Unity of the Church

“…there has come an expanding vision and a profound conviction that somehow, if this is real Pentecost, there must come out of it eventually the thing that Pentecost produced in the early church and that was the real body of Jesus Christ. Not a church but the Church; not an organization, but the real organism that we have always recognized; not an ecclesiasticism, nor a dictatorship, nor a bureaucracy; but a group of Holy Ghost-baptized souls in which dwells and through which is manifest, the life of the Lord.“

-John G. Lake (March 24, 1927)

Jesus prayed that all of us would be One (John 17:21).  I believe that He always gets what He prays for.  I think it all comes down to having the same love.  

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." 

 ~Philippians 2:2

The Tree of Life in You

In the garden of Eden, there were two trees.  One was permitted and beneficial; one was off limits to Adam and Eve.  The One tree gave truth; the other gave knowledge.  The One gave freedom; the other gave religion.

Anyways, this post is about the Tree of Life!

"After I was baptized with the Holy Ghost the Lord gave me a blessed revelation. I saw Adam and Eve turned out of the garden for their disobedience and unable to partake of the tree of life, for the cherubim with flaming sword kept them away from this tree. When I was baptized I saw that I had begun to eat of this tree of life and I saw that the flaming sword was all round about. It was there to keep the devil away."     ~Smith Wigglesworth

Isn't that wonderful?  Jesus is the tree of life.  And He's on the inside know. We've left the covering of the Law (Gal. 3:25) and entered into the covering of the Almighty, the Garden of Eden.  In a sense, the believer embodies the garden of Eden; and Yahshua walks amongst us within.

Wigglesworth also said that he was a thousand times bigger on the outside than on the inside.  It took me a while to get a grasp on that.  But God wants us to be on the inside, looking out.  Yahweh wants us to understand just how overflowing the fullness of God can get (Ephesians 3:19).

So, what was Wigglesworth referring to when he said that?  The Tree of Life, that's what -- the expansion of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:32), the vibration of life within.  This is the tree that Yahweh prunes (John 15:1), the Tree in which we are commanded to abide (John 15:4).

See, the word starts in your spirit, planted as just a seed (John 15:4). The Holy Spirit may scatter more than a few seeds into your heart before you accept it, and that's OK ()!  Eventually, though, hearing is mixed with faith, and you've got a little tree (Romans 10:17)!

And God takes that tree and cares for it.  He protects you from spiritual warfare (Psalms 105:15).  He shelters you and allows you to grow.  And the more you grow, the more exposure there can be to the elements. Some of your spiritual 'branches' may fall outside the protection of those angels with flaming swords.

It's about when the operation of the Spirit works in you and through you that you've reached maturity. If nourished, those little branches will grow up, out, and provide a resting place for others!  If left to the Father's care, He'll cause such growth in you that your influence far exceeds yourself.

Allow God to prune you.  Allow Him to prune off the bad parts; allow Him to burn them away. Allow the cherubim to guard you (Gen. 3:24).  If you go past His instruction, the same fire that's designed to protect you might just singe a little.  Allow Yahweh to be your purifying fire (Hebrews 12:29).

It feels good to feel that burn.  Allow Him to sift through your life and make you more and more fruitful (John 15:2).  There's always room for improvement!  There's always room to grow.  God wants to give you greater territory, greater gifts, greater responsibilities.  Are you ready for it?

Forgetting the Gospel?

"Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to Yahweh  your Elohim, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity."

~Joel 2:13

I've been thinking about the term "dying daily" recently (1 Cor. 15:31).  And I think it means something subtly different than what many Christians assume.

"But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation."              ~Colossians 1:22

The truth in Messiah is that we've already died, once and for all.  You died with Christ -- thus, there is no more dying to do! The Holy Spirit already cleansed you, sanctified you, and gave you the seal of Resurrection life (Ephesians 1:13).  What Jesus did was enough.  So I don't think Paul was talking about constantly spiritually 'killing' oneself, again and again and again.  He wasn't saying that we must obsessively purge ourselves from each and every sin.  No...Dying daily is about remembrance.

Martin Luther (supposedly?) said, "we need to hear the gospel everyday because we forget it everyday".  And it's true!  The good news is almost too good to be true. It's almost unbelievable, and it would be, without the power of the Spirit drawing us in (John 6:44).  Even after belief, our minds must be continually renewed (Romans 12:2).  The Gospel can be hard to get a grasp on!

If you're stressed out, if you are anxious, it's ultimately because you've had a short term crisis in faith. Perfect peace have they that love Yah's law (Psalm 119:165).  That's the law of love, which you are currently living under (Romans 8:2)! If you are not being in peace, it's because of unbelief.

All it takes to get your peace back is to rest and remember.  It's critical that we are always remembering the gospel.  In the Old Testament, Yahweh commanded Joshua and fellow Israelites to set up memorial stones after having passed through the Jordan (Joshua 4).  Symbolically speaking, they had just been baptized.  They'd just entered into the Promise (Hebrews 4:8).

They had arrived.   Yet the good news is -- so have you! And your conversion experience has been far more glorious (2 Cor. 4). Christ is the stone that commemorates your arrival into the Kingdom (Matthew 21:42). But to live in the bliss of this truth, belief and contemplation is required.

There is a violence that comes with believing (Matthew 11:12).  There is a necessity to tear and to rend your heart; to return to the truth.  There is a putting off of the old and a welcoming of the new.  There is a dying to oneself -- but only in the sense of remembering that you've already been reborn and made new! Belief will always produce tangible results.

Peace I Give to You

"Peace I leaue with you, my peace I geue vnto you. Not as the world geueth, geue I vnto you. Let not youre hertes be greued, nether feare."       ~Yahshua (John 14:27)

Jesus has given you peace.  But have you received it?  Have you accepted His peace into your reality?  Did you feel peaceful reading this almost unreadable 1540 'Great Bible' Miles Coverdale edition?  You certainly can.  All it takes is a little faith.

Yahweh wants us to have peace like a river, peace like the ocean, peace like He has.  He wants you to have peace all the time.  He wants you to have so much peace it's impossible.

God was speaking to me about this today.  His truth is that there has not, is not, and will not been a valid reason to lose peace.  Nothing is so important as to make you break the faith (Romans 11:20).  That's really what the loss of peace implies -- it's a temporary loss of belief.  The two go hand in hand.  God is bigger than your problems!

Peace is also tied in with patience.  Peace recognizes and rest in the truth that Yahweh is not slow in keeping His promises (2 Peter 3:9).  The battle is His (2 Chron. 20:15), and when it comes, you'll win with Him.  Belief is peace.

The Call Of God

"This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well. The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally; it is a call that can only be perceived and understood internally by our true inner-nature. The call of God is like the call of the sea— no one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him. What God calls us to cannot be definitely stated, because His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes. Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance— they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes."

~Oswald Chambers

The call of God is an upward call (Phil. 3:14).  It's different, it's unusual, it's peculiar (1 Peter 2:9). It's rooted in the heart. The Spirit says, "Come away from that" (2 Cor. 6:17), and then breathes out --"Come to Me!" (Rev. 22:17).  God wants every bit of us.  He wants to be our best Friend.

The Holy Spirit is unpredictable (John 3:8)!  It can be difficult to put definite goals, plans, or desires into working in one's life, if they are led by the Ruach.  Difficult, but not impossible.  God wants your plans devoted to Him!

Last week, a certain simple song came to mind.  It's a beautiful song, and it carries in it the sacrificial essence of belonging to God.  I first heard it because Heidi Baker, miracle-working missionary, was inspired to pray along during certain parts of her life:

"take me and use me, bruise me if need be"

This morning, I have bruises all over my arms.  That's what construction work (hauling heavy trusses around) for the past few days will get you! Yahweh sure fulfilled that one, at least in a symbolic sense.  The call of God is still there, no matter what.

Making His best your best will always be worth it.

More of the Holy Spirit?

You can't get more of the Holy Spirit.  But you can be more fully controlled by the life and breath of God already inside you.  You can, in yielding to the Spirit, experience more of Him.  You can always experience His otherworldly presence and love.

"Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen."

~St.  Augustine.

We don't need more of the Ruach.  You can't have more of an unlimited resource.  We simply need to come into line with Him!

"After I was baptized with the Holy Ghost the Lord gave me a blessed revelation. I saw Adam and Eve turned out of the garden for their disobedience and unable to partake of the tree of life, for the cherubim with flaming sword kept them away from this tree. When I was baptized I saw that I had begun to eat of this tree of life and I saw that the flaming sword was all round about. It was there to keep the devil away. Oh, what privileges are ours when we are born of God. How marvelously He keeps us so that the wicked one touches us not. I see a place in God where Satan dare not come. Hidden in God. And He invites us all to come and share this wonderful hidden place where our lives are hid with Christ in God, where we dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. God has this place for you in this blessed realm of grace."

~Smith Wigglesworth

The Revelator: The Kingdom Within

"From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it."  

~Matthew 11:12

We have the Kingdom within us.  You have the Lion of Judah, the source of all revelation and understanding, living and breathing in you.  It's a heavy, glorious thing to lay hold of that!  It's an enormous thing to get a grasp on.

A camel may not pass through the eye of a needle, but Jesus has entered through the passageway of your heart. He's unlocked the Kingdom in you, from the inside out.  He's given you life, love, energy; He's given you faith and works.  He's given you understanding.  He's given you an endless, effortless supply of resources needed for the life He's called you to.  

This Kingdom has met some opposition along the way -- but it's here now.  There was a lot of clashes in the spiritual realm just prior to Yahshua!  The enemy knew what was coming.

In the same way, there's warfare around us now.  The kingdom within is bombarded with lies, deception, doubts, and attacks from the enemy.  There's outside darkness.  Yet the Holy Spirit within is greater.  The Holy Spirit within carries us onward -- whatever it takes.  The Kingdom of Heaven has been gotten hold of, and it continues to be received by those who long for it.

And it continues to be received by you!  There will be turbulence, but God's momentum within is forcefully advancing.  You are the Tent of Meeting, and He's enlarging your borders, enlarging your tents.  He's taking back ground, He's renewing you.  He's the only reason that you've already arrived.

The Revelator: The Lion of Judah

And one of the elders says to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals."

~Revelation 5:5

There's a reason that it was the Apostle John who was given the book of Revelation.  John already understood the revelation of Love.  He was able to be entrusted with bigger things, like this vision of Revelation, because the Law of Love had already been fulfilled in him.

"There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Yahshua loved."

~John 13:23

John got it.  There's a reason why he always referred to himself as "the one Jesus loved".  Ever think about that?  I always thought it was kind of self-serving for John to title himself that.

Surely, all the disciples loved Yahshua.  Yet John was the one from among them that highlighted the Master's love, rather than his own.  He understood one of the greatest revelations -- that God's love is bigger, that His love is purer, that His love came first (1 John 4:19).  John was the one who Jesus loved because he recognized the truth in this.  Now, Yahshua didn't love him more than any of the other disciples. Yet John was acquainted with His Master's heavy, lovely presence more than the rest. His namesake was only an accurate byproduct of that.

Anyways...John had the book of Revelation unlocked to him.  He had it unlocked, for him.  All he had to do was participate in the life of the Spirit (Rev. 1:10).  Yahshua took over from there.

There's a big concept to grasp here.  In your own life, understand that being loved by God is greater than loving God.  He's the all consuming fire; you're the one who has to be consumed (Heb. 12:29). You're job is more passive than you might think.

Let the Lion of Judah do the heavy lifting.  He's the One worthy to open the scroll.  He did it for John, He'll do it for you!  Don't try to go randomly digging for understanding on your own.  Just trust for it, and rely on your Father to bring it forth.   The only thing for you to understand is that it's not your efforts that ultimately count.  It's what He's done -- it's His Life, it's His battle (2 Chronicles 20:15).

Our only work required is to trust.  There's a humility and reverence here (Proverbs 9:10); that's the whole point!  He's your representative; He's the One who opens the whole mystery of Heaven up.

On Keeping the Sabbath: A Restful Life

"So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of Yahweh. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as Yahweh did from His..."       ~Hebrews 4:11

The Holy Book says that there is a rest that remains.  What is this?  It's something different than the Old Testament's Sabbath Day commandments.  It's something that rendered the Old obsolete.  It's a Rest that transcends practical judgement, because God wants to have our hearts (2 Cor. 5:16).  Rest is a state of being that remains.

Why did God rest from His works?  Because Jesus was telling the truth when He cried out on the cross: "IT IS FINISHED" (John 19:30).  And If God is still resting, content with the fulfillment of His Redeeming plan, then we should follow His example and rest too!

"...Let us make every effort, therefore, to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience."      ~Hebrews 4:12

Entering God's rest, truly, constantly and unconditionally keeping it, may take a lot of effort.  It may take a lot of faith.  But what are we, that we could have "a lot" of anything?  What are we, that Yahweh is mindful of us (Psalms 8:4)?  Remember that it's His Work that gets us there, and not our own.  Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Our only work, our "every effort", should only be made concerning our belief.  That's the work that God expects, demands from us.  Are we really believing?  Hopefully so --cause that's all that Yahshua wants (John 6:29).  Everything else will flow out from that -- the rest is up to you.  Faith + trust = Rest.

Now, I'm not contradicting my previous post on the Sabbath.  The commandment has been good, and it continues to be good (Romans 7:12).  Keeping a physical Sabbath may well just be an intermediate tool; a way to ensure that we are doing everything that day with intention and joy.  It might serve as a wonderful stepping stone that helps you grasp the spiritual symbolism involved.  The Sabbath provokes internal inspection...are we doing things out of obligation, or are we seeing our time as being redeemed by God?  Don't be enslaved by your own business (Gal. 5:1). That's not God's best for you.  I think observing a Sabbath that excludes any compulsive act (2 Cor. 9:7) is a great idea.

The next question is...On what day? Should you observe Saturday, Sunday, the Jewish lunar calendar, or the lunar-solar calendar?  There are fringe groups out there who would claim that their approach to all this is the only way.  Who cares?  Paul called such topics "disputable matters" (Romans 14:1).

Like I said, there remains a Sabbath that transcends physicality.  God wants you to be so thankful for every moment, that even the hardest work you do is still purely Rest.  He wants you to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  He wants you to carry such a heavy awareness of Him that any of your own efforts are blotted out by His monumental Light.

It's OK to be blinded by love.  Yahweh wants us to take our eyes off ourselves so we can enjoy Heavenly, blissful rest.

On Keeping the Sabbath: The Holy Day

"Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant..."         ~Exodus 31:16

Shabbat Shalom!  I've been thinking about the Sabbath a lot recently. I've been wondering about just what it means to keep the Sabbath out of reverence for Yahweh.

It's clear that the Sabbath was built to last.  It's referred to by Yahweh as a "perpetual covenant", a lasting ordinance, a statue meant to be kept forever (Ex. 12:14).  The Sabbath is even counted and kept in Heaven (Isaiah 66:23).  And it's meant to be kept by the Children of Israel, the children and heirs to the promise.  Guess what?  You're an heir to the promise (Gal. 3:29).  You're included in spiritual Israel!

"...It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."      ~Exodus 31:17

The Sabbath is a sign.  It symbolizes rest, completion, fulfillment, contentment.  It symbolizes the creation of a finished work.  It requires trust -- trust enough to deny oneself and look to Yahweh as provider (Lev. 16:31).

The law points us to Messiah (Colossians 2:17), and Messiah gives us His Spirit, allowing us to perfect holiness before God (2nd Cor. 7:1).  The flavor of the Law has more than been changed -- it has been fulfilled (Matthew 5:17).  The law of love perfects us from the inside out.  But how does that play out practically?  What does keeping the Sabbath Day look like, today?  Here's a clue:

And He [Yahshua] said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

~Mark 2:27

The Sabbath was instated for our own good. We get the benefit of giving our time to God. We can enjoy everything, and do everything willingly.  Not under compulsion, but willingly (2nd Cor. 9:7)! That's a weighty thing to get a hold of.  Don't feel like doing something?  Then put it off.

"Love God, and do whatever"       ~ St. Augustine

I didn't do a single thing this past Sabbath day that I didn't want to do.  It was very restful; Everything was enjoyable.  Everything was intentionally done, and I thanked my Heavenly Father for it all.  God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7, again), and then He lets us love Him back. Thanks to Him, there was no "work".  I did some chores, yeah, but that didn't count.  Why? Because I gave my time to the Breath that first gave it to me.  I was able to be restfully thankful for it.  He created such bliss for me, for you.

The definition of work's been redefined (Hebrews 4:10). If you enjoy something, it's not work.  If you remain peaceful while doing random stuff, it's not work.  It's lawful to do good on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:12).  And what is good?  Hopefully everything you do! There remains a Sabbath Day;s Rest that transcends observing any particular day of the week...but more on this in the next blog post.

If for no other reason, keeping the Sabbath day to give your physical body some rest is definitely a good idea.  Lots of Christians, out of zeal for the Lord, have gotten burnt out by neglecting their bodies. They're fallen out of "ministry", or worse, even died young. The Sabbath was created for us -- for our health, relaxation, and holy enjoyment!  It's supposed to be restful and fun.

(To reiterate, if you don't feel like doing something, then don't do it!)

All Things Together

 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love Yahweh, to them who are the called according to His purpose."        ~Romans 8:28

If you love God, you have become among the called!  I like to say that God chooses you as soon as you choose Him.  Or is it the other way around?  I don't believe that either Calvinism nor Armenianism are sufficient to describe His ways (Isaiah 55:9). Anyways, "His purpose" is divine love, and if we included in that, then we'll especially love Him.


"They continue this day according to Thine ordinances: for all are Thy servants."        ~Psalm 119:91

What "continues[s] to this day"?  Well, according to the preceding verse, all things of the earth continue.  God's overruling of the physical world continues.  God's glory in the big things and the small continue.  He's still on the throne.  And all things He's created -- everything -- works for our Heavenly Father, just the way He wants it to.  Everything serves Him.

You have the Spirit of Yahweh within you.  Isn't that beautiful?  I think it is.  There is a depth of God's power inside that never had to run dry (Zechariah 4 and context).  This is reality for believers today, and because God is on the outside and the inside, all things are serving you.

Things are working together for you.  Not just some things, but "all things".  God may very well be breathing life into inanimate objects, breathing His Spirit into the little details (Psalm 37:23) and greater depths of your life, so that all things weave and work together for you.  You'll see your schedule fall right into place, you'll never be too busy, and people will randomly encourage you at needed times -- even unbelievers.  They're His servants too, remember?

You'll buy the right books, read the right books, meet the right people and make the right friends. They are all your servants (as you are theirs, Galatians 5:13), all because you serve Him.

You're for Him, and He's for you. There is an attractive power in being a child of God.  Now, bad things still happen to good people (see the book of Job for examples of this), but if we really believed what Romans 8:28 says about our Heavenly Father's sovereignty, would we consider anything bad???  I don't think so.  Life is beautiful and pure and free!  Nothing would be allowed, good or "bad", if it wasn't breathed out into existence with the all-knowing power of the living word.

All things are lifting you up to the heavens, and all things are pulling the heavens down into you (Luke 17:21). Yahweh wants you to be close to Him!

Hope!!!

Commit thy way unto Yahweh; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.              

~Psalm 37:5

Hope always leads to trust and rest.  In order to have such hope, you need to commit your paths, your plans, and even your predictions to God.  There's a comfort in knowing it's out of your own hands. It's comforting to know that the preeminent changes can only be accomplished by God.  It's comforting to know that it's not up to you!

Hope isn't complacency.  But it is contentment.  And contentment in itself is gain (1 Tim. 6:6) -- another thing to hope for!

Hope is not a reason to sit around all day, just "waiting on the Lord".  Hope is a reason to have confidence in yourself!  Confidence in yourself -- in Christ (Phil. 4:13).  Remember in Psalm 37 that Yahweh will bring your way to pass.  Your way, yes, if it's already been committed!  In Christ, you are capable and pure.

Hope makes us bold (2 Cor. 3:12), it inspires us to act, it inspires us to pray and to contend.  Spiritual warfare is only done from a point of rest.  Work should only be done in trust.  Hope won't let you get weary!

Hope can seem foolish to the world.  It may inspire the appearance of short-term memory loss (Philippians 3:13). Hope can be illogical, unconventional, and stubborn.  Hope doesn't look at the facts.

The mystery of Christianity is this: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  Ultimately, hope comes from the longing for Christ in you.  

You Died on the Cross

Freedom from sin has been on my mind recently.  The greatest freedom we can achieve on this earth, ultimately, is freedom from ourselves.  God doesn't want our mental constructs, paradigms, or limitations to hold us back! He doesn't want sin bogging us down.  We are free to enjoy and fulfill unity with Christ.  Romans 6 says a lot about this, and I believe that there is an important revelatory key to be found here, in the first 7 verses:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?"

The passing of the Law does not license sin.  It doesn't legalize it or anything.  The presence of grace does not permit sin; though the presence of sin permits grace to act.

"May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"

Grace is for gifting, not for sinning (Acts 4:33).  We are not to live in something that Jesus died to eradicate.  Sin is still self-harming and separates from God.  Sinfulness in the life of a believer will always lead to the illusion of punishment.  It gives satan an open door to work.

"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"

Baptism is symbolic of death.  Did you know that death can be joyful?  That death can be pleasurable?  Well, it is, if for no other reason that because baptism is.  Dying to self is a holy thing.  The old has been buried, forgotten, rendered obsolete. That means the shameful parts of you!

"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Newness of life is an everyday thing.  It has been you state of being since the first moment you believed, and it will continue to be your state of being forever.  You death to self has been sealed for a while now.  It's not something you have to work yourself into every morning.  It's just something that you have to remember and believe.  You new nature is natural.  

"For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,"

We were united with Him in the likeness and heavenly substance of His death.  We were right there! A few days ago, I was given a vision where I saw our Master being crucified.  I was an onlooker. I gazed on this scene for a while, and it was somber.  I didn't want to be far off.  And then things changed.  I was transmitted onto His broken body!  I was right there on that cross with Him; I was part of Him.  I shared in His sufferings (Romans 8:17).  He was broken so I could be broken, so that I could get out of my own way.  And the entire penalty, the one I deserved, was taken away from me.  The entire transaction was a beautiful, mystical thing to witness.

And, going back to the last verse, We have been raised through glory, through the glory of our Glorious Father.  When we remember His death, we remember our resurrection.  It's been a past tense thing.  Knowing you've died is freeing.  Knowing that you're now living in "the likeness of His resurrection" is even better!

"knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;"

See, we are free from sin.  Our sin nature has be crushed.  It's a part of us that didn't, hasn't, and won't come back.  We are slaves to righteousness, love slaves!

"for he who has died is freed from sin"

We have died to human desire, temptation, and sin, and all we need to do is remember it.  That's where the current manifestation comes in.  The punishment for sin has also lost it's hold on us.  A dead person doesn't need to fear the law!  And neither do we.

We died with Him.  We were resurrected with Him.  We are constantly being regenerated with Him. We are free to live with Him.  That means life to the fullest.

No longer do we have a predisposition to be angry, or to be worried, or to be sad.  We may go through those things, but negative emotions should only be the exception that proves the rule.  Life is beautiful and fun, it's holy and free.  That's how Yahshua meant it to be!

Temptation: Don't Settle

Been thinking a lot about temptation recently.  There is a higher side to this, a higher solution, that I'll get to in a bit.  But for now, here's some thoughts taken from the Smith Wigglesworth devotional:



Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. – James 1:12

People do not know what they are getting when they are in a great place of temptation. Temptation endured brings the “crown of life.”

There is nothing outside of purity except what is sin. All unbelief is sin. God wants you to have a pure, active faith so that you will be living in an advanced place of believing God all the time, and so that you will be on the mountaintop and singing when others are crying.

I want to speak now about lust. I am not speaking about the base things, the carnal desires. I am not speaking so much about adultery or fornication, and such things, but I am speaking about what has turned you aside to some other thing instead of God.

God has been offering you better things all the time, and you have missed them.

There are three things in life, and I noticed that many people are satisfied with just one of them. There is blessing in  justification, there is blessing in sanctification, and there is blessing in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a wonderful thing, and we know it. Sanctification is a process that takes us on to higher levels with God. Salvation, sanctification, and the fullness of the Spirit are processes.

Many people are satisfied with “good” – that is, with salvation. Other people are satisfied with “better” – a sanctified life, purified by God. Still other people are satisfied with “best” – the fullness of God with revelation from on high. I am not satisfied with any of the three. I am only satisfied with “best with improvement”.

So I come to you not with good, but better; not with better, but best; not with best, but best with improvement – going on with God.

Why?

Because “when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully-grown, brings forth death”(James 1:15)

When anything has taken me from God, it means death in some way.

When Jesus said to the disciples, “The Son of Man will be put into the hands of sinners and crucified,” Peter rebuked Him ( see Mt. 16:21-22), but Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”(verse 23)

Anything that hinders me from denying myself and taking up my cross(v.24) is of the Devil; anything that hinders me from being separated unto God is of the Devil, anything that hinders me from being purified every day is carnal, and it is death.

So I implore you today to make certain that there is no lustful thing in you that would rob you of the glory. Then God will take you to the very summit of the blessing where you can be increased day by day into all His fullness.

Thought for today: Do not neglect the Word of God. Take time to think about the Word of God; it is the only place of safety.

Divine Nature

"Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

2 Peter 1:4

Yahweh has given us so many precious promises.  Through what?  Look back to the last verse--through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  We participate in the divine nature, we mystically become part of Him, by simply understanding just how great He is.  By having the true knowledge of that.  Knowledge really is power!

"Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God..."

Reception, belief, true knowledge--all these things go hand in hand.  What it means to have a renewed mind (Ephesians 4:23) and realize just how well you already know Him!  It's comforting to know that you are a daughter, or that you are a son.

God's promises give us the power of participation, the power of holy pleasure.  There is a belonging in the family of God, in the nature of God.  It's just as natural as could be. (1 Cor. 15:46 and context)

I've been praying for two major things for a while now.  One, that I would feel the way my Heavenly Father feels about every situation, and two, that everything I say would be soaked in His Love.  These are just a small facet of the divine nature.

See, when you are partaking of His promises, in His goodness, the temptations of the world "grow strangely dim".  The burdens, the sorrows, the sin--all those things can be swallowed up (1 Cor. 15:54).  They can lose their place in your awareness and in your mind.

You are free to be free, you are free to be constantly joyful, you are free to never worry again.  You are free to be like Jesus was on the earth (1 John 4:17), always experiencing perfect love.  In 2016, let's all tap into that.