Trapped

Man is a three part being...spirit, soul and body.

We are spirits, we have a soul and we live in a body.

We were crucified with Christ, buried with Him in baptism, raised up together with Him and seated in Him in heavenly places.

We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world and are one Spirit with the Lord.

Who? Were our bodies crucified in Him? Our souls?

Who is seated in Him right now in heavenly places, at teh right hand of God? Our bodies? Our souls?

NO! All of these verses refer to our spirits! We are reborn, born of the imperishable seed that is the living and enduring Word of God...Jesus IS the Word!

And we are the word multiplied!

2 Corinthians 4:7 says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels!

Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME...' [Galatians 2:20]

In John 14, Jesus said He and the Father would all come and make their abode—dwelling—with us. And the Father would send the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—to us. That's the entire Trinity! Living in flesh bodies, walking in the earth.

1 John 4:17 says '...as He is, so also are we in this world.'

Think about that for a minute.

Jesus was a man full of God. How did He live? He knew no limits of any kind and nothing was impossible for Him.

Wait a minute...He said nothing would be impossible for us! Why? Because He knew that we would be full of God, too, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ! His Body in the earth.

His first body left the earth when He ascended to heaven...we're His Body now! Filled up to all the fulness of God!

God In Us
God is in us, people...not just a tablespoon, not just some spiritual hitchhiker...the real Triune God lives in each and every born-again Christian!

His problem is we won't let Him out! He's trapped in there, restricted to what we will or will not let Him do!

Why do you think He's in there? To do greater works than Jesus did! But, like the stopper in the genie's bottle, our souls—our minds, wills and emotions, what we believe—keep Him bottled up!

Think of it this way. Faith works by love, and we, being full of God, have both His faith and His love.

Consider these scriptures:

'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, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.' [Ephesians 3:20,21]

'...strengthened with ALL POWER, according to HIS GLORIOUS MIGHT...' [Colossians 1:11]

'...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be STRENGTHENED WITH POWER through His Spirit IN THE INNER MAN...' [Ephesians 3: 16]

He's in there, alright, but He can only do what we allow Him to do!

Hebrews 3:17-19 tells us that Israel could not enter the Promise Land because of sin and disobedience, which Paul called unbelief!

Was it His will for them to enter? Absolutely! But the power—the choice—to enter was theirs. And they chose to believe something other than what God said.

These were natural people, who limited God in the earth.

We are not natural, but spiritual people, filled with God Himself and His power!

But like them, we choose to let Him out or not to let Him out by what we believe.

His Word tells us plainly to lay hands on the sick and they will recover. But everyone else says it might not work, it's passed away, blah blah woof woof.

Like Israel, we have a choice...believe what God said, or believe the other 10 guys. God is in us in power to perform His word—trapped in these earthen vessels, permitted to do only what we'll believe Him for.

He says all things belong to us, richly to enjoy. [1 Corinthians 3:21,22; 1 Timothy 6:17] In Luke 12:32, Jesus said the Father has chosen GLADLY to give us THE KINGDOM! But a bunch of guys 1700 years ago told us that we should be poor...so poor we are!

Trapped.

When are we going to let Him out? When are we going to do what Romans 12:1,2 says?

'Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

'And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, sothat you may PROVE what the will of God is, that which is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT.'

Now we've been taught that this means we can't have any fun. but that's NOT what it means...the Holy Spirit is telling us how to let Him out!

Don't be conformed to the world and it's wrong way of thinking! Get your body under control and renew your mind—agree with God, not with the world! Be like Joshua and Caleb, and NOT like the other 10 guys!

The world is waiting for us to prove Who He is! Savior, Healer, Provider...the One Who raises the dead and stills the storm. Lover, Creator, Father, Brother, Comforter.

He cannot do greater works through His Body in the earth until and unless we let Him out.

Let Him out. Speak His Word into the earth and expect His will to be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.

Stop Worrying...It Won't Help!

Jesus said, in Luke 12:25,26...

"And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?"

This is an unusual statement. He calls adding an hour to a life a very little thing!

What? We, as natural people, think this is an impossible thing! Yet He demonstrated it, time and time again, by healing the sick and raising the dead.

And He said we would do greater works than He did! [John 14:12]

I think He had Proverbs 18:21 in mind.

'Death and life are in the power of the tongue...'

Death and life are in the power of the tongue...and that is a very little thing!

In other words, the power in our mouths makes the impossible not only possible, but a very little thing!

Isn't that basically what He said in Matthew 21:21?

'And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen."

He repeated this in several places in the Gospels...of course, He also knew that this concept was explained extensively in Psalms and Proverbs.

Worrying
But worrying does nothing!

NOTHING!

Why?

Because 1) worrying is in the mind, and mind power is not how the system works, and 2) worrying stops faith.

"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." [Mark 11:23]

James explains it like this:

'But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.' [James 1:6-7]

And we know, from Proverbs, that we are what we think...

'For as he thinks within himself, so he is.' [Proverbs 23:7]

...and from Romans, that we can change by changing our mind.

'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]

So we know that our beliefs are part of the equation, but the mouth is the final agent of reigning in life!

Salvation
We know that our salvation occurs by heart and mouth, the very same process Jesus outlined in Mark 11!

But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart"—that is, the WORD of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your MOUTH Jesus as Lord, and believe in your HEART that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the HEART a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the MOUTH he confesses, resulting in salvation.' [Romans 10:8-10]

Heart and mouth must agree! And if you have worry, which is really unbelief, in your heart, your mouth will not bring about what you want!

But if, like Jesus, you believe that the power, or hand, or life and death is in the tongue, adding an hour to your life is a very little thing! Only worry will stop it!

Think about it.

Intent

Intent is defined as intention or purpose...when someone is intent upon doing something, he or she is resolved or determined to do it.

God is a God of intent.

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, "My PURPOSE will be established, and I WILL ACCOMPLISH all My good pleasure; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My PURPOSE from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I WILL BRING IT TO PASS. I HAVE PLANNED IT, SURELY I WILL DO IT."' [Isaiah 46:10,11]

He plans for His Word to come to pass. His Word is, in fact, the agent of His purpose. He plans, He speaks, it comes to pass.

'Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it."' [Jeremiah 1:12]

Hebrews 4:3 tell us that His works WERE finished from the foundation of the world.

In other words, He planned it, He spoke it, AND IT IS ALREADY DONE!!

'That which HAS BEEN is that which WILL BE, and that which HAS BEEN DONE is that which WILL BE DONE. So there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new?" ALREADY IT HAS EXISTED FOR AGES WHICH WERE BEFORE US.' [Ecclesiastes 1:9,10]

'That which is has been already and that which will be has already been...' [Ecclesiastes 3:15]

'Whatever exists has already been named...' [Ecclesiastes 6:10]

And don't forget, His Word is settled forever! [Psalm 119:89]

What does that mean, exactly?

He spoke everything into existence...every Word, not just Genesis. He intended for it to come to pass, and it did...every Word, not just Genesis!

Every Word of blessing, every Word of healing, every Word of abundance, every Word of angelic protection and favor.

And guess what? We are created in His image, by His Word! He intended that we would exist...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world!

'...for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.' [1 Peter 1:23]

He is a God of intention, and His children are just like Him.

In fact, 1 John 4:17 tells us that '...as He is [Jesus], so also are we IN THIS WORD.'

He is the Word, we are the Word multiplied, one Spirit with the Lord! [John 1:1,2 14; Acts 12:24; 1 Corinthians 6:17]

Jesus, Too
Jesus was completely a Man of intent. When He laid hands on the sick, He fully intended for them to be healed.

When He spoke to storms, or fig trees, He fully intended them to obey.

For instance, at the tomb of Lazarus, He just said "Lazarus, come forth!" [John 11:43]

And he did!

In fact, He told us to do the very same thing.

'And Jesus answered saying to them, "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]

He's teaching them, and us, how to live by faith...how to live by intent. To intentionally speak to physical objects, with the express purpose that they would obey!

To live by faith is to live by intent!

Jesus told us to speak to trees and mountains. This is not some made up doctrine! It is our part to do it and fully intend for it to work because He said it.

The Word Himself said it. With the intent that we would obey Him.

But we cannot doubt in our heart. Doubt is the antithesis of intent, the unbelief that stops mighty works.

The righteous will live by his faith. [Habakkuk 2:4]

And we've become the righteousness of God in Him! [2 Corinthians 5:21]

Nazareth
Interestingly, the only place Jesus could not do what He intended to was His hometown. There, their unbelief stopped him.

Think about that...unbelief stops the very intent of God!

God intended for Israel to enter the Promised Land after He delivered them for Egypt, not 40 years later! But Hebrews 3:19 states 'So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.'

Psalm 78:41 says that this pained the Holy One of Israel!

Since we know that His works were already finished from before the foundation of the world, they were denying the blessing He had already provided for them!

Matthew 13:58 says 'And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.'

God intended miracles for the people of Nazareth...KJV calls them MIGHTY WORKS.

Listen...if God has intended and already established mighty works for me, I don't want to stop them by my unbelief.

I want to join my intent with His intent...I want to intend to receive every blessing He has already intended for me!

He's my Father and He has ALREADY blessed me! He intended to bless me by His Word, and what He has intended is already finished.

Now it's up to me to intend to receive it. To be determined to receive all that He has already given.

To walk in love and speak to things. To plant His Word in the earth.

Hallelujah!

The Power of Purpose [re-post]

[Originally published May 1, 2009—I've already re-posted it twice, but every time I re-read it, it speaks to me. So, here it is again!]

Proverbs 13:12 says ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick…’ I was praying, feeling very heart sick, because while I know the hope of the gospel, I was not seeing the results I had hoped for in the natural realm.

And I heard “You must take hold of the hope set before you. Look at the unseen—you have seen the truth that, in the Spirit, all things belong to you, richly to enjoy. You have seen the truth that, in the Spirit, all of My promises are yes in Him. And I have showed you the truth about the unseen realm from My word…Hagar’s well, Isaac’s ram, Elisha’s army…you have heard that My angel encamps around those who fear or revere Me. My word is true and established forever in the Spirit. You must take hold of spiritual reality to bring the unseen into manifestation.”

I asked “How do I do that, Lord?”

He replied “You purpose in your heart to take hold of the blessings that belong to you. You purpose in your heart to see the unseen, to walk in My blessing, to walk in the fullness of My Spirit.”

In Jeremiah 4:28, God says “…because I have spoken, I have purposed…” We know that our words are important in creating our reality from both New and Old Testament truths. But we may be missing the element of intent, or purpose, when we speak.