When we begin to understand who we really are, it’s easy to walk in joy and peace and love and power…sin seems to slide away. If our role is truly to administer the kingdom on the earth [Ephesians 1] , to prove what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God to the world [Romans 12] and to reign in life [Romans 5:17], we must first awaken to the realities of the New Birth—who we really are in the earth. Only when equipped with true knowledge can we access the power already given to us by God to do the works that He has foreordained for us. Christian meditation is a powerful tool to experience the reality of who we are in Christ.
‘He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.” [Psalm 23:2]
“Cease striving [be still] and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” [Psalm 46:10]
‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.’ [Romans 12:2]
And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. [Isaiah 32:17]
Yet here, at the close of the age, when we are to rise up and be the glorious church, we are surround by a myriad of distractions and anxieties. We no longer know how to quiet ourselves and be still before the Lord… to ‘wait before the Lord,’ as it were.
We must learn to enter into communion with the Holy Spirit—Who teaches us all things [Jn. 14:26], so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, prayed “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the [true] knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your hear may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. [Ephesians 1:18,19]
We Are In Christ Jesus
He knew that by God’s doing, we were already placed in Christ, ‘...Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption…’ We just need to open our spiritual eyes to see and understand. When we do, being the Body of Christ in the earth will have real meaning.
He also prayed, in Colossians 1 [again, through Paul] that “…you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened will all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”
God knows that we already have all wisdom…He’s trying to get us to shut up, sit down, and be quiet…to meditate on spiritual realities until we are fully persuaded! When we ‘practice the Presence,’ to steal a phrase from Brother Lawrence, we can know as we are fully known.
To that end, take time to wait upon the Lord. Get to a quiet place, with the Word, close your eyes and begin to breathe deeply. You will start to calm immediately…begin to meditate on one of the following great truths of the New Birth, and be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
A word to those who balk at the term ‘meditation’ and start to fret about popular New Age practices. We had it first! Theirs is but a counterfeit…that does not mean that we should give up what is rightfully ours.
You can never really hear from God in a constant state of busyness, activity and confusion. For those who are afraid that they might hear from somebody other than God, begin your meditation with the following:
“…the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” [John 10:4,5]
“My Sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given the to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” [John 10:27-30]
Personalize it…”I know the voice of My Shepherd, and a stranger’s voice I simply will not follow. And remember…you have been crucified with Christ—now Christ lives in you, with the Father, by the power and person of the Holy Spirit.
Meditations
...On being 'One Spirit with the Lord' [1 Corinthians 6:17]
...On 'In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete...'
...On being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might [the might of His glory] [Colossians 1:11]
...On having this treasure in earthen vessels [2 Corinthians 4:7]
...On “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will com to him and make Our abode with him.” [John 14:23]
...On being strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man [Ephesians 3:16]
...On being rooted and grounded in love normal" [Ephesians 3:17]
...On being filled up to all the fullness of God [Ephesians 3:19]
...On “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as WE are One; I in them and You in Me…” [John 17:22,23]
...On being filled with the Glory of the Lord, as the temple was in the Old Testament [you are the temple of God]
...On “…that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believer that You sent Me.” [John 17:21]
...On Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us [Ephesians 3:20]
...On being [In Christ Jesus]
...On being seated in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus
...On All things have been given to you richly to enjoy
...On All things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God
...On having the [Mind of Christ]
...On the Blood that was shed before the foundation of the world
...On being chosen in Him before the foundation of the world [Ephesians 1:4]
...On God’s works being finished from the foundation of the world [Hebrews 4:3]
...On “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure” [Isaiah 46:10]
...On ‘Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.” [Ps. 119:89]
...On “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:10]
...On being the Word multiplied [Acts 12:24]
...ON ‘As He is, so also are we in this world.’ [I John 4:17]
...On ‘But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.” [I John 2:20, italics from the Amplified Bible]
...On ‘…the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; buy as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie…’ [I John 2:27]
...On being a new creation in Christ… being crucified with Christ, buried with Him in baptism
...On God making us alive together with Christ [by grace you have been saved] and raising us up with Him, and seating us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus [Ephesians 2:4-6]
...On being made alive together with Him, having been forgiven all your transgressions [Colossians 2: 13]
...On having already come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood [Hebrews 12:22-24]
...On Jesus being the Last Adam, the Firstborn of Many Brethren
...On being joint-heirs with Jesus
...On “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believe in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. I you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” [John 14: 12-14]
...On the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us being canceled [Colossians 2: 14]
...On putting on the new self, which in the likeness of [or according to] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. [Ephesians 4:24]
...On putting on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One Who created Him [Colossians 3:10]
...On all the promises of God being ‘yes’ in Christ Jesus [as opposed to the heresy 'sometimes the answer is no...' [2 Corinthians 1:20]
...On “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” [John 15:16]
...On all things being possible because I believe… [Mark 9:23]
