into the new birth as to spirit and soul. After all the fall did not unmake mans essential person hood, Adam was still the same individual in principal after His fall as before and so the same for us after the new birth: but unlike Adam the Christian has a alternative motivator, or new life he may apply, available to himself according to Paul anyway. God made us to be just who we are and loved us in Adam's same condition enough to sacrifice His Son for us just as we are, so why the need for the alter ego of the new birth?. Through all the ups and downs, new faith mountains conquered and even revelations from God and spiritual growth, we remain the same in essential manhood; our individuality, our basic earthly nature never changes. Yet we have a new source to live our life which Paul at least, seems to have found.
If it is true for Paul, " it is no longer I that live" but Christ, it must be likewise for us also; we're like Paul born again Christians. So if it is not I that lives, then it must be as Paul says, Jesus Christ. But how? The answer to this identity crisis is wrapped up in the Cross, as Paul states: I have been crucified, so likewise then us also as Christians, under this mode of thinking, just like him. Under Paul's positional line of spiritual reasoning the new life cannot be contained as our essential human identity which we live in, as that person was crucified, the old mental/spiritual identity, namely Paul's [it is no longer I] and therefore our sin nature also. By the crucifixion Christ gained Resurrection life in the form of a Man. Does that mean then when Paul said he had been crucified [made dead] he also was made to live again like Jesus? I think the answer is yes by his statement in Gal. 2:20: but that new resurrection life for Paul and us, unlike Jesus, who suffered physically on the Cross died and was buried for the purpose of putting away mans spiritual sin nature forever in His Fathers judgement, Paul and we Christians that followed; were spared Jesus' fate: because of the representative action of The Son of Man. But according to Paul we also gain a new resurrection life just like Jesus. This in fact can and must only be a brand new spiritual life, like Paul saw in himself, lived here and now by faith in our presence in heaven, where Christ ascended too, as we are seen by The Father in Jesus Christ personally who is in heaven; and this affects our mortal condition according to Paul's teaching and inspired biblical message to all Christians, and is to be held in the minds eye of faith by all believers. Namely a position!
In order to understand the meaning of a scripture we must always look to the preceding verses; prior to Gal 2:20 the discussion was of the tendency for Peter, and James to continue to live under the traditions and legal obligations of Jewish Law and taking many fellow believers with them. Paul then saw the need to stress that the Cross did away with all that; made him them and us dead to it in God's view, for the purpose of relationship with Himself. You will notice Paul uses the term Christ in 2:20 which denotes Jesus' mission as Messiah or Saviour, whereas Son of man used much in other descriptions of The Lord shows His likeness to us, He died as the Son of Man as His essential identity, in the flesh, became sin for us. He went to the Cross as Christ, but died as the Son of Man. This is where we must live in our faith's understanding of who we are now in Christ as life; just as Paul did. The Son of Man died to all that we are, as a substitute for all of us, for the pleasure or will of The Father, that mankind might be redeemed to Him in glory thus fulfilling the role of Christ We must learn to identify ourselves in that new nature. This is what Paul was referring to when he said "I have been crucified". My friends what I am getting at is this: the normal Christian human in his flesh identity, just as Peter and James, must be rebuked and refused, since we as they tend to be satisfied to live under a set of rules, and obligate ourselves to Church traditions, or simply succumbing to a feel good experiential definition of who we are in Christ, such as merely attending Church services as our souls defining Christian condition: remaining in the identification of our old essential identity as a Christian [the law or morality, good works, experience and tradition] and not the new life by faith in Jesus Christ expressed in us by His presence in us seen by faith, defined by the Holy Spirit in our mind, as our very life. That is who we must become by our own self defining value and acquired defined personal image. As Paul stressed; "Christ lives in me" his active displayed condition, a new identity for all to see! Believe me my friends once engaged in by faith this new resurrection life that Paul described is far different than the ordinary worldly Christian's life in the old mannish essential identity! The question we must ask ourselves is. If the world cannot see any difference is there really one; and do we know and embrace our new life of faith seen in and contained completely in Jesus Christ as the object of our life? The sacrifice of The Man Jesus Christ deserves no less! Paul more than any other man in history, besides Jesus Christ Himself, changed the world and he is the Christian example and should be our mentor in all things as to Christian spirituality! His life in his inner man was Christ and none other.
"For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one knows except the Spirit of God" 1 Cor. 2:11. This is a rich and reveling verse, written by Paul; addressed to the Corinthian Christians; who were beginning to embrace a worldly philosophy in their mind, or reverting to their essential old man's identity; neglecting the Spirit of God and the spirit of man both. Sounds familiar does it not? The take away here is: a man is conscious of all the schemes, plans and purposes that pass in his own mind, and no man can know these things except himself; and likewise the Holy spirit knows God's mind and makes it known to us and lives to display God's mind to the soul of man. God will expose to us by His Spirit His thoughts or mind, concerning man's life in the Son. We can know the thoughts of God, by reading His Word, the trick is to make our mind available for the application of God's thoughts to our mind. As Paul so wisely said, only we can know if the adequacy of our minds understanding is satisfying to our souls, and at least for me, I found it lacking.
My friends, we are brought to a Saviour who has been raised again for our justification, and through Him we find no judgment, it is finished for Jesus and therefore for us. In the mind in which we hold that thought as foremost there will be no sense of need! The mind that contains as identity the thought of their personal position and identity as Paul did, "our life is hidden in Christ" and "for me to live is Christ" and " I have been crucified with Christ", will find a new definition of themselves as they walk the earth. We now can have a realization of great favor, for we may have a consciousness, though hard to explain it may be, that we share all that Jesus Christ is before the Father. In Him we now have access to all that is in heaven, blessed forever in Christ.
Our individual or essential identity has and will always be the same, even though we pass as Christians into the new birth as to spirit and soul. After all the fall did not unmake mans essential person hood, Adam was still the same individual in principal after His fall as before and so the same for us after the new birth: but unlike Adam the Christian has a alternative motivator, or new life he may apply, available to himself according to Paul anyway. God made us to be just who we are and loved us in Adam's same condition enough to sacrifice His Son for us just as we are, so why the need for the alter ego of the new birth?. Through all the ups and downs, new faith mountains conquered and even revelations from God and spiritual growth, we remain the same in essential manhood; our individuality, our basic earthly nature never changes. Yet we have a new source to live our life which Paul at least, seems to have found.
If it is true for Paul, " it is no longer I that live" but Christ, it must be likewise for us also; we're like Paul born again Christians. So if it is not I that lives, then it must be as Paul says, Jesus Christ. But how? The answer to this identity crisis is wrapped up in the Cross, as Paul states: I have been crucified, so likewise then us also as Christians, under this mode of thinking, just like him. Under Paul's positional line of spiritual reasoning the new life cannot be contained as our essential human identity which we live in, as that person was crucified, the old mental/spiritual identity, namely Paul's [it is no longer I] and therefore our sin nature also. By the crucifixion Christ gained Resurrection life in the form of a Man. Does that mean then when Paul said he had been crucified [made dead] he also was made to live again like Jesus? I think the answer is yes by his statement in Gal. 2:20: but that new resurrection life for Paul and us, unlike Jesus, who suffered physically on the Cross died and was buried for the purpose of putting away mans spiritual sin nature forever in His Fathers judgement, Paul and we Christians that followed; were spared Jesus' fate: because of the representative action of The Son of Man. But according to Paul we also gain a new resurrection life just like Jesus. This in fact can and must only be a brand new spiritual life, like Paul saw in himself, lived here and now by faith in our presence in heaven, where Christ ascended too, as we are seen by The Father in Jesus Christ personally who is in heaven; and this affects our mortal condition according to Paul's teaching and inspired biblical message to all Christians, and is to be held in the minds eye of faith by all believers. Namely a position!
In order to understand the meaning of a scripture we must always look to the preceding verses; prior to Gal 2:20 the discussion was of the tendency for Peter, and James to continue to live under the traditions and legal obligations of Jewish Law and taking many fellow believers with them. Paul then saw the need to stress that the Cross did away with all that; made him them and us dead to it in God's view, for the purpose of relationship with Himself. You will notice Paul uses the term Christ in 2:20 which denotes Jesus' mission as Messiah or Saviour, whereas Son of man used much in other descriptions of The Lord shows His likeness to us, He died as the Son of Man as His essential identity, in the flesh, became sin for us. He went to the Cross as Christ, but died as the Son of Man. This is where we must live in our faith's understanding of who we are now in Christ as life; just as Paul did. The Son of Man died to all that we are, as a substitute for all of us, for the pleasure or will of The Father, that mankind might be redeemed to Him in glory thus fulfilling the role of Christ We must learn to identify ourselves in that new nature. This is what Paul was referring to when he said "I have been crucified". My friends what I am getting at is this: the normal Christian human in his flesh identity, just as Peter and James, must be rebuked and refused, since we as they tend to be satisfied to live under a set of rules, and obligate ourselves to Church traditions, or simply succumbing to a feel good experiential definition of who we are in Christ, such as merely attending Church services as our souls defining Christian condition: remaining in the identification of our old essential identity as a Christian [the law or morality, good works, experience and tradition] and not the new life by faith in Jesus Christ expressed in us by His presence in us seen by faith, defined by the Holy Spirit in our mind, as our very life. That is who we must become by our own self defining value and acquired defined personal image. As Paul stressed; "Christ lives in me" his active displayed condition, a new identity for all to see! Believe me my friends once engaged in by faith this new resurrection life that Paul described is far different than the ordinary worldly Christian's life in the old mannish essential identity! The question we must ask ourselves is. If the world cannot see any difference is there really one; and do we know and embrace our new life of faith seen in and contained completely in Jesus Christ as the object of our life? The sacrifice of The Man Jesus Christ deserves no less! Paul more than any other man in history, besides Jesus Christ Himself, changed the world and he is the Christian example and should be our mentor in all things as to Christian spirituality! His life in his inner man was Christ and none other.
"For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one knows except the Spirit of God" 1 Cor. 2:11. This is a rich and reveling verse, written by Paul; addressed to the Corinthian Christians; who were beginning to embrace a worldly philosophy in their mind, or reverting to their essential old man's identity; neglecting the Spirit of God and the spirit of man both. Sounds familiar does it not? The take away here is: a man is conscious of all the schemes, plans and purposes that pass in his own mind, and no man can know these things except himself; and likewise the Holy spirit knows God's mind and makes it known to us and lives to display God's mind to the soul of man. God will expose to us by His Spirit His thoughts or mind, concerning man's life in the Son. We can know the thoughts of God, by reading His Word, the trick is to make our mind available for the application of God's thoughts to our mind. As Paul so wisely said, only we can know if the adequacy of our minds understanding is satisfying to our souls, and at least for me, I found it lacking.
My friends, we are brought to a Saviour who has been raised again for our justification, and through Him we find no judgment, it is finished for Jesus and therefore for us. In the mind in which we hold that thought as foremost there will be no sense of need! The mind that contains as identity the thought of their personal position and identity as Paul did, "our life is hidden in Christ" and "for me to live is Christ" and " I have been crucified with Christ", will find a new definition of themselves as they walk the earth. We now can have a realization of great favor, for we may have a consciousness, though hard to explain it may be, that we share all that Jesus Christ is before the Father. In Him we now have access to all that is in heaven, blessed forever in Christ.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
ITS ONLY NATURAL
The writing of this blog has been somewhat of a roller coaster of emotion and frustration. As I sit in my condo alone and contemplate the changes in my life this exercise has brought: I am truly grateful to The Lord for the opportunity; but when I attempt to access its impact on those I care most about I sometimes lose heart. For the most part they just don't seem to get it. I was warned this would happen, and I know you, my readers, have seen my frustration in past blog rants. Its just I wish with all my heart some might see the benefit, and take advantage of the path to the freedom of a positionally aware Christ life and not be plagued by the same old recurring life drama issues, as the drivers of their life. However as I've said more than once I write this blog for my benefit. By putting to paper my thoughts on the subjects and in the research that goes into it I gain immensely. As I look back at my own beginnings of awareness as to the possibility of living in active participation of the new creation we are meant to be by faith; I see it was only by great need that I was brought into recognition that the normal life I was leading in my flesh as a Christian would, and never could, bring fulfillment, nor give me a true faith assurance I was pleasing God in my faith walk. Then I came to know by that very neediness, a failure of my natural man, and then came a new self awareness, that my nature now is new, by the actions of another, and had been changed to that of Jesus Christ's in spirit and I could have a living mental/spiritual knowledge of that by expanding my faith, reveled to me by The Holy Spirit. That new man talked about in The Word is me, and I can know this by accepting the biblical God ordained fact that a change of my mental perceptual residence here on this earth to a spiritual residence in heaven is possible by faith. The bible declares heaven a life in Christ as my current residence, and a incite to that as living truth can be accomplished in me as a individual man: by a mental concept which I was exposed to in the bible for so many years, but never was able to apply as life. I guess it was only natural.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:46, "that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual" referring to the first Adam as a natural man and then Jesus, the second Adam as bringing into the believers life the spiritual. In 15:48 he refers to the saint that is earthly [Adam] and the one who is heavenly [positional in Christ] in their awareness, and in 15:45 he writes of the first man being natural and the last Adam [Christ] being a life giving spirit. I use these verses to point out there are options available to the Christian to live his life, pointed out by Paul. I chose the natural man for many years, not the spiritual. My friends it comes down to this..........What is your motivation? Is it the things and affairs of the world? Is it your own fear of the future; personal demons/charter defects/personality/disorders, past life traumas, or worldly ambition which are the principle defining influence of you life? If that describes you, then you are living in Adam's defeat, the old natural man, not in the spiritual life God has given to you in His Son, available to us all. Are you taking the word of God as true when it says: "He died for all, that they that live [us] should not now live UNTO themselves, but live UNTO him who died for them, and rose again" 2 Cor. 5:15. Special attention should be spent in looking at the word that God used here twice to define this verse, UNTO. The writers of the English translation of the bible used this word to show best the original meaning or how this verse was to be applied in its usage: which is, unto; a regular recurrence of thought, a mental image contained within a specified unit of time [our life] to behave in a way by that knowledge that is independent, not following the the usual rules or way of life. In other words, are we living for and unto ourselves the natural as we conceive of ourselves, or unto Him the spiritual, as our defined life? Please my brothers and sisters take a moment to decide the defining influence of your personal expression as a human Christian. Will it be Him, His life, a divine expression by your faith in Him as the reality of your life, or yours which is only natural?
There is a saying that goes like this: the only power tyrants have is that relinquished by their victims! The tyrant in the land is the natural Adamic nature; it robs the Christian of the rights he has inherited by the death of the Son of God. The sin nature of man was and is volitional and always with us and is in fact furnished up to mankind by the father of lies. However the all important recognition of the truth of the duality of the Christian nature that of Christ the imposed second new man, who must be recognized to live in the spirit, gives us a chance for redemption from the trap of the attempted usurper, of God's power; power given by grace in The Son for all. Why then if this new nature is accessible to all saints do we so persist in weakness, defeat and worldliness, so often aping the world in all its folly? At least one answer to that question will be found in a history book. There have been many efforts by various Christians to establish a church that closely parallels the original for good reason, and most probably have failed. Why? The answer I think lies in our perceptive qualities or how we come to be influenced by our intellectual environment, and then how that defines our own membership in the Body of Christ, by the standards we were taught. The institutional or government church which arrived under the auspiciousness of the Roman Empire thoroughly corrupted the original message of individual fellowship with Jesus Christ, not that there weren't many who believed in a sincere manner despite the Roman church, they just had more and more limited access to biblical factual truth as the years went by. We all know the results were the so called dark ages, which lead to the enlightenment and the reformation or break off from the Roman church and the founding of Protestantism. Please take note my friends: all the early Protestant Church fathers were once Roman Catholic or highly influenced by that institution as their interpretive mindset, so the Churches and many of the doctrines they established or attempted to clarify, while a real breath of fresh air comparatively in many cases, still were far from the original as to biblical presentation of the individuals life hidden in Christ; a heavenly priority, as taught by Paul, as a major emphasis. This naturally brought us a formalized, morality, a standardized duty bound Church. Yes there were many bright lights, but the legacy of legality still haunts the hallways of the inner man of our defined Christian personality; which is still held by confining traditions of the old ways in the old Adam nature in many of today's Church members.They simply do not know the freedom of their presence in the new nature of Christ by faith as true of them, a sad loss indeed!
This early Reformed Church shined a bright light on the biblical truth of salvation by faith [justification] which had been neglected by the Roman church, who replaced justification by church power, law and works, over the individuals heavenly approach. But the new Reformed Church then still held onto the duty and works, or legality as a foremost mark of the Christian, thereby reducing the new road for mankind provided by Christ, to that of only the natural mans explanation of our Christianity. The power of the law and works were done away with on the Cross. The reformers abandoned the individuals freedom, which was given by Christ on the Cross; the spiritual nature for the Christian, which was supplied by The Lord, to be cultivated in the mind, by the Christian, in the coming to realize his new life in the new man a second nature in Christ, in heaven, lived in the here and now, by The Word of Truth, by faith.The neglect of this teaching by the Reformers hampers the Church's freedom to this day, as to the understanding of what it means to live UNTO Jesus Christ. Most of Christianity remains in the trap imposed upon them, with no functional understanding of the duality of man [first Adam, last Adam] and the place of freedom from the firsts tyranny they might find by submitting all their moment by moment being to the truth of their heavenly position in Jesus Christ. That loss shows in the all too often Christian Church alignment with the things of this world, the individual Christian simply living out their daily Christian experience in the flesh or natural, as a daily expression and preoccupation of their life. Many just do not know the difference, Its only natural.
I think it comes down to this my friends. Is our tendency, when confronted by life difficulties to run to and fro to make it better; in other words putting the natural formula first. Do we just want to feel better again? Or do we rest in confidence that the issues that plaque us can be used to glorify our Father the spiritual way, that all our circumstances are God ordained and have purpose for His glory; seeking with all our faith's effort the knowledge of our heavenly position despite the issues and circumstances that surround us? This second way is quite simply the biblical way. We will use the same tools, scripture readings, bible study, fellowship etc. except in the spiritual path we have foremost in our thought the occupation and object of our life the Lord Jesus Christ and our presences in Him in heaven by faith as life; His representative death, burial and Resurrection and its direct personal application to us. In other words by our minds understanding we come to know all of our natural man has been, as the bible claims crucified; this is a mental/spiritual exercise, the Church and its failure to adequately teach this truth as a paramount doctrine must be set aside as to dependence, it has not filled the task, we must reach out in our own self spiritual motivation for individual freedom in Christ! We the Christian have been made fit to be present in heaven before The Father by Jesus, now in this existence in this world; this is who we are as Christians, that is a eternal untouched truth, which has entirely for our spiritual/mental/faith purposes eliminated the natural man in God's personal view of us. We have been replaced in God's thought's by His Son, in The Fathers economy, and are no longer only natural in His judgement; we just need to believe it! I don't get it you say? The answer is: positional truth, a life of freedom from the tyranny of the natural, is acquired the same way you got your salvation, by "faith" in those biblical facts taught by the apostle Paul and others so long ago. Look for them, coming soon in a black book near you! "Its only natural".
Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:46, "that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual" referring to the first Adam as a natural man and then Jesus, the second Adam as bringing into the believers life the spiritual. In 15:48 he refers to the saint that is earthly [Adam] and the one who is heavenly [positional in Christ] in their awareness, and in 15:45 he writes of the first man being natural and the last Adam [Christ] being a life giving spirit. I use these verses to point out there are options available to the Christian to live his life, pointed out by Paul. I chose the natural man for many years, not the spiritual. My friends it comes down to this..........What is your motivation? Is it the things and affairs of the world? Is it your own fear of the future; personal demons/charter defects/personality/disorders, past life traumas, or worldly ambition which are the principle defining influence of you life? If that describes you, then you are living in Adam's defeat, the old natural man, not in the spiritual life God has given to you in His Son, available to us all. Are you taking the word of God as true when it says: "He died for all, that they that live [us] should not now live UNTO themselves, but live UNTO him who died for them, and rose again" 2 Cor. 5:15. Special attention should be spent in looking at the word that God used here twice to define this verse, UNTO. The writers of the English translation of the bible used this word to show best the original meaning or how this verse was to be applied in its usage: which is, unto; a regular recurrence of thought, a mental image contained within a specified unit of time [our life] to behave in a way by that knowledge that is independent, not following the the usual rules or way of life. In other words, are we living for and unto ourselves the natural as we conceive of ourselves, or unto Him the spiritual, as our defined life? Please my brothers and sisters take a moment to decide the defining influence of your personal expression as a human Christian. Will it be Him, His life, a divine expression by your faith in Him as the reality of your life, or yours which is only natural?
There is a saying that goes like this: the only power tyrants have is that relinquished by their victims! The tyrant in the land is the natural Adamic nature; it robs the Christian of the rights he has inherited by the death of the Son of God. The sin nature of man was and is volitional and always with us and is in fact furnished up to mankind by the father of lies. However the all important recognition of the truth of the duality of the Christian nature that of Christ the imposed second new man, who must be recognized to live in the spirit, gives us a chance for redemption from the trap of the attempted usurper, of God's power; power given by grace in The Son for all. Why then if this new nature is accessible to all saints do we so persist in weakness, defeat and worldliness, so often aping the world in all its folly? At least one answer to that question will be found in a history book. There have been many efforts by various Christians to establish a church that closely parallels the original for good reason, and most probably have failed. Why? The answer I think lies in our perceptive qualities or how we come to be influenced by our intellectual environment, and then how that defines our own membership in the Body of Christ, by the standards we were taught. The institutional or government church which arrived under the auspiciousness of the Roman Empire thoroughly corrupted the original message of individual fellowship with Jesus Christ, not that there weren't many who believed in a sincere manner despite the Roman church, they just had more and more limited access to biblical factual truth as the years went by. We all know the results were the so called dark ages, which lead to the enlightenment and the reformation or break off from the Roman church and the founding of Protestantism. Please take note my friends: all the early Protestant Church fathers were once Roman Catholic or highly influenced by that institution as their interpretive mindset, so the Churches and many of the doctrines they established or attempted to clarify, while a real breath of fresh air comparatively in many cases, still were far from the original as to biblical presentation of the individuals life hidden in Christ; a heavenly priority, as taught by Paul, as a major emphasis. This naturally brought us a formalized, morality, a standardized duty bound Church. Yes there were many bright lights, but the legacy of legality still haunts the hallways of the inner man of our defined Christian personality; which is still held by confining traditions of the old ways in the old Adam nature in many of today's Church members.They simply do not know the freedom of their presence in the new nature of Christ by faith as true of them, a sad loss indeed!
This early Reformed Church shined a bright light on the biblical truth of salvation by faith [justification] which had been neglected by the Roman church, who replaced justification by church power, law and works, over the individuals heavenly approach. But the new Reformed Church then still held onto the duty and works, or legality as a foremost mark of the Christian, thereby reducing the new road for mankind provided by Christ, to that of only the natural mans explanation of our Christianity. The power of the law and works were done away with on the Cross. The reformers abandoned the individuals freedom, which was given by Christ on the Cross; the spiritual nature for the Christian, which was supplied by The Lord, to be cultivated in the mind, by the Christian, in the coming to realize his new life in the new man a second nature in Christ, in heaven, lived in the here and now, by The Word of Truth, by faith.The neglect of this teaching by the Reformers hampers the Church's freedom to this day, as to the understanding of what it means to live UNTO Jesus Christ. Most of Christianity remains in the trap imposed upon them, with no functional understanding of the duality of man [first Adam, last Adam] and the place of freedom from the firsts tyranny they might find by submitting all their moment by moment being to the truth of their heavenly position in Jesus Christ. That loss shows in the all too often Christian Church alignment with the things of this world, the individual Christian simply living out their daily Christian experience in the flesh or natural, as a daily expression and preoccupation of their life. Many just do not know the difference, Its only natural.
I think it comes down to this my friends. Is our tendency, when confronted by life difficulties to run to and fro to make it better; in other words putting the natural formula first. Do we just want to feel better again? Or do we rest in confidence that the issues that plaque us can be used to glorify our Father the spiritual way, that all our circumstances are God ordained and have purpose for His glory; seeking with all our faith's effort the knowledge of our heavenly position despite the issues and circumstances that surround us? This second way is quite simply the biblical way. We will use the same tools, scripture readings, bible study, fellowship etc. except in the spiritual path we have foremost in our thought the occupation and object of our life the Lord Jesus Christ and our presences in Him in heaven by faith as life; His representative death, burial and Resurrection and its direct personal application to us. In other words by our minds understanding we come to know all of our natural man has been, as the bible claims crucified; this is a mental/spiritual exercise, the Church and its failure to adequately teach this truth as a paramount doctrine must be set aside as to dependence, it has not filled the task, we must reach out in our own self spiritual motivation for individual freedom in Christ! We the Christian have been made fit to be present in heaven before The Father by Jesus, now in this existence in this world; this is who we are as Christians, that is a eternal untouched truth, which has entirely for our spiritual/mental/faith purposes eliminated the natural man in God's personal view of us. We have been replaced in God's thought's by His Son, in The Fathers economy, and are no longer only natural in His judgement; we just need to believe it! I don't get it you say? The answer is: positional truth, a life of freedom from the tyranny of the natural, is acquired the same way you got your salvation, by "faith" in those biblical facts taught by the apostle Paul and others so long ago. Look for them, coming soon in a black book near you! "Its only natural".
Saturday, January 4, 2014
NO SEPARATION
Now that we have but aside the elementary explanation of our duel identity [see last blog, in the name of Jesus] which is vital for us to understand if we are to grow in Christianity! We must go on to the results of God putting away the first man of our nature Adam, via the Cross, and bring to life the last Man, Jesus Christ in our consciousness as a defining awareness. But first some additional clarity regarding this first Adam: God views man as a single entity; yes He knows each of us individually, but in His perfect judgement He is singular, in other words all of mankind is wrapped up, for His Judaical purpose, in the nature of the sinful Adamic man. And like wise He has the same view of the redeemed man, in His Son Jesus Christ the second Adam; in other words all Christians are interpreted or seen by God in a singular view, as too judgement, and in the case of being seen in Christ are judged not guilty. Therefore there is for us, the Christian, absolutely no separation or condemnation [Romans 8:1] between us and God, just as between He and His Son. The big hurdle for me was, in light of that as fact: How then shall I live? How can I experience the perfect peace this true concept designed by God will bring, if I count it as true?
By the death of our Saviour Jesus Christ we have become partakers of the divine nature, we are now a new race of people and Christ is the federal head of that. He is in heaven, and as the bible declares Jesus is a heavenly Man, so then we must be also, if in fact The Father sees us as accepted by the presence of His Son there; this is the essence of Christianity; not how we perform or our accomplishments or feelings and experiences we simply are not of a earthly nature any longer in The Fathers view of us! Again the question arises: How do we live that in faith? Well my friends there is only one way. We must develop a self concept of ourselves as new creatures, with new minds, new natures which are contained in The Fathers mind, as to our being perfect men and women before Him, seen in The Man Jesus Christ. In order for that to happen we must entirely be on board with the death of our first Adam nature on the Cross; of course that will never happen by our physical behavior, we sin and we can't kill him by good works. So it must take place mentally. The Father expects nothing less, that's why He inspired the Bible, a road map to that peace of mind only a conscious individual private oneness with Christ can bring, by faith.
In order for me to live in oneness with Christ in faith I had to learn to see my life as something other than the man I woke to each morning. I was regularly exposed to the concept of Christ death being the substitute, the propitiation for my sin's, and that gave me hope; but where was victory in my own person? I then came to realize that in order to live the life described in the Word, I would have to cast off the bonds of the world, adopting a mindset that all I am in this flesh [my natural human nature] is of no value to God for the purpose of relationship, and take His Word as true, that when Jesus died on the cross, it was to all that I am here and now as a natural man; and that by faith in that as true of me I can mentally take a self analytical position; that in the appearance of the Glorified Man in heaven Jesus Christ, God has also glorified me. I had to see my old nature as truly dead. I has to learn that by His Word, and in faith, in order to appear before God with the eyes of my heart wide open. Yes I am conscience of my sins as a earthly man, but by the blood of Jesus I can now boldly appear before God in faith with out any consciousness of guilt or sin. This my friends is not a impossible feat; Paul knew that he was a man who sinned, yet he wrote of the believers heavenly nature and his life displayed a life lived in Christ as the object of his self defined being, not merely living for Christ, his victory was not in his physical behavior or attitude, but in faith of his position in Jesus Christ in the very presence of God; a heavenly perspective.
When we imagine our Christian life it is hard to not be influenced by all that is around. That's why a change of mind in required. Think of it like this: When Adam appeared on the earth he, in the eyes of God, and for the purpose of relationship was a singular representative of all of mankind; but he sinned so it was necessary to facilitate a relationship with man that would be on going, to bring in another representative for mankind and of course we know that was Jesus. When Jesus died as a man in the flesh, a physical being, He was also representative to God for all mankind, and especially for those who would come to believe. Since the punishment for sin is death it was necessary for Him to die as a man for us in Representative form; and so on in all that followed; His Burial, Resurrection and Ascension also applied to us. When Jesus appeared before God as a Ascended physical Man in His Resurrection power, He again represented us, just as if we were there. We the Christian however have retained the original Adam nature, a sinner. So we could not appear or even be accepted, until Christ in the mind and economy of the Father stood in our place, a perfect Man, a second Adam. Now we are seen by The Father in the very same position as Jesus by our faith in Him. The possibility of us realizing that and living it in power and truth, just as Christ does, is given by revelation in the daily moment by moment application of the mind of Christ, via the Holy Spirit. Living this new mind power out is done by faith in those facts, not a moral high ground or life of duty, but a resting in the Spirit reveled fact, and that fact then becoming our life, by the purposeful application of God's Word. A needful realization, that we must become aware of God's purpose for us as individuals which can be described as; ".........advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity" Heb. 6:1, Amp. We must come to see that we as sinners, for the purpose of identification, were displaced in the death, burial and Resurrection and the old system of things, which belonged to the first Adams position is now gone for us, and that we are now in perfect identification with the Lord Jesus Christ! By that as our self determined mindset we will then experience no separation!
As a final note let me say something that I hope is unnecessary: We Christians are basically trapped in a human sinful body. We are not ordinary people however. By Jesus presences in our place [position] in heaven we are in fact of a heavenly nature; this is a biblical clear fact. It is up to us my friends to take on that role, the only other choice is to remain in a worldly self conceptual first Adam nature. We do something like that [take on new role's] in many aspects of our life i.e. when we become married, or have children, or get promoted to a place of authority etc.; these are all mentally subscribed to by a self purposed mindset, and we then become the person we have been self assigned to be by our new mental attitude. The bible says our bodies are occupied by immortality; that is a concept we may hold in our mind, and that we will be conformed into the image of Christ; a mental/spiritual attitude in this here and now, as well as in heaven, and that we are hidden in Christ; in His person in heaven as the Representative second Adam. This is who we are here and now [not by physical behavior], not just after we leave these bodies. We can only become that new person we are meant to be by a mental adjustment, which is ready and waiting to be given to our new natures, by the Holy Spirit. It is my prayer in the Name of and the power of Jesus for all of my blog friends, that by a restlessness of your natural Adam nature you will be brought to a point of a desperate need to take on Jesus Christ as life, the defining object of your mind, and thereby experience no separation from God's new nature mental application to your being/personality while you dwell here on earth in the physical.
By the death of our Saviour Jesus Christ we have become partakers of the divine nature, we are now a new race of people and Christ is the federal head of that. He is in heaven, and as the bible declares Jesus is a heavenly Man, so then we must be also, if in fact The Father sees us as accepted by the presence of His Son there; this is the essence of Christianity; not how we perform or our accomplishments or feelings and experiences we simply are not of a earthly nature any longer in The Fathers view of us! Again the question arises: How do we live that in faith? Well my friends there is only one way. We must develop a self concept of ourselves as new creatures, with new minds, new natures which are contained in The Fathers mind, as to our being perfect men and women before Him, seen in The Man Jesus Christ. In order for that to happen we must entirely be on board with the death of our first Adam nature on the Cross; of course that will never happen by our physical behavior, we sin and we can't kill him by good works. So it must take place mentally. The Father expects nothing less, that's why He inspired the Bible, a road map to that peace of mind only a conscious individual private oneness with Christ can bring, by faith.
In order for me to live in oneness with Christ in faith I had to learn to see my life as something other than the man I woke to each morning. I was regularly exposed to the concept of Christ death being the substitute, the propitiation for my sin's, and that gave me hope; but where was victory in my own person? I then came to realize that in order to live the life described in the Word, I would have to cast off the bonds of the world, adopting a mindset that all I am in this flesh [my natural human nature] is of no value to God for the purpose of relationship, and take His Word as true, that when Jesus died on the cross, it was to all that I am here and now as a natural man; and that by faith in that as true of me I can mentally take a self analytical position; that in the appearance of the Glorified Man in heaven Jesus Christ, God has also glorified me. I had to see my old nature as truly dead. I has to learn that by His Word, and in faith, in order to appear before God with the eyes of my heart wide open. Yes I am conscience of my sins as a earthly man, but by the blood of Jesus I can now boldly appear before God in faith with out any consciousness of guilt or sin. This my friends is not a impossible feat; Paul knew that he was a man who sinned, yet he wrote of the believers heavenly nature and his life displayed a life lived in Christ as the object of his self defined being, not merely living for Christ, his victory was not in his physical behavior or attitude, but in faith of his position in Jesus Christ in the very presence of God; a heavenly perspective.
When we imagine our Christian life it is hard to not be influenced by all that is around. That's why a change of mind in required. Think of it like this: When Adam appeared on the earth he, in the eyes of God, and for the purpose of relationship was a singular representative of all of mankind; but he sinned so it was necessary to facilitate a relationship with man that would be on going, to bring in another representative for mankind and of course we know that was Jesus. When Jesus died as a man in the flesh, a physical being, He was also representative to God for all mankind, and especially for those who would come to believe. Since the punishment for sin is death it was necessary for Him to die as a man for us in Representative form; and so on in all that followed; His Burial, Resurrection and Ascension also applied to us. When Jesus appeared before God as a Ascended physical Man in His Resurrection power, He again represented us, just as if we were there. We the Christian however have retained the original Adam nature, a sinner. So we could not appear or even be accepted, until Christ in the mind and economy of the Father stood in our place, a perfect Man, a second Adam. Now we are seen by The Father in the very same position as Jesus by our faith in Him. The possibility of us realizing that and living it in power and truth, just as Christ does, is given by revelation in the daily moment by moment application of the mind of Christ, via the Holy Spirit. Living this new mind power out is done by faith in those facts, not a moral high ground or life of duty, but a resting in the Spirit reveled fact, and that fact then becoming our life, by the purposeful application of God's Word. A needful realization, that we must become aware of God's purpose for us as individuals which can be described as; ".........advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity" Heb. 6:1, Amp. We must come to see that we as sinners, for the purpose of identification, were displaced in the death, burial and Resurrection and the old system of things, which belonged to the first Adams position is now gone for us, and that we are now in perfect identification with the Lord Jesus Christ! By that as our self determined mindset we will then experience no separation!
As a final note let me say something that I hope is unnecessary: We Christians are basically trapped in a human sinful body. We are not ordinary people however. By Jesus presences in our place [position] in heaven we are in fact of a heavenly nature; this is a biblical clear fact. It is up to us my friends to take on that role, the only other choice is to remain in a worldly self conceptual first Adam nature. We do something like that [take on new role's] in many aspects of our life i.e. when we become married, or have children, or get promoted to a place of authority etc.; these are all mentally subscribed to by a self purposed mindset, and we then become the person we have been self assigned to be by our new mental attitude. The bible says our bodies are occupied by immortality; that is a concept we may hold in our mind, and that we will be conformed into the image of Christ; a mental/spiritual attitude in this here and now, as well as in heaven, and that we are hidden in Christ; in His person in heaven as the Representative second Adam. This is who we are here and now [not by physical behavior], not just after we leave these bodies. We can only become that new person we are meant to be by a mental adjustment, which is ready and waiting to be given to our new natures, by the Holy Spirit. It is my prayer in the Name of and the power of Jesus for all of my blog friends, that by a restlessness of your natural Adam nature you will be brought to a point of a desperate need to take on Jesus Christ as life, the defining object of your mind, and thereby experience no separation from God's new nature mental application to your being/personality while you dwell here on earth in the physical.
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