We look to Jesus Christ as Saviour. We call upon the name of The Lord to honor Him, gain relief and feel His presence. We pray to Him for our needs and those of others. And we acknowledge Him as containing all the glory and presence of the Godhead. We might even admit He is life: but do we know Him as The Spirit of life in the intimacy of our inner man? How may we recover our true place in Him as the Life? Might it not be a help in knowing the place we hold in Him, the position we have been placed in Him; one of perfect righteous before God. Which is the righteousness of God accomplished in Jesus Christ, as our federal representative before the Father. And really this righteousness is what we have become in spirit by the act of another, it is our very identity. Yet it is still not enough to know that this is true. The recovered Spirit of life is found in practice by our actual participation in the divine nature by His Spirit in us, acquiescing to Him as life. " If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you" Rom. 8:11 It is therefore by the self acknowledged present needful and mindful penetration of His identity in Spirit as our very own, in our newly alive spirit and renewed mind, according to the power of the resurrection of which we partook of with Him. This is the living resurrection [Christ as life] we live in, in this mortal body as Christians: which is an assessment or consideration of our mind, as to condition and then by the faith of being positioned in Christ as life. These my friends are all good and true sayings, but words are easily read and often poorly understood, let alone become actual life. Even if understood very well in a academic light they might not pierce the heart, therefore little toward life is accomplished. By life I mean the laying hold [apprehending] of what we are in Christ. Feelings evoked and experiences felt also will not necessarily penetrate the wall built by the human natural man we all stand up against.Then what is the key to opening the door to Life? Can we recover it as God's intent for us His children? How may we know when we have arrived?
There was a Law given by God to the Jew, which we acknowledge as true holy and binding for all men, only we cannot keep it. You could say the Law is good, and it surely is. But what good if it cannot be kept? Of course The Father knew we would not and could not keep it so He gave a new Law; "the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus". Which because of our weakness he even has had to keep for us, in the Son, as "we are hid with God in Christ Jesus". The truth my friends is we can do nothing of ourselves to enter into life in Spirit. By the trying we relegate ourselves to the flesh and enter the world of works and law. A path many in Christendom are on. I have to admit even knowing the context of one's biblical spiritual condition; in and by which we occupy the very identity of Jesus Christ, as The Fathers only view or expectation of us, will not necessarily accomplish a recovery of The Spirit of Life. Which by the way pretty much, sums up the doctrine of Position/ Identity in Christ Ive been trying to gently shove down your throats for so painfully long. I speak of your pain not mine, as its only a joy to me!
Here's what it all really comes down to my friends; we will never enter into Christ as Life unless an all important truth is touched; which is provided and invoked by a Law that is from God that says: Christ comes to us by Spirit and that spirit is present in The Son of God, and now He is somehow in us and living His very own life through us. " I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me" Gal.2:20. These were not simple metaphorical words pronounced by a man trying to comfort needy believers. No they are revelatory truth as to a actual spiritual condition Paul experienced and we may also. And in fact it is only by a spiritual experience that this is made true. "If we are living in the Spirit's power, let our conduct also be governed by The Spirits power" Gal. 5:25. We must let that fact dominate our Christian minds as a true discovery of ourselves, if we are ever to recover. If you don't know what this means please don't worry about it! You just have to continue on, simply living out your life as best you can. That's all I ever did. We just have to be brought to the place were supposed to be, by God's will of course. No two men are on the path of understanding at the same time. At best we can only try, and maybe that's what its all about anyway. God has love for us all, just as much for one, as He does another. That's a statement by which I find a place of refuge, which I've decided to live my Life in, by the Spirit of Christ Jesus. That love makes all us fellow travelers equal in His sight.
Jesus Christ is in fact life and He has personally told me in my heart and mind and most importantly by His word that He will live His life through me. This is now my life, lived by Him, even in my stumbling manner, even in my sin, doubt and unbelief. I've known others so I know there is a difference! Ive learned to recognize it true that I/we in fact are the only way God has of displaying Himself on this earth via mankind, so He became a Man. I am choosing to be a happy participant in that as a fact of life for the Christian, and especially for me. I am all on board with The Spirit of God in my formation, and conformation to The Man of His desire, by His power, not mine. And what a wonderful place to live that is! Why did I not choose it long before? Good question is it not? And why on earth would we want to choose anything else than Christ as life. Yes it is true we all will ultimately be formed in His image, no matter what. But to participate in the Body in a productive positive way now gives glory to God. It can only help to know that in our possession of Him, He is made manifest to men; He lives out His life through us. We simply must get that my friends in order to progress in the divine life. It is by us being positioned in Him in His federal representation as a sinless Man who has overcome death for The Father first, but also for us; so by that fact His form as He presently exist in heaven is our very own. This is a truth to be pondered deeply and in my observation where lack of faith's understanding most hampers the recovering of the Spirit of life. So how may we know this? And more importantly, how then by this knowledge shall we conduct out affairs?
In order to be connected we must be seen. We all know God sees us even to the depth of our heart. So why are we often, at least as to feelings, unconnected with The living God? The answer is: its because of the view we take. You see my friends we all have a choice as to the platform of understanding upon which we may stand. First there is the old Adam, in whom [the old creation] we live and breath. He sees everything through the opaque lens of the self centered human natural nature. The father completely rejected this character, almost from the beginning. There is simply nothing you can do from this old minded man that will please God. Your flesh precludes any possibility of connection with God as "sin is in the flesh". That only leaves a non-material entity to gain sight by. The Spirit of Life in the law furnished by Jesus Christ for the very purpose of giving a new personality to man which would please God, which only can be observed by God in His Son. This Spirit of The Son's personality is then imparted to us by faith, both The Fathers, and ours, in what the bible refers to as the Second Adam, by whom we have inherited the new creation, and is in fact Jesus Christ. Until a Christian separates himself from any allegiance to the first Adam: by embracing him for what he is "sin" and further gets his arms around the death of that old nature by God's substitute for us, Jesus on the Cross, as absolutely accomplished and done with, his Christan life will be lived at a deficit at best. Without freedom from the old Adam recovering The Spirit of Life in The New Adam will prove extremely allusive.
Recovering that which has been given by God as life in The New Adam, is not hard; as a mater of fact it is very simple. We just have to believe the Word of God. Its all there. We only need call upon His name, then read the revelation as one would a prayer and then wait for His life to appear in us. No nothing more is required, except for the conviction of a need to apply His life to the definition of ours by a deep dissatisfaction of our present condition in the old man. Only Adam the first will prevent, in this life, all that God aspires for us from becoming reality. Perhaps ending with the most simplistic, profound and basic order for accomplishment of Christ as life will work here. " Jesus therefore said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of The Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourself" John 6:53. Just before that Jesus said "I am the bread of life" John 6:48. Jesus used this and other references to His body and blood as food in John 6 to show prophetic truth as well as a practical application. Think of it this way: the food we eat goes into our body and becomes a part of it; this is nutrition. In this same way we are to take in Jesus as our life supply. "To eat is to take food into us so that it may be assimilated organically into our body. Hence, to eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us that He may be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life; then we live by Him whom we have received. It is by this that He, the Resurrected one lives", Recovery bible notes 57,1. Just think, my brothers and sisters Jesus must have us to live out His Resurrected life! Of course Jesus lives in sovereignty in the Godhead, but in order for Him to live the Resurrection life on earth, we must participate. What a joy for us and what confidence The Father must have in us! Let us take the bold step, sit down at the table and partake of the Lord Jesus Christ. By this the simplest of concepts we may begin the process of recovering The Spirit of Life.
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