It is our obsession with the normal that holds us captured in place. We actually fear the out of the ordinary. We have entered a self imposed inclosure and have gotten comfortable. We are a institutionalized generation unlike any previous. Our family's schools and churches all follow sets of rules and ingrained traditions that discourage individuality. We have learned to find order in a life as such, a comfort in the expected, and most remain there all their lives. It is as if we are locked in a prison room, we simply adjust, we become where we are. This is the life most live, not even knowing that they fear to come out of the ordinary, content in their chosen way. This self centered satisfied life works well for the intentions of the flock rulers....who's wish [often in benevolent form] it is that their power be maintained by a orderly and content citizenry and flock.
The imagination or visionary abilities humans posses if freed up are the catalysts for joining the joy of discovery, adventure and becoming unique, escaping the confines of the ordinary. But like all powers they are limited by the environment which we choose, one cannot start a fire underwater, no matter his desire for warmth.
The revelation of God we call the bible if personalized and taken to heart is a most radically discomforting document indeed; for those who have found comfort in the ordinary path. Have you ever wondered why tyrannical governments always ban or discourage Christianity or any free thought? They know it liberates the sheep. And that is why we also tend to approach it as we have been told to, holding ourselves in a safe place. Letting others guard the way, the system must not be upset. Most simply take for granted as proper the way they are shown, depending upon the guidance of the culturally institutionalized journey taken by those they look up to. We follow as good sheep should.
I for one have always thought of myself as one who wishes not to conform. I have observed the stifling ordinary spiritual and lifestyle conformity path many tread, and have often thought, please let there be more. Please God don't let me fall victim! But alas I too often find myself huddled with the masses comfy and warm as the pot boils, unable to be brave enough to escape the confines of my cell. How can I escape? How will I find the road less traveled?
It all starts with the mind, the only true place of our residence under our direct control on the earth. Our thoughts, our imagination, our vision, are uniquely individual. We are made in God's image. As He, we each have abilities instilled in our nature, which separate us from all others. Therefore we have a God given gift of possibilities, to come out of hiding and enter the out of the ordinary life. Just what does it take for us to enter this new grand design? To desire more and more the stimulation to become a living participator in the brave new world of the revealed revelation of God.
It is very evident we as humans have great power. The physical, scientific and technological developments of the history of mankind are self evident. Then why is it Christians are so satisfied with a ornament, great halls or emotional inducements as substitute for the greatest of all, the true power behind all progress, which is God's revelation of our very life in Christ. Intended by God to be lived as conscience and tasted of as life's essence. The revelation of a people after his own image, enclosed in the Spirit of His Son. We are given a mission by His Word to become not just members, but a conscious living organic union with Himself, the Holy God of the universe. We are to walk on this earth, not as messengers of truth for good only, but as the very Son of God, in whom we have been captured, positioned and identified with, in and as His Body. Can we ask for more? Do we really believe this? Will we give up our attachment to this world and our self content and needy personality's? If we do we gain the great gift of a joyful realized eternal life here and now: by a active participation of just what we were born to be. It is not religion we were given and not mere experience, certainly not duty obligation and membership, but a new life itself. We only must abandon all of our old self life, our present condition, to find it and come out of the ordinary!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
TAKING HOLD OF THE ADVANTAGE
Oblivion is the eventual of this earthly life. Most will not be remembered long, their existence forgotten over time. All that we are of a practical nature is captured here on earth. And all that we have accomplished in the natural world will eventually be as nothing. "Looking away [from all that would distract] to Jesus" Heb.12:2. No value can be applied to us who occupy the earth, as to a legacy we have left here that we may enjoy or apply in any conscious thought of ourselves at our exit from this sphere; upon taking up residence in our heavenly existence. Its not that there will be nothing someday it just that all that we are now, as seen and having been accomplished in our natural man will simply have no meaning. "Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you" 1 Pet. 5:7. Only that which is lived in the aware value/presence of God's Spirit identified with Christ Jesus will survive as life's final explanation. "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free" Gal 5:1. Our time here is not given by God for great accomplishments and the improvement of mankind, but to gain a mental cognizant image of a co-existence with our Lord Jesus Christ. But few indeed will give up their need for a confidence in the material world in exchange for freedom in Christ. "In Christ neither circumcision [legal duty material accomplishments] nor uncircumcision [self life, the natural flesh life and worldly comforts] but a new [positioned in Christ] creature" Gal. 6:15.
We must learn to dim down the constant chatter of the external world and come to recognize the reality and the eternal nature of our internal man, the new man we have become positioned in Christ. We may find this habitation [our identity and position] in the place we know best, our mind, by knowledge and faith of this truth. The knowing of our position hidden in Christ is crucial for any true growth and freedom! Yes a promise awaits those in Christ Jesus: but He came that we may know that promise as life here and now in these bodies, by the nurturing of our spirit in knowledge and faith of what he has made us to be. "A workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" 2Tim. 2:15. What awaits the Christian cannot be imagined, and if it could it would be of little use here: Except to instill a diversion to that which God desires for us to become in our spirit [mental consciousness and awareness] and soul [personality] by faith in the unseen, which shows itself as our only reality in the Fathers view, Him finding us identified in Christ. "Stand fast, therefore in the liberty [identified in Christ] with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke [world, law, duty] of bondage" Gal. 5:1
How is faith made truly meaningful here? So that our spirit may prosper. Forming a new identity at the expense of our natural flesh nature as earthly bound beings. How can we make it count so that it might comfort our soul, secure in the knowledge of our presence in Christ, as heavenly new creatures? "Now we have received the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" 1 Cor. 2:12 The Word of God contains the answers. We all have read it many times: but perhaps have not taken it to heart. Have not come to learn the meaning; as we have listened with the ear of the old man, who can only hear the natural, self centered narrative. The great inhibitor to our growth as new creatures is our consistent desire to perform by the ego centric nature, that which God through Christ has given to be only apprehended and lived by the Spirit formed renewed mind. Or the God imposed internalized knowledge and apprehension of being infused, positioned and identified with His Spirit. It's like love that waits to be given, it must be first felt, a intangible, which generates the tangible, we must reach out in faith to accept our heavenly citizenship, to receive the gift of the new Man, to take the advantage. "Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2 Cor. 3:18.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen" Heb. 11:1, is perhaps the most common version of this most important verse. The question is; what is the image and message that is formed in our mind when we hear it? First we must keep in mind that this verse and the whole book of Hebrews was written to a people who were steeped in Jewish tradition and formality. The Jewish Christians, much like most of the modern Church, were earth bound in their understanding, experience and personal appraisal. Like many today, they did not know they could obtain a new and heavenly life in the new nature by faith, and gain by that a complete re-defining of themselves.The attempt by the writer [probably Paul] was to turn them from the seen things of this earth to the unseen things of heaven. Requiring a faith that they are present before God in Christ for the explanation of their Christianity, positioned with Him there. That type of faith must become the only thing to be relied upon for any current realized true hope in this life or the next, anything else is a earthly imitation. So faith must take shape, be formed for any advantage to be received. The cultivation of faith is therefore called upon. It is worthy of all our time as an investment to discover the significances of this truth! No Christian life can be considered complete without pursuit of a presence in Christ; by counting in faith the death of our old nature on the cross and a new ascended life in Him. Which we then may live out upon the earth. "That....the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ" Eph. 1:17
Many Christians I believe are held back by a weak under productive faith, the human natural Adamic inherent inadequacy, which can only produces a counterfeit of faith's true revelation. We fail to perceive the true message by assigning it to ourselves, our own understanding. Then there is fear. The fear is first formed when we encounter that their is a power beyond words, introduced by the miracle of a new life. Then by that new birth we hopefully see we have been given a mandate for a entirely new personal mental evaluation of ourselves; by the Word's description of just who we have become."Not I but Christ" Gal. 2:20. Yet the revelation of our separation [self definition] from our earthly nature will not take root, "we are not of this world". The bible states the very Spirit of God lives in us and surely He is not of this world! Therefore we are powerful beyond measure; even if not aware, but fearful to give up the world. And become what we were born to be; inheritors of the heavenly, "hid in Christ", brothers of Jesus Himself, priests of God, Children of God. We have entered the very thorn room of God, by the representation of a position we hold in a Man, Jesus Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil.2:5. We have been made specifically to manifest the glory of God, even His thoughts of us.. All accessible only by faith and given by grace. By that glory growing and seen in us others may then see the Father. This is the way the Father has chosen to expose His glory to all of creation! "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [our mind/bodies] that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" 2Cor. 4:7. We must seek the truth about ourselves in the Word's revelation first, then step into the light of the life of new creatures we are by faith in the facts absent of fear, to reveal ourselves to a lost world. "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind" 2 Tim. 1:7.
The words substance and evidence from Heb. 11:1 requires deeper understanding if we are to enter into the life the Father has for us in his revelation of who we are. Substance gives confidence, and the hope for it makes it real, or acts as a test as to its reality. Hope is not yet faith. Faith says I have it. Faith is the reality, the confidence, the substantiation of hope, which is the precursor of our faith. Faith convinces us of things which we are not able to see, hence it is evidence. The Greek word for substance or substantiation means the real nature of things. Which is our actual presence before God as seen positioned/identified with Him. We must know and live this new life by faith. "For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] should all fullness [the believers existence] dwell" Col. 1:19.
Understanding this as true gives evidence or conviction of the necessity of faith to please the Father as to our spiritual conduct, or life, for the true believer. Unbelievers do not have hope nor a true spiritual identity in eternal life, they will always live in death with no hope, but we are people of great hope. The proof of the reality of our hope is in the fact of our "regeneration" into the living hope Jesus Christ. "As you have therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord [He is your life] so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him" Col.2:17 We may become new creatures in Him by faith now and ultimately we will be transfigured into a body of glory, just like His. Through the assurance of scripture we have hope in many things; first salvation, then eternal life and heaven and on and on it goes! Why not gather a firm faith from scripture of a living existence positioned in Christ? Our God is a God of hope who has given evidence and substance in this gift from His Spirit by sustaining us in a reality which is His Son and presenting Him as life in written Words. All of this can be know and lived, but one must turn away from the world as a source, for it to be applied as the wonderful advantage of Christianity. "Come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" Matt. 11:28.
Abraham is one example of a hope of Faith, which became alive in his sons birth. Our faith is so much more substantiated in the realty of Jesus Christ, the Word of God and by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We can have a even more firm conviction, as we have evidence and proof of God's gift by grace in His Son. Yet hope in things unseen, as with Abraham, is required, as the things seen here on earth are only temporary, while things not seen are eternal. "That I may know Him" Phil. 3:10.
We must learn to dim down the constant chatter of the external world and come to recognize the reality and the eternal nature of our internal man, the new man we have become positioned in Christ. We may find this habitation [our identity and position] in the place we know best, our mind, by knowledge and faith of this truth. The knowing of our position hidden in Christ is crucial for any true growth and freedom! Yes a promise awaits those in Christ Jesus: but He came that we may know that promise as life here and now in these bodies, by the nurturing of our spirit in knowledge and faith of what he has made us to be. "A workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" 2Tim. 2:15. What awaits the Christian cannot be imagined, and if it could it would be of little use here: Except to instill a diversion to that which God desires for us to become in our spirit [mental consciousness and awareness] and soul [personality] by faith in the unseen, which shows itself as our only reality in the Fathers view, Him finding us identified in Christ. "Stand fast, therefore in the liberty [identified in Christ] with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke [world, law, duty] of bondage" Gal. 5:1
How is faith made truly meaningful here? So that our spirit may prosper. Forming a new identity at the expense of our natural flesh nature as earthly bound beings. How can we make it count so that it might comfort our soul, secure in the knowledge of our presence in Christ, as heavenly new creatures? "Now we have received the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" 1 Cor. 2:12 The Word of God contains the answers. We all have read it many times: but perhaps have not taken it to heart. Have not come to learn the meaning; as we have listened with the ear of the old man, who can only hear the natural, self centered narrative. The great inhibitor to our growth as new creatures is our consistent desire to perform by the ego centric nature, that which God through Christ has given to be only apprehended and lived by the Spirit formed renewed mind. Or the God imposed internalized knowledge and apprehension of being infused, positioned and identified with His Spirit. It's like love that waits to be given, it must be first felt, a intangible, which generates the tangible, we must reach out in faith to accept our heavenly citizenship, to receive the gift of the new Man, to take the advantage. "Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2 Cor. 3:18.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen" Heb. 11:1, is perhaps the most common version of this most important verse. The question is; what is the image and message that is formed in our mind when we hear it? First we must keep in mind that this verse and the whole book of Hebrews was written to a people who were steeped in Jewish tradition and formality. The Jewish Christians, much like most of the modern Church, were earth bound in their understanding, experience and personal appraisal. Like many today, they did not know they could obtain a new and heavenly life in the new nature by faith, and gain by that a complete re-defining of themselves.The attempt by the writer [probably Paul] was to turn them from the seen things of this earth to the unseen things of heaven. Requiring a faith that they are present before God in Christ for the explanation of their Christianity, positioned with Him there. That type of faith must become the only thing to be relied upon for any current realized true hope in this life or the next, anything else is a earthly imitation. So faith must take shape, be formed for any advantage to be received. The cultivation of faith is therefore called upon. It is worthy of all our time as an investment to discover the significances of this truth! No Christian life can be considered complete without pursuit of a presence in Christ; by counting in faith the death of our old nature on the cross and a new ascended life in Him. Which we then may live out upon the earth. "That....the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ" Eph. 1:17
Many Christians I believe are held back by a weak under productive faith, the human natural Adamic inherent inadequacy, which can only produces a counterfeit of faith's true revelation. We fail to perceive the true message by assigning it to ourselves, our own understanding. Then there is fear. The fear is first formed when we encounter that their is a power beyond words, introduced by the miracle of a new life. Then by that new birth we hopefully see we have been given a mandate for a entirely new personal mental evaluation of ourselves; by the Word's description of just who we have become."Not I but Christ" Gal. 2:20. Yet the revelation of our separation [self definition] from our earthly nature will not take root, "we are not of this world". The bible states the very Spirit of God lives in us and surely He is not of this world! Therefore we are powerful beyond measure; even if not aware, but fearful to give up the world. And become what we were born to be; inheritors of the heavenly, "hid in Christ", brothers of Jesus Himself, priests of God, Children of God. We have entered the very thorn room of God, by the representation of a position we hold in a Man, Jesus Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Phil.2:5. We have been made specifically to manifest the glory of God, even His thoughts of us.. All accessible only by faith and given by grace. By that glory growing and seen in us others may then see the Father. This is the way the Father has chosen to expose His glory to all of creation! "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [our mind/bodies] that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" 2Cor. 4:7. We must seek the truth about ourselves in the Word's revelation first, then step into the light of the life of new creatures we are by faith in the facts absent of fear, to reveal ourselves to a lost world. "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind" 2 Tim. 1:7.
The words substance and evidence from Heb. 11:1 requires deeper understanding if we are to enter into the life the Father has for us in his revelation of who we are. Substance gives confidence, and the hope for it makes it real, or acts as a test as to its reality. Hope is not yet faith. Faith says I have it. Faith is the reality, the confidence, the substantiation of hope, which is the precursor of our faith. Faith convinces us of things which we are not able to see, hence it is evidence. The Greek word for substance or substantiation means the real nature of things. Which is our actual presence before God as seen positioned/identified with Him. We must know and live this new life by faith. "For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] should all fullness [the believers existence] dwell" Col. 1:19.
Understanding this as true gives evidence or conviction of the necessity of faith to please the Father as to our spiritual conduct, or life, for the true believer. Unbelievers do not have hope nor a true spiritual identity in eternal life, they will always live in death with no hope, but we are people of great hope. The proof of the reality of our hope is in the fact of our "regeneration" into the living hope Jesus Christ. "As you have therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord [He is your life] so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him" Col.2:17 We may become new creatures in Him by faith now and ultimately we will be transfigured into a body of glory, just like His. Through the assurance of scripture we have hope in many things; first salvation, then eternal life and heaven and on and on it goes! Why not gather a firm faith from scripture of a living existence positioned in Christ? Our God is a God of hope who has given evidence and substance in this gift from His Spirit by sustaining us in a reality which is His Son and presenting Him as life in written Words. All of this can be know and lived, but one must turn away from the world as a source, for it to be applied as the wonderful advantage of Christianity. "Come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" Matt. 11:28.
Abraham is one example of a hope of Faith, which became alive in his sons birth. Our faith is so much more substantiated in the realty of Jesus Christ, the Word of God and by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We can have a even more firm conviction, as we have evidence and proof of God's gift by grace in His Son. Yet hope in things unseen, as with Abraham, is required, as the things seen here on earth are only temporary, while things not seen are eternal. "That I may know Him" Phil. 3:10.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
TRUTH'S EFFECT
"He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" Phil 1:6. The word regeneration as reference to our born again experience is not the remaking of our old Adam spirit; but a retentively new life. Our spirit is the center of our personality, think of it as the motivator for who you are. In the case of the Christian it has been re-created entirely new and taken possession of by the Holy Spirit."Take my yoke [possessed and controlled] upon you....and you shall find rest for your souls [personality or defined being]". Matt. 11:29/
The realization of this completely new person we have become is taken or formed in stages. This is by God's design: a converting of our mental self-evaluation into the image of His Son while we live on the earth. The permanent Holy Spirit established center of our new being must be given opportunity to form as a experiential reality by faith. The reason God has chosen to use a slow process is because He loves us and respects us as individual essential persons. In other words: He respects our humaneness and our entire being, as His created natural children or our basic self; as well as having created us anew as creatures in Christ, the inevitable result of His Son's complete experience [death, burial, Resurrection, Ascension], in which we are co-participators by His design. "That we shall serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter" Rom. 7:6. By that truth becoming a known dispersion [intellectual/spiritual assent] from the Father into our being we may see a true Christian identity and will learn to become in a mental understanding new creatures by actively/spiritually/mentally living in His Spirit. Yet He has made us to be always who we are throughout eternity and loves us as just that, the person who we are. The essential self still defines us even in the new creation body or new Adam personality and spirit. In other words we remain who we are but will come to see our life entirely defined in Jesus Christ, either here by acknowledging His Word as true of us in the faith of it, or in the hereafter. Gods intent for us is always conversion to His Son's image! "Being made free from sin we have become servants of righteousness" Rom. 6:18.
God uses the natural supply we have been given to grow Himself in us. How wonderful and how like a Father to be patient throughout the growing up process. You see my friends the laws of nature as inspired by grace require such a way for Him, to extend Himself, grow His presence, through all the circumstance of our being.
Most Christian, whether aware or not, are encouraged by the Church to perform in a way demonstrated by Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospels. He was on the earth he lived in a most admirable way and we are told to emulate Him. The problem with this approach is; if one is not prepared by the Word to see themselves positioned in glory as a new heavenly creature, holders of the faith of Jesus Christ representing their presence there as their true identity, then they only have the power of themselves to work with. "But now we are delivered from the law" Rom:7:6. We cannot appropriate His perfection without conscious union which is only found in the faith of oneness with Him. This requires the transfer of the Mind of God to our mind; a conditioning of our personality to the explanation of our presence in Christ, Him as our actual being, alive in His Spirit. Believed and made real in the faith of our understanding by the Word of God. "Set you affections on things above....for you died and you life is hidden with Christ in God" Col:3:2,3. In other words we are only enabled to walk as He walked by a union and fellowship with Him in awareness of the glory we have been given as those being in His presence. "Hidden in Christ with God', a citizen of heaven. All brought about by His Spirit in us by faith.
There is a certainty in a truth, that is its nature. A truth has a effect. No one truth can produce the same effect as another, each has a new result. Living out our lives we become aware of our lack to abide in the truth, because we fail. But always the truth is measured, and its accepted, tested and disclosed by how it is practically manifested. Not by function, but by mental/spiritual acquiescence to our perfect union with the Father in Christ.
The Resurrected and Ascended glory of Jesus Christ is a admitted truth for any Christian who is a true believer, but if we really knew Him in glory or Ascension we would be forever changed; marked by that truth! "For I reckon [count true] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be reveled in us" Rom. 8:18. We are all aware of man's weakness, we sin, we die and we experience distance from God in our natural state; but to know a Man in glory, a Man who has been accepted by the Father in moral perfection, this is a revelation. A Man formed of flesh like us, residing in glory is a truth that few are conversant with; at least as to how it might imparts life to themselves as a current conscious union with Christ. "Being filled with fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God' Phil. 1:11. The Word however has made clear that as we come to know Him in glory and that by the Spirit we may become superior and maintain a distance from the natural man; we may then by that knowledge and faith in this truth become morally suited or positioned and identified to the glory to which we are associated with Him in heaven. As the Word has made clear; we are new creatures, "hidden in Christ" and "accepted in The Beloved". Quite simply this is the reality of the Christian experience from the Mind of the Father. All our earthly performance and life of a Christian identity must stem from this truth. "But rejoice in that you are partakers of Christ sufferings [co-crucifixion and death], that, when His Glory shall be revealed [you partake of His identity], you may be glad with exceeding joy" 1 Peter 4:3.
The source of the Christian life is a Person who has entered the presence of the Father in all the attributes expected and necessary for man, one of sinless perfection. Until one knows himself seen by the Father in this Man before Him one cannot be truly delivered from the conscience of a earthy nature. We as Christians must come to apprehend our life as one seen in Christ by the father as His satisfaction and the complete and actual Representation of us. Which is the only way God can contemplate us as His accepted children. "That the name [His very presence in you] of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" 2 Thess. 1:12. Therefore in the faith of that positional understanding we gain the distinct sense of belonging to a Man [Jesus Christ] and become identified with Him in heaven. We are thus separated in our conscience thought [the appraisal of ourselves] from men of the earth, even though we still reside in these bodies here. These are all Spiritual truths and the only reality by which we may gain a true consciousness of a presence in Christ, by the Fathers design! "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free" Gal. 5:1 You will find the door to this, our Christian reality, by studying and reading the Word of God, no other way! The lack of wiliness by the average Christian to engage the Spirit within him by the Word is the reason for the plague of spiritual defeat taking place in the life of much of the Church. "Study to show yourself approved".
Our function on this earth is therefore not about building a community or servicing the needs of others. Yes good deeds are condoned, but by them we often turn inward; if they are the primary motivator for our faith. The Christian identity must not be held to a earthly moral persuasion; that has been the source of much shame for Christianity, by the hypocrisy it has so naturally generated. We all must know that on some level as the world media is always happy to remind us of our frequent failures. We must become separated from that fleshly natural condition and conduct ourselves by a new awareness of our presence on the earth as beheld by God, "hidden in Christ" and taking His identity by faith as our own. This spiritual apprehension will then furnish a path for the Christian life formed by Spirit and not one of the flesh. " Holding forth the Word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain [a earthly identity], neither labored in vain" Phil. 2:16
We may feel thoroughly satisfied with the gift of our salvation, assured of a heavenly path upon our earthly demise, but we remain associated there with the earthly man. But to know the Saviour in the condition of His glory is another matter. One may see the Father's satisfaction that our debt has been paid in the Son, but this requires a constant reminder in order to enjoy the experience. Whereas if we are in union with the Person who paid our debt in which the Fathers satisfaction for us is expressed, we may rest in the shelter of our heavenly citizenship. We are home! "That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" Phil. 2:15.
The true truth seeker should be seeking to be transferred in his thoughts, effected by faith to the place of the Saviour, coming to know of their acceptance in the Beloved; where we are set aside from the old nature and the ruin of a earthly existences, re-defined in Him, abiding in glory as the spiritual/heavenly new creature we have been made to be by God, hidden in Christ. By coming to know ourselves in union with Him in newness we are thus enabled by Him to be like Him as we dwell here. Then we will walk as He walked [one with the Father] and His life [oneness with the Father]will be manifested in us as we tread the path of happy destiny upon the earth. The reading of a essay by J.B. Stoney inspired this blog.
One last personal note: We will always be the same tomorrow as we are today, except for the transference made in us by the Word of God and the fellowship we engage in!
The realization of this completely new person we have become is taken or formed in stages. This is by God's design: a converting of our mental self-evaluation into the image of His Son while we live on the earth. The permanent Holy Spirit established center of our new being must be given opportunity to form as a experiential reality by faith. The reason God has chosen to use a slow process is because He loves us and respects us as individual essential persons. In other words: He respects our humaneness and our entire being, as His created natural children or our basic self; as well as having created us anew as creatures in Christ, the inevitable result of His Son's complete experience [death, burial, Resurrection, Ascension], in which we are co-participators by His design. "That we shall serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter" Rom. 7:6. By that truth becoming a known dispersion [intellectual/spiritual assent] from the Father into our being we may see a true Christian identity and will learn to become in a mental understanding new creatures by actively/spiritually/mentally living in His Spirit. Yet He has made us to be always who we are throughout eternity and loves us as just that, the person who we are. The essential self still defines us even in the new creation body or new Adam personality and spirit. In other words we remain who we are but will come to see our life entirely defined in Jesus Christ, either here by acknowledging His Word as true of us in the faith of it, or in the hereafter. Gods intent for us is always conversion to His Son's image! "Being made free from sin we have become servants of righteousness" Rom. 6:18.
God uses the natural supply we have been given to grow Himself in us. How wonderful and how like a Father to be patient throughout the growing up process. You see my friends the laws of nature as inspired by grace require such a way for Him, to extend Himself, grow His presence, through all the circumstance of our being.
Most Christian, whether aware or not, are encouraged by the Church to perform in a way demonstrated by Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospels. He was on the earth he lived in a most admirable way and we are told to emulate Him. The problem with this approach is; if one is not prepared by the Word to see themselves positioned in glory as a new heavenly creature, holders of the faith of Jesus Christ representing their presence there as their true identity, then they only have the power of themselves to work with. "But now we are delivered from the law" Rom:7:6. We cannot appropriate His perfection without conscious union which is only found in the faith of oneness with Him. This requires the transfer of the Mind of God to our mind; a conditioning of our personality to the explanation of our presence in Christ, Him as our actual being, alive in His Spirit. Believed and made real in the faith of our understanding by the Word of God. "Set you affections on things above....for you died and you life is hidden with Christ in God" Col:3:2,3. In other words we are only enabled to walk as He walked by a union and fellowship with Him in awareness of the glory we have been given as those being in His presence. "Hidden in Christ with God', a citizen of heaven. All brought about by His Spirit in us by faith.
There is a certainty in a truth, that is its nature. A truth has a effect. No one truth can produce the same effect as another, each has a new result. Living out our lives we become aware of our lack to abide in the truth, because we fail. But always the truth is measured, and its accepted, tested and disclosed by how it is practically manifested. Not by function, but by mental/spiritual acquiescence to our perfect union with the Father in Christ.
The Resurrected and Ascended glory of Jesus Christ is a admitted truth for any Christian who is a true believer, but if we really knew Him in glory or Ascension we would be forever changed; marked by that truth! "For I reckon [count true] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be reveled in us" Rom. 8:18. We are all aware of man's weakness, we sin, we die and we experience distance from God in our natural state; but to know a Man in glory, a Man who has been accepted by the Father in moral perfection, this is a revelation. A Man formed of flesh like us, residing in glory is a truth that few are conversant with; at least as to how it might imparts life to themselves as a current conscious union with Christ. "Being filled with fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God' Phil. 1:11. The Word however has made clear that as we come to know Him in glory and that by the Spirit we may become superior and maintain a distance from the natural man; we may then by that knowledge and faith in this truth become morally suited or positioned and identified to the glory to which we are associated with Him in heaven. As the Word has made clear; we are new creatures, "hidden in Christ" and "accepted in The Beloved". Quite simply this is the reality of the Christian experience from the Mind of the Father. All our earthly performance and life of a Christian identity must stem from this truth. "But rejoice in that you are partakers of Christ sufferings [co-crucifixion and death], that, when His Glory shall be revealed [you partake of His identity], you may be glad with exceeding joy" 1 Peter 4:3.
The source of the Christian life is a Person who has entered the presence of the Father in all the attributes expected and necessary for man, one of sinless perfection. Until one knows himself seen by the Father in this Man before Him one cannot be truly delivered from the conscience of a earthy nature. We as Christians must come to apprehend our life as one seen in Christ by the father as His satisfaction and the complete and actual Representation of us. Which is the only way God can contemplate us as His accepted children. "That the name [His very presence in you] of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" 2 Thess. 1:12. Therefore in the faith of that positional understanding we gain the distinct sense of belonging to a Man [Jesus Christ] and become identified with Him in heaven. We are thus separated in our conscience thought [the appraisal of ourselves] from men of the earth, even though we still reside in these bodies here. These are all Spiritual truths and the only reality by which we may gain a true consciousness of a presence in Christ, by the Fathers design! "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free" Gal. 5:1 You will find the door to this, our Christian reality, by studying and reading the Word of God, no other way! The lack of wiliness by the average Christian to engage the Spirit within him by the Word is the reason for the plague of spiritual defeat taking place in the life of much of the Church. "Study to show yourself approved".
Our function on this earth is therefore not about building a community or servicing the needs of others. Yes good deeds are condoned, but by them we often turn inward; if they are the primary motivator for our faith. The Christian identity must not be held to a earthly moral persuasion; that has been the source of much shame for Christianity, by the hypocrisy it has so naturally generated. We all must know that on some level as the world media is always happy to remind us of our frequent failures. We must become separated from that fleshly natural condition and conduct ourselves by a new awareness of our presence on the earth as beheld by God, "hidden in Christ" and taking His identity by faith as our own. This spiritual apprehension will then furnish a path for the Christian life formed by Spirit and not one of the flesh. " Holding forth the Word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain [a earthly identity], neither labored in vain" Phil. 2:16
We may feel thoroughly satisfied with the gift of our salvation, assured of a heavenly path upon our earthly demise, but we remain associated there with the earthly man. But to know the Saviour in the condition of His glory is another matter. One may see the Father's satisfaction that our debt has been paid in the Son, but this requires a constant reminder in order to enjoy the experience. Whereas if we are in union with the Person who paid our debt in which the Fathers satisfaction for us is expressed, we may rest in the shelter of our heavenly citizenship. We are home! "That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" Phil. 2:15.
The true truth seeker should be seeking to be transferred in his thoughts, effected by faith to the place of the Saviour, coming to know of their acceptance in the Beloved; where we are set aside from the old nature and the ruin of a earthly existences, re-defined in Him, abiding in glory as the spiritual/heavenly new creature we have been made to be by God, hidden in Christ. By coming to know ourselves in union with Him in newness we are thus enabled by Him to be like Him as we dwell here. Then we will walk as He walked [one with the Father] and His life [oneness with the Father]will be manifested in us as we tread the path of happy destiny upon the earth. The reading of a essay by J.B. Stoney inspired this blog.
One last personal note: We will always be the same tomorrow as we are today, except for the transference made in us by the Word of God and the fellowship we engage in!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
LIVING ON THE DIVINE SIDE
"The Lord grant that we may each of us be more awakened to the futility of accepting the Word of God with the mind of men. Many think that because they have the light of truth they are in the reality of of it. No! You may know the whole Bible, and have much light, but there is no growth beyond the measure of the Spirits work in you" J. B. Stoney.
How little we consider the feelings of others. We live mostly for ourselves, few can deny! That includes our thoughts as to how the Father not only see's us but also His emotions toward us, His view of us, His Love for us. Think of your own children and loved ones, if they only knew truly how you care and could take into account the depth of your feelings and apply it to their life, the possibilities for the advancement of their security would likely be very enhanced. Oh if they could only enter our mind and think of themselves with the loving thoughts we have there for them.
In the case of The Father the means for provision of His very thoughts and feelings are available in His Word, but how few really take advantage. Why dear friends do we relegate ourselves to our own self centered limited mind when we have the side of God's thought toward us so available in His Word written expressly to us?
All that we are as Christians comes from one source which is the heart of the Father. We must come to connect His thoughts with our heart, subscribing to the position He has placed us in, not just the benefits which He has provided. Merely being dependent upon the relief we all encounter when saved :otherwise we are not established. Yes granted we are free from death, given a new life of possibilities to gain. But most importantly we now may partake of a new kind of love. The Love of the Father. In other words it is not only His gifts His power, His greatness, or our relief, but it is the direction of His love toward us, shown in the great sacrifice for us of His Son where we may find the divine side of life to live within. The law demands a certain life style and behavior, but the grace side declares the Father's love. We will find that side by viewing His Son just as He does, that is where the interpretation of His love resides, declared in His Word. "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. Could it be more clear where we must seek His thoughts?
Entering into the side of Him which sheds light upon His love toward us, His applying the very image of His Son to us, requires a most important beginning; the disregarding as to identity of the effect of the flesh personality, and replacing it with a vision of our presence in His Son by faith that it is true. "Old things [our natural nature] are passed away; all things [our new nature by faith in Jesus as our life] have become new" 2 Cor.5:17.
The sanctuary we all should be seeking is the knowledge of our place in the Fathers presence. That place of rest will not be found in the mind of the personality of the old nature; so it must be shed or exchanged for the new nature we have in Christ, then rested in as a position we hold by faith in eternity, which defines us in the present. The old nature must be set aside for it is dead in the judgement of God. But for that to take place we must thoroughly be in the new, which requires a awareness of who we are as defined to be by His Word. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide [live full time] in Me" John 15:4.
"Our new life is one spirit with Him: a living branch abiding in the True Vine. As we learn to rest upon this fact of our position in Him, abiding becomes our restful attitude" C. A. Coates 1862-1945. But alas until we know the corruption in ourselves, the permanent condition of our old Adam's sin nature, we will not find the enjoyment of the freedom of the new Adam. "But now in Christ Jesus you whom were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ" Eph. 2:13. "Most of us lean it by experience, seeing and feeling the depth's to which the flesh carries us" J. B. Stoney. The modern world of psychology seeks to sooth our condition, and the institutional church experience often provides a diversion. We are lead to service and tradition or become preoccupied with our gifts, thereby covering the approach to relationship which features Him as life: we remain cloaked in the wardrobe of the old nature. The Son's life as ours is only apprehended by awareness of our position in Christ, brought to light by embracing the condition of the weakness of the flesh, and then by faith trusting in its death with Jesus Christ on the Cross, and a new life fully contained in Him. "And I count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus , My Lord" Phil. 3:8.
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing" John 15:5. We must come to know that the living in Him cannot ever be accomplished in a Christian as a way of life or any personal awareness unless one comes to see himself in the light of the defining Word of God by faith.. In other words; our personal presence upon being self examined must be found to be as a living heavenly member of Jesus Christ's Body , again in Faith.. With no connection, as to our divine life which allows any connection as to identity with the world system or the flesh. My brothers and sisters we must come to be who we are! "The Holy Spirit ministers to our mind of true faith via the Word, and He conditions our heart via our daily experience". In other words our mind may have knowledge of being positioned in Christ but in our natural flesh experiences, the condition of sin, we are held captive. Faith in our role as His children as portrayed by the Word of God is the way out. We must by this knowledge learn to accept that any freedom we have is entirely in Christ Jesus, and that the maintenance of that living union with Him is very distinctly and completely the work of divine power. The Holy Spirit dwells in us precisely for that purpose, and it is only in seeing that, yielding to Him as He works in us, that we may stand in the freedom that Christ has made for us! "Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" Rom. 8:17.
There is a principal most Christians miss made clear here. We have no strength our power in ourselves. That is why the natural character, old nature and the flesh must be seen as dead ["put no confidence in the flesh"] for any Christian to have a true realization of a life in union with Jesus Christ. Even those who have a doctrinal awareness of position/identity must turn from any security they might think they posses in the old Adam's intellect/personality. We have been left dependent upon the work of the Lord for any deliverance! We must always have at the forefront of the thought of our Christian lives that it is wholly because we as flesh creatures have been judged and that we have died with Him on the cross, that we are free from sin, "immortality occupies our mortality. This death, performed by His Son by The Fathers design has broken the power sin once had over mankind. "Sin is in the flesh" but we are now new spiritual creatures in Christ. We must find our place, by His Spirit, which is in us as it only purposes to display Jesus Christ. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" Heb. 10:19.
It is precisely by our failure to live the Christian life, the encountering and awareness of worldliness and sin, by which we may recognize progress in gaining His image. By becoming aware of our lack within ourselves we may see that our only choice for a joyful life will arrive via a faith that His life has become ours. "Without faith it is impossible to please God". His Spirit has been working in you to show you have no possibilities toward life in the natural flesh nature. Our only means for acquiring Him as conscious life is to continue to count upon the work of the Cross. John Darby said it like this: "Our growth is wrought out in lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father, where our affections and minds get into condition to be manifested down here".
How little we consider the feelings of others. We live mostly for ourselves, few can deny! That includes our thoughts as to how the Father not only see's us but also His emotions toward us, His view of us, His Love for us. Think of your own children and loved ones, if they only knew truly how you care and could take into account the depth of your feelings and apply it to their life, the possibilities for the advancement of their security would likely be very enhanced. Oh if they could only enter our mind and think of themselves with the loving thoughts we have there for them.
In the case of The Father the means for provision of His very thoughts and feelings are available in His Word, but how few really take advantage. Why dear friends do we relegate ourselves to our own self centered limited mind when we have the side of God's thought toward us so available in His Word written expressly to us?
All that we are as Christians comes from one source which is the heart of the Father. We must come to connect His thoughts with our heart, subscribing to the position He has placed us in, not just the benefits which He has provided. Merely being dependent upon the relief we all encounter when saved :otherwise we are not established. Yes granted we are free from death, given a new life of possibilities to gain. But most importantly we now may partake of a new kind of love. The Love of the Father. In other words it is not only His gifts His power, His greatness, or our relief, but it is the direction of His love toward us, shown in the great sacrifice for us of His Son where we may find the divine side of life to live within. The law demands a certain life style and behavior, but the grace side declares the Father's love. We will find that side by viewing His Son just as He does, that is where the interpretation of His love resides, declared in His Word. "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. Could it be more clear where we must seek His thoughts?
Entering into the side of Him which sheds light upon His love toward us, His applying the very image of His Son to us, requires a most important beginning; the disregarding as to identity of the effect of the flesh personality, and replacing it with a vision of our presence in His Son by faith that it is true. "Old things [our natural nature] are passed away; all things [our new nature by faith in Jesus as our life] have become new" 2 Cor.5:17.
The sanctuary we all should be seeking is the knowledge of our place in the Fathers presence. That place of rest will not be found in the mind of the personality of the old nature; so it must be shed or exchanged for the new nature we have in Christ, then rested in as a position we hold by faith in eternity, which defines us in the present. The old nature must be set aside for it is dead in the judgement of God. But for that to take place we must thoroughly be in the new, which requires a awareness of who we are as defined to be by His Word. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide [live full time] in Me" John 15:4.
"Our new life is one spirit with Him: a living branch abiding in the True Vine. As we learn to rest upon this fact of our position in Him, abiding becomes our restful attitude" C. A. Coates 1862-1945. But alas until we know the corruption in ourselves, the permanent condition of our old Adam's sin nature, we will not find the enjoyment of the freedom of the new Adam. "But now in Christ Jesus you whom were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ" Eph. 2:13. "Most of us lean it by experience, seeing and feeling the depth's to which the flesh carries us" J. B. Stoney. The modern world of psychology seeks to sooth our condition, and the institutional church experience often provides a diversion. We are lead to service and tradition or become preoccupied with our gifts, thereby covering the approach to relationship which features Him as life: we remain cloaked in the wardrobe of the old nature. The Son's life as ours is only apprehended by awareness of our position in Christ, brought to light by embracing the condition of the weakness of the flesh, and then by faith trusting in its death with Jesus Christ on the Cross, and a new life fully contained in Him. "And I count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus , My Lord" Phil. 3:8.
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing" John 15:5. We must come to know that the living in Him cannot ever be accomplished in a Christian as a way of life or any personal awareness unless one comes to see himself in the light of the defining Word of God by faith.. In other words; our personal presence upon being self examined must be found to be as a living heavenly member of Jesus Christ's Body , again in Faith.. With no connection, as to our divine life which allows any connection as to identity with the world system or the flesh. My brothers and sisters we must come to be who we are! "The Holy Spirit ministers to our mind of true faith via the Word, and He conditions our heart via our daily experience". In other words our mind may have knowledge of being positioned in Christ but in our natural flesh experiences, the condition of sin, we are held captive. Faith in our role as His children as portrayed by the Word of God is the way out. We must by this knowledge learn to accept that any freedom we have is entirely in Christ Jesus, and that the maintenance of that living union with Him is very distinctly and completely the work of divine power. The Holy Spirit dwells in us precisely for that purpose, and it is only in seeing that, yielding to Him as He works in us, that we may stand in the freedom that Christ has made for us! "Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" Rom. 8:17.
There is a principal most Christians miss made clear here. We have no strength our power in ourselves. That is why the natural character, old nature and the flesh must be seen as dead ["put no confidence in the flesh"] for any Christian to have a true realization of a life in union with Jesus Christ. Even those who have a doctrinal awareness of position/identity must turn from any security they might think they posses in the old Adam's intellect/personality. We have been left dependent upon the work of the Lord for any deliverance! We must always have at the forefront of the thought of our Christian lives that it is wholly because we as flesh creatures have been judged and that we have died with Him on the cross, that we are free from sin, "immortality occupies our mortality. This death, performed by His Son by The Fathers design has broken the power sin once had over mankind. "Sin is in the flesh" but we are now new spiritual creatures in Christ. We must find our place, by His Spirit, which is in us as it only purposes to display Jesus Christ. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" Heb. 10:19.
It is precisely by our failure to live the Christian life, the encountering and awareness of worldliness and sin, by which we may recognize progress in gaining His image. By becoming aware of our lack within ourselves we may see that our only choice for a joyful life will arrive via a faith that His life has become ours. "Without faith it is impossible to please God". His Spirit has been working in you to show you have no possibilities toward life in the natural flesh nature. Our only means for acquiring Him as conscious life is to continue to count upon the work of the Cross. John Darby said it like this: "Our growth is wrought out in lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father, where our affections and minds get into condition to be manifested down here".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)