Faith is a word often misused and even abused and rarely contemplated, at least as fact. Faith really has no measurable value to the unbeliever, and aside from hope for salvation has little practical worth to the Christian; unless that is of course, he knows his faith to be a fact which may be relied upon for life itself. Few see their Christian faith in this mode.
Our Christian power for the reckoning of eternal life rests not upon a faith which is merely a hope or wished for blessed life in the now, or a relief from what we were. Or even a belief in a soul aware life beyond the grave. No if the bible is truly the Word of God the facts therein will give us the strength we need to discover faiths true power. Which then strengthens us to live a life in Christ awareness; which is eternal in scope, and includes living the now in a active eternal position and reality by faith alone. A new birth to a new dimension, [eternal/heavenly] as entirely new creatures. "But you are not in the flesh [a natural person], but in the Spirit [the mind of Christ in you], if the Spirit of God dwells in you" Rom. 8:9. Which is what a Christian is really called to discover. Albeit it seems quite often he has no strength for the task. "I press forward for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Phil. 3:14. Just how do we find the faith to be the Christian the Word tells us we can and must be, but can not seem to become, no matter how hard we strive of our own effort?
There has been a virtual plethora of books on how to be the Spirit filled Christian man or women you are meant to be. But how about a book that tells you that you cannot be that person, in and of yourself [self effort] no matter how much you learn or how hard you try; at least within the self centered beings we are on the physical observable/experiential results oriented path most tread. "He [the Spirit] makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" Rom. 8:27. There is such a book. The bible clearly states: what we have become to God has been accomplished completely and exclusivity by His Son. "If Children then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ....if so we suffer with Him, [see/know His death is also our death to the flesh nature] that we may be glorified together [co-Resurrection and ascension]' Rom. 8:17. Our total roll in that action is only to believe by faith this is true and even that faith is a gift given by grace from God. We as natural humans played no part, except to merely exist. And the reward is being a privileged member of the Body of Christ before God in heaven.
So if we accept this truth about ourselves what is our life quest to be? How are we then to feel justified? We as Christians must be seeking by His Spirit, not our efforts feelings and experiences, a faith by which we become more self identifiably a person aware of oneness with God Himself "He in us we in Him". Him living in our conscience in faith backed by the facts of the Word. First we must concede to the fact. He is the Creator and before we were a spark of life he chose to enter His life into our souls consciousness: so we may become self actualized, mentally aware of His presences; making us who we are right now.... a child of God represented by His Son's image. And also inheritors of all that His Son Jesus Christ is to Him, as we are seen for all we can or ever will be to Him, in His Son. We will not learn by any means, to live naturally [performance/behavior] in such a position, we must simply accept it in faith held in knowledge. We must see ourselves as heavenly beings. Feelings, no matter how joyful, as definition do not enter into this equation.
This might be more simply put by saying: the relationship I am to be involved in my Christ life and define my Christianity is to be interpreted like meeting another person and knowing and understanding, immediately and deeply, that this individual belongs in my life, and in fact He is my life, by faith. And then to come to know that the person in this case is Jesus Christ and that by God's design I am to become self aware that my life is found in Him. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" 1 Cor. 15:49. One will only find this kind of life by the revelation of God in His Word. "That you may be filled with knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" Col. 1:9.
It really does come full circle. Always back to faith; therefore by previous definition, back to the discovery of the facts needed to build the mental image necessary, which can be arrived at only by faith. That new picture of our existence is the ideal and reality of our Christian life. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" 2 Cor. 3:17. How may we accomplish this day by day?
Just as with our creative endeavors in our worldly existence we require a vision for accomplishment, the same is true of our God ordained life in spirit, or you could say our heavenly life. So a vision must be formed in our mind before this new life can be lived. God has purposed in His Word to show us the way. "That I may know Him" Phil. 3:10.
The reality and vision available to us is God's, and He is full of all possibilities, His Spirit will guide. What enhances our view and vision and makes Christianity stand out for us is that reality/vision is written down in the bible. "Without a vision my people perish". The Word explains our existence and draws a picture of who we are and will become. Then why is it so difficult to live this way? Or worse; why do so many seem not to try, or even want to know? The answer is lack of knowledge on one hand, but the real culprit holding us back from the Christ life is our self. 'Walk in [dependence upon] the Spirit. and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the [self] flesh" Gal. 5:16. Remember the flesh is a person [old Adam] to be overcome by the Spirit of God in us, as the new Adam which we are in Christ, by faith.
I ran across a million dollar word for this condition "solipsism".....a egocentric view of life where reality is defined as a individuals own mental perception and constructs. This word perfectly describes the condition of man in the old nature or the natural human. The condition Christ died unto [out of the realm of], expressly for the Father, that He [the Father] might now view us anew in Him [Jesus Christ] the representative Resurrected New Man. He died unto what we were and are in the flesh, [egocentric] and now He lives in heaven to what we have and may become by faith as seen in God's ideal Man. We were given a new creation life in spirit [The Christ mind transferred to us]; a eternal living spirit. A life which is spelled out in the Word, which we may approach and live only by faith in the facts of that Word. "Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" 1 Pet. 5:6.
This faith life is a supernatural life, not works or experiences. It is well defined by another valuable word's description; sedulously....preserving under constant effort. That effort consistently being necessary because we live on this earth in the flesh [natural sinful] condition, which proposes that most of our faith effort to be self centered. We trust Him for this or that and believe as best we can, we will receive. That is not the faith the father seeks in the mature saint. The faith the Father has provided for us by His Spirit is one which has been first acquired in a mental image [vision] of the position we have been identified in the Lord Jesus. "God has raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. Not in a hoped for blessing for our personal enjoyment. No our constant effort must be in the cultivating of a admiration for the Lord and the supernatural biblical fact we are contained within Him. " Complete every activity of your faith, so that the Name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified in you" 2 Thess. 1:11. He is not a figure to be placed upon the alter and be seen from afar: but we become by this new-found supernatural faith appropriators of His presence before the Father and see His life as ours. We are His and He is ours.We are irrevocably amalgamated together "made complete in Him" Our presences is nothing less that His place. " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us, through the veil" Heb. 10:19,20. By knowing the Word, we see this truth, admire it, desire it, enjoy it and therefore by faith may receive it as vision and reality.
This faith truth can only be a realized life by the fundamental knowledge of the positional death of our old Adam nature. Then we may rest in the contemplation of the course of the New Adam the Father has chosen for His children. Jesus Christ will then become our life. Could any Christian wish for more?
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