What a blessing it has been for me to engage in the writing of this blog. I thank God that He has arranged my life that I have so much time to contemplate the simplicity of the gospel and thereby grow and be formed into His desire for me; the image of His Son. I know I have a long way to go, but never the less progress is being made. The subjective formation of His image in me has resulted in the apprehension of my life in position and identity with Jesus Christ the Object; a beautiful place to live, in His grace. What a blessing to have a subjective knowledge of who God sees me as, and made me to be; by the Death of His Son. This new awareness I have found is the key that has opened the door to my desire to discover myself formed and living in His Body; which is the Church.
I realized I could have all the information that Christian books have to offer. I could learn thoroughly to deal in doctrines, dispensations, end times prophecies, etc. and pile up paper after paper on different principals of the deeper life for theological decimation and still not have the enjoyment of His Body available to live in by my minds conception. There is always much to take in and be delved into in the inquiries of the things of God, a never ending supply it seems. One might even become addicted to the constant need for more information, thinking that perhaps the next bit of knowledge will form a new vista. But the end is empty without the appropriation of His life in the peace and rest we may find in obedience to faiths enjoyment of Him as life which comes by The Spirit in His Body. Yes we can so easily risk by a constant searching, the loss of the gentle call of His voice in our spirit. Thereby finding ourselves absent of the joy which The Father wishes for us individually and as His corporate Body in our oneness with Him in His Son by the presence of His Holy Spirit as life's ultimate definition.
There is a intrinsic significance to God's Church Body and I believe that the building of it was the primary reason for God humbling Himself in becoming a Man. "on this rock I will build my Church". He came to build a Church primarily. The Temple in the old era was the dwelling place of God. In the new it is His Church Body. He takes up habitation in us. He has dispensed Himself into us. We are now "the temple of God" by the residence of The Holy Spirit in us. In John 14, it speaks of many dwelling places or abodes in the Fathers house. I was always taught this referred to a lot of mansions for us to live in, in heaven. But one must wonder if this were the case why would Jesus be teaching this to a bunch of earthly Jews, seeking a earthly Messiah to save them from Roman oppression? They could not possibly be encouraged or empowered by this kind of concept it would pass right over their heads, as there was no indwelt Holy Spirit to carry revelation to their hearts of the heavenly nature in Christ of the believer. Then Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for them, which actually meant His death and Resurrection, the place being us positioned and identified in His Spirit in heaven. Later he said he will come again [via the Holy Spirit] to receive His followers to Himself in heaven in Spirit, so that they could be there also. This was not a reference to the second coming at the end of the age, the disciples could know nothing of this: but it was the oneness they would have by His Spirit after the Resurrection and Ascension. After that He said "they would know the way". Thomas said to him upon hearing this "we do not know the way". Jesus then said " I am the way the truth [reality] and the life". If carefully read in proper context one can see Jesus was not trying to tell His disciples about a future heaven with buildings etc. He was speaking of His Body as the temple, the Church Body as found in Him, which we became. He living His life through us. He was conveying to them that by Him, leaving them in death and by His glorification their dwelling would be supplied. In John 14:23 He proves this when He said" If anyone loves Me, I and the Father will make a abode with him". Abode is simply another way of saying Him in us, we in Him, abiding [living] in the Body of Christ. His Body by The Spirit. This is not a mental condition we work in, but a spiritual position we may rest in by faith.
There is a responsibility inherent to being in the Church of Christ's Body: but it is held as individuals. Today's institutional Church is most often run on the trickle down theory and our participation is by order of works. We go, we observe, we are uplifted, maybe even convicted, we do some works, we go home, we're done. In the Gospel of Jesus while He was on the earth His life was one of works, certainly a fine example, but one which we could hardly duplicate, nor are we expected to, try as we might. No my friends it is His life in Glory which we are to emulate in thought and us there in Him. He as the ideal New Adam in whom we have our new creature heritage. His spiritual DNA passed on to us as life. If that truth is contemplated and lived in as our personal incite of ourselves, all else will follow. That is the place of responsibility we must strive for in our faith's perception. The natural mind goes to work, the spiritual mind rests in the supply of The Holy Spirit to reveal all.. The sovereign God is at work here, not us. He deals with the conscience heart of a fallen creature in us on this earth, in many ways by His Spirit: to awaken us to the responsibility of His will for us to be His element, His Body, His Life, by being formed in His image in self awareness. This image formed will ultimately be accomplished for all who believe in Spirit, and eventually in a glorified body like that of Jesus in heaven. It is really already completed by Jesus in Spirit in heaven before The Father, as He is there in our image shape and form existing as a Glorified New Adam, a perfect example of man in Christ Jesus: this view of us seen in His representation is the only way of acceptance by The Father for the Christian in the economy of God. Awareness of our responsibility to apply the recognition of this moral work by the Sovereign God in us is ours to seek in this place in order to function as the true Body of Christ in inner spiritual awareness, on earth. It is not our natural mind at work here but The Holy Spirit in revelation to a renewed mind.
Something new is indeed taking place in me and it is in spirit. This elusive place I've sought to be settled in for so long. It is likened to love held in emotion and feeling but constantly supplied with the anchor of truth from His Word for assurance. I am entering into the Body, His Body, the place of His desire; which is the reason He chose me. Not accomplished and finalized with deeper things of my natural minds effort as the platform; mere knowledge. Now the purposeful effort of my many hours of searching and contemplating His Word are coming home to nurture my soul in binding me to Him in the experience and reality of spirit by His Spirit. I am not a member, a functionary, a congregationalist or even a devoted student/disciple, with the weight of need for constant learning. I am just a fragile man who was lost, even in belief, and now am found. I need not prove anything to anyone, or act in a certain manner to show my true colors. Live a sin free upright life before men. Nothing need be marked upon my forehead to prove my worth. Nor do I need to enter into the world of reason and apologetic philosophy to explain myself. I am contained in Him the Saviour of the universe by His purpose expressly for me, proven and shown by His Word. By His power He has made me to live in Him, He is my life. I do not have a formula for my presence in the Creator, the union of Father Son and Spirit in me. Nor can I explain it in a theologically correct way: but it is true this I know. I need nothing more. By grace it is given in spirit in the here and now; the Body as life.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
THE GOSPEL OF SPIRIT
As we all know gospel means good news, from the Anglo-Saxon word godspel or good story in English. Most think of one gospel; that of the presence of Jesus Christ on earth as announced by the first four books of the new testament, declaring that Jesus Christ brought salvation to mankind. The word gospel in original form is derived from the Greek noun evangelion or angelos as its root, meaning joyful news brought by a messenger. There are many gospels or good news messages in the bible however. Paul said, "my gospel" referring to the revelation he had received from God Himself regarding our spiritual position in Christ and our place in the heavenly citizenship of The Church in spirit. Of course it is in fact Jesus Christ Himself who is the gospel!
In my past few blogs I have been concentrating on the concept of spirit. I must admit its been quite a struggle to try to come to a settled meaning of this word in my mind. By spirit I do not mean the idea of a entity which leaves our body at death and then appears in heaven to be welcomed by all our loved ones passed before. I have faith in what the bible says, that there is a life beyond in which we will have recognition of our personality/soul self, and perhaps others: but please do not ask me what that might be like or how that works, as I can not relate to that at all outside of faith, from my place here on earth! It seems however according to the popularity of the near death experience books that trying to figure that out may be one of the most popular aspects of the Christian experience for many. And in so doing I believe they miss out on the spirit life we have now to experience, in a heavenly positional life, in Christ in spirit, and of our identification with Him in the here and now. Also I wish to dispel any effort on my part to delve into spirituality as concept, as that word seems a idea too available to the world and has lost meaning by its over use. No I think the thought of spirit for me at least in this blog which I wish to explore is: spirit as a biblical fact held by faith, reckoned [counted as true] upon and spelled out in God's Word, provided to me wholly outside of myself, that I may live in as my life's definition of myself. But not by a self-conscious effort, or the working for or struggling to be worthy to receive it. Yes the concept is held in my mind, but the power of the Spirit of life in me is and must be by this definition therefore found in another by faith. Knowing Christ in Spirit by His description of myself in Him, by the Word of God, is having Him as the source of all that is in me constructed or defined as Spirit in my thoughts and feelings. Nothing else but Christ! Hence The Man Jesus Christ in heaven is indeed good news. He is the gospel of the Spirit of the law of life which is completely contained in Him. Lived for me by Him in representation and in total responsibility for my salvation and in fact my very person as spirit before The Father!
"If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit " Gal. 5:25. Just before that the Word says: "But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh [only spirit is seen as alive in God's view] with its passions and lusts" Gal. 5:24. So to live and walk by the Spirit we must know the crucifixion of the flesh as a dead thing. That life in spirit was not, nor will it ever be accomplished by us in our self effort. We must know this truth in spirit, in faith, as life! "Knowing this that our old man [flesh] has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin [our natural human nature] might be annulled [ made of no importance] that we should no longer be slaves [as in the natural man] to sin" Rom. 6:6. This does not mean we stop sinning, it means sin is of no account in God's view for the Christian, absolute freedom in spirit! The old man the "I" or natural being is the expression of the flesh or sin in our practical living. The crucifixion of the old "I" is a accomplished fact or Spirit truth accomplished by Christ on the Cross and maintained in His person. However the personal crucifying of our flesh here on earth is a practical experience we must take on in our mind in the spirit of this fact in faith. This practical experience is carried out through and by the Holy Spirit by us submitting to the understanding of just who we became in spirit by Christ's action on the Cross. This truth must be applied daily in order to walk by the Spirit. The "I" with its propensity to keep the law of works and to sin is in direct opposition to the Cross which annulled it in spirit. God does not want us to be workers and doers looking up in admiration and relief for what He has done, merely living in happy justification as soldiers for Christ. He want us to know He has replaced the old man, in the Spirit by His Son, in us for His own judgmental/judical purpose. For that to be found in our understanding, He wants us to live Christ by spirit in faith. To live by His spirit is to have our life dependent on and controlled by His Spirit in our spirit in a way of understanding who we are in Him and what was accomplished for us by Him; not by the feelings or functionality of our human effort. We are implored and encouraged by The Father in His Word to seek a maturing trust and knowledge of the Word of God to find the definition of His Spirit for all of our life! Any thing else is defeat; a flesh walk. "The carnal mind [natural mans flesh self perception outside of Spirit] is the enemy of God: for it is not subject to the law of God [life found in the spirit of Christ], neither can it be" Rom. 8:7. Yes we might be saved, but never the less far from the beauty of The Spirit life intended for His children as a self concept to be carried in our mind's.
Paul said in Gal 15 and 16: "that God through Grace reveled His Son in me that I might announce Him as the gospel and that he did not confer with flesh and blood regarding this new good news he brought to the Gentiles." I am sure no Christian would define these revelations to Paul as anything other than given in a nature of the Spirit. He then wrote this good news down so that The Father might impart His Spirit to us by taking the Word in as factual faith spirit truths to rest in. Paul also said: "God....called me by His grace, to reveal His Son, in me" Gal. 1:15,16. If so Him then us also; by His Word realized in our heart. The Father has placed us in eternal union with His Son so it might be He in our minds eye that is seen as life, not the we of the flesh. He has given us Scripture and faith in the Word that we may trust in Him to do His good pleasure in us. No natural man self effort involved here.
In order to operate outside of self struggle and fully in His Grace, outside of the flesh, we must allow the purpose of The Lord, to see the ideal of The Lord, is not beyond our reach. We are simply not expected by our own works to be like our Lord or to even serve Him by self effort; as a matter of fact pleasing Him by the self alone is a total impossibility. It will not be by feelings, Church work, attending prayer meetings or self help programs, and not even by upright moral attitudes will we accomplish anything as to establishing our nature in spirit or gain a identity or position in Christ. Paul struggled so much with this, as he wrote in Rom. 7, he simply came to an end of himself referring to himself as "a wrenched man". The Father clearly expects us to know The Lord Jesus as our very life, any other impression of ourselves is to be cast aside. We are by The Spirit in absolute oneness with Jesus Christ Himself; therefore "we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" Eph. 1:3. This my friends may all be accomplished in the mind of your spirit, by first the need, then the desire, and then by taking a firm attitude of faith in these facts from The Word, and then resting in them!
It is my prayer, my good and faithful friends, that we do not seek for ourselves the world and its false path. That we stop the struggle, set aside the worry. Cast away the overpowering influence of the worlds desperate search to hold onto a false sense of security in things and money. Put away the overpowering self centered motivation for success unique to this age of materialism for so many. No longer need we look to the folly of what has become for many a institutional world aping contemporary definition of Christianity; custom made to please the masses; although I'm sure with good intent. The simplicity of truth awaits those who are brave, and will empty their pockets of the worlds provision. We are the Church, rising above all that the world and the natural man can offer. We are together a heavenly organic spirit bound in Christ. We are in fact corporately and as individuals by God's decree and good pleasure Jesus Christ Himself living His life through His brothers and sisters on this earth. The reconnection of this is to see and become the very Body of Christ, in a spirit adjusted living attitude to this absolute truth. The Gospel of Spirit! I am thankful for some of the concept of spirit derived from The Local Church Recovery Bible, as well as inspiration from Miles Stanford in his hungry heart daily devotional.
In my past few blogs I have been concentrating on the concept of spirit. I must admit its been quite a struggle to try to come to a settled meaning of this word in my mind. By spirit I do not mean the idea of a entity which leaves our body at death and then appears in heaven to be welcomed by all our loved ones passed before. I have faith in what the bible says, that there is a life beyond in which we will have recognition of our personality/soul self, and perhaps others: but please do not ask me what that might be like or how that works, as I can not relate to that at all outside of faith, from my place here on earth! It seems however according to the popularity of the near death experience books that trying to figure that out may be one of the most popular aspects of the Christian experience for many. And in so doing I believe they miss out on the spirit life we have now to experience, in a heavenly positional life, in Christ in spirit, and of our identification with Him in the here and now. Also I wish to dispel any effort on my part to delve into spirituality as concept, as that word seems a idea too available to the world and has lost meaning by its over use. No I think the thought of spirit for me at least in this blog which I wish to explore is: spirit as a biblical fact held by faith, reckoned [counted as true] upon and spelled out in God's Word, provided to me wholly outside of myself, that I may live in as my life's definition of myself. But not by a self-conscious effort, or the working for or struggling to be worthy to receive it. Yes the concept is held in my mind, but the power of the Spirit of life in me is and must be by this definition therefore found in another by faith. Knowing Christ in Spirit by His description of myself in Him, by the Word of God, is having Him as the source of all that is in me constructed or defined as Spirit in my thoughts and feelings. Nothing else but Christ! Hence The Man Jesus Christ in heaven is indeed good news. He is the gospel of the Spirit of the law of life which is completely contained in Him. Lived for me by Him in representation and in total responsibility for my salvation and in fact my very person as spirit before The Father!
"If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit " Gal. 5:25. Just before that the Word says: "But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh [only spirit is seen as alive in God's view] with its passions and lusts" Gal. 5:24. So to live and walk by the Spirit we must know the crucifixion of the flesh as a dead thing. That life in spirit was not, nor will it ever be accomplished by us in our self effort. We must know this truth in spirit, in faith, as life! "Knowing this that our old man [flesh] has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin [our natural human nature] might be annulled [ made of no importance] that we should no longer be slaves [as in the natural man] to sin" Rom. 6:6. This does not mean we stop sinning, it means sin is of no account in God's view for the Christian, absolute freedom in spirit! The old man the "I" or natural being is the expression of the flesh or sin in our practical living. The crucifixion of the old "I" is a accomplished fact or Spirit truth accomplished by Christ on the Cross and maintained in His person. However the personal crucifying of our flesh here on earth is a practical experience we must take on in our mind in the spirit of this fact in faith. This practical experience is carried out through and by the Holy Spirit by us submitting to the understanding of just who we became in spirit by Christ's action on the Cross. This truth must be applied daily in order to walk by the Spirit. The "I" with its propensity to keep the law of works and to sin is in direct opposition to the Cross which annulled it in spirit. God does not want us to be workers and doers looking up in admiration and relief for what He has done, merely living in happy justification as soldiers for Christ. He want us to know He has replaced the old man, in the Spirit by His Son, in us for His own judgmental/judical purpose. For that to be found in our understanding, He wants us to live Christ by spirit in faith. To live by His spirit is to have our life dependent on and controlled by His Spirit in our spirit in a way of understanding who we are in Him and what was accomplished for us by Him; not by the feelings or functionality of our human effort. We are implored and encouraged by The Father in His Word to seek a maturing trust and knowledge of the Word of God to find the definition of His Spirit for all of our life! Any thing else is defeat; a flesh walk. "The carnal mind [natural mans flesh self perception outside of Spirit] is the enemy of God: for it is not subject to the law of God [life found in the spirit of Christ], neither can it be" Rom. 8:7. Yes we might be saved, but never the less far from the beauty of The Spirit life intended for His children as a self concept to be carried in our mind's.
Paul said in Gal 15 and 16: "that God through Grace reveled His Son in me that I might announce Him as the gospel and that he did not confer with flesh and blood regarding this new good news he brought to the Gentiles." I am sure no Christian would define these revelations to Paul as anything other than given in a nature of the Spirit. He then wrote this good news down so that The Father might impart His Spirit to us by taking the Word in as factual faith spirit truths to rest in. Paul also said: "God....called me by His grace, to reveal His Son, in me" Gal. 1:15,16. If so Him then us also; by His Word realized in our heart. The Father has placed us in eternal union with His Son so it might be He in our minds eye that is seen as life, not the we of the flesh. He has given us Scripture and faith in the Word that we may trust in Him to do His good pleasure in us. No natural man self effort involved here.
In order to operate outside of self struggle and fully in His Grace, outside of the flesh, we must allow the purpose of The Lord, to see the ideal of The Lord, is not beyond our reach. We are simply not expected by our own works to be like our Lord or to even serve Him by self effort; as a matter of fact pleasing Him by the self alone is a total impossibility. It will not be by feelings, Church work, attending prayer meetings or self help programs, and not even by upright moral attitudes will we accomplish anything as to establishing our nature in spirit or gain a identity or position in Christ. Paul struggled so much with this, as he wrote in Rom. 7, he simply came to an end of himself referring to himself as "a wrenched man". The Father clearly expects us to know The Lord Jesus as our very life, any other impression of ourselves is to be cast aside. We are by The Spirit in absolute oneness with Jesus Christ Himself; therefore "we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" Eph. 1:3. This my friends may all be accomplished in the mind of your spirit, by first the need, then the desire, and then by taking a firm attitude of faith in these facts from The Word, and then resting in them!
It is my prayer, my good and faithful friends, that we do not seek for ourselves the world and its false path. That we stop the struggle, set aside the worry. Cast away the overpowering influence of the worlds desperate search to hold onto a false sense of security in things and money. Put away the overpowering self centered motivation for success unique to this age of materialism for so many. No longer need we look to the folly of what has become for many a institutional world aping contemporary definition of Christianity; custom made to please the masses; although I'm sure with good intent. The simplicity of truth awaits those who are brave, and will empty their pockets of the worlds provision. We are the Church, rising above all that the world and the natural man can offer. We are together a heavenly organic spirit bound in Christ. We are in fact corporately and as individuals by God's decree and good pleasure Jesus Christ Himself living His life through His brothers and sisters on this earth. The reconnection of this is to see and become the very Body of Christ, in a spirit adjusted living attitude to this absolute truth. The Gospel of Spirit! I am thankful for some of the concept of spirit derived from The Local Church Recovery Bible, as well as inspiration from Miles Stanford in his hungry heart daily devotional.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
CONSCIOUS CONTROL
I have lately been thinking a lot about the conscious mind. Just think, when Adam was in the garden he did not necessarily need a self conscious awareness of himself as to judgement or status. He was with God. He was truly free, no quilt, shame or conflicts, just perfect harmonious happiness, one with God. I think it is in the deep regions of the sub-conscious where the spokesperson of the spirit resides, in a all important underlying self awareness of our own new creation our oneness with The Father, to be precise. Perhaps we could call it that quiet voice that speaks the truth from the promptings of the spirit, if we care to listen. It cannot be our mind only that contains the contact with the spirit, in a self conscious manner, if that were true then all we would need is more and more knowledge to grow in the Spirit of Christ. While the mind has been renewed in the new birth in order to be able to change our thoughts and perceptions of the personality or the soul, it is still encased in the natural old man, not made entirely new like the spirit, and so still subject to the whims of the natural man. But God can and does hear, and speak through us and lives in us in Spirit and we are one with Him; thus we are in effect His natural instrument the expression of Himself. "So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code [law self-conscious effort] of written regulations, but under [obedience to the promptings] the Spirit in newness of life" Rom.7:6. So why is it we may have a voice within and it is God's, and He is only good, yet we still often choose to ignore it? I believe this fact has given us the world we have. After we left the garden we were on our own, to develop a world system and of course we used our mind. Our oneness with God, defined as life in spirit was lost to death in the departure from the garden bliss, we had a spirit it was just dead. In other words we no longer could be aware of it and our oneness with God..... Later the spirit in newness of life could be found if sought in the new births spiritual infusion of God and also with the minds renewal as to its new possibilities. We could effect the world around us as the Body of Christ: but since God made us as volitional creatures for the purpose that we might chose Him of ourselves [respond to grace] we retained by God's will Adams worldly conscious capability's or the natural mans nature, even with the renewed possibilities. Which are contained in the mind. If we were to be honest with ourselves this really makes us vulnerable to all manner of things; our own foolish misjudgements on God's intentions for us as well as allowing others to control us and the the influence of the world and Satan. In other words the new spirit made alive by God has a voice but it is suppressed by our own natural presence. The Question is: How do we get it back?
I know my friends I am taking a journey somewhat into the philosophical even mystical realm here. But really how could it be denied that this union we have with a immaterial God, which is in spirit, is not mystical or mysterious: by this I mean: not understandable by reason only. And if philosophical is termed as a search for meaning of life, then we are engaged there also. I tried to impose upon my reason many facts and a common sense application of the Word of God in a studious discipline to gain more of Him as life, but still felt incomplete. It seems the application of doctrines and biblical facts were not enough to enter in to this mysterious place called Spirit. Nor did experiences sought by fellowship and thinking of a job well done in Church duty's. What was I to do with a bible that tells me: "That God made us alive together with Christ Jesus. and raised us up together with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:5-6? Could this possibly be true?
The search here is how do we translate and process the voice of God from His Word and also the voice that lives inside of us as spirit? Let me see; a message is given by His Spirit to our flawed mind/soul and then we are to honor the hearing of it by completing His Son as His Body on this earth. Can we make that happen by a self-conscious effort? I don't know about you but I am having trouble with that! If it was merely works and duty or even gained knowledge that accomplished the spiritual journey it would be quite easy would it not? To be very honest with you my friends if I think at all in depth about these mysterious promises; a presence with Christ in heaven which takes place within me here and now, a Spirit occupying my body and my becoming one with it, not to mention the concept of a everlasting life. I simply must throw up my hands and say with the world....how can this be? Oh we can quote scriptures like; "you must regard yourself as dead in relation to sin, but alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus" Rom 6:11. But we still are left with the dilemma of dealing with the mental concepts, and that is the only source for understanding available to us. If one did not have questions regarding these strange things I would like to take their pulse!
I was having fellowship with a Christian friend the other night and we were talking of some of these very difficult things that we grapple with and he said: : "Both the worldly perspective i.e. evolution, and the biblical story, when seeking to understand them mentally as concepts, seem like fairy tails, and I agreed. But then he said, I choose the bible version because it offers hope." There you have it my friends! Then we went on to describe the changes that took place in our lives and attitude even our behavior, by a power outside of ourselves, as we would never in and of ourselves have chosen this Christian life. There is, I think the best evidence of the reality of spirit. A wise man said: " it is not by stringent cutting off of exterior things, nor by seeking mental apprehension of death with Christ [or life] in the self-conscious mind, but by simple reckoning [counting it true] His death as ours [and his life in us] ---shall you experience in the inner depths of your life as a servant of God, the divine spiritual reality that Christ in you is in truth your very life." In other words only faith will carry the day.
I don't know about you my brothers and sisters, but I sure do not see any good reason to bother with this life, face all the ups and downs, knowing that a good day will just as likely be followed by a bad one. And then sit around watching my body grow old and sick, knowing the likelihood misery will be my lot and that I will probably die alone in some old folks home, all without hope. So I take on the view by faith that the Word of God is real and true and that it is proven by faith only! Nothing else will satisfy either us or The Father. I wait upon the Spirit to speak and hope to hear. I trust no mater my actions and sins or the actions of others that God will make His will be done in my life and theirs. That it is only by His Spirit in consort with my spirit, that I am anything of value to Him. And that it will be accomplished by The Spirit that I will become the image of His Son. That the only way that this or anything of the Christian life will be made good is by His Spirit, in spirit. The key for me to be in contact with this my faith reality in this life, or trust in the next, is to rest in this thought as true truth! So please come with me my blog buddies who are still on board this hope train, put up you feet and relax, put down that never ending study of scripture attempting to make information the backstop for you faith. Stop seeking to expand your mind just for a moment. Open you heart to the mystery of spirit and enter the joy by faith of the answer to the mystery. By this, I believe, we will take better conscious control of our happy destiny.
I know my friends I am taking a journey somewhat into the philosophical even mystical realm here. But really how could it be denied that this union we have with a immaterial God, which is in spirit, is not mystical or mysterious: by this I mean: not understandable by reason only. And if philosophical is termed as a search for meaning of life, then we are engaged there also. I tried to impose upon my reason many facts and a common sense application of the Word of God in a studious discipline to gain more of Him as life, but still felt incomplete. It seems the application of doctrines and biblical facts were not enough to enter in to this mysterious place called Spirit. Nor did experiences sought by fellowship and thinking of a job well done in Church duty's. What was I to do with a bible that tells me: "That God made us alive together with Christ Jesus. and raised us up together with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:5-6? Could this possibly be true?
The search here is how do we translate and process the voice of God from His Word and also the voice that lives inside of us as spirit? Let me see; a message is given by His Spirit to our flawed mind/soul and then we are to honor the hearing of it by completing His Son as His Body on this earth. Can we make that happen by a self-conscious effort? I don't know about you but I am having trouble with that! If it was merely works and duty or even gained knowledge that accomplished the spiritual journey it would be quite easy would it not? To be very honest with you my friends if I think at all in depth about these mysterious promises; a presence with Christ in heaven which takes place within me here and now, a Spirit occupying my body and my becoming one with it, not to mention the concept of a everlasting life. I simply must throw up my hands and say with the world....how can this be? Oh we can quote scriptures like; "you must regard yourself as dead in relation to sin, but alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus" Rom 6:11. But we still are left with the dilemma of dealing with the mental concepts, and that is the only source for understanding available to us. If one did not have questions regarding these strange things I would like to take their pulse!
I was having fellowship with a Christian friend the other night and we were talking of some of these very difficult things that we grapple with and he said: : "Both the worldly perspective i.e. evolution, and the biblical story, when seeking to understand them mentally as concepts, seem like fairy tails, and I agreed. But then he said, I choose the bible version because it offers hope." There you have it my friends! Then we went on to describe the changes that took place in our lives and attitude even our behavior, by a power outside of ourselves, as we would never in and of ourselves have chosen this Christian life. There is, I think the best evidence of the reality of spirit. A wise man said: " it is not by stringent cutting off of exterior things, nor by seeking mental apprehension of death with Christ [or life] in the self-conscious mind, but by simple reckoning [counting it true] His death as ours [and his life in us] ---shall you experience in the inner depths of your life as a servant of God, the divine spiritual reality that Christ in you is in truth your very life." In other words only faith will carry the day.
I don't know about you my brothers and sisters, but I sure do not see any good reason to bother with this life, face all the ups and downs, knowing that a good day will just as likely be followed by a bad one. And then sit around watching my body grow old and sick, knowing the likelihood misery will be my lot and that I will probably die alone in some old folks home, all without hope. So I take on the view by faith that the Word of God is real and true and that it is proven by faith only! Nothing else will satisfy either us or The Father. I wait upon the Spirit to speak and hope to hear. I trust no mater my actions and sins or the actions of others that God will make His will be done in my life and theirs. That it is only by His Spirit in consort with my spirit, that I am anything of value to Him. And that it will be accomplished by The Spirit that I will become the image of His Son. That the only way that this or anything of the Christian life will be made good is by His Spirit, in spirit. The key for me to be in contact with this my faith reality in this life, or trust in the next, is to rest in this thought as true truth! So please come with me my blog buddies who are still on board this hope train, put up you feet and relax, put down that never ending study of scripture attempting to make information the backstop for you faith. Stop seeking to expand your mind just for a moment. Open you heart to the mystery of spirit and enter the joy by faith of the answer to the mystery. By this, I believe, we will take better conscious control of our happy destiny.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
STRIVING VAINLY TO ATTAIN
All that we are now or ever will be in Christ is already accomplished. As Jesus Himself said "it is finished." I tended to wander lost in the land of the world for many years before coming to a realization: that it is only by faith will my true identity be reveled. I was striving to attain what was not needed, but was already a present reality; an accomplished fact in the Lord Jesus Christ. The simple truth is that the deliverance I sought I was incapable of discovering because I sought it in my flesh, under the auspices of the old man. The new nature of who I am in Christ, that I now have become more familiar with was not attainable by striving in a busy searching or frantic fellowship of Church activities and studies. My soul made a discovery; the deliverance which I was incapable of attaining The Father had already supplied in The Son. There was no longer any need to try to accomplish it by any way I might perform. The power that held me in my worldly place for so many years was lack of need and a self centered satisfaction with who I was even in my unhappiness. I had not realized the Christian life is not conversion and consecration only or a life of duty and proper moral actions, but it is living Christ as life in faith. I began to see that my life is really the all consuming desire of Jesus Christ to reincarnate Himself in me.The power to supply this Christ life flowed from Him. I am only to receive it by trusting in faith that I am a new creature in Christ.
The question I now must ask is what must I do to honor the intent of Jesus Christ for me to experience this Christ life? As I stated in my last blog The biblical doctrine study I spent two or so years in was a great start for me; "nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine" 1 Tim 4:6. Doctrine, its not a dirty word you know, and its important! Doctrines should be thought of as the description or logic behind a thought or idea produced by a solid faith in clear cut facts as is written in the Word of God; such as our being positioned in Christ. I would highly recommend the pursuit of the positional/identity doctrine, and can recommend and have in this blog many times good biblical expounders of these basic simple truth doctrines. That being said however: our experience is where the reality exists in our daily walk, and for me as a Christian it comes down to this: we must believe in our spirit that The death of Jesus Christ was in effect our death to sin and self. And that the life we have now is all in His Resurrection. We Have a newness of life, which is now spiritual. The relations to The Law and sin and the world which Christ had became our own and He died to it all. W. M. Newell said "Our experience of it all [Christ as life] is simply the entering by faith into what has already happened at the Cross."
My friends knowing who you are in Christ is all important; so that you may live it! Everything else is secondary. You will live it in your faith first, not your works. We Christians simply must develop a definition of our self that reflects Christ in the inner man, and by that become who we really are: by a purposed faithful intent, based on our spiritual position in Christ in heaven. In order for that to happen we must become aware. God's Word awaits!
"God now commands each of us to reckon ourselves as having died with Christ to sin--and therefore as now dead unto sin; and having risen with Christ, and therefore now alive to God" Wm R. N. Rom. 6:11. We must appropriate or reckon [count as true] these facts. Then we can by God's grace take the attitude of the facts. This is the obeying of the faith of the facts of God's Word. The experience will follow! The cross was the first step in our redemption, the new creation, in union with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will make these facts true in our experience. Remember it is not for us to seek to experience this Christ life by works or feelings and self effort, but it is only ours in simple faith of a biblical fact. The Christian life is not our living a life like Christ, or our trying to be Christ like, nor is it Christ giving us power to live a life like His; but it is Christ living His own life through us " for me to live is Christ" Phil. 1:21. Our life as Christians is to be defined as the very life of Jesus Christ Himself and it is only in the spirit of faith that this life can be found. So we must rest and wait and trust there is no other way all else is striving vainly to attain.
Man is made up of a duality, which I have discussed before. This is the most important concept a Christian could take into their understanding, in order to be what he or she has been made to be by God in the born again experience! Jesus Himself had a dual nature; fully God and fully man. We all know this, but I suspect we may not understand how this can be, as one might know a scientific formula and get results. It is the same for the human Christian, we are made in His image which is spirit, we know this is a bible truth. So then we too must be a duality as we also have the flesh. We do not need to put this together as one might a puzzle to see what it looks like. There is the natural man and the spiritual man a biblical stated fact. Man operates in sin, the natural state completely, until he is born again. That is when the spirit is redeemed, made new and alive in us and now has a new capacity. He was formally dead to the things of God. He now believes; only a entirely new alive man can accomplish that, the re-born spiritual one. The major deficit in today's Church understanding is that most simply are satisfied with a better improved old nature, which if we are honest is easier to feel and see and perhaps control, in a moral legal way, so that example is most often seen as representative of the Christian. He is upstanding in the community and busy with doing and helping. However the problem is the old and new coexist. We can know this is true because if we were redeemed in our human nature in totality we would not sin. But we do, and that is the human flesh nature that stays with us. That is why we always eventually fail in tying to display our Christianity in the outer man, at the very least under the best of performances pride will enter in. Our job as new men and women in Christ is to allow The Holy Spirit in and through our spirit to become our primary motivator and identity, overwhelming the old nature, not by works but by faith. Then all of our activities as Christians will take on a new meaning, at least to ourselves. This will only be accomplished by faith and awareness in the inner man that the old is of no value to God or us.
The weakness, the modern institutional Church finds itself in with so many milk fed immature Christians is precisely because of its efforts to make the old human sin nature a better performer. This started with the views of the early reformers [Martin Luther] who have influenced most of today's Christian leaders thinking. They have to their loss crowned the old man as saved thus attempting to put a life to the spirit via the works of man and then presenting it as God's plan. They have nurtured pruned and stirred the soil around the old man trying for growth in a dead tree. Thereby giving little ground to the new creation growth of the spirit, which is: Christ as life in the new man recognized as being the composition of God organically occupying the spirit of His children individually and corporately completing the Church body, with no need for improvement. This is the oneness we have with God, positioned and hidden in Christ in spirit. "God is Spirit and all who worship Him must do so in spirit and truth." Could it not be more clear: we were created by God in His image for the purpose of containing Him
It is in our total dependence upon the Holy Spirit that our identity in Christ is made true, God has dispensed Himself into man. It is forever and always Jesus Christ at the right hand of The Father as object we must trust. Christ has made us who and what we are in Him wholly outside of ourselves, a position we have in Him and our identify. It is only by the grace of The Holy spirit we are made His Body. While we carry with us the personality of the old nature as baggage; the inner man is being made into the image of The Son. " May your spirit, soul and body be preserved complete" 1 Thes.5:23. The Word likens us as vessels in Rom. 9:23 and also declares we have three parts into which He pours His Spirit. When we receive life in our spirit we actually are indwelt by God and therefore that new life given as grace becomes a new creation. God is mingled and dispensed into us in newness of life; His Life. It is not because we have a new life in ourselves that we are the temple of God, but because the Holy spirit dwells in us, he is the definition! God comes into our spirit to become the content of what we are. We are created anew and our very human existence is purposed to contain God in our spirit. This new life then spreads to the soul under The Holy Spirit's influence; which is the seat of the defining of our personality, our developing being, our self image and mind if you will. These changes in us are gradual, and while we grow and suffer in this world our bodies are slowly being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in totality, we will someday be just like Him. We will become filled and saturated with God, body, soul and spirit just like Jesus is now in heaven. In this present place we have become you could say, God-men, by His entering into us we are the body of Jesus, from whom we have received our inheritance and personal image on this earth, as well as heaven: " Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brothers" Rom. 8:28. There you have it my friends Jesus is the first as an example of what we are in the new birth, in the Fathers estimation now and forever. I hope you will choose with me to go forward in faith being identified by the works of God in the inner man. To be ultimately manifested to the world as one who no longer is striving vainly to attain. Thank you to the Local Church [Watchman Nee] and of course W. R. Newell for inspiration and information along with others of the godly anthology's I read daily.
The question I now must ask is what must I do to honor the intent of Jesus Christ for me to experience this Christ life? As I stated in my last blog The biblical doctrine study I spent two or so years in was a great start for me; "nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine" 1 Tim 4:6. Doctrine, its not a dirty word you know, and its important! Doctrines should be thought of as the description or logic behind a thought or idea produced by a solid faith in clear cut facts as is written in the Word of God; such as our being positioned in Christ. I would highly recommend the pursuit of the positional/identity doctrine, and can recommend and have in this blog many times good biblical expounders of these basic simple truth doctrines. That being said however: our experience is where the reality exists in our daily walk, and for me as a Christian it comes down to this: we must believe in our spirit that The death of Jesus Christ was in effect our death to sin and self. And that the life we have now is all in His Resurrection. We Have a newness of life, which is now spiritual. The relations to The Law and sin and the world which Christ had became our own and He died to it all. W. M. Newell said "Our experience of it all [Christ as life] is simply the entering by faith into what has already happened at the Cross."
My friends knowing who you are in Christ is all important; so that you may live it! Everything else is secondary. You will live it in your faith first, not your works. We Christians simply must develop a definition of our self that reflects Christ in the inner man, and by that become who we really are: by a purposed faithful intent, based on our spiritual position in Christ in heaven. In order for that to happen we must become aware. God's Word awaits!
"God now commands each of us to reckon ourselves as having died with Christ to sin--and therefore as now dead unto sin; and having risen with Christ, and therefore now alive to God" Wm R. N. Rom. 6:11. We must appropriate or reckon [count as true] these facts. Then we can by God's grace take the attitude of the facts. This is the obeying of the faith of the facts of God's Word. The experience will follow! The cross was the first step in our redemption, the new creation, in union with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will make these facts true in our experience. Remember it is not for us to seek to experience this Christ life by works or feelings and self effort, but it is only ours in simple faith of a biblical fact. The Christian life is not our living a life like Christ, or our trying to be Christ like, nor is it Christ giving us power to live a life like His; but it is Christ living His own life through us " for me to live is Christ" Phil. 1:21. Our life as Christians is to be defined as the very life of Jesus Christ Himself and it is only in the spirit of faith that this life can be found. So we must rest and wait and trust there is no other way all else is striving vainly to attain.
Man is made up of a duality, which I have discussed before. This is the most important concept a Christian could take into their understanding, in order to be what he or she has been made to be by God in the born again experience! Jesus Himself had a dual nature; fully God and fully man. We all know this, but I suspect we may not understand how this can be, as one might know a scientific formula and get results. It is the same for the human Christian, we are made in His image which is spirit, we know this is a bible truth. So then we too must be a duality as we also have the flesh. We do not need to put this together as one might a puzzle to see what it looks like. There is the natural man and the spiritual man a biblical stated fact. Man operates in sin, the natural state completely, until he is born again. That is when the spirit is redeemed, made new and alive in us and now has a new capacity. He was formally dead to the things of God. He now believes; only a entirely new alive man can accomplish that, the re-born spiritual one. The major deficit in today's Church understanding is that most simply are satisfied with a better improved old nature, which if we are honest is easier to feel and see and perhaps control, in a moral legal way, so that example is most often seen as representative of the Christian. He is upstanding in the community and busy with doing and helping. However the problem is the old and new coexist. We can know this is true because if we were redeemed in our human nature in totality we would not sin. But we do, and that is the human flesh nature that stays with us. That is why we always eventually fail in tying to display our Christianity in the outer man, at the very least under the best of performances pride will enter in. Our job as new men and women in Christ is to allow The Holy Spirit in and through our spirit to become our primary motivator and identity, overwhelming the old nature, not by works but by faith. Then all of our activities as Christians will take on a new meaning, at least to ourselves. This will only be accomplished by faith and awareness in the inner man that the old is of no value to God or us.
The weakness, the modern institutional Church finds itself in with so many milk fed immature Christians is precisely because of its efforts to make the old human sin nature a better performer. This started with the views of the early reformers [Martin Luther] who have influenced most of today's Christian leaders thinking. They have to their loss crowned the old man as saved thus attempting to put a life to the spirit via the works of man and then presenting it as God's plan. They have nurtured pruned and stirred the soil around the old man trying for growth in a dead tree. Thereby giving little ground to the new creation growth of the spirit, which is: Christ as life in the new man recognized as being the composition of God organically occupying the spirit of His children individually and corporately completing the Church body, with no need for improvement. This is the oneness we have with God, positioned and hidden in Christ in spirit. "God is Spirit and all who worship Him must do so in spirit and truth." Could it not be more clear: we were created by God in His image for the purpose of containing Him
It is in our total dependence upon the Holy Spirit that our identity in Christ is made true, God has dispensed Himself into man. It is forever and always Jesus Christ at the right hand of The Father as object we must trust. Christ has made us who and what we are in Him wholly outside of ourselves, a position we have in Him and our identify. It is only by the grace of The Holy spirit we are made His Body. While we carry with us the personality of the old nature as baggage; the inner man is being made into the image of The Son. " May your spirit, soul and body be preserved complete" 1 Thes.5:23. The Word likens us as vessels in Rom. 9:23 and also declares we have three parts into which He pours His Spirit. When we receive life in our spirit we actually are indwelt by God and therefore that new life given as grace becomes a new creation. God is mingled and dispensed into us in newness of life; His Life. It is not because we have a new life in ourselves that we are the temple of God, but because the Holy spirit dwells in us, he is the definition! God comes into our spirit to become the content of what we are. We are created anew and our very human existence is purposed to contain God in our spirit. This new life then spreads to the soul under The Holy Spirit's influence; which is the seat of the defining of our personality, our developing being, our self image and mind if you will. These changes in us are gradual, and while we grow and suffer in this world our bodies are slowly being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in totality, we will someday be just like Him. We will become filled and saturated with God, body, soul and spirit just like Jesus is now in heaven. In this present place we have become you could say, God-men, by His entering into us we are the body of Jesus, from whom we have received our inheritance and personal image on this earth, as well as heaven: " Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brothers" Rom. 8:28. There you have it my friends Jesus is the first as an example of what we are in the new birth, in the Fathers estimation now and forever. I hope you will choose with me to go forward in faith being identified by the works of God in the inner man. To be ultimately manifested to the world as one who no longer is striving vainly to attain. Thank you to the Local Church [Watchman Nee] and of course W. R. Newell for inspiration and information along with others of the godly anthology's I read daily.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
OUT OF THE ORDINARY
In my struggle and search for the meaning of position and identity in Christ I was enlightened by first knowing its meaning in a doctrinal sense. While I have come to see personally the importance of gaining understanding by this studious approach I have come to realize its not for everybody. God will not fail to form His image in all who truly believe. For me however by my studies, I gained a platform from which to launch a more meaningful life as a Christian, and I would dearly wish the same for all my friends; to God be the glory! Lately I am seeing that while the doctrine served me well and even changed my life, which I badly needed, there was left a deficit. For one I still woke up to myself each morning and had to face my sin, but by the assurance I had from my new knowledge of my presence in Christ, and knowing I indeed died to the sin nature with Christ on the cross, my quilt was much less of a heavy burden. Thank you Lord! I begin to see secondly that while standing on the positional doctrine is a firm ground, and that I have been drawn with great joy much closer to my Lord by my learning it, a new sense of desire begin to form in me. I required more intimacy in and with Him, which needed to be cultivated. A fresh approach to my new found Christian nature. The positional doctrine was the perfect launch pad. This new adventure presented to me by our Father was to learn to apprehend and appropriate the beauty of my presence in His Son's Body. For me a more intimate softer side to positional doctrine.
On the night of the wedding the bride knows the groom in a certain and important way. But much more is to be revealed, as we all know. But what if her dreams really came true, and the new revelations of her mate serves to bring a closer intimacy? She finds no fault in him and therefor allows herself to not just be his wife in association looking to him for guidance, but becomes completely trustful and dependent upon the groom for all her needs. Not a mere partnership but a actual part of him; he becomes her life. Paul prayed for The Church, by the revelation of The Father: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the full knowledge of Him" Eph. 1:17. The bride first came to love the groom by his gentle touch, handsome appearance and the relief she found by his presence. Soon she came to see the depth of her man in his true identity and the more she learned of his ways the greater her happiness and intimacy. Her prayer was answered; she was gaining a full knowledge of her lover, and it was always good. We the church are seen by The Father in the same type of relationship with His Son Jesus. We are likened to the most intimate love affair between a man and a women possible, that of marriage. We The Church corporate body are now the fully consummated bride of Christ. The Door to the love which awaits us is opened by knowing our identity in the Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension to heaven of our Lord, and of our place identified in those events. We may now enter into the bed chamber with our eye's wide open and begin the intimate life with our lover that the Father always intended; with full knowledge and faith of our place as His true love.
Adam was given dominion over all the earth. Eve, in the bible image given by God, came directly from the side of Adam, this was shown in the Word in this way for good reason. By that biblical illustration it shows that Eve also has dominion equally with her husband. She is bone of his bone flesh of his flesh. Yes the dominion was given to Adam, but Eve shared in it as she was created in him the first Adam; and of course all of mankind holds that same status. Jesus Christ came into the world as a man and is called The Second Adam, also for good reason. The second is likened to the first because His descendants; which are to be of a completely new nature by the will of God; which is spiritual, are directly taking their place in a new life with Him as Eve was with Adam. We the spiritual descendants by virtue of being born again are referred to in the Scriptures as "hidden in God in Christ" The Father loves and delights in Jesus as a Man and we because of our spiritual birth now are entered into the exact same association The Father has with The son. When we look upon the Lord Jesus in heaven we see there the very life The Father has given us. We are in Christ seen in glory. We have entered into His inheritance, His fullness and His calling. We have been merged into one spirit with Him. This is why my friends we are called the bride of Christ. There can be no other illustration as intimate as this. We are in union with Him. Now in our present place we have the honor, if it can only be realized, to move and breath in this place as His Body knowing our groom in the most intimate way possible.We the Church, do not merely represent Him, nor is He a legal example to emulate, but He is the source of our life, our very being and personality, in the Church Body, as the Church Body here and now.
The Sovereign God and His Son reign supreme in glory. The place Jesus holds there is also our place. He holds it there for us and we are there by association. Like Eve was with Adam in dominion. We are partakers of the Divine. The God of Heaven has all power and may use that power as He sees fit. The Father honored a Man by His own desire. In His incarnation Jesus became a New Adam, one who had never appeared before, different from all others. One we could never be capable of being: but one we must be in The Fathers estimation and economy. One who in the Eye's of the Sovereign by His will was to be associated with us in the spirit as Eve was to Adam in the flesh, then merged, and dispensed into us, to be made one with us. He was made to be the representative for the life of all brothers and sisters to follow in spirit. He choose to make us, His human creation, one with Him, by His Holy power. We are in the Body of Jesus Christ. Not members looking up. Not subject's who just have a happy emotional experiences. Not workers for God in service, merely waiting for instructions to go forward to the next assigned task. No my friends we are nothing less than one with Him, in all that we have and are and all that He is in His Fathers sight! The only reason we may not perceive this is because we are ignorant of this as a true truth, "for lack of knowledge my people perish" and because our faith has been so often been institutionally held in check. We have been saved, forgiven, then tucked away in comfort by a complacent worldly church. Please remember this my brothers and sisters it is not in the doing of Christ but in the being of Him where we will find rest and pleasure in our Fathers love, becoming a intrinsic part of His Body. Just as His Son at His side. There simply is no other way to please God. We were made to be partakers of all that is in His Son by faith. But to have faith in a truth we must know it to be true!
In Eph.1:22 it says "The Father gave Him [Jesus] to be head over all things to the church." It is important to note here the words "all thing to". This is a Word of God statement which connotes a direct personal entrance into the believer by Jesus Christ Himself. It does not say "all things for." It was as a man in His humanity with divinity that Christ was raised from the dead and was seated in the heavenly, all things "became subject to Him" and he was given "head over all things". However it does not say head over the church, but "to the church", which indicates a inclusive shared position. By this God's word we can enter into confidant oneness as His Body in our humanity as coming from Him, in inseparable union with Him. We by the Holy Spirit have been made one with Him The exalted Man, and became His Body. Just as Eve received life and position in dominion over the earth in Adam. This my friends is why in order for the Church to function in God's perfect will it must be entirely separated from the world in our Church Body's mind full concept of its self! " Set you mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God Col. 3:2,3.
Jesus Christ, as Son of God is totally sufficient and requires nothing in His Glory. But in His Manhood He is not complete in His place in His ascension-glory without the Church; no more so than Adam would have been without Eve. The Father planned for His Son from the beginning that He should share His ascended Glory with sinful man who by the new birth would be delivered from sin, and made one with Jesus in Heaven. This truth of the oneness of man and God has been communicated to us by The Spirit through the Word and its knowledge. We are displayed as fully entered into son ship in the most intimate place of identity with Jesus Christ Himself. He has given us this sacred position and knowledge of it in this world that we might be entirely above it all, becoming out of the ordinary. I wish to thank Mr Wm. Kelly of old for inspiring this blog writing.
On the night of the wedding the bride knows the groom in a certain and important way. But much more is to be revealed, as we all know. But what if her dreams really came true, and the new revelations of her mate serves to bring a closer intimacy? She finds no fault in him and therefor allows herself to not just be his wife in association looking to him for guidance, but becomes completely trustful and dependent upon the groom for all her needs. Not a mere partnership but a actual part of him; he becomes her life. Paul prayed for The Church, by the revelation of The Father: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the full knowledge of Him" Eph. 1:17. The bride first came to love the groom by his gentle touch, handsome appearance and the relief she found by his presence. Soon she came to see the depth of her man in his true identity and the more she learned of his ways the greater her happiness and intimacy. Her prayer was answered; she was gaining a full knowledge of her lover, and it was always good. We the church are seen by The Father in the same type of relationship with His Son Jesus. We are likened to the most intimate love affair between a man and a women possible, that of marriage. We The Church corporate body are now the fully consummated bride of Christ. The Door to the love which awaits us is opened by knowing our identity in the Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension to heaven of our Lord, and of our place identified in those events. We may now enter into the bed chamber with our eye's wide open and begin the intimate life with our lover that the Father always intended; with full knowledge and faith of our place as His true love.
Adam was given dominion over all the earth. Eve, in the bible image given by God, came directly from the side of Adam, this was shown in the Word in this way for good reason. By that biblical illustration it shows that Eve also has dominion equally with her husband. She is bone of his bone flesh of his flesh. Yes the dominion was given to Adam, but Eve shared in it as she was created in him the first Adam; and of course all of mankind holds that same status. Jesus Christ came into the world as a man and is called The Second Adam, also for good reason. The second is likened to the first because His descendants; which are to be of a completely new nature by the will of God; which is spiritual, are directly taking their place in a new life with Him as Eve was with Adam. We the spiritual descendants by virtue of being born again are referred to in the Scriptures as "hidden in God in Christ" The Father loves and delights in Jesus as a Man and we because of our spiritual birth now are entered into the exact same association The Father has with The son. When we look upon the Lord Jesus in heaven we see there the very life The Father has given us. We are in Christ seen in glory. We have entered into His inheritance, His fullness and His calling. We have been merged into one spirit with Him. This is why my friends we are called the bride of Christ. There can be no other illustration as intimate as this. We are in union with Him. Now in our present place we have the honor, if it can only be realized, to move and breath in this place as His Body knowing our groom in the most intimate way possible.We the Church, do not merely represent Him, nor is He a legal example to emulate, but He is the source of our life, our very being and personality, in the Church Body, as the Church Body here and now.
The Sovereign God and His Son reign supreme in glory. The place Jesus holds there is also our place. He holds it there for us and we are there by association. Like Eve was with Adam in dominion. We are partakers of the Divine. The God of Heaven has all power and may use that power as He sees fit. The Father honored a Man by His own desire. In His incarnation Jesus became a New Adam, one who had never appeared before, different from all others. One we could never be capable of being: but one we must be in The Fathers estimation and economy. One who in the Eye's of the Sovereign by His will was to be associated with us in the spirit as Eve was to Adam in the flesh, then merged, and dispensed into us, to be made one with us. He was made to be the representative for the life of all brothers and sisters to follow in spirit. He choose to make us, His human creation, one with Him, by His Holy power. We are in the Body of Jesus Christ. Not members looking up. Not subject's who just have a happy emotional experiences. Not workers for God in service, merely waiting for instructions to go forward to the next assigned task. No my friends we are nothing less than one with Him, in all that we have and are and all that He is in His Fathers sight! The only reason we may not perceive this is because we are ignorant of this as a true truth, "for lack of knowledge my people perish" and because our faith has been so often been institutionally held in check. We have been saved, forgiven, then tucked away in comfort by a complacent worldly church. Please remember this my brothers and sisters it is not in the doing of Christ but in the being of Him where we will find rest and pleasure in our Fathers love, becoming a intrinsic part of His Body. Just as His Son at His side. There simply is no other way to please God. We were made to be partakers of all that is in His Son by faith. But to have faith in a truth we must know it to be true!
In Eph.1:22 it says "The Father gave Him [Jesus] to be head over all things to the church." It is important to note here the words "all thing to". This is a Word of God statement which connotes a direct personal entrance into the believer by Jesus Christ Himself. It does not say "all things for." It was as a man in His humanity with divinity that Christ was raised from the dead and was seated in the heavenly, all things "became subject to Him" and he was given "head over all things". However it does not say head over the church, but "to the church", which indicates a inclusive shared position. By this God's word we can enter into confidant oneness as His Body in our humanity as coming from Him, in inseparable union with Him. We by the Holy Spirit have been made one with Him The exalted Man, and became His Body. Just as Eve received life and position in dominion over the earth in Adam. This my friends is why in order for the Church to function in God's perfect will it must be entirely separated from the world in our Church Body's mind full concept of its self! " Set you mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God Col. 3:2,3.
Jesus Christ, as Son of God is totally sufficient and requires nothing in His Glory. But in His Manhood He is not complete in His place in His ascension-glory without the Church; no more so than Adam would have been without Eve. The Father planned for His Son from the beginning that He should share His ascended Glory with sinful man who by the new birth would be delivered from sin, and made one with Jesus in Heaven. This truth of the oneness of man and God has been communicated to us by The Spirit through the Word and its knowledge. We are displayed as fully entered into son ship in the most intimate place of identity with Jesus Christ Himself. He has given us this sacred position and knowledge of it in this world that we might be entirely above it all, becoming out of the ordinary. I wish to thank Mr Wm. Kelly of old for inspiring this blog writing.
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