Complete

I was reading Colossians 2:9,10 today...

'For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete...'

Great verse, wonderful revelation. But my eye caught the notation for the word complete—the literal meaning of it is full. Full! Not complete as a man or woman, which is how this verse is usually interpreted, but full! Full of what?

Well, it seems obvious now that that phrase refers to v.9...we are full of what He is full of, once we are in Him. And He is filled up with all the fullness of Deity!

Sounds a lot like Ephesians 3:19:

'...and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.'

This fullness of God within us surpasses knowledge! In other words, you're not going to be able to wrap your brain around...it must be spiritually perceived and accepted as fact by faith. Your mind will fight it, bolstered by 2000 years of religion, telling you that you're nothing. Yes, you were nothing, now you're One Spirit with the Lord! Hallelujah!

Jesus told us this Himself in John 14:16-23...He, His Father and the Holy Spirit would come to live in us once our spirits die with Him and are reborn. Just who do you think that reborn Spirit is? It's all of God! All the time, in us!

Praise the Lord!

A Great Tip...

Don't bet on the the nags.

No, no, that's not the tip...

This is the tip. If you are wondering what the will of God is for your life...is it His will for me to be healed, to be prosperous, to be victorious, or does He want me to have cancer or kill my baby to teach me something...remember these things:

'For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.' [Psalm 84:11]

'Every good thing given and every perfect gift is FROM ABOVE, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.' [James 1:17]

"The thief come s ONLY to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." [John 10:10] 

And most importantly...
You are filled with God. The Possessor of Heaven and Earth lives inside you. You are One Spirit with the Lord. Everything that He has, you have, because you are One with Him. [Too many references, read past articles that explain this...they are full of scriptural proof.]

I can tell you this: He's not broke, or sick, or powerless. AND NEITHER ARE YOU!

That's the tip. Know Who God really is and know who you really are.

Visual Aid
Think of it like a giant blackboard, with a line drawn down the middle. On one side you have bad stuff, on the other, good stuff, according to John 10:10.

If it's on the bad stuff side—anything that kills, steals or destroys—it's not God, period. Yes, He can bring you out of it and turn it to good for you, but He is not the Author of bad stuff. Not since Jesus took all of the punishment for sin. Now we just get all the good stuff.

Consider 2 Corinthians 1:20...'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes.' So throw away the book titled Sometimes the Answer is No. If you've been a Christian for more than 5 minutes, I guarantee you've got that book somewhere, or a tape of the sermon.

Consider also Galatians 3:13, 14: 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us...'

Got it? All blessings, no curse, all the time. I bet you've got an obnoxious radio station where you live that screams 'All oldies, all the time!' It's like that for us. The Holy Spirit and the Word are screaming ALL BLESSINGS, ALL THE TIME! Psalm 32:7 says that we are surrounded by songs [or shouts] of deliverance!

If it's on the good side—abundant life—it's God. Period. Nothing is too good for you, because nothing is too good for God, and you are One Spirit with the Lord. [1 Corinthians 6:17]

'...seeing that His divine power has granted to us EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.' [2 Peter 1:3,4]

That's it. It'll clear up just about any question you have, right quick.

Blessed With Abraham The Believer

Galatians 3 says we're blessed with Abraham The Believer. [Galatians 3:9]

What a great title! God has given him the name The Believer because he believed what God said over what the circumstances were screaming. "You're old! She's old! Never going to happen, my friend..."

Of course, it did take him awhile to come around and, like us, he screwed it up royally before finally getting it right.

Can I Get That For You?

Imagine trudging toward your hotel with heavy bags, when, to your delight, a hotel employee comes towards you and asks "Can I get that for you?"

To which you reply, gratefully, "Thanks so much! Here you go!" and hand over the heavy bags.

What just happened? The hotel employee bore your bags...and guess what? You don't have them anymore!

Of course, you could say "No" and keep them...pull a muscle, develop a hernia, etc. Then you'd be bearing the bags. You can choose to carry them if you want.

Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled 2

As we saw in my earlier post, Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled, fear is a spirit that attacks from the outside...it is not coming from within!

And fear is insidious...let down your guard, start enjoying your freedom, and wham! You get blindsided!

When this happens, remember this: fear attacks the mind, and you are not your mind. You are a spirit, you have a mind, wherein lives your will, your thoughts, your emotions...and you live in a clay vessel we call a body.

And the Spirit within is all God, all the time.

Be the Ball...

Remember the '80s catchphrase 'Be the ball?' This was the advice given to those having trouble connecting with the ball in golf, baseball or tennis...and it quickly became a parody for all self-help techniques.

The idea behind it was that we can choose who we are and what we can do...that the state of being always precedes circumstance.

Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled

After Judas left the Passover table to betray Him, Jesus instructed His disciples about the days and years to come.

In John 14-17, we see Him telling them all the things they they will need to know during this intense time, and in doing so, He has encapsulated the most important things for us as well. He tells us about the indwelling Trinity—He, the Father and the Comforter would come and live within us. He tells us that anything we ask will be granted by the Father. He gives us His glory, and explains the importance of abiding in Him. He reiterates the assurance of answered prayer, as if He knew that one would be the hardest for us to really believe.

Never Let...

He starts off by telling them "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God believe also in Me."

The Greek word me is the one translated as 'do not let' or, in the KJV 'Let not' is translated 33 times in the NT as 'never.' If we read the verse that way, it is "Never [let] your heart be troubled..."

Never is one of those absolute words. No gray shades about it, never means never, not ever, no chance, period. What is He saying? In the words of David Crosby, don't give in an inch to fear. Don't let it start, don't let it grow, don't let it hang around.

A Spirit of Fear
We've seen in earlier posts that fear is a spirit. Job describes it perfectly...

"Now a word was brought to me stealthily, and my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake.

"Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice..." [Job 4:12-16]

Of course, then, the spirit of fear goes on to tempt Job with lies about God.

It's interesting to notice that this spirit is not coming from within but from without. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us 'For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.' The KJV translates the Greek word dielia as fear...the NT Greek Lexicon translates it as timidity, fearfulness, cowardice.

Romans 8:15 calls it a spirit of slavery...

The Spirit given to us is the very Spirit of God...we are one Spirit with the Lord! [2 Corinthians 6:17] And we see that it is a Spirit of 1) power, 2) love and 3) discipline. Colossians 1:11 says that we are strengthened with all power...ALL POWER! Not just a little power, not just natural power, but ALL POWER!

If we experience any kind of fear—timidity, fearfulness, cowardice, any kind of anxiety or worry—we know that 1) it's not from God our Father and 2) it's not coming from within us but is the result of an external spirit of fear.

Don't Leave Yet...
Okay, I can hear the wacko alarms going off out there, but bear with me. Everything I've written so far is directly from the Word. And evil spirits are a Bible fact.

But there's good news! In Luke 10:19 Jesus told His disciples "Behold [look], I have given [past tense] you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you."

Authority over ALL the POWER of the ENEMY! And they weren't even reborn yet...we've got God inside and have been strengthened with ALL POWER! In John 17:20, Jesus prayed for them and all who would believe in Him through their word...He didn't give them one thing and us another! We have the authority in His Name—not as a talisman, or lucky coin, or rabbit's foot—we are ONE with Him, and wear His Name as His Body in the earth! We have authority because He has authority, and we wear and use His Name as a wife wears and uses the name of her husband...well, used to, in the olden days.

Control Yourself...
Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit was a Spirit of power, love and discipline. He knew what the fruits of the Spirit were, '...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...'

So when He tell us to NEVER let our hearts be troubled, He knew that we would be capable of doing it. The disciples really didn't get it—when the soldiers took Jesus, they ran off and hid. Peter was the only one with enough nerve to go after Him...but he succumbed to fear, too. After Jesus died, some of the disciples went back to fishing! In the couple of days He was buried!

They didn't get it, just like we don't get it. Modern psychology has us so twisted in our thinking that we don't think we can control our emotions...we're not supposed to suppress them, that would be denial!

Live in Denial
I'm here to tell you, go ahead...live in denial! Deny the spirit of fear any place in your life. Deny it's every attempt to dominate you. Deny, or forbid, it to come near you.

Jesus has give us the keys of the kingdom. Whatever we bind, or forbid, on earth shall have been bound, or forbidden, in Heaven! And whatever we loose, or allow, shall have been allowed in Heaven. That's past tense spiritually—in Heaven, and present tense naturally—on earth...a quantum verse!

Forbid fear to exist in your life. Live in full blown denial...the denial of fear's right to exist anywhere near you. Don't allow it to start, don't allow it to grow, don't allow it to stay.

But How...
I asked the Lord, "That's great, but how exactly do I do that?"

Immediately James 3 came to mind...the NT treatise on the tongue. [The Old Testament treatise is, of course, the Book of Proverbs—read it through and write down all the verses pertaining to the mouth]

James 3:2 says '...If anyone does not stumble in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.' And he compares the tongue to the bit in a horse's mouth and the rudder of a great ship. The word 'perfect' is the Greek word teleios, meaning brought to its end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness, that which is perfect. Kinda reminds you of shalom, doesn't it?

It doesn't really mean perfect, as we think of it...without blemish or error. It really means soteria—the Greek word for salvation—complete wholeness, redemption from all earthly ills.

I understood exactly what He was saying...you deny fear just like you got saved. Believe in your heart and say it with your mouth. '...for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.' [Romans 10:10] Believing in the heart results in a spiritual state—righteousness, or right-standing with God; and confessing with the mouth brings it to pass in our lives—soteria!

So the 'how' is the same 'how' we access all spiritual blessing with...faith. Believe it and speak it, just as Jesus instructed in Mark 11:22,23.

'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."'

Oh yeah...right. Faith. The way things really work in the universe...I get it...[cut to Jesus with His hand on His forehead, shaking His head, saying 'how many times do I have to tell these morons the same thing?' (my personal interpretation of Matthew 17:17)]

Renew your mind so you can be transformed...changed! Changed to prove or demonstrate the will of God in your life—that which is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT! [Romans 12:1,2]

Take up the sword in your mouth. Deny fear it's right to dominate you. Do what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 10:8 and Mark 16:17,...cast it out!

Then believe that what you said happened and praise the Lord!

Job...The Bottom Line

Everybody knows about Job, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Christians can't figure him out and are afraid that God might do the same to them. Non-Christians point to him as the example of why not to trust God. But everyone's heard of him, and his name is synonymous for someone who's life is in the dumper.

God's Good Will 3

Romans 8:36,36 are often misunderstood verses. Most of us have heard sermons preached based on these verses, explaining why if is God's will for us to suffer.

Why no one bothers to read v. 37 is beyond me...

'But in ALL THESE THINGS [referring to v. 35,46] we OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER through Him Who loved us.'

That's pretty plain...it is God's will for us to CONQUER, not only in a glorious afterlife, but right here, right now. And it's not a barely-get-by kind of victory...it's the overwhelmingly kind!

Resurrected!

It is Easter, and our thoughts turn toward Calvary once more.

As you meditate on the wonder of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, consider this: the Word clearly teaches that we were crucified with Him!

What!?!
Paul states in Galatians 2:20 that "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."