GREAT DEPENDENCE

      Upon our first entering in Christ we have a great joyful experience, a wonderful freedom. This is no doubt a heavenly experience. Nothing here could provide such joy.

      Immature saints do not know of the great doctrines; the most important to apprehend and to live the heavenly Church life being the doctrine of position or positional sanctification. The bible says we are heavenly "hid in Christ" this is of course a positional standing. After all we are here. It is grace through knowledge that introduces the heavenly experience of position in our intellect/mind, thought, contemplation and joy and most importantly spirit. We are positioned there [in heaven with Jesus] by faith that it is true and the word makes it so. No experience in the flesh will come close. And by trying to accomplish it in the flesh we will fail.

      The joyful Church life is acquired by grace. It separates us from what is natural; we become true to a new heavenly standing [positioned in Christ] of which we entirely belong. This is liberty in Christ. The great paradox of this most rightful experience is that the more we apprehend it the more we notice we are in the wilderness. Surround by the world and the natural man we carry always inside.

      Well things now seem spoiled, we were happy by the measure of the heights of Christ we have so enjoyed, but now realize how weak and troubled our environment is. We are subjected to the captivity of the world. We are here. Why is that so? It is not in God's plan to raise us up in grace to a great moral height and hold us there always in comfort, as the result would be we would suffer less need for dependence upon Him if maintained in a heavenly experiential position as a emotional experience.

      The great teaching of the wilderness is dependence upon the Father. The heavenly man must forever be maintained in a needful position, the fellowship of Christ's suffering. When we mature and learn our heavenly position, [Rom. 6, 7, and 8 will show the way] in truth, by faith in His Word and if we walk in it conscientiously, we will encounter many trials and new circumstances keeping us dependent; in other words the truest heavenly man will be a active wilderness man and will have a greater suffering. Because He knows the way, has seen the light, but must contend with the world and himself in comparison.

      If we maintained a perfect form of the heavenly position and calling we would become puffed up then we would be allowed by God's grace to suffer a open failure. Taking comfort in our place might feel good, but it is the sure path to pride and a judgmental attitude. The constant small reminder of the natural mans propensity to failure keeps us from a greater fall. So by this we may see: the more we advance into the greatness of the glory in Christ Jesus, the more we are really happy there; the more we are subjected to trials here to keep us in great dependence. This my friends is the condition and position we all should aspire to as God's will for us, and accept in maturity as children of God.

      Much of what I write is inspired and gleaned from my anthology studies, from the works of men like Darby, Stoney, Kelly written in the mid 1800's. Also I take great advantage of the writings and daily devotional written by Miles Stanford.