The desire to be known as a man who is seeking God is a vanity. I am certain my efforts here sometimes entertain my old natures wish for recognition. However in my heart my wish is to gain discernment and maturity by these contemplations. More importantly to learn along the way what The Father wishes of me by seeking understanding from His Word which this writing forces me to try to accomplish. Yes I know the bible tell us who we are to be, in no uncertain terms. "That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among who you shine as the lights in the world" Phil. 2:15. But it seems sometimes to be so difficult to accomplish on this side of things; that is to feel we are shining the light as we should. I know we all have this same common problem, the natural being such a stumbling block. These blogs are simply my admission of weakness you might say, a way to learn awareness of my place in Him as I struggle. Yes I am made vulnerable by exposing my thoughts. Both from myself in observing how sinful and Adamic I truly am, as well as others judgement as to my struggling spiritual insight. I realize all do not understand or agree nor has there been any expectations of agreement. And sometimes I am sure I make a fool of myself. But if I stay under a rock, locked in my room, I will never know the potential of His Spirit in me. Writers are the most vulnerable of people, we put our hearts to words then allow others to have a inside view. To be honest it would be much easier to only communicate with those like minded, but then I would be remaining under a basket. Very few take the time to read my musings I know, perhaps it will be to their loss, but the Spirit guides. Like all brothers and sisters I can know by my studies who I am; but my mind is filled with apprehension given me by my place in the world of the first Adam, so I suffer and reach out in the hope that is before me.
I must ask myself; are we as Christians, at worst, to be merely bystanders viewing our faith as a chosen morally based culturally reverent. lifestyle? Where by attending and being a part of a Church community we might be associated with the things of God and fill good about our contribution. Yes and hopefully be true believers in Jesus Christ too. Or perhaps we find ourselves in a happy way living in the Church life, functioning as expected we have found our way and have therefore entered a comfort zone. Is ours simply a life of heartfelt imitation, still contained in the old Adam personality, duplicating our surroundings, sort of faking it until we make it? We in the west have become so complacent and have often adopted the culture we have been issued as that by which we define our Christian worth. Surrounded by the proper blessed life. I do not think most believers in today's institutional Churches think of those around them as brothers and sisters in Christ; at least as equal heirs of all that The Father has for His Children in His Son. Let alone have any awareness that they have been chosen to be co-mingled with the living God. That we are the living instruments of Him dispensing Himself into the world. Him prevailing through us. And that even in their weakness and sin, if truly Christians, they are destined [and do now in position]to have the image of Jesus Christ Himself. These things are generally not taught or presented to the congregants in such a manner or terms, yet are very biblical. The reason being, I believe is, to begin to know Christ as life requires of them a difficult struggle. The challenge is truly great. Really a personal confrontation of a complete loss of there former self in order to climb up the ladder of Christian maturity. "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision [works and law] avails anything, nor uncircumcision [the natural] but faith which works by love" Gal. 5:6. We must my friends attempt to recover the asset in fullness which was given us upon our new birth. The old is dead, we must learn the new. We are not the assignment or a experiment, we are God conducting Himself by His Spirit in the world despite what we may think of ourselves.
I often think we would be best served for adopting the revealed wishes of God in us if the gains of the world were simply removed. Perhaps to suffer persecution and a loss of our material wealth like many in the community of saints of the past, and at this time in other locations: the great attack by Satan upon our fellows around us we have mostly chosen to ignore. Or even we might be best served to enjoy the complete freedom one must have on the bed of their final demise; soon to leave this wicked world, therefore forced into absolute dependency upon God, self finally shown to have no value whatsoever! I know there are many brothers and sisters who have gained much in material here in the west and function well in the body. I cannot enter their heart and know true motives and see the spiritual inner man of their mind. I only see the outside. But to be honest I do not know how one can surround themselves with the complications and interference of this world and combine their life with the evil things it fosters upon all who would actively participate This can only compromise spiritual integrity."What profits a man to gain the world". I know I was never made satisfied spiritually by acquisition. If one finds great comfort in their well being perhaps they are so under the influence of the system of the evil one. We must know that is his deceitful wish. For me even the little I have left is a burden that sets up a enclosure to the things of God. There always seems much to arouse anxiety in our possessions; tend to this tend to that. It really never ends as we acquire more.
We seldom hear the word in today's Christian communication; supplication, meaning the act of begging for something earnestly or humbly. "Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God" Phil. 4:4. Surely those in great supply have less need for this prayer. Nor is meekness used much. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness" Gal. 6:1. The Greek word for meekness "praus" means power under control. As in a soothing medicine applied, or a gentle breeze moving a sailing ship through the water, and was also used by farmers to describe a broken colt. Jesus would be the great example. He had all power but humbled Himself in meekness by entering into this world. These words used in spiritual terms take away our own power and place us in a position of weakness, under the power and destiny of another. Again the gathering up of worldly concern restricts this need. But being found in a position of meekness is exactly the definition of a true Christian! "For what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" Phil. 3:7. Perhaps it is the domination of the natural man in us that explains why we do not think of this term much in application to our Spiritual understanding. We are busy at gathering. However the asset of Spirit which we have our very life in, requires the contribution of a attribute of meekness and supplication to be fully realized. But this Christian advantage is often held in abeyance by the cares of the world. I know this to be true in my case anyway!
So how are we to be made better? That can only come by realization of truth. We must become aware we live as active participants on the other side of position. In other words we are who we are seen to be by The Father in Christ. Which if realized should cause us to live differently in recognition of that Spiritual fact.We will gain a new prospective on things Christian. As believers who are in the position, [seen in Christ] it is by the position we have the power to act in meekness. We do not choose ourselves for a life conducted in Christ. He Chooses us! Many of us tumble into what we become. But we have a direction even in that unbeknownst to ourselves. Yes all is necessary, I know from experience. Even though, all has been made clear in His Word as to the path we are best served in, to take full advantage of His grace and providence. We still often stumble through life either unaware, of what God is toward us or allowing our natural self to be at the helm of things.
How are we to unshakel ourselves from the nature of the natural man, the first Adam? Only our great need to be relieved will accomplish it. As we become more and more desperate to leave this world system behind, and our adherence to it, which we have by our self reliance upon the first Adam personality. We must come to know we are not of this worldly system and spirit. "We are not our own, we have been bought with a price". His death upon the Cross has placed us in the position we occupy. It is not a question of our dying to the things that incumber our spirit of the revelation of our status in Him; but it is found in our realization that the father has planted us in the death of His Son. Self-effort will never take us there, seeking to grasp a fact, unwinding the reckoning of our mind will prove futile. You and I, all who believe, will only understand as it is revealed in the heart and the mind by the Holy Spirit through the Word. There is no other way to recover the asset give us upon our new birth!
On a personal note, I can see by my blog account how many view my work, which is only a very small proportion of those I send it to. So in a effort to not bother those who are "chronic deleters" any longer; I hope to build a list of those who are interested and who think my writing might be a contribution to growth. So I will be reminding you all of that goal in the next few weeks. I kindly request you send me your wishes to stay connected. July 5th is the date I plan to send only to the new list. I will need your help to make that happen. Please email me soon.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
ENTERING INTO THE CLOUD
Objective biblical reality or doctrine is a wonderful thing, and made more so by being so available in today's world. Our intellect is well served for advancement in it's use. It is not difficult to discover important Christian doctrinal concepts well explained in the bible, and expounded upon by trusted writers; which I am very thankful for. "The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" 2 Tim. 2:2. My principal area of interest and great desire for others to know, is the doctrine of positional/Spiritual truth. Just who are we in Christ? We cannot be the person God has sacrificed so much for by our behavior, works, enthusiasm, rule keeping or even the knowledge of truth. The efforts of our natural flesh will always fail to please God.. As if there could be any justification in the flesh at any time. Only faith can please Him, which is in Spirit. "We are partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped [seen no longer as flesh, but in Spirit in Christ] the corruption [the flesh nature of Adam] that is in the world" 2 Pet. 1:4. It should be obvious by the name of this doctrine that who we are in spirit to The Father is a representative Spiritual thing, in a federal sense. As in Jesus holding that image before God in Himself for us. The Spirit is the only visibility we in fact have for the Fathers satisfaction. "Likewise, count it as true that you yourselves are alive unto God through [the representative reality] Jesus Christ, our Lord" Rom. 6:11. Our natural self, in God's sight is no longer alive to God, this is the first Adam. "You have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" Col. 3:3. This reality must be understood to enjoy the positional advantage and to move forward to maturity in the Body. "And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight" Col. 1:21,22. It could not be made more clear, all before God is Spiritually representative in Christ. However the presence of His Son in glory is reflected back in God's economy in us. His reality, us in a perfect accepted spiritual form. That of Jesus Christ. We must say by this doctrine that the life we now live "which is truly life" can only be accomplished in spirit by faith, and know that as a fact, if we are to believe that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of The Father in our stead. Which is a position we occupy by the presence of a perfect Holy Man Resurrected from among the dead as a Spirit presence there; representing all that we are to The Father. For the bible tells me so!
The objective positional truth should be obvious as one we must enter into by Spirit, in a subjective manner. "For we....worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" Phil. 3:3. This important doctrine declares; we are to be engaged in having a self awareness of our own person-hood, so as to be in touch with our positional mental/spiritual condition. Defined by God as that which is seen by Him as He views His Son. In other words He sees us in Jesus."God has raised us up together [with Christ] and made us sit together [with and in Christ] in heavenly places [a Spiritual existence] in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. The result of knowing this as truth by Spirit realized in the renewed mind [the only way we can approach God in worship] is our becoming aware that Jesus Christ is living out His life here on earth in us. He has transferred His life back to us by entering our spirit and mind, we are co-mingled. Allowing life by Spirit. This is the only life we have! It was simply necessary for the Father to arrange this circumstance for life in such a manner, as He is Spirit. The question we should all be asking ourselves is; why is it so hard to live in a positional reality in our walk upon this earth, manifesting this truth? And How is our lack of spiritual vision holding back the function of us in His body? Having a spiritual position as a awareness of life's condition, whether from our prospective our The Lord's is defined by its nature as; something somebody else did for another with no expectations of anything in return. In other words pure Grace. But the result should be, us living out the life of Jesus Christ. Held in that place forever by His Grace. How can we participate in such a glorious privilege when dealing with life itself in the present? We are enclosed in the Adamic flesh. Overcoming this road block of the propensity of a Adamic intellect prevailing in the flesh of our old personality, the old mind and soul, is a question that needs answering. I believe that the answer to that question and more is found by entering into the cloud!
The bible uses the symbolic picture of a cloud often for spiritual purpose. In fact cloud related phenomena are described as evidence of God's mighty, wondrous and inscrutable ways and in fact is a physical symbol of Spirit "And they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory" Matt. 24:30. And; "Then those who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with The Lord" 1Thess. 4:17. The most important image of the spiritual legacy we have received is found in Matt. 17, when Peter James and John go up to the mountain with Jesus. "While He thus spoke, there came a cloud and overshadowed them; and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son; hear Him. Peter says this voice in the cloud was from "His excellent glory". The Transfiguration was a purely Spiritual event.We can share that cloud experience in Spirit by faith in these words "hear Him". This cloud symbol is a metaphor given by God for us to have available a vivid apprehension of spiritual things which we may hopefully sometimes realize. There are many more cloud references to expand this spiritual symbolism. This important God given image is not perceived by doctrine alone. There must be more. Let us enter into the subjective, His cloud, to find it in spirit.
The metaphorical cloud is used by the bibles writers in order to illustrate aspects of their theological message. You could say clouds represent God's unlimited Spiritual extent. From sheltering shade to covering or concealment, speed and mobility as well as the abundant outpouring of the rain of His righteousness. Then there is the Theophanic cloud representing God Himself. The most common usage being the sign of God's presence in the pillar of cloud in Exod. 13:21-22. By these images we are encouraged I believe to not see our Christian experience broken down into doctrinal studies as duty, but entered into as life. What are we to do with knowledge once gained is the question? Spirit must come first for life to take place. For that we must have trust in the totality of His Word. Knowing doctrine will open this door. Subjective entrance by spirit will put us in the room. If we find an object in The Word, the subjective must be taken advantage of to realizes its worth. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace" John 16:33.
Clouds themselves are non-liner or subjective in nature; they cannot be put in a box like a doctrine. In the Word's observance of clouds we can see freedom, and subjectivity. The word Spirit is derived from the Greek for wind or breeze, also a non-containable phenomenon. Spirit's close relationship to the cloud as a metaphor should not be overlooked. Was The Lord trying to help us see something by using these illustrative non-objective symbolic metaphors for help in us understanding His nature? And therefore a clue as to how we might come to gain intimacy with Him; by the use of our God given reflection, of His image which inculde feelings and Spirit derived emotion. Granted there are unknowns in the cloud, no space constraints, no narrow path, they are expandable and move about in a unpredicted manner as in the wind of Spirit. "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" John 3:8. Our regeneration is likened to wind by Jesus, which can be recognized felt and heard, but which is beyond understanding. The cloud of His Spirit might prove unsettling even giving way to desperation if entered into with a fully objective doctrinal mind set in stone. His nature of Spirit requires other doors explored, to enter for full enjoyment. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts,[feelings emotion and spirit] to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. In the cloud the path to truth is always moving on His mighty wind.. A potentially frighting place for the word bound. The heavy weight of mans natural Adam desire for direct linear connection is not conducive to Spirit. The land of the law often awaits those coming to Him with intellectual constraints as first order. Yes the doctrinal Word is what informs us of His truth and must be highly prized, never forsaken, always respected. But it can constrain us from fully partaking of the gift He has for us in enjoyment of Spirit if made the daily defining authority of our Christian reality. "For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness" Ps. 107:9.
I realize I am on dangerous ground here, and do not in any way wish to denigrate the true value of doctrine in any way. However I believe that the mental schema of a over balancing of the objective application to the Spirit is self limiting; especially if one lives in a predominantly doctrinal approach to a life in Christ. As in; if question A's answer is found in a direct linear path to answer B we will perhaps learn much about the result of our inquiries when B is arrived at, but gain little insight by the process. In other words the God given opportunity to engage in creativity and explore the inherent intuition of spirit, given by Spirit in the renewed mind, is limited on the track of the book bound. Spiritual joy and freedom is held in check when confined within a dust cover. The liberal fully observant and aware free and available mind of The Fathers insight given to us in His Word is not taken full advantage of when insisted upon by doctrinal precedences only. We have been given eternal life here and now, that we might display His Son in joy, for all the world to see. This will require a sense of our being; a felt sense in spirit of trust and faith regardless of the course of our life. That way is made clear by The Word's truth which we should never neglect.
Paul groaned within himself as he learned of the trap he was in in his flesh nature. "Retched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body [natural human Adam] of death" Rom. 7:24. The same trap we must overcome. This was realized in him and also should be in us, as manifested in the Spirit influenced emotions of the mind/inner man/spirit. Doctrine did not prove it to him or bring it about in the sense of realization of his regret, but a emotional experience made Him aware of great loss. And the answer to His great need was; "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". "For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" Rom 8:2. Ask this; if Paul groaned in a emotional sense wishing to escape from his own self [remember he was very doctrinal in background] his place of escape from the emotional burden he carried could not be by the knowledge he found in a mental/intellectual way only. But by subjectively entering into the object, a life in The Spirit of Christ, where he sensed his loss. He sought and found a cloud in the liberty of the grace of God as his present portion, a relief in love " I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me". And, "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with the spiritual" 1 Cor. 2:13. The glimpse of heavenly glory he saw, the entrance of Jesus Christ into the atmosphere he occupied, by sight and sound enriched a godly emotion, he viewed Jesus in all His glory, both here and in heaven. Grace as a sense of the presence of God comes to give life in the cloud. We simply must enter into it in faith. All that I am saying here my friends is; there must be a balance of perception. If one is objective based he risks being cold. Contrarily if mostly subjective he may be controlled by feelings which can be manipulated by the flesh's natural personality.
I think there is a balance to be found, and it is badly needed to meet the high standard afforded to a child of God. I will paraphrase some inspiration I read in my devotional in the following. "Remember the testimony of the Spirit in us is the contrary to the testimony of the Spirit to us. In me, He takes notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to us is", "Their sin's and iniquities I will remember no more" 1 Jn. 2:2. In the second we will find our spiritual life!
"If we make the objective doctrinal our standard, we will always fall short of the course of what we propose in our knowledge of the lofty plane we arrive upon. Any criteria we have for ourselves is proven failed by the knowledge of God's word. On the other hand , if we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in Heaven as the object of our subjective inquiries [knowing Him in a positional sense] we would prove the power of The Resurrection. Not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings viewed in the light of sound doctrine. But also in giving us strength to; "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Phil 3:24. Which is realized in the cloud of His Spiritual provision".
"The word of God teaches us union, but the person of Christ brings out all that we derive from union with Him; which is Spiritual and therefore subjective in nature. The word of God should always be our authority for the reflective realization of our position in Christ. But acquaintance with the Person [Jesus] by in and through Spirit confirms and manifests our position in the living God". H. Nouwen said: "The great paradox of the spiritual life is indeed, that the personal is most universal, that the most intimate is the most communal and that the most contemplative is most active". My friends we will find the freedom to enjoy the Lord using the light shined by sound doctrine upon the ever self expressive power that is eternally emanating from our God. Our way will be made clear as we are entering into the cloud of His Grace in spirit!
The objective positional truth should be obvious as one we must enter into by Spirit, in a subjective manner. "For we....worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" Phil. 3:3. This important doctrine declares; we are to be engaged in having a self awareness of our own person-hood, so as to be in touch with our positional mental/spiritual condition. Defined by God as that which is seen by Him as He views His Son. In other words He sees us in Jesus."God has raised us up together [with Christ] and made us sit together [with and in Christ] in heavenly places [a Spiritual existence] in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. The result of knowing this as truth by Spirit realized in the renewed mind [the only way we can approach God in worship] is our becoming aware that Jesus Christ is living out His life here on earth in us. He has transferred His life back to us by entering our spirit and mind, we are co-mingled. Allowing life by Spirit. This is the only life we have! It was simply necessary for the Father to arrange this circumstance for life in such a manner, as He is Spirit. The question we should all be asking ourselves is; why is it so hard to live in a positional reality in our walk upon this earth, manifesting this truth? And How is our lack of spiritual vision holding back the function of us in His body? Having a spiritual position as a awareness of life's condition, whether from our prospective our The Lord's is defined by its nature as; something somebody else did for another with no expectations of anything in return. In other words pure Grace. But the result should be, us living out the life of Jesus Christ. Held in that place forever by His Grace. How can we participate in such a glorious privilege when dealing with life itself in the present? We are enclosed in the Adamic flesh. Overcoming this road block of the propensity of a Adamic intellect prevailing in the flesh of our old personality, the old mind and soul, is a question that needs answering. I believe that the answer to that question and more is found by entering into the cloud!
The bible uses the symbolic picture of a cloud often for spiritual purpose. In fact cloud related phenomena are described as evidence of God's mighty, wondrous and inscrutable ways and in fact is a physical symbol of Spirit "And they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory" Matt. 24:30. And; "Then those who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with The Lord" 1Thess. 4:17. The most important image of the spiritual legacy we have received is found in Matt. 17, when Peter James and John go up to the mountain with Jesus. "While He thus spoke, there came a cloud and overshadowed them; and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son; hear Him. Peter says this voice in the cloud was from "His excellent glory". The Transfiguration was a purely Spiritual event.We can share that cloud experience in Spirit by faith in these words "hear Him". This cloud symbol is a metaphor given by God for us to have available a vivid apprehension of spiritual things which we may hopefully sometimes realize. There are many more cloud references to expand this spiritual symbolism. This important God given image is not perceived by doctrine alone. There must be more. Let us enter into the subjective, His cloud, to find it in spirit.
The metaphorical cloud is used by the bibles writers in order to illustrate aspects of their theological message. You could say clouds represent God's unlimited Spiritual extent. From sheltering shade to covering or concealment, speed and mobility as well as the abundant outpouring of the rain of His righteousness. Then there is the Theophanic cloud representing God Himself. The most common usage being the sign of God's presence in the pillar of cloud in Exod. 13:21-22. By these images we are encouraged I believe to not see our Christian experience broken down into doctrinal studies as duty, but entered into as life. What are we to do with knowledge once gained is the question? Spirit must come first for life to take place. For that we must have trust in the totality of His Word. Knowing doctrine will open this door. Subjective entrance by spirit will put us in the room. If we find an object in The Word, the subjective must be taken advantage of to realizes its worth. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace" John 16:33.
Clouds themselves are non-liner or subjective in nature; they cannot be put in a box like a doctrine. In the Word's observance of clouds we can see freedom, and subjectivity. The word Spirit is derived from the Greek for wind or breeze, also a non-containable phenomenon. Spirit's close relationship to the cloud as a metaphor should not be overlooked. Was The Lord trying to help us see something by using these illustrative non-objective symbolic metaphors for help in us understanding His nature? And therefore a clue as to how we might come to gain intimacy with Him; by the use of our God given reflection, of His image which inculde feelings and Spirit derived emotion. Granted there are unknowns in the cloud, no space constraints, no narrow path, they are expandable and move about in a unpredicted manner as in the wind of Spirit. "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" John 3:8. Our regeneration is likened to wind by Jesus, which can be recognized felt and heard, but which is beyond understanding. The cloud of His Spirit might prove unsettling even giving way to desperation if entered into with a fully objective doctrinal mind set in stone. His nature of Spirit requires other doors explored, to enter for full enjoyment. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts,[feelings emotion and spirit] to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. In the cloud the path to truth is always moving on His mighty wind.. A potentially frighting place for the word bound. The heavy weight of mans natural Adam desire for direct linear connection is not conducive to Spirit. The land of the law often awaits those coming to Him with intellectual constraints as first order. Yes the doctrinal Word is what informs us of His truth and must be highly prized, never forsaken, always respected. But it can constrain us from fully partaking of the gift He has for us in enjoyment of Spirit if made the daily defining authority of our Christian reality. "For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness" Ps. 107:9.
I realize I am on dangerous ground here, and do not in any way wish to denigrate the true value of doctrine in any way. However I believe that the mental schema of a over balancing of the objective application to the Spirit is self limiting; especially if one lives in a predominantly doctrinal approach to a life in Christ. As in; if question A's answer is found in a direct linear path to answer B we will perhaps learn much about the result of our inquiries when B is arrived at, but gain little insight by the process. In other words the God given opportunity to engage in creativity and explore the inherent intuition of spirit, given by Spirit in the renewed mind, is limited on the track of the book bound. Spiritual joy and freedom is held in check when confined within a dust cover. The liberal fully observant and aware free and available mind of The Fathers insight given to us in His Word is not taken full advantage of when insisted upon by doctrinal precedences only. We have been given eternal life here and now, that we might display His Son in joy, for all the world to see. This will require a sense of our being; a felt sense in spirit of trust and faith regardless of the course of our life. That way is made clear by The Word's truth which we should never neglect.
Paul groaned within himself as he learned of the trap he was in in his flesh nature. "Retched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body [natural human Adam] of death" Rom. 7:24. The same trap we must overcome. This was realized in him and also should be in us, as manifested in the Spirit influenced emotions of the mind/inner man/spirit. Doctrine did not prove it to him or bring it about in the sense of realization of his regret, but a emotional experience made Him aware of great loss. And the answer to His great need was; "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". "For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" Rom 8:2. Ask this; if Paul groaned in a emotional sense wishing to escape from his own self [remember he was very doctrinal in background] his place of escape from the emotional burden he carried could not be by the knowledge he found in a mental/intellectual way only. But by subjectively entering into the object, a life in The Spirit of Christ, where he sensed his loss. He sought and found a cloud in the liberty of the grace of God as his present portion, a relief in love " I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me". And, "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with the spiritual" 1 Cor. 2:13. The glimpse of heavenly glory he saw, the entrance of Jesus Christ into the atmosphere he occupied, by sight and sound enriched a godly emotion, he viewed Jesus in all His glory, both here and in heaven. Grace as a sense of the presence of God comes to give life in the cloud. We simply must enter into it in faith. All that I am saying here my friends is; there must be a balance of perception. If one is objective based he risks being cold. Contrarily if mostly subjective he may be controlled by feelings which can be manipulated by the flesh's natural personality.
I think there is a balance to be found, and it is badly needed to meet the high standard afforded to a child of God. I will paraphrase some inspiration I read in my devotional in the following. "Remember the testimony of the Spirit in us is the contrary to the testimony of the Spirit to us. In me, He takes notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to us is", "Their sin's and iniquities I will remember no more" 1 Jn. 2:2. In the second we will find our spiritual life!
"If we make the objective doctrinal our standard, we will always fall short of the course of what we propose in our knowledge of the lofty plane we arrive upon. Any criteria we have for ourselves is proven failed by the knowledge of God's word. On the other hand , if we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in Heaven as the object of our subjective inquiries [knowing Him in a positional sense] we would prove the power of The Resurrection. Not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings viewed in the light of sound doctrine. But also in giving us strength to; "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Phil 3:24. Which is realized in the cloud of His Spiritual provision".
"The word of God teaches us union, but the person of Christ brings out all that we derive from union with Him; which is Spiritual and therefore subjective in nature. The word of God should always be our authority for the reflective realization of our position in Christ. But acquaintance with the Person [Jesus] by in and through Spirit confirms and manifests our position in the living God". H. Nouwen said: "The great paradox of the spiritual life is indeed, that the personal is most universal, that the most intimate is the most communal and that the most contemplative is most active". My friends we will find the freedom to enjoy the Lord using the light shined by sound doctrine upon the ever self expressive power that is eternally emanating from our God. Our way will be made clear as we are entering into the cloud of His Grace in spirit!
Saturday, June 14, 2014
SAFELY WITHIN THE CIRCLE
Our anticipation of change often is underdeveloped therefore we can not appropriate what we are in the body of Christ, because of a limited expectation for growth. Is it due to our own lack of knowledge and vision? Who's fault is this? And how may we gain positive awareness that the changes taking place in us are in God's plan? I think most Christians who are serious about there spiritual growth will admit to being held back by many road blocks. Mostly those self inflicted. Really the result of our focus being on the apprehension of ourselves not in The Spirit but in the flesh. The presence of the old sin nature has been given the place of dominance. We have not lived in its death by the reckoning of the new nature and life which is in Christ. It was a wonder and a privilege to be made in the image of God, the greatness of our origin. Hence our unwillingness to depart from the personality of the first Adam. He walked with God under his own volitional influence. We would still like that privileged. So we are reluctant, and often choose to see the coming days in our old Adam's natural mind and leave our spiritual one undeveloped. So really then our slow arrival to true spiritual maturity is no ones fault except our own! Relegated to the sidelines of The Fathers desire for His children, which is a oneness with His Son in His Son's life as a partaker of it by faith. Short of this maturity as our current experience how are we to then regard ourselves? What is the alternative?
When I think back on some of the most important spiritual truths that came home to me in my struggle for deliverance from Adam; I viewed many of them with great trepidation. "Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling". First could it really be true that I am a living vessel for the expression of the Triune God Himself: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh [flesh, natural, Adam as unacceptable] hath He made us alive together [position, new life] with Him, Col. 2:13. Oh what a responsibility. How could I ever live up to that? But if the Word be true I am just that. "Your life is hidden with Christ in God" Col. 3:3; that is if your life is safe in the circle of His love. "For as many of you as have been baptized [filled with His Spirit] into Christ have put on Christ" Gal.3:27. Does this mean we must hold to a certain standard by our will, to live up to what He has done in us? Many have tried this way. All have failed. If that is true I also have been a great failure indeed. Just where in ourselves then do we gain the recognition of the heights of our position [life in The Son apprehended]? Held firmly in Jesus Christ in heaven, as he lives His life through us. This is Spiritual reality. After all we are His body so we must be living out His life. Each one of us as individuals. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus " Eph. 2:10. What a surprise it was to learn that the very purpose for my entire existence is to be a conduit for The Father to express Himself to all of creation; "We are 'partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world" 2 Pet. 1:4. How did he do that for us? By "sending His Son in the likeness of human flesh" Me created in His Son. He became like me. For His exclusive sight and vision, His Love, His thought of what mankind is to Him. Seen in his love for His Son, and all of it applied to me. God's view of me in His son was transferred to me; at and in the Death of Jesus Christ and then I was given a new life in the Spirit at His Resurrection; "we all with unveiled face [in awareness of who we are] beholding as in a mirror [seeing Jesus in us] the glory of The Lord" 2 Cor. 3:18. I was made alive forever more by Spirit in His Resurrection. Because of the great super abundant capacity of His love He made us to appear in His view, in His Son. It seemed impossible that He would have that kind of unending love for me. If my behavior be the judge anyway. But my reassurance comes by the Word only; "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil.2:5. It is to my shame that my thoughts do not reflect what must surely be a holy mind, but none the less it is in me because He said so; " I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me---I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me" Phil. 4:13, Amp. But how can I get to anyplace remotely close to a lifestyle, thought life, or behavior that is Christ like? The reluctance of my first Adam is so often in the way.
The answer to this very real and common dilemma for the Christian, who is needfully humbled enough, and is willing to accept his present controlling flesh weakness is: We can not carry the burden of the kind of effort it takes to be Christ like in our Adam personality, or in a normal human effort. This would merely be a performance; which is not of Spirit and therefore cannot please God. The life of Christ carried out, can only be done by Spirit. That is how God has accomplished it all for us in His Son, entirely in the Spirit realm. So should our Christian life be any different? We are safely within the circle of His providence, if truly born again. We must approach any godly character we may gain or be aware of as a gift which we found only by faith in the accomplishment of Jesus Christ for us! He holds our position before God. We can never look back at ourselves only death will be available in that view. So then are we really to think of ourselves; that perhaps we "ourselves" could possibly ripen enough to become over-comers? "Not that we are sufficient [because of the old personality] of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God" 2Cor. 3:5. After all it was Jesus Himself who overcame the world for us and all was in Spirit, except His death which He had to suffer for us, for judicial reasons. But we are left still here. Surrounded by our own sin nature. Dealing daily with the first Adam nature. But here is where the salvation we so desperately seek is found available. He is in heaven, in a no sin environment and has taken us there by manifesting our identity; which He has assumed for us at the Right hand of The Father; "And has raised us up together, [positional] and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. So any overcoming we may feel or take note of is on account of Jesus only and so can only be applied to ourselves by faith in His work alone! This is the position The Father has placed us in. He accomplished that in a body just like ours for all practical purposes while on this earth. Which according to The Father was necessary. As He The Son had to, just like we must, use His faith to insure obedience to the Father, nothing else would suffice, no other way would satisfy The Fathers Holiness! All other ways are of the flesh. Oh yes He became aware of His power, which He carried in Him on this earth life, but He did not use it to save Himself. He trusted completely in the Father. His was a pure Spiritual exercise. It was not His intuition that carried him through; but faith in the fact of the Fathers Words! Should we do any less? He had feelings of pain hardship even rejection. He was fearful and disillusioned. Abandoned by His friends at the last moments of His life. He died just as we were to, forsaken of God. In the greatest of human suffering, for that which we deserved. He in a fully human way faced the certainty of eternal death, but overcame by His own personal Spiritual faith in the promise of the new covenant written in His Blood, that The Father would Resurrect Him.. His act was counted as His own choice, that of a man by the Fathers plan. Counted and then inclusively applied to us for judicial purposes. Now giving us the option of having faith in a new life He has showed us. And all of it accomplished by a Man. Therefore mankind was made able to receive forgiveness. Pronounced redeemed; man was made "not guilty", he became justified! Not only that, man became capable of a entire new existence, one of Spirit; "For the law of the Spirit of life [seeing the true truth] in Christ Jesus made me free from the law[ manifested in our human flesh existence] of sin and death" Rom. 8:2. Jesus had our mind within Him, but He overcame it [the human mind] by faith. Because He was always one in Spirit with the Father, by faith. We must assume that position to be delivered, by faith. Where we would have and still will always fail in the natural non-spiritual, to grasp Christ Jesus as life, that is if we continue to live in the natural and not The Spirit. The Father simply cannot except anything of our flesh!! We must see our old life as killed on the Cross, dead and gone. In that Spirit, which is faith formed, is found the same oneness with God as Jesus has, which we have now been made capable of living in. This is the occupation of our mortal bodies with immortality; with all glory going to Jesus! Which He then gave right back to us as a brother, entered our being, and provided His life as alternate to ours, as only a brother would or could. It's our choice. I choose to believe, that Faith in biblical fact is Spirit derived and Spirit retained, as life. A repentance from my former self as a child of Adam siting in my sin nature.
This process which The Father went through in His Son brought about our reconciliation; to be brought back to a place of favor, fully accepted. Most Christians know of atonement; this old testament word means to be sheltered by The Blood. In the Church age this would be the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us, we are atoned by this act. Yes this is very true, we are sheltered by His Blood: but why stop there as many have? To do so is to rests in the comfort offered by man made religion, or subject ourselves to the vanity and pride of works and at the end we will find only ourselves. A grave disappointment awaits!
Reconciliation brings a new light, we were brought back to a right standing. This new nature we received is not one of the flesh. He did not die to make us better or even capable of being ideal conformed Christians in a earthly way. If we simply remain in our flesh, enjoying His atonement, we are like a piano being played, perhaps sounding good but never the less merely a product of manipulation; that of the flesh. We may be born again in Spirit, which is true of all Christians; but not spiritual. In a spiritual life Jesus Christ is our Constant thought. He is the object of life and we are subject to that life by a spiritual awareness that all we are or ever will be is sanctified in Him. We engage in complete trust of His guidance in all things. The world and things of the world hold no priority in our life. And His Word is our absolute guide. The life of the old nature has been eliminated by His death. We do not any longer need to live there! Yes I know friends we all have a ways to go and always will, but we must enter the circle to find the way.
Reconciliation is based upon the fact that the man [Adam] who dishonored God is removed from The Fathers sight. But a New Adam [Jesus Christ] stepped forward to honor The Father, bearing the judgement of death, which was due the old man. Then He was raised from among the dead to the Fathers right hand in glory in a representative status, as us. This reconciliation is shown in His Word. "For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all were dead: and that He died for all, that they which live [us] should henceforth not live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. From now on we know no man after the flesh; yes we have know Christ after the flesh, but now we no longer know Him in that way. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation [reconciled to God by becoming like Christ in spirit] old things have passed away; behold all things are new" 2 Cor. 5:14-17. My friends you could not live up to the Word of God in any way shape or form if you only recognized your natural nature. You must come to be dominated by The Spirit, the new creation of faith, otherwise you are remaining at rest as one atoned for: but not reconciled to God in your own understanding by a spiritual knowledge or awareness of your new creation in Spirit. What a loss indeed and the principal shortcoming of most believers. Whereas; who you are as a Christian is in fact formed in Jesus Christ, who is Spirit. He has become our life in God's reckoning. We must embrace this truth as our life here and now. This is the only existence you will ever know that could be called life, all other is only death: He will be our life. Count on it! Enter it by positional faith and identity in what The Father has accomplished in The Son. There is no other way to life. Most Christians bear out their entire lives in there original condition. Choosing to remain under the confines of the old Adam mind; they have volunteered unnecessarily to abide outside of the circle.
By succumbing to the change which has taken place by The Son in us by faith we will come to know: There is not even a glimmer of recognition by The Father, of the man of offense, us as natural Adam. The second Man, The New Adam, who took our place on the Cross is the only object of mankind before The Father. Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour must now come to know by this great sacrifice the Fathers love is fully toward us. There is not a vestige of the former man to observe in The Fathers sight. As we enter into this positional joy, being reconciled to God we must come to realize we are seen as Christ and only Christ before the Father. In that we are joint-heir's with Christ. Like The Son we have also become a son or daughter with equal standing and the same love with which The Father honors His own Son with. We are partakers of His unsurpassed love, by being safely within the circle of His Grace.
When I think back on some of the most important spiritual truths that came home to me in my struggle for deliverance from Adam; I viewed many of them with great trepidation. "Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling". First could it really be true that I am a living vessel for the expression of the Triune God Himself: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh [flesh, natural, Adam as unacceptable] hath He made us alive together [position, new life] with Him, Col. 2:13. Oh what a responsibility. How could I ever live up to that? But if the Word be true I am just that. "Your life is hidden with Christ in God" Col. 3:3; that is if your life is safe in the circle of His love. "For as many of you as have been baptized [filled with His Spirit] into Christ have put on Christ" Gal.3:27. Does this mean we must hold to a certain standard by our will, to live up to what He has done in us? Many have tried this way. All have failed. If that is true I also have been a great failure indeed. Just where in ourselves then do we gain the recognition of the heights of our position [life in The Son apprehended]? Held firmly in Jesus Christ in heaven, as he lives His life through us. This is Spiritual reality. After all we are His body so we must be living out His life. Each one of us as individuals. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus " Eph. 2:10. What a surprise it was to learn that the very purpose for my entire existence is to be a conduit for The Father to express Himself to all of creation; "We are 'partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world" 2 Pet. 1:4. How did he do that for us? By "sending His Son in the likeness of human flesh" Me created in His Son. He became like me. For His exclusive sight and vision, His Love, His thought of what mankind is to Him. Seen in his love for His Son, and all of it applied to me. God's view of me in His son was transferred to me; at and in the Death of Jesus Christ and then I was given a new life in the Spirit at His Resurrection; "we all with unveiled face [in awareness of who we are] beholding as in a mirror [seeing Jesus in us] the glory of The Lord" 2 Cor. 3:18. I was made alive forever more by Spirit in His Resurrection. Because of the great super abundant capacity of His love He made us to appear in His view, in His Son. It seemed impossible that He would have that kind of unending love for me. If my behavior be the judge anyway. But my reassurance comes by the Word only; "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil.2:5. It is to my shame that my thoughts do not reflect what must surely be a holy mind, but none the less it is in me because He said so; " I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me---I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me" Phil. 4:13, Amp. But how can I get to anyplace remotely close to a lifestyle, thought life, or behavior that is Christ like? The reluctance of my first Adam is so often in the way.
The answer to this very real and common dilemma for the Christian, who is needfully humbled enough, and is willing to accept his present controlling flesh weakness is: We can not carry the burden of the kind of effort it takes to be Christ like in our Adam personality, or in a normal human effort. This would merely be a performance; which is not of Spirit and therefore cannot please God. The life of Christ carried out, can only be done by Spirit. That is how God has accomplished it all for us in His Son, entirely in the Spirit realm. So should our Christian life be any different? We are safely within the circle of His providence, if truly born again. We must approach any godly character we may gain or be aware of as a gift which we found only by faith in the accomplishment of Jesus Christ for us! He holds our position before God. We can never look back at ourselves only death will be available in that view. So then are we really to think of ourselves; that perhaps we "ourselves" could possibly ripen enough to become over-comers? "Not that we are sufficient [because of the old personality] of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God" 2Cor. 3:5. After all it was Jesus Himself who overcame the world for us and all was in Spirit, except His death which He had to suffer for us, for judicial reasons. But we are left still here. Surrounded by our own sin nature. Dealing daily with the first Adam nature. But here is where the salvation we so desperately seek is found available. He is in heaven, in a no sin environment and has taken us there by manifesting our identity; which He has assumed for us at the Right hand of The Father; "And has raised us up together, [positional] and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. So any overcoming we may feel or take note of is on account of Jesus only and so can only be applied to ourselves by faith in His work alone! This is the position The Father has placed us in. He accomplished that in a body just like ours for all practical purposes while on this earth. Which according to The Father was necessary. As He The Son had to, just like we must, use His faith to insure obedience to the Father, nothing else would suffice, no other way would satisfy The Fathers Holiness! All other ways are of the flesh. Oh yes He became aware of His power, which He carried in Him on this earth life, but He did not use it to save Himself. He trusted completely in the Father. His was a pure Spiritual exercise. It was not His intuition that carried him through; but faith in the fact of the Fathers Words! Should we do any less? He had feelings of pain hardship even rejection. He was fearful and disillusioned. Abandoned by His friends at the last moments of His life. He died just as we were to, forsaken of God. In the greatest of human suffering, for that which we deserved. He in a fully human way faced the certainty of eternal death, but overcame by His own personal Spiritual faith in the promise of the new covenant written in His Blood, that The Father would Resurrect Him.. His act was counted as His own choice, that of a man by the Fathers plan. Counted and then inclusively applied to us for judicial purposes. Now giving us the option of having faith in a new life He has showed us. And all of it accomplished by a Man. Therefore mankind was made able to receive forgiveness. Pronounced redeemed; man was made "not guilty", he became justified! Not only that, man became capable of a entire new existence, one of Spirit; "For the law of the Spirit of life [seeing the true truth] in Christ Jesus made me free from the law[ manifested in our human flesh existence] of sin and death" Rom. 8:2. Jesus had our mind within Him, but He overcame it [the human mind] by faith. Because He was always one in Spirit with the Father, by faith. We must assume that position to be delivered, by faith. Where we would have and still will always fail in the natural non-spiritual, to grasp Christ Jesus as life, that is if we continue to live in the natural and not The Spirit. The Father simply cannot except anything of our flesh!! We must see our old life as killed on the Cross, dead and gone. In that Spirit, which is faith formed, is found the same oneness with God as Jesus has, which we have now been made capable of living in. This is the occupation of our mortal bodies with immortality; with all glory going to Jesus! Which He then gave right back to us as a brother, entered our being, and provided His life as alternate to ours, as only a brother would or could. It's our choice. I choose to believe, that Faith in biblical fact is Spirit derived and Spirit retained, as life. A repentance from my former self as a child of Adam siting in my sin nature.
This process which The Father went through in His Son brought about our reconciliation; to be brought back to a place of favor, fully accepted. Most Christians know of atonement; this old testament word means to be sheltered by The Blood. In the Church age this would be the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us, we are atoned by this act. Yes this is very true, we are sheltered by His Blood: but why stop there as many have? To do so is to rests in the comfort offered by man made religion, or subject ourselves to the vanity and pride of works and at the end we will find only ourselves. A grave disappointment awaits!
Reconciliation brings a new light, we were brought back to a right standing. This new nature we received is not one of the flesh. He did not die to make us better or even capable of being ideal conformed Christians in a earthly way. If we simply remain in our flesh, enjoying His atonement, we are like a piano being played, perhaps sounding good but never the less merely a product of manipulation; that of the flesh. We may be born again in Spirit, which is true of all Christians; but not spiritual. In a spiritual life Jesus Christ is our Constant thought. He is the object of life and we are subject to that life by a spiritual awareness that all we are or ever will be is sanctified in Him. We engage in complete trust of His guidance in all things. The world and things of the world hold no priority in our life. And His Word is our absolute guide. The life of the old nature has been eliminated by His death. We do not any longer need to live there! Yes I know friends we all have a ways to go and always will, but we must enter the circle to find the way.
Reconciliation is based upon the fact that the man [Adam] who dishonored God is removed from The Fathers sight. But a New Adam [Jesus Christ] stepped forward to honor The Father, bearing the judgement of death, which was due the old man. Then He was raised from among the dead to the Fathers right hand in glory in a representative status, as us. This reconciliation is shown in His Word. "For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all were dead: and that He died for all, that they which live [us] should henceforth not live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. From now on we know no man after the flesh; yes we have know Christ after the flesh, but now we no longer know Him in that way. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation [reconciled to God by becoming like Christ in spirit] old things have passed away; behold all things are new" 2 Cor. 5:14-17. My friends you could not live up to the Word of God in any way shape or form if you only recognized your natural nature. You must come to be dominated by The Spirit, the new creation of faith, otherwise you are remaining at rest as one atoned for: but not reconciled to God in your own understanding by a spiritual knowledge or awareness of your new creation in Spirit. What a loss indeed and the principal shortcoming of most believers. Whereas; who you are as a Christian is in fact formed in Jesus Christ, who is Spirit. He has become our life in God's reckoning. We must embrace this truth as our life here and now. This is the only existence you will ever know that could be called life, all other is only death: He will be our life. Count on it! Enter it by positional faith and identity in what The Father has accomplished in The Son. There is no other way to life. Most Christians bear out their entire lives in there original condition. Choosing to remain under the confines of the old Adam mind; they have volunteered unnecessarily to abide outside of the circle.
By succumbing to the change which has taken place by The Son in us by faith we will come to know: There is not even a glimmer of recognition by The Father, of the man of offense, us as natural Adam. The second Man, The New Adam, who took our place on the Cross is the only object of mankind before The Father. Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour must now come to know by this great sacrifice the Fathers love is fully toward us. There is not a vestige of the former man to observe in The Fathers sight. As we enter into this positional joy, being reconciled to God we must come to realize we are seen as Christ and only Christ before the Father. In that we are joint-heir's with Christ. Like The Son we have also become a son or daughter with equal standing and the same love with which The Father honors His own Son with. We are partakers of His unsurpassed love, by being safely within the circle of His Grace.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
SEEING HIM AS US, A NARRATIVE
We all remember the moment we entered into Jesus Christ and became born again. Although technically by God's Word, it would have been impossible for us not to have been saved right at that precise time; as we were called to be so before creation. "Even as He chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love" Eph. 1:4. This is not you as the gleam in your fathers eye before you were born. This is the perfect view of the infinite creator. And how would we ever be holy and without blemish, if not seen entirely in His Son? You could say our foreheads were marked for eternity, in eternity and all that we are and will ever be in Christ was revealed. Yes the experience of receiving eternal life in The Fathers estimation, started long before the day we accepted Him. He experienced us timelessly. In effect He had already accepted us, so "that life" was always ours in His view. He can see us, can He not, from His eternal throne into the the tense and pulsation of our lives; all our life before Him from beginning to end and all of it heavenly and in Spirit. It can only be heavenly and in Spirit for eternal purpose, as no presence of sin could be allowed. So our earthly life in Adam must be annulled. All has been completed in Jesus. Sometimes I wonder about all the effort we put forth to evangelize, promote and pamper our Christian calling. In the exercise of the Church's excitement and self imposed obligation there has been some shameful history. Making ourselves the fool on occasion, at least before the world. Of course with perhaps some justification. His will being done despite our motivations. Could it be possible even one person who is so marked, as in Christ, could go unsaved as a result of our lack of effort. So what is all the fuss about? Is it to be by mans self effort and personal vision that of doing what he thinks God wants him to, that God's will, will be accomplished? Program for this, program for that. Where is the glory to God in that?
Do you suppose one thing would change in God's plan for your life, or slow the world's system progress toward oblivion by any self effort made on our part? Is God's effort found in our self? I do not think I would deny the Word; " Sanctify The Lord in your hearts" 1Pet. 3:15. This means to see yourself as separate from the natural not a emotional feeling applied to us. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" Rom. 8:28. The calling for His purpose, not our self effort being key here. And that by His will. Even the smallest life effect or violent personal upheaval we experience is God's design. This would include of course the confusing apparatus the Church has become. I surely do not know how His will for that jumble of ideas, programs and interpretations can be made into His best purpose. Let alone the correct way to view what our assignment on this earth is at least as put forth by the institutions supposedly representing Him; mostly seemingly in their flesh. Nor how we will fit in His will precisely, running to and fro in a evangelical frenzy feasting upon the stimulus of sight and sound. How are we to be used by Him to accomplish the ultimate culminating of things here for His pleasure? But we know it will be done despite ourselves and we will perform our part somehow! Never the less I often remain dumbfounded at the folly we go through. Both on a personal level as well as institutional. That is why I must have another source for the value of my existence, one besides a organization. Not mans method of trying to be a part of His life. Something other than the everyday fostering of what we or others think should be conferred upon us to be the good and faithful boys and girls we are expected and are often being programed to become. No I prefer to be a rebel. Church programs and well intentioned plans leave me suspicious. I must question it all by challenging God to make me all that I can be as an individual. Or I should say all that He would wish for me to become. I will no doubt be what He wants! We have a example of that non-conformist attitude to pattern ourselves after in Jesus. After all He was thoroughly rejected by the status quo. I often wonder what would be the Church's reaction if He were to return and ask what he did of the earthly Jews in His neighborhood. Which was nothing short of complete sacrifice and a total humbleness, even the embrace of death for a brother. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul- life [first Adam nature] he cannot be my disciple" Luke 14: 26. Anyone! Let alone how would you react given the current spiritual/heavenly roll of the Church, if asked to leave all you have for a spiritual, ideal which is invisible and which you mostly thought would only be encountered in a life after the death of the only person you have ever really known, yourself? "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" Phil. 3:12. Paul was not thinking of worldly duty here. I think it is true, only a very brave and faithful man would follow such a route. But that is what was asked of the disciples by Jesus, and then later by Paul and by extension also us. A complete turning away from any allegiance to the world. Which only a new attitude of Spirit will provide. How are you doing with that?
If the Word of God is true, then The Father, in His Son ushered in a completely new era for man to interface with the Creator and the world, entirely by Spirit and entirely heavenly. "And [He] has raised us up together, and has made us sit together [with and in Christ's image] in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph 2:6. No longer a physical/legal duty bound quota to be filled. No longer a product of the earth. "Risen with Him through faith [a co-Resurrection] of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead" Col. 2:12. By this Word we my rest as the Word also says; " My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" Ps. 62:5. How do we step into the spiritual picture? What is the roll we will play? Are our expectations only of Him? And how are we to recognize we are in the right way? Ask yourself this: in any position we take in this life must we not first assume a identity; worker, boss, Indian chief. It all requires a vision of a outcome for success. A platform to stand upon. The same is true of the Christian fulfillment we all seek. That is made clear by Gods Word. " I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not evil, to give you an expected end" Jer. 29:11. How are we to know we are on the right track to His expectation? Is it found in the plethora of books and advise pored out of the world's printing presses and sermon pulpits? Oh yes perhaps some good will be found there granted. But He has a destiny for each of us and it has always been expected by Him. There can be no other outcome for us other than His will. To live or to die, in greatness or suffering, we are committed by His foreknowledge and told to wait in faith for all things. How does this work? He provided advise for our comfort by offering a piece of the puzzle when He Said: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil. 2:5. My friends can it be in any way possible that we may know who and what we are to do as Christian outside of the absolute command by The Father for us to have the mind of Christ Jesus. For this we simply must know who we are in Him. This can come by the only means man has of reassignment of himself; a mental change, a reformative image as prescribed by His Word. For that we must answer what seems the long lost question, and the only one of any value for life: just how do we acquire the mind of Christ?
The answer...... "drum roll"....... we only need turn to the mirror, look in our own eyes intently, and ask ourselves if we see Jesus Christ? Is there any recondition in the inner man of a identity which persuades you to have hope for a personally present life in Christ; outside of performance, duty, sight and sound. Not merely resting in our redemption and justification, but identified with Him in heaven personally, seeing Him in our own image. "But now in Christ, you who where once far off are made near by the blood of Christ" Eph. 2:13. The Word said we were made near, we only need to recognize it. "You are not your own, you were bought with a price". If you take these truth to heart, the fog of the first Adam will lift, and the turning will begin.
I prefer to see my way in the understanding of myself by His view. Its much more likely to be accurate! Jesus Christ became us, God Joined the Human race for the purpose of dispensing Himself into human beings. By His overriding prominent nature, one of love. He was predisposed to be a man. He identified Himself with us in complete sacrifice of His holy stature out of pure love! We only need trust by faith that this; His very self expression into humanity, was to transfer His righteousness to us; as what it is, a outward act of love. He accomplished this by forwarding it all in one deposit, in the human soul/flesh of His Son. Who thus became a God-Man. Who was and could be, obedient to death, so that the Judaical holiness of The Fathers perfection could be maintained. By way of a completion of His judicial personal righteousness. In the punishment to death of our collective sin nature, the human Adam personality, which always seeks it's own way. In the death of Jesus Christ; all of us, our sin and nature were poured upon Him, and then made gone in The Fathers judgement of us, forever. He is righteous! He doesn't need to know it, or hold it inward! We have become identified in Him by this righteous free flow of His power. This is not just by our recognition made true, but by His observance as the prominent place. He made the ultimate sacrifice to redeem us into the likeness of a perfect Son for His pleasure. Our reaction is to be by faith only. He has made His Son true as the image of man in perfect order. Faith is the only way we may please Him. By faith we may have a heart felt assurance that these events which surround His Son are being applied to us. He Jesus, has become us [the new Adam] for the Father who loved us and wished intimate fellowship with us humans. Who by His own act took on a new view of us, one of Spirit. And the only possible recognizable figure He can behold as to that representation is Jesus Christ, because He is Holy and perfect and a Spirit -Man. No act, ritual, or function on our part will suffice. The only roll for us to assume is one of complete resting faith in God's work on our part in His Son. Nothing more is required. Then God used the power of the Resurrection of That Son, to give us the hope for a faith in such a God who would do these great things. As Paul's said; "to know Him and the power of His Resurrection". That is the home of our identity! Remember it all hinges upon, by faith believing that a man who was Resurrected to heaven, and was by that as necessity, a Spirit Man. He Jesus, is now the only Adam creature [one formed as a man] The Father can see; "The second man". The first being eliminated in God's view, judged as gone. My good friends: It is when we see this truth and take it in trust, that we received it, not only an identity, but also a position. Christ as the object before The Father, and us seen in Him by the Father. He exists in His present form to represent you. We are positioned in God's sight in Him, the perfect Man. "Likewise, reckon yourselves to be....alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord" Rom. 6:11.
I have been criticised in the past for explaining a presence in Christ in a difficult fashion. I even attempted to seek a more adjusted phraseology for a simpler common purpose. But the deeper life is just that. It requires a person who wishes to live there life here in discernment of their own image as that of Jesus Christ. The very and only image which God calls us to. Some may wish to exercise there thought, the reward is overwhelmingly freeing. A substantive fellowship with the living God is in the offering, no less. A great gift for a little effort. Those with a deep desire are the ones I hope to touch. Seeing Him as us, a narrative.
Do you suppose one thing would change in God's plan for your life, or slow the world's system progress toward oblivion by any self effort made on our part? Is God's effort found in our self? I do not think I would deny the Word; " Sanctify The Lord in your hearts" 1Pet. 3:15. This means to see yourself as separate from the natural not a emotional feeling applied to us. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" Rom. 8:28. The calling for His purpose, not our self effort being key here. And that by His will. Even the smallest life effect or violent personal upheaval we experience is God's design. This would include of course the confusing apparatus the Church has become. I surely do not know how His will for that jumble of ideas, programs and interpretations can be made into His best purpose. Let alone the correct way to view what our assignment on this earth is at least as put forth by the institutions supposedly representing Him; mostly seemingly in their flesh. Nor how we will fit in His will precisely, running to and fro in a evangelical frenzy feasting upon the stimulus of sight and sound. How are we to be used by Him to accomplish the ultimate culminating of things here for His pleasure? But we know it will be done despite ourselves and we will perform our part somehow! Never the less I often remain dumbfounded at the folly we go through. Both on a personal level as well as institutional. That is why I must have another source for the value of my existence, one besides a organization. Not mans method of trying to be a part of His life. Something other than the everyday fostering of what we or others think should be conferred upon us to be the good and faithful boys and girls we are expected and are often being programed to become. No I prefer to be a rebel. Church programs and well intentioned plans leave me suspicious. I must question it all by challenging God to make me all that I can be as an individual. Or I should say all that He would wish for me to become. I will no doubt be what He wants! We have a example of that non-conformist attitude to pattern ourselves after in Jesus. After all He was thoroughly rejected by the status quo. I often wonder what would be the Church's reaction if He were to return and ask what he did of the earthly Jews in His neighborhood. Which was nothing short of complete sacrifice and a total humbleness, even the embrace of death for a brother. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul- life [first Adam nature] he cannot be my disciple" Luke 14: 26. Anyone! Let alone how would you react given the current spiritual/heavenly roll of the Church, if asked to leave all you have for a spiritual, ideal which is invisible and which you mostly thought would only be encountered in a life after the death of the only person you have ever really known, yourself? "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" Phil. 3:12. Paul was not thinking of worldly duty here. I think it is true, only a very brave and faithful man would follow such a route. But that is what was asked of the disciples by Jesus, and then later by Paul and by extension also us. A complete turning away from any allegiance to the world. Which only a new attitude of Spirit will provide. How are you doing with that?
If the Word of God is true, then The Father, in His Son ushered in a completely new era for man to interface with the Creator and the world, entirely by Spirit and entirely heavenly. "And [He] has raised us up together, and has made us sit together [with and in Christ's image] in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph 2:6. No longer a physical/legal duty bound quota to be filled. No longer a product of the earth. "Risen with Him through faith [a co-Resurrection] of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead" Col. 2:12. By this Word we my rest as the Word also says; " My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" Ps. 62:5. How do we step into the spiritual picture? What is the roll we will play? Are our expectations only of Him? And how are we to recognize we are in the right way? Ask yourself this: in any position we take in this life must we not first assume a identity; worker, boss, Indian chief. It all requires a vision of a outcome for success. A platform to stand upon. The same is true of the Christian fulfillment we all seek. That is made clear by Gods Word. " I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not evil, to give you an expected end" Jer. 29:11. How are we to know we are on the right track to His expectation? Is it found in the plethora of books and advise pored out of the world's printing presses and sermon pulpits? Oh yes perhaps some good will be found there granted. But He has a destiny for each of us and it has always been expected by Him. There can be no other outcome for us other than His will. To live or to die, in greatness or suffering, we are committed by His foreknowledge and told to wait in faith for all things. How does this work? He provided advise for our comfort by offering a piece of the puzzle when He Said: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil. 2:5. My friends can it be in any way possible that we may know who and what we are to do as Christian outside of the absolute command by The Father for us to have the mind of Christ Jesus. For this we simply must know who we are in Him. This can come by the only means man has of reassignment of himself; a mental change, a reformative image as prescribed by His Word. For that we must answer what seems the long lost question, and the only one of any value for life: just how do we acquire the mind of Christ?
The answer...... "drum roll"....... we only need turn to the mirror, look in our own eyes intently, and ask ourselves if we see Jesus Christ? Is there any recondition in the inner man of a identity which persuades you to have hope for a personally present life in Christ; outside of performance, duty, sight and sound. Not merely resting in our redemption and justification, but identified with Him in heaven personally, seeing Him in our own image. "But now in Christ, you who where once far off are made near by the blood of Christ" Eph. 2:13. The Word said we were made near, we only need to recognize it. "You are not your own, you were bought with a price". If you take these truth to heart, the fog of the first Adam will lift, and the turning will begin.
I prefer to see my way in the understanding of myself by His view. Its much more likely to be accurate! Jesus Christ became us, God Joined the Human race for the purpose of dispensing Himself into human beings. By His overriding prominent nature, one of love. He was predisposed to be a man. He identified Himself with us in complete sacrifice of His holy stature out of pure love! We only need trust by faith that this; His very self expression into humanity, was to transfer His righteousness to us; as what it is, a outward act of love. He accomplished this by forwarding it all in one deposit, in the human soul/flesh of His Son. Who thus became a God-Man. Who was and could be, obedient to death, so that the Judaical holiness of The Fathers perfection could be maintained. By way of a completion of His judicial personal righteousness. In the punishment to death of our collective sin nature, the human Adam personality, which always seeks it's own way. In the death of Jesus Christ; all of us, our sin and nature were poured upon Him, and then made gone in The Fathers judgement of us, forever. He is righteous! He doesn't need to know it, or hold it inward! We have become identified in Him by this righteous free flow of His power. This is not just by our recognition made true, but by His observance as the prominent place. He made the ultimate sacrifice to redeem us into the likeness of a perfect Son for His pleasure. Our reaction is to be by faith only. He has made His Son true as the image of man in perfect order. Faith is the only way we may please Him. By faith we may have a heart felt assurance that these events which surround His Son are being applied to us. He Jesus, has become us [the new Adam] for the Father who loved us and wished intimate fellowship with us humans. Who by His own act took on a new view of us, one of Spirit. And the only possible recognizable figure He can behold as to that representation is Jesus Christ, because He is Holy and perfect and a Spirit -Man. No act, ritual, or function on our part will suffice. The only roll for us to assume is one of complete resting faith in God's work on our part in His Son. Nothing more is required. Then God used the power of the Resurrection of That Son, to give us the hope for a faith in such a God who would do these great things. As Paul's said; "to know Him and the power of His Resurrection". That is the home of our identity! Remember it all hinges upon, by faith believing that a man who was Resurrected to heaven, and was by that as necessity, a Spirit Man. He Jesus, is now the only Adam creature [one formed as a man] The Father can see; "The second man". The first being eliminated in God's view, judged as gone. My good friends: It is when we see this truth and take it in trust, that we received it, not only an identity, but also a position. Christ as the object before The Father, and us seen in Him by the Father. He exists in His present form to represent you. We are positioned in God's sight in Him, the perfect Man. "Likewise, reckon yourselves to be....alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord" Rom. 6:11.
I have been criticised in the past for explaining a presence in Christ in a difficult fashion. I even attempted to seek a more adjusted phraseology for a simpler common purpose. But the deeper life is just that. It requires a person who wishes to live there life here in discernment of their own image as that of Jesus Christ. The very and only image which God calls us to. Some may wish to exercise there thought, the reward is overwhelmingly freeing. A substantive fellowship with the living God is in the offering, no less. A great gift for a little effort. Those with a deep desire are the ones I hope to touch. Seeing Him as us, a narrative.
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