It seems to me that most of the teaching we as Christians get is God-outside oriented…He’s out there or up there, somewhere, and we need a touch from Him. ‘Oh please pass by, oh please touch us, we need you so…’ etc. etc.
But can we ever do the works that Jesus did, or greater works because He went to the Father until we really grasp the New Birth? That we, the unworthy ones, were actually crucified with Him, buried with Him in baptism, raised up together with Him and seated In Him in heavenly places?
How can we possibly be filled up to all the fullness of God if we don’t understand that there’s only One Spirit in these earthen vessels, and that is the Spirit of the Living God? The Word teaches that we are One Spirit with Him—not two spirits cohabiting the same temple, not the old us with some sort of Divine hitchhiker…as He is so are we in the world! Not as He was—not a prophet functioning under the Old Covenant, but as He is, now, seated at the right hand of God…Hebrews 13 says we’re already there! And the books of Ephesians and Colossians agree!
Anointed
I heard a full gospel preacher say, in the pulpit, that he was not anointed of God. But the Word says we all have an anointing from the Holy One and this anointing teaches us all things so that we have no need of a teacher! That we know all things! Not only is every preacher anointed but every Christian is!
So what is the problem? Our minds must be renewed so that we can be transformed—renewed to what? To the reality of the New Birth…that our old, unworthy, needy, ‘Oh Jesus please help me’ spirit is DEAD! And we’ve been made alive…a new race of God-inside creatures, capable of walking in ALL the fullness of God!
Yet we are so fixated on the Old Covenant. Yes, it was given for examples to us, and yes, the prophecies, promises and wisdom are for us, but we are not those people! They were spiritually dead, and the blessings of God had to be poured out on them through covenants…blessings of strict obedience, anointings of prophet, priest, king [usually not on the same person].
But we all have the trifold anointings…prophet, priest, king—just like Jesus, our elder brother, our joint-heir had…and we are absolutely called to reign and rule upon the earth. But we cannot do that in any measure until we know that that is our true and holy calling…that we are, in fact, the BODY of Christ in the earth. In the New Covenant, the blessings are to come from the inside, through our Spirit out into the world.
Made Complete
Yet we continually ask our Father to rain down the blessings from without, from some place out there where He sits, separate from us, administering good to some and ill to others, to teach us or to make us humble. But how can withhold from Himself? How can he punish Himself? Hasn’t that already been done, at the cross, for all who will receive it? Hasn’t the payment been made once for all?
The truth is we are all already healed, already rich, already delivered. We just don’t know it yet, and certainly very few ministers are telling us. We’ve already passed from judgment into life—yes, we will give an account of everything done in the Body, but most Christians are dreading Judgment Day because they have no idea that they have been made complete already in Him.
Renew Your Mind
Renewing of the mind is key—no wonder satan has deceived us for so long. Great congregations, filled with younger brothers and sister of Jesus, filled with the Trinity [Jesus said He and the Father would come to live inside us, and They do so by the Holy Spirit], seated in real time in the heavenlies in Christ at the right hand of God. Why?
To administer His kingdom on the earth! To bind and loose [or more accurately, forbid and permit], to hold back Satan so that we may evangelize the world—until we are taken up! To evangelize—not by hitting people over the head with the Four Spiritual Laws, but by proving what the good and acceptable will of God is. Not by being as sick and broke as they are, not by letting ourselves and our families be run over by every sickness and accident as they are, but by walking in all the fullness of God. Love, joy, peace—by enjoying our authority over all the power of the devil, by walking in the protection of the Blood and of the angels who are sent to serve us. By walking right through the murderous mob as Jesus did—He knew they had no authority over Him, and they have no authority over us, either.
Only until the heretical teachings of two millennia are exposed for what they are can we truly be one with Him—can we truly reign upon the earth, which is our calling, until it is the appointed time to leave. We are a glorified Church, without spot or wrinkle, in the Spirit—we just don’t know it, and no one is telling.
Blessed, but...
And when we do talk about blessings, it is with great restriction…only the lucky ones can really be rich, and that is with many restrictions and rules—only the lucky ones [we piously call it ‘blessed’] can be healed or delivered, and you’ll probably have to wait for that. Fast and pray and God just may squirt it on you…but of course, He may choose not to. Sometimes the answer is no…
What spiritual rubbish! The word says He always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus! The word says in Him all the promises of God are yes and amen! The only reason Christian people are poor and sick and in bondage is because they don’t know any better! Old Covenant people were stewards—slaves that owned nothing—but we are sons and daughters, heirs that own everything! All things belong to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. God is not sick, nor is He broke, nor is He under the enemy’s dominion! And since He’s the only one in these reborn earthen vessels, we shouldn’t be, either. All things have already been given to us, richly to enjoy…
Yes, in the OT all the cattle on a thousand hills belonged to Him…but NOW they belong to us. We can say or sing that we own nothing, but it is not true. It just weakens us, crippling us from doing the work we're called to do.
Why? Because God is in us! Our spiritual DNA is His! We are born of God! But until our minds are renewed to ‘Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according the power that works within us, to Him be the Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever’ we cannot fulfill either our individual or corporate callings!
Glory
In my Bible, the heading before John 17:22 says ‘Their Future Glory.’ Sounds great, but it is not what Jesus said. To quote, “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, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
The glory is ours now, so that we can do our jobs—and even that idea falls short—the glory is ours because of who we are—the temple of God, which is always filled with His glory! And without the glory, the world will never see that God sent Jesus because He loves them as much as He loves Jesus. They will never see that, as He is, now, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, so are we in this world.
As long as we look like the world, as long as we, like them, believe that He is, to quote a terribly heretical song, ‘at a distance,’ killing children with cancer and accident, we will never do greater works than He did. As long as we continue to beg and plead and tell ourselves that we have no anointing, that we are separated from Him and believe that He is some whimsical yet sometimes benevolent despot, blessing some but not all, we will remain useless in the world.
Who are we, really?
The Word says for us to trim our lamps—to be ready. But so few are truly ready, because they’ve never been taught who they really are nor trained to use their spiritual authority or weapons. Yes, we’ve been told that we’re blessed, but with so many clauses and codicils that it’s hard to figure out exactly what we’ve been blessed with. We’re told to jettison some Old Covenant customs but to keep others…we are saddled with Old Covenant thinking in New Covenant bodies! Yes, David and Abraham and Solomon taught us many wonderful things, but they were dead! Yes, they had specific anointings to rule or prophesy but we are not them! We are the glorious church! We are God-filled vessels, walking about in the earth, expected to do our jobs!
I was in a church service a few weeks ago where a woman started shaking and screaming ‘Help me Jesus, help me’ over and over. She totally disrupted the service and was obviously under great duress…this is a woman who has no idea who she really is! And a group of elders came over and patted her hand and said ‘There, there’ until she calmed down. And she left still not knowing that she’d been made the righteousness of God in Christ! That she was One Spirit with the Lord, that she was clothed with Him in Baptism.
She has the mind of Christ, but like all things spiritual, it is in the Spirit—and she has no earthly idea how to access it. She has no idea that she’s come to Mt. Zion, that she’s already seated in Him in heavenly places, that the phrase ‘what would Jesus do’ has vast implications for the Body of Christ and is not just a cheap plastic bracelet.
Unfortunately, whatever was bothering that poor woman is probably bothering her still. She may have had some momentary relief from the attention of the elders and her husband, but did she learn to rise up in authority and take dominion over the problem(s) facing her? She didn’t learn it that morning, and I fear that she has not learned it yet. So she suffers, under the delusion that she has yet to be delivered, and neither she nor anyone she comes into contact with will learn any different.
When we really start to mediate on who we are in Christ, what we have in Him, what our anointing and calling is in the earth, we will have to throw out about 90% of all sermons and praise songs. But it will be worth it, to raise up a people of authority in the earth, people who realize that God will allow what we allow, and will forbid what we forbid. People who learn how to walk in the Spirit, in love, in power, to really be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Who Do You Seek?
As Jesus said to Mary at the empty tomb, “Who do you seek?” Who do we seek? If we are One Spirit with Him, temples of the Living God, Kingdom of Heaven dwellers, seated together with Him, who exactly are we crying out to? Yes, the repentant will cry out to Him, but only once—once salvation is complete there is no more need to wail before Him . If we sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Period. Then we move on. This is a largely ignored truth these days—yet that is key to staying in fellowship with Him. We are One with Him but often not in fellowship with Him because we have no idea who we are, or for that matter, who He is.
I John 1 says ‘This is the message we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is Light, and In Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.’
It seems clear. If He is light, so are we. Jesus said at the beginning of His ministry that He was the Light of the world. Towards the end, He tells us that we are the light of the world. Sin is a function of the unrenewed mind and unregenerate flesh. Yet the word says the same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will make alive these mortal bodies…I know of very few Christians who are standing on that verse on a daily basis.
The key to it all is, I believe, Romans 8:1. ‘There is therefore NOW no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.’ There it is—short, very sweet and to the point. But we labor under false teaching s and heresies that tell us everything but. Poor us, we’re just sinners, saved by grace.
No. I WAS a sinner and I was SAVED by grace. The end. Now I’m a joint-heir with Jesus, filled with the Spirit of the God, called to reign upon the earth. A son called to do the work of My Father, fully equipped and authorized. We must lose the idea of separateness from Him if we are to truly understand these mysteries.
Ambassador
I am, in fact, an ambassador in a foreign land. My home country is the heavenly Mt. Zion, and it is from there I draw my provision and direction. And I notice that earthly embassies are the finest houses available—to demonstrate to the host nation the power and glory standing behind the ambassador. Even the poorest nations have fine embassies, lest the host nations think less of them. They are not subject to the laws of the host nation, but their allegiance and power come from their home.
So it is with us. We are ambassadors for Christ—in the natural, we are in this world, but in the Spirit we are seated in heavenly places. There is no time or place in the Spirit, and God has rested from His works. Revelations is going on around us, now, in the spiritual realm. Jesus is waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool…that is our job in the earth! But it is an impossible task for those who are not properly equipped.
Wake Up!
It is time to rise up…awake sleeper!
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
“For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.
“Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
This is speaking of Jesus…not only Jesus as He walked in His earthly ministry, but Jesus as He is walking today in His earthly ministry. We ARE the Body of Christ in the earth! The Name of Jesus isn’t some cute little incantation we stick on the end of prayers in the hope that it will make them come to pass…it is who we are! We pray in the Name and we use the Name because it IS our Name! It is a legal reality, not an empty spell.
We are a beautiful sanctuary, a glorious resting place. Yet we walk as those without hope, because we have not been taught the reality of the New Birth. Yes, we know that we are saved from hell…unfortunately that is not enough to rule upon the earth, most especially at the end of the age. We are One with Him…we are One with Him, we are One with Him. Once we learn to interpret scripture in the light of that truth, heresies will begin to fall away…
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
To do this, we must behold the glory of the Lord…that is HOW we move from glory to glory. Not with sermon series on ‘How To Live’…but with meditation on the reality of who we are in Christ…and to do that, on Who He really is. We must come to know beyond any doubt that we have died and our lives are hidden with Him. We are One with Him—One with the Father, One with the Holy Spirit—we have been made COMPLETE in Him, now and forever. Only then can we arise and be the glorious church in the earth.
I may look, on the outside, like someone you may know. But that is just my house. The spirit that used to live there was crucified in the 4th grade, sitting in the Junior Choir at Central Presbyterian, many years ago. The Spirit that lives there now is the Holy Spirit—the triune God, and the name that I wear now is JESUS. And I’ve been given His name, not as some superstition to tack onto the end of a prayer to ‘make’ it come true, but because I’m in Him and He’s in Me…the Father, too.
I realize, dear reader, that you are probably recoiling in shock. But read on…
It's Not What You Think...
Renew your mind. Clear away all heresies and error, all popular deceptions, all doctrinal rubbish that tells you that you are anything BUT the righteousness of God in Christ. Any idea that raises its head against the truth that He is in us, in fullness. That He could possibly withhold anything from Himself, and therefore from us. We must learn, now, to live in the heavenlies, to draw from the kingdom, to walk in the Spirit. We don’t need Jesus…we have Him. We don’t need a blessing, we are blessed with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places IN CHRIST. If IN CHRIST is where we are blessed, then we need to stay IN CHRIST. We need to live and work and walk IN CHRIST.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, prayed this [and I believe that the Holy Spirit’s prayers have already been answered]
“…that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we 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 with 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.”
Doesn’t anybody READ this stuff? Really…doesn’t ANYBODY read this stuff? The aim of most traditional teachings is to tell us why it might not be for us, we must be careful, it doesn’t really mean what it says, it really means something else, we need to be humble, we shouldn’t want too much, blah, blah, blah…
It is time to grow up, to take our place, to bind satan and save the world. But this will not be done by poor, sick, weak Christians who have no idea whatsoever who they really are.
The good news is that it will be done, somehow…at some point we must rise up, because the Word says we will. So let it be now. Let it be now. Let us honor the sacrifice and all that it paid for. Let us be Jesus in the earth. Let us walk in power and authority as He walked. Let us be whole, spirit, soul and body—and let us lay aside excuses for our failures. Teach the truth--it pleased the Father to give us the kingdom, but we don’t always take it. We don’t always conquer our fear and doubt, we don’t always question the cultural heresies that ‘everything happens for a reason.’ That is in fact, true…but the reason is to kill us, to steal from us, or to destroy us, and it is NOT from God!
Authority
We’ve been given authority over all the power of the enemy, not as Jesus gave the disciples—that was a temporary anointing conferred upon them, as unregenerate men, to demonstrate His will for us and to give a taste of what was to come.. We have authority over all his power because of who we are and where we are seated…far above powers and principalities. We must learn to think as God thinks—we have the Mind of Christ, but we must train ourselves to access it.
Abraham was called the friend of God. We have songs that say we are the friends of God, but it isn’t true. We are One with God—sons and daughters, a living entity filled up to His fullness. We just don’t know it. While it sounds spiritual to say ‘I am a friend of God,’ it is a heresy wrapped in piety. As a friend of God we are powerless…as God in the Body of Christ we are all powerful. There’s a difference—it is time to stop settling for Old Covenant limitations and move on to the New Covenant realities.
Granted, it is hard to do, especially at first. The old ‘it can’t be, I’m unworthy, I must be humble’ beliefs will rear their ugly heads. We were unworthy, but now we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ. HE did it…it is HIS will that we be filled up to all the fullness of Himself…that we be rooted and grounded in love because HE is love…
This is HIS WILL, not something we’re trying to force on Him! This is actually the whole point of the Gospel! Jesus was the Word, but Acts says the Word multiplied daily! We are the Word in the earth…unfortunately, we don’t know it, so we don’t look like or act like the Word. Jesus was the Word—the fulfillment of the Word spoken through the ages…and so are we! If we can stop the clamoring in our heads that cries out ‘It can’t be so!’ we can truly humble ourselves under His Mighty Hand. To be humble is to accept His word and His will for our lives, and that is glory, pure and simple! He dreamed this up, and satan hates it and has worked for 2000 years to keep it shut under lock and key. But it is time now, to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
It is Time
It is time. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, that we be renewed in the spirits of our minds, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Lay aside falsehood, speak truth with each another, for we are members of one another.
It is through the renewing of our minds that we put on the new self…it is within our power to lay aside the old self--the old beliefs and corrupted thinking—and put on the new self. This is the express will of God.
The Church is so riddled by heresy and unbelief, however, that this can only be done through anointed teaching and massive re-education. Leaders who will accept the mantle of responsibility to teach what the Word really says instead of what they’ve been told it says, in spite of the stricter judgment they will incur. Leaders who will endure ridicule and venom… but who, like Jesus, will turn and walk through the crowd, knowing that they cannot be touched unless they allow it.
Awake sleeper. Arise, shine, for your light has come.
