God Isn't Holding Back 2

[ref God isn't Holding Back]

It is, in fact, our unity with God that assures us of the power and blessing of Him.

It isn't that God has made wild, hard-to-believe promises in the Word and sometimes we get lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to get them. Or that some people drew the lucky ticket in life and others didn't. Or the worst ones...it is GOD'S WILL that some are blessed and others are not, and last but not least, the dreaded GOD IS TEACHING YOU SOMETHING THROUGH THE CANCER OR BY KILLING YOUR CHILD OR BY BLOWING YOU HOUSE OVER WITH A TORNADO OR BURNING YOUR CHURCH TO THE GROUND.

Why would God be out burning down churches? Why would He be doing things that, as a man, would get Him sent to jail or, in Texas, executed? HE'S NOT OUT KILLING CHRISTIANS OR THEIR CHILDREN!!!

[I realize that it's wrong to 'shout' by using all caps, but c'mon people...get real!]

The Helmet of Salvation

The helmet of salvation is part of the full armor of God, which we are instructed to put on in Ephesians 6.
First, think about that...we are told to put on the full armor of God...His armor! [Ephesians 6:11, 13] Not kid-sized armor, or 'junior' armor, but the same armor that Isaiah 59:17 describes: 'He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.' This is the same armor that the Holy Spirit, writing through Paul, instructs Christians to put on.

If we're told to put it on, we must be able to put it on, and it's got to fit. Ephesians 6:10 prefaces the instruction to put on the full armor of God with 'Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.'

Not only His armor, but His power—His strength and might! These are incredible promises, often glossed over in Sunday School but never really meditated on until they become spiritual reality.

God Isn't Holding Back

"I do not withhold from Myself, and you are One with Me."

I was praying and heard this very clearly. I know, from multiple scriptures discussed in this blog over the last months that this is true, from a biblical point of view.

However, hearing it from the Father Himself opened up a new layer of reality. I can see now that any hint of lack or failure of any kind, any implication that He might be holding back blessings for any reason at all, is a lie. It might be subtle or shouting in my face, but it's still a lie.

This is a tough belief to accept, because we've been so thoroughly brainwashed by religion and culture alike to believe otherwise. Even though we know that all things already belong to us [see All Things]...and that's hard enough to really wrap our minds around...this is another level altogether. This is why all things belong to us!

Outside or Inside?
As the race of man, we all tend to believe that God, or gods, as the case may be, are 'out there' or 'up there' or in a temple or on a shelf somewhere. New Agers claim that they are gods and are vilified for it.

Why is that?

I believe, and this is just my opinion, that it is because after Adam and Eve severed their relationship with Him, God was only out there. For millennia, God was indeed separate from man, and could be found only through specific visitations or in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. For those who worshipped idols or other kinds of gods, they were always in a specific place--a temple, a tree, a household idol, Mt. Olympus, etc.

But the whole point of sending Jesus was to create a new race of beings—He was the Last Adam [1 Corinthians 15:45] and the Firstborn of Many Brethren [Romans 8;29]. He was to bring many sons (offspring of man) to glory [Hebrews 2 :10]. We suffered and died with Him, were buried with Him and raised up together with Him—we are One Spirit with the Lord! We dwell in two quantum universes...on the earth and in heavenly places. We've already come to Mt. Zion—to the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem! [Hebrews 12:22]

God's will was to rectify the separation created by the Fall. When He first breathed Himself into Adam, His plan was to be One with His child. When that fell apart, He sent Another to create sons and daughters that were One with Him—full of His Spirit, filled up to all the fullness of God. [Ephesians 3:19]

I Peter 2:9 says 'But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD'S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...' We are the Word multiplied in the earth!

Remember...
So remember, next time you start to fall for the party line that God is withholding [fill in the blank] for [whatever reason], IT'S A LIE!! He doesn't not withhold from Himself

Exact Representation of His Nature

'And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power...' [Hebrews 1:3]

Jesus Himself is the radiance of His [God's] glory...the exact representation of His nature! Hallelujah! If you've spent any time at all on this blog, you know what that means...so are we!!

Huh?
Remember...we are One Spirit with Him! Dead, buried, raised up together with Him, seated with Him in heavenly places. Full of God, strengthened with all power in our inner man.

If we could see ourselves in the Spirit, we would look just like Jesus, Who looks just like God. We are HIs Body in the earth, with His authority and power--He has freely given us all things with Jesus [Romans 8:32]

God knows it, and Satan knows it. Angels know it...they are ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation! [Hebrews 1:14]

The only people who don't know it is us. The Deceiver has hoodwinked us into powerless, pathetic creatures who are mere shadows of what they're really called to be.

I say it's time to become truly humble--to believe what God has said about us, and throw out everything else. Time to be the exact representation of His nature in the earth...to prove what is the good and acceptable will of God to those who need Him so.

The radiance of His Glory! Hallelujah!

Vessels of Power

The Holy Spirit, through Paul, prayed that we be '...strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might...' [Colossians 1:11] and that He would grant us '...according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man...' [Ephesians 3:

Remember--we are one Spirit with the Lord [1 Corinthians 6:17] and the Word multiplied [Acts 12:24]--the Spirit of HIm Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us [Romans 8:11]

Keeping those facts in mind, let's look at Hebrews 1:3 '...He [Jesus] upholds all things by the word of His power.'

His power is so great that it UPHOLDS ALL THINGS--all things--by just the WORD of His POWER! And He is in us, making us whole, making us complete...'For in HIm all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in HIm you have been made complete...' [Colossians 2:9,10]

Yikes
Now I realize that this truth is too big, too wonderful to completely wrap our brains about...the same power that upholds all things is in us...we have this treasure in these earthen vessels! [1 Corinthians 4:7]

One Spirit With The Lord

We are one Spirit with the Lord, we have the mind of Christ, we are clothed with Him in baptism, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are joint-heirs with Jesus. These are all scriptural facts.

Jesus said in John 14:23 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him."

Then, in verse 26, He explains how this will be done: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." He brings the word to our remembrance, so that we can keep it.

In other words, if we love Jesus and keep His word, we become the abiding place for the Trinity!

Ephesians 3:16-21 describes this in greater detail—the Father strengthens us with power in our inner man through His Spirit—this power is from His riches in glory. This power enables Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith, and allows us to be rooted and grounded in love.

Referring to John 14, this must mean that the Holy Spirit empowers us to love God and to keep the word. We will then come to a place where we can know, in all dimensions, the love of Christ, and be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Verse 20 reiterates how this is to be done—through the power that works within us! And verse 16 states that this power comes from the rich treasury of His glory [AMP] through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit living within us is the Spirit of God joined to our recreated, reborn spirit—we are an expression of the Godhead in flesh form, just as Jesus was!

And the whole Body of Christ comprises the fullness of God! Therefore we are together a living organism, designed to work together as the fullness of God in the earth, enforcing satan's defeat and putting him under our feet.

More Than We Ask Or Think
Verse 20 says that The Father can do more than we can ask or think...infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts hopes or dreams [AMP] through this power that works within us! Verse 21 tells us why He will do this—that the Father may be glorified in the Church [which is the Body of] and in Christ Jesus.

When we begin to walk in unity, in victory, enforcing satan's defeat through the power of the Holy Spirit, God will be glorified. He is not glorified through strife and defeat!

Ephesians 3:10-12 tells us the purpose of the church clearly:

'...in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.'

Ephesians 6:12 explains that our struggle is against these very rulers and powers in the heavenly places—however, in chapter 2 verse 6, it is emphatically stated that we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places. Ephesians 1:21,22 describe that as being

'...far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.'

Ruling Class
So it is clear that we were created before the foundations of the world to be the instrument to destroy satan. We do this in union with God, empowered by His Spirit, seated in a position of authority and conquest. We are to exercise that authority over the defeated enemy, thus putting him under the feet of Jesus [under our feet, because we are seated with Him, and are His body].

Psalm 110:1-3 prophesies this very scenario—Jesus ruling from and through Zion! Ephesians 1:10 states that we were chosen '...with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.'

We are to administrate the conquest of satan and his army in heavenly places and here on the earth! Knowing this is essential to victorious living—I John 5:4 says 'For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.' Since we know from Hebrew 11:1 that faith is '...the assurance [the confirmation, the title-deed] of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality—faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.' [AMP] Wow!

We must believe that these things are true, that they are ours, and that faith in the spiritual reality of reigning in life through Christ is what brings about our victory! I John 4:4 says 'You are from God, little children, and have [past tense, meaning already] overcome them [evil spirits] because greater is He who is in you that he who is in the world.' Double wow!

Who We Are
Individually, we are also the temple of the Holy Spirit—one Spirit with the Lord, with the mind of Christ, clothed with Him in baptism, the temple of the Holy Spirit—joint-heirs with Jesus. John 14:23 is written for individual believers, while Ephesians 3 is written to the Body as a whole.

But for the Body to function properly, individual believers must first be walking in the fulness of God and in the victory of Jesus, or Body unity and victory will never be a reality. Just as our physical bodies are given life through the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead, so it is with the Body of Christ [Body of the Anointed].

I John 4:17 says '...as He is, so are we in this world' and refers to the risen Jesus—we have died and been raised with Him and have already been recreated! Verse 16 of that same chapter states '...God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.'

Colossians 2:9,10 says 'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority' We are in Him, and He is us, both individually and collectively as the Body of Christ.

Once we begin to understand, individually and collectively, that victory for us and for Him in the world has been God's plan from the start, we can have confidence in our position in Jesus. In Genesis 22:17, God tells Abraham that his seed will possess the gate of their enemies—in Galatians 3:16,He explains that the 'seed' is singular, not referring to the many natural offspring of Abraham, but to Jesus and His Body. Verse 29 reinforces that thought: 'And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.'

We are each one the singular seed of Abraham, because we have been '...created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them.' [Ephesians 2:10] Our work is to possess the gates of our enemies—to do victory on satan individually and collectively until he is completely under the feet of Jesus.

Then the end will come.

It Is Finished
However, we must understand this: these things are already accomplished. Jesus' defeat of satan was complete—we are taking back the natural world from him in the name of that defeat, and it will happen because God said it would.

We have already inherited the world—the last will and testament of Jesus says so. David was prophesying future events when he said '...the humble will inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.' [Psalm 37:11]

When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us. [I Peter 5:6] True spiritual humility is not grovelling in the dirt before God—He created us in His image, as creatures of dominion. True humility is simply the act of doing what Adam did not—believing God and obeying Him—choosing His ways over our own or over the devil's!

And in doing that, we are exalted to be joint-heirs with Jesus, children of the Most High God, seated at His right hand in Christ Jesus, reigning in life through Him. Hallelujah!

All Things

'...all things are Your servants.' [Psalm 119:91]

I awoke in the middle of the night with this verse in my head. David is talking about God here but I began to realize that we are heirs of God! Heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ [Romans 8:32], to whom belong all things! [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

Knowing this, and knowing that we are one Spirit with the Lord, made complete in Him, it follows that all things are now our servants, as well.

This is why Jesus instructed us to speak to things—mountains, trees, storms, etc. He knew that we were called to reign in life through Him, and He was demonstrating how to live in the earth as a Spirit-filled man.

In fact, I believe this is how Adam ruled the garden before he fell. He had dominion over plants and animals—all things—but after he separated himself from the life of God, he was forced to rely on his natural abilities alone. Forced into bondage to the very world he was set in to dominate.

Think about Mark 11:23..."Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." But what about God's will? God's will is manifest through His Word...and in His Word He has freely given us all things. Jesus knew the Scriptures, both written and yet-to-be written, that gave us all things richly to enjoy—He Himself taught in John 14-17 that whatever we asked in His name, that would He do.

All things belong to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]. And all things are our servants, too.

A Child or A Son?
Galatians 4:1-3 says 'Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner [or lord] of every thing, but he is under guardians and managers [or stewards] until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.'

In other words, while we are children, things rule us, even though all things belong to us. As we mature and begin to understand who we are in Christ and that our calling is to reign in life and administer the Kingdom, we begin to see that things are our servants because we are heirs of God and they belong to us now.

Even angels are said to be '...ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation' [Hebrews 1:14].

Paradigm Shift
No reality without a perception of reality is the first rule of quantum physics, according to visionary physicist John A. Wheeler. [Mind into Matter, Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., Moment Point Press, Inc, 2001]

What this means is that it's not real to us unless we believe it is. So it is with the promises of God. Religious error and worldly heresies have led us away from the truth because it is simply too big to believe...

If it's too hard to believe at first, meditate on the scriptures. Think about Jesus bringing many sons to glory...about Jesus being the last Adam—a race bound by natural limitations—and the Firstborn of many brethren, a supernatural race of God's offspring in the earth.

Start to see yourself as a supernatural being, walking here in the earth but also seated at the right hand of God in Christ in heavenly places, an heir according to promise. See all things as being your servants, yourself as an administrator of the Kingdom in the earth, walking in love and power.

In Colossians 1:11, the Holy Spirit prays that we be strengthened with all power in our inner man. All power, all things...

It's true. It's true because God says it is, because He has rested from His works. Hallelujah!

How Big is Your God?

I've got some startling news for you...God is as big as you think He is, at least in your life. That's what Jesus meant when He told people "By your faith be it done unto you."

If you think healing has passed away, then you're not going to get healed. If you think it might be His will for you to get healed, but it might be His will for you to suffer, to teach you [whatever]...then you're probably not going to get it, either.

If you think God is glorified in your lack, then you will live in lack all the days of your lives, despite the Bible's many verses to the contrary. If you think you can have some things, but shouldn't expect or want too much, then that's what you'll get, as well.

His Will
Ah, yes...there's the question of His Will.

I've got another news flash for you. His Word is His will. Jesus is His will. Everything Jesus bore on the cross, He bore for you so you wouldn't have to. His will is that we live on earth as He lives in heaven...remember the Lord's Prayer? "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

You see, God doesn't have two standards...one for heaven, another for earth. When Jesus talked about binding and loosing in earth what was already bound or loosed in heaven, the actual Greek words are allowing and forbidding. Yes, we allow or forbid in the earth, and it is already accomplished in heaven. Another quantum brain twister!

Soul Prosperity
I think His will is pretty much summed up in 3 John 2: 'Beloved [yes, that's us], I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.' What does that mean, exactly?

We are triune beings, just like God...created in His image, actually. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. The soul is everything except our spirit and our body--your mind, your will and your emotions.

Our spirit has been reborn and we are now one Spirit with the Lord [1 Corinthians 6:17]. Our body is the temple of God, of the Holy Spirit [I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19]. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to give life to your mortal body! [Romans 8:11]

Your mind, however, must be renewed to think like God thinks, according to the Word and the anointing which teaches you all things [1 John 2:20,27]. David often talked to his soul, telling it what to believe...a good practice, I think, which helps to rein in wild, unruly thoughts. Take charge of your thoughts--make them serve you, don't serve them!

We can see from the Word that prosperity and health is God's will for us, and that it comes through the soul. That's why Romans 12:2 tells us to '...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..' I think Paul emphasized that God's will is good because he knew the deceiver would work through religious doctrines to tell us that His will was sickness, tragedy and poverty. Or worse, it might be His will--then again, it might not be--leaving us with the impression that God is capricious and cannot be trusted. Since there is no Bible proof that these things exist in heaven, I think we can be sure that they are not the will of God in the earth.

And don't forget Proverbs 23:7...'For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.' [NKJ]

God is Sovereign
Many say "But God is sovereign, He is in charge. Everything will work out the way He wants it to--whatever will be, will be."

Yes, God is sovereign, and what He did with that sovereignty is to give us authority in the earth. He told us to heal the sick, to cast out demons...He told us to talk to trees and mountains and they would obey us. We are to reign in life, through the One, Christ Jesus [Romans 5:17] and are to administer the Kingdom on the earth [Ephesians 1:10] This is why we are to be strengthened with all power in our inner man [Colossians 1:11]--so that we can do our jobs!

Proverbs 18:21 says 'The power [Hebrew yad, or hand] of life and death is in the tongue' [see Yad] which clearly puts the ball in our court. God told Israel "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity...I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. [and here' the big hint...] So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants..." [Deuteronomy 30:15, 19]

A quick aside here...notice how He lumps life, prosperity and blessing together, as well as death, adversity and the curse. Interesting...then He tells them 'Pick life, you dummies!' [I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the point.]

How we live is clearly our choice. Yes, God is sovereign, but He chose to give us wills to direct our lives [see The Power of Purpose and The Power of Purpose Revisited].

My Dad is Bigger Than Your Dad
So we see that God has given us free will to choose either blessing or cursing, and we choose it with our mouths.

How much can we choose? How big is your God?

We know from several verses that He has already given us all things [2 Corinthians 1;20; 1 Corinthians 3; 22,23; 1 Timothy 6:17; Romans 8:32] and we are told that all things are possible to him who believes. The sky is the limit! Nothing is impossible with Him!

He has already given us all things, and told us that nothing is impossible for us...how? Because He said so, and His Word is settled forever! Because His word does not return to Him without accomplishing what He desires [Isaiah 55:11]. Because He lives within us to back His promises...'Now to 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]

Another aside...Isaiah 5:11 says that His word is His desire. So His desire is that we walk in love, in peace, in wholeness and abundance, with angels guarding us!

Anyway...when Jesus explained that we could move mountains [Mark 11:22-24] He prefaced it by saying "Have faith in God." Why? Because God is backing us with His power!

God is limited by our beliefs of what He will and will not do. Psalm 78:41 says Israel pained, or limited God! They could not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief! [Hebrews 3:16-19] The Promised Land was God's idea...total abundance! But they limited Him by their unbelief and did not enter His best will for them...it was not until those with the slave mentality passed away that He could finally bring them into His rest. And He did it by a man who had believed Him all along--Joshua!

When Jesus went to His hometown, '...He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.' [Matthew 13:58] The Word teaches that it is we who limit God...He has already given us all things richly to enjoy!

Change your ideas about your Heavenly Father. See Him as unlimited in His grace toward you, and realize that it is only your beliefs that limit His work and provision in your life.

Visual Prayer

"Have faith in God.

"Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." [Mark 11:22-24]

This is one of Jesus' most quoted passages, but how do you actually do it? What does it really mean to believe you receive?