Being God Minded

Advertisements are everywhere in our culture. Whether traveling on a highway, listening to radio, watching television, the internet, direct mail, or telephone we are exposed to advertisements.  An advertisement is defined as; "a notice or announcement calling to the attention of the public a product, service, or an event that is being promoted." According to researchers, the average person is exposed to, yes, 4000 to 5000 advertisements daily.  You may be thinking that these numbers are quite high, but look at it from this perspective. A study done in 2015 by researchers (though a 10 year old statistic) say that the sum of media asked for and delivered to consumers daily is about 6.9 gigabytes (6.9 billion) of information, or a daily consumption of nine DVDs worth of data per person per day. Researchers also say that the average brain receives approximately 34 gigabytes (34 billion) of information daily.

As far as the best advertisement ever, many would have different opinions as to which advertisement it may be, so I will use only one example to show this point, Super Bowl LIX, (59). According to statistics the cost of advertising during Super Bowl 59, surpassed every previous Super Bowl. The base price of a thirty second advertisement was $8 million. Media executives projected that the cost of a 30-second commercial with every super bowl will continue to climb in cost. I use this example because Super Bowl 59 drew an average audience of 127.7 million viewers, peaking at 137.7, which makes Super Bowl 59 the most watched broadcast in U.S. television history, plus many boast that these advertisements are the best.

Looking back at the definition of the word advertisement as, "a notice or announcement calling to the attention of the public a product, service, or an event that is being promoted" we will find that nothing in this world can compare to the absolute best advertisement ever. Interestingly enough, this advertisement has been repeated over and over from creation and though many may ignore it or chalk it up to phenomena, fantasy, or even non-existent, it will continue until the end of time. What is this advertisement? It is the power of God breaking into time and space, manifesting in the lives of mankind through miracles, signs and wonders. When I use the term "God advertising Himself" it simply means that He is revealing Himself. He is calling to the attention of the public, that is, mankind, His will, nature, character, purpose and plan.

Looking in the Bible from cover to cover we see over and over Gods divine intervention, the release of His supernatural power, in the affairs of mankind bringing mankind to the knowledge of Who He is. We see this in the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt; the Red Sea Crossing; Israel's conquest of the Promised Land; throughout the Judges of Israel; the defeat of the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. We even see God advertise Himself before the heathen rulers of kingdoms who worshiped false gods. They too came to recognize the one and only true God when God advertised Himself by manifesting His power. (Daniel 2:46-47, 3:19-29, 6:16-28)

The Bible tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, 14) "Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus...The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:30-31, 35)

As we look at the ministry of Jesus in the gospels, once again God advertises Himself through miracles, signs and wonders (Hebrews 2:4) causing people to be amazed and marvel. (Matthew 15:31; Mark 1:27, 6:2) The apostle John says, "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25) Yet, God did not stop there. He continued to advertise Himself in the same manner in the early church. (Acts 3:12, 5:12-16, 6:8, 8:5-8, 9:32-43, 14:1-10, 15:12,19:11-12, 20:6-12, 28:8-9) Once again we see God advertising Himself, this time through the early church.

The Bible records, "For I am the Lord, I do not change." (Malachi 3:6) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) We see that in both Old and New Testament that God does not change. Although many have been told that God does not need to advertise Himself through miracles, signs and wonders, any longer, there is absolutely no evidence of this in the Bible. On the contrary, throughout the centuries of the church on earth, God has always advertised Himself to be the one and only true God by manifesting Himself through miracles, signs, and wonders.  We see this evidenced in the lives of many believers, especially in every awakening or revival. It is God manifesting His power in the affairs of man through the church that proves the resurrection and it also separates Christianity from every other religion on earth. The church is the one and only vehicle that God works through on earth revealing Jesus Christ. 

This is how the gospel message is to be presented to the world. Jesus tells us, "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:17-18) Next, we find the reality of this in action, "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." (Mark 16:19-20)  The church began with God advertising Himself with miracles and He will continue to do the same until Jesus returns.

The Apostle Paul also tells us how the gospel message is to be presented, "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." (Romans 15:18-19) Paul tells us that "the full gospel" is revealed "in word and deed." Believers are to preach Christ in word, and as Jesus said He would do when the gospel, God's Word was preached, He would confirm it with accompanying signs, which Paul also reveals to us in his preaching of Christ.

Every believer today must become miracle minded. This is not to say that we are to focus on miracles and not God, but that we must come to the place once again where we allow God, through faith, to advertise Himself, that is, call the attention of the public to Himself. Once a person or a people becomes miracle minded, we will see things happen that were common to the early church. This means the nearer we come to Him, the more clearly we see Him with the eyes of faith. It is the dogma and doctrines of men which have eroded faith and promoted fear, doubt and unbelief in the church that has caused many sectors of the church not to believe that the unchanging Lord God Almighty still reveals Himself through miracles, signs and wonders, to anyone who has faith in Christ and His Word. Jesus tells us, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23) 

As the Lord makes us one with one another and with Himself, His strength, His life, His wisdom, His love, His power becomes ours. He becomes a part of everything we do, and our response becomes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). He takes us out of the realm of weakness, fear, doubt, unbelief and inability, and moves us into the realm of His ability and strength. (Ephesians 3:20) We actually become supermen and superwomen fearlessly undertaking the impossible letting the best advertisement ever to manifest through us, that is, the power of Almighty God. So, if you struggle with and doubt the fact that God still advertises Himself through miracles, signs and wonders, then may I suggest, simply asking the Lord to help you to so live in the realm of the His Word, growing your faith in Him, that in turn, you may become so God minded that God can advertise Himself to the public through you. Amen...

Talking With Our Heavenly Father

It has been said, "Our attitude towards God's Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life." In other words, it is not simply making statements like, "I believe that the Word of God is infallible" or "I believe God's Word is true" or "I believe in the inerrancy of God's Word" which statements are true concerning God's Word, but moreover, are we settled in our thinking to the place where by faith we act on God's Word? What is meant here is, are we going to allow unscriptural dogma and doctrine, to continue to hold the church in bondage or are we willing to let every Word of God loose? Jesus, in speaking to the devil said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) 

What we need to see here, is Jesus, God the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14) does not say that man lives on dogma, doctrines or creeds developed by man concerning the Words that God speaks, but man is to live by every word that God has spoken. The entire Word of God should always be received as though the Father is speaking directly to us. It should never be like the message from an ordinary book. It should be as real to us as though Jesus Himself is in the room and speaking to us personally. We must see the Bible as a supernatural book containing the supernatural, life changing, powerful, Word of God that does not change! (Malachi 3:6; Mark 13:31; Hebrews 13:8)

We must see that although Jesus is at the right hand of the Majesty on High, that God's Word, the Bible, is taking Jesus' place in His physical absence because He and His Word are One. To have God's Word, the Bible, is to have Jesus presence with us. Jesus tells two things that needs to take hold in our hearts and minds concerning God and the Word, "God is Spirit..." (John 4:24) and "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63) The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John also tells us the same, "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." (1 John 5:7) In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we see, "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God." (Revelation 19:13) Do we see the connection that God and His Word are One? 

The Word of God is Christ (God the Word) revealing Himself. It is God Himself present with us, speaking the living message that transforms lives. (Hebrews 4:12) Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." (Revelation 22:13) This means that Jesus is not bound by time or space, He is ever-present. It also means that as Jesus is, so is the Word. The Word is not bound by time or space, it is always now, ever-present, to the world today and every day. It is the very voice of God speaking His message to us. It is living, powerful and limitless. It is God's mind and will spoken to humanity.

I believe that revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit or even what we may call a third awakening, would break out if God's Word was as real to us today as it was to the early church. The book of Acts reveals this over and over, "But the word of God grew and multiplied." (Acts 12:24) and "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." (Acts 19:20)  Look what happens when the Word of God is spoken from the mouths of faith, "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." (Mark 16:19-20) Unfortunately, in many sectors of what we refer to as Christianity, the word of man has gained more influence and authority than God's Word.

Because there is a failure to acknowledge this, then it is obvious that one or all of the following conclusions exist; God's Word has changed with time; His Word is not being preached; We lack faith in His Word or He is no longer I AM but I was. However, the truth is, the Word is alive and talks to us (Hebrews 4:12). God is I AM. He and His Word are now. It has the same authority and power that it had when God spoke it and if Jesus Himself stood in the room and spoke it. If we say we have faith in God then we are saying we have faith in His Word. Jesus said, "According to your faith let it be to you.” (Matthew 9:29) As we consider the Word and act upon it, it will become real to us. It is the very Bread of Heaven to those hungry in spirit. (John 6:35-40)

Food for thought. If believers want to build the highest type of faith, then they must become a faithful person by believing and acting on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In doing so, God's Word will transform our lives "from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18) and "from faith to faith." (Romans 1:17) Do not be a hearer of the Word only, but a doer of the Word. (James 1:22) What one does with the Word of God will determine what God's Word will do in and through that one. By letting God's Word go to work in us, it will build the life of Jesus in us. God's Word will build life, faith, love, grace, strength and on and on into us as we continue in and abide in it. God's Word will reveal the very riches of our inheritance. (Romans 8:16-17) It will build the very character of Christ us. It has the power to save the lost; it has the power to heal the sick and on and on. So, let us let the Word of Christ then dwell us richly (Colossians 3:16), because His Word is not natural but supernatural.

Called Into Service

One of many remarkable stories in the Gospels is the story of the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. As it goes, "Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

When it is said that Mary sat at Jesus' feet, it does not insinuate that she was better than her sister Martha, but it simply means that she took a position of humility and listened attentively to His instructions, and was anxious to learn from Him. What we see that sticks out concerning Martha is, she "was distracted with much serving." She was involved with the cares of the family. This does not insinuate that in doing so, Martha had a worldly or covetous disposition. The only fault that could possible be placed on her was she had an earnest desire to make everything perfect for the family and especially Jesus. However, we do see that she developed an attitude towards her sister Mary, as she interrupts Jesus in saying "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 

It is obvious that Martha overstepped her bounds by her improper reproof of Jesus, as if He had encouraged Mary to neglect her duty. Martha also make a demand of Jesus that Mary should stop what she is doing, or from Martha's perspective, not doing and help her serve. Jesus reveals what was going on when He lovingly says to Martha, "you are worried and troubled about many things." Jesus was telling her that she was improperly anxious about those things, and that she should, with Mary, have chosen to hear what He taught. Jesus was not devaluing what Martha was doing, but simply giving her some loving advice. Jesus also said to Martha, "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Jesus' advice can be seen in this way...

The cares of this life can be dangerous, especially if our sight is off Jesus and on ourselves as to what we consider to be proper and fitting. Nothing of a worldly nature could have been more proper than to provide for the family and the Lord Jesus. Yet, because Martha was too engrossed in her mind, Jesus gently reproved her. So caring for our family and friends may be important, but we cannot allow what we think is right in our eyes override what the Lord is trying to do in, through and for us. We can make specific plans, but if they do not go the way we planned, we can become like Martha, complain and even feel dishonored, devalued or taken advantage of. However, what we must consider, is it of more important to listen to what the Lord is speaking, or is it more important to be engaged in the affairs of the world no matter how noble they may seem to be in our eyes. The one will abide forever; the other will be but for a little time.

There are times when believers should suspend worldly affairs and attend to the affairs of the soul, which Mary chose. There is certainly nothing wrong in serving, every believer is to serve.  The questions we must ask ourselves if we find ourselves in Martha's position are, "Who am I serving?" "Is it out of love?" Will I be offended if someone does not do it my way?" "Am I looking for an at-a-boy?" "Do I feel as though I am I being taken advantage of?" The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us concerning gifts for the believers, "...or ministry, let us use it in our ministering..." (Romans 12:7) The word ministry is described as, one who renders to others, Christian affection especially to those who help meet needs by either collecting or distributing the things that meet or exceed the needs of others.

So, let us not forget that service to one another is a good thing, but also let us remember that we serve one another as we serve the Lord. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10) But let us do it with a joyful heart...

Glory to God

Did you know that every believer has been recreated for the habitation of God's glory? The glory of God was a part of man's being in creation, and it is also the inheritance of every child of God. Jesus reveals in His prayer for all believers, "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one." (John 17:22) What a wonderful prayer and truth. When the Bible speaks of God's Glory, it is referring to His very presence. To enter into His presence, is to receive all that He is and has, such as, His love, His grace and His divine power. It is His power, which transforms lives by healing, delivering, providing etc.. It also reveals His majesty. Yet many believers have never experienced God's presence where these things manifest. Many are settling for far less in their relationship with God.

The glory of God, is the spiritual atmosphere of heaven, like air which is the physical atmosphere of earth. Because the glory is the essence of who God is, everything is complete in His glory, nothing is incomplete. Looking at creation and especially the Garden of Eden, we see this very thing. Everything in the animal and vegetation realm were made in complete form with the ability to reproduce after it own kind. (Genesis 1:11-13, 20-25) This same glory was the life and environment in which the first man, Adam, lived. God created Adam, out of the dust of the earth, and gave him His "breath of life." (Genesis 2:7) Adam was never an infant, a child, or a teenager. He did not have to undergo the growth process that his offspring, or that we ourselves experience. The same was true for the woman. They were created and formed as fully mature adults.

In creation, we can see that in God's glory, again, His presence everything is complete and every need that man could ever possibly have, was met. Therefore, we can say without question, the same applies even today for humanity. However, it can only be realized by faith to those who confess Jesus as Lord and receive Him as Savior. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us,  "and you are complete in Him, (Christ) who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:10) In God's glory we can expect healing, deliverance, and miracles (even creative miracles, such as new organs being formed and even lost body parts completely restored), simply because this is the heart of God of humanity.

Think about this way, Jesus, though surrounded by numerous people, when a woman with a issue of blood stretched out her faith, came behind Him and touch His garment, virtue, glory, power, flowed and she was instantly healed.  (Mark 5:25-30) When the leper approached Jesus, he says to Him, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed." (Matthew 8:2-5) These wonderful things flow forth in God's glorious presence. Again, this is the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Looking back to the Garden, when man was first created, there was no sickness, poverty, or death because, in God's glory, there is no sickness, poverty, or death. Not only were none of these things present, man himself had no knowledge of them. The Psalmist tells us, "The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord..." (Psalm 97:5) If the mountains melt like wax in the presence of the Lord, then sickness, poverty, death, etc., will also melt, that is, will vanish! Yet, after man sinned by rebelling against God, he had to be removed from God's presence, and he began to experience these dreadful things. (Genesis 3:23-24)

To comprehend what it means to live in God's glory, let's begin by looking at the contrast between the environment in which man lived, in the Garden of Eden before the fall and the environment in which he lived on the earth after the fall. In Genesis one, every aspect of creation on the earth was to prepare the perfect environment, the Garden of Eden, in which God would place man. The word Eden means, pleasure. The word garden means, enclosure and comes from a root word meaning to hedge about, that is, something that protects, defends, covers, or surrounds. When we are in God's glory, it is a pleasure (actually a pleasure beyond human comprehension) and we are protected, surrounded by His presence.

Tragically, man's existence in God's glory did not last. Adam and the woman sinned by choosing to go against what God had told them by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, they were disconnected from the life of God and were exiled from Eden which, subsequently meant, from God's glory. The very thing that connected them to God, the very thing that gave them direct contact with God, had now become enveloped in their flesh, that is, the mind, will, emotions (the soul) and their body. In other words, man's spirit no longer dominated his soul and body, but now his five senses became the dominating factor of his life. In a sense, he was no longer a spiritual man but a natural man. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

When Adam and the woman sinned, they died spiritually. However, it took 930 years for Adam's body to stop functioning. (Genesis 5:5) I have no scriptural reference, but I believe the glory of God that was present during creation did not simply leave the earth when Adam sinned, but a residual of God's glory was present and is what kept Adam physically alive for that length of time. I also believe that his descendants lived long lives due to the same residual glory of God that remained on the earth in those days. I say this due to the diminishing years that man experienced from the fall. I believe as time moved forward and sin did its awful destructive work, the residual of God's glory on earth dissipated and the number of years of a man's life on earth also diminished. The Psalmist records, "The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years." (Psalm 90:10) 

However, we see, when a person is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit, and their spirit is instantly recreated and restored back to a, "...new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) Our spirits are brought from death to life, (Ephesians 2:1) and we have access to His glory. (John 17:24) Once again, through faith in Jesus Christ, man can live spiritually in the environment of heaven, that is, in God's glory. Keep in mind, we still die physically because physical death has not been eliminate yet. (1 Corinthians 15:26)

Through the meritorious work of Christ, God's glory is in every believer and Jesus' atoning blood gives us access to the Father and once again connects us with His presence while our bodies wait to be completely redeemed from death. The writer of Hebrews tells us, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:10) This refers not only in heaven but by virtue of God living in us in this life, we are sons (and daughters) of His glory. In Christ, we are all carriers of God's glory wherever we go, through the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

We know that God is everywhere, all the time, but He doesn't manifest Himself everywhere on earth today. He manifests Himself where He is welcomed and where people are in right relationship with Him. Although the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer, every believer must actively seek God and His glory until the day we are in His glorious uninterrupted presence in Heaven. I want to encourage us all, to always have an insatiable desire to know Him, to know His ways and to desire His glory to manifest in, through and around us. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all...

Moving on to Perfection

Man is a spirit, with a soul in a physical body. His body enables him to contact the physical, natural realm. His reasoning faculties, his soul, (mind, will, emotions and intellect), puts him in contact with mental things. His spirit, on the-other-hand is the only part that puts him in contact with spiritual things. Before he is born again and receives eternal life his spirit is dominated by Satan, that is, spiritual death. This makes it impossible for him to understand God's Word. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) 

Looking back in the scriptures, we see that God spoke to the Prophet Ezekiel, giving through him, to us, a remarkable prophecy, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27) This word is actually speaking of the new creation that would be made available through faith in Jesus Christ. God tells us that He will recreate their spirit, or heart. He says, "I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." This suggests that a new kind of love is coming which will make them one as a body of people.

Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) The prophetic words spoken through Ezekiel now comes to fruition through the believer, the new creation in Christ. He is going to take the stony heart of selfishness out of them, and give them His own heart of love. This new kind of love would not simply manifest through the believer towards those who love him or her only, but every person that they come in contact with.  Jesus reveals this very thing to us...  

^"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48) 

We also see in Ezekiel's prophecy, "I will put a new spirit within you." This is the promise of God Himself indwelling the believer. Jesus reaffirms this, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." (John 14:16-18) God indwelling the believer is what makes him a new creation. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter tells us concerning the believer, "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." (1 Peter 1:23) Peter tells us of this new person, "rather let it be the hidden person (man) of the heart." (1 Peter 3:4) It is here that we are given a title for the recreated human spirit. He is called the "hidden man of the heart." He is the new creation. He is the man, the real person. 

The physical body is not the man, it is the temporary dwelling place for the man. It is the home of the five senses. The soul is not not the man, it is simply the part that the five senses work through giving him knowledge and causing him to respond to the world around him. The brain would lie dormant, it would be inactive, if the five senses did not function. All of the knowledge that is taught in our colleges, universities and technical schools has come to man through these five channels. The only way that man can obtain knowledge, or an education, prior to becoming a new creation, is through these five senses. 

The Apostle Paul tells us, "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man." (Romans 7:22) "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16) "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:16) In these scriptures we see that the hidden man is called the "inward man." In either case, the "hidden man" is the man. The outward, or the visible man, is the one that we see in the physical realm. It is the inward man who gives the outer man either his attractiveness or his unpleasantness. (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) 

Therefore, know that God deals with the inward man and not the outer man, that is, spiritual things are unveiled to the hidden man of the heart, the recreated spirit. Jesus tells us, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24) Now we can see man as being in Gods class. God is Spirit, man is a spirit. God is an eternal Spirit, man is an eternal spirit. He is capable of receiving the nature of God. (Ephesians 4:24) He is capable of loving God. (1 John 4:19) He is capable of loving like God. (Romans 5:5) He is capable of becoming a child of God. (John 1:12) 

From the beginning man was created in the image and likeness of God, that is, spiritual likeness. He lost that image in the fall, but it is restored in the new creation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul speak of the inward man also as the "new man." He tells us, "And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24), that is, the image and likeness of God. Peter says it this way, "you may be partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) 

As we see, the body is simply the home, or dwelling place, of the spirit. The recreated human spirit wishes to communicate its newfound joy to those about it. Hidden away as it is in the human body, it has no way of communication but through the five senses. This is why Paul tells us, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2) and, "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Ephesians 4:22-23)

Therefore, the first thing that must be done after one is recreated is to bring these five senses into subjection to the recreated human spirit, and God's Word. When this is done the mind will be renewed. Although a person is born again, they still possess the same mind and body that had been under the dominion of Satan. This is the reason that it is so important to renew the mind and bring it into harmony with the recreated spirit. You must bring it into subjection to this new self that has come into being. The trouble with the majority of believers is that their minds have never been renewed. The believers mind will never be renewed until they begin to believe and act upon God's Word. 

So, let us "move on to perfection" in Christ allowing the Holy Spirit to get to the heart of things, so that "all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."   

The Father and His Family

One of the greatest desires of our Heavenly Father is to reproduce Himself in every one of His children. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul reveals, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) The believer is a new creation. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter reveals, "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)  The old satanic nature that we all had before receiving Christ as Lord and Savior has been completely done away with and now we are partakers of the "divine nature," the very nature and life of the Father. 

The very genius of Christianity is the ability of God to build Himself into us through His Word, so that in our daily walk we live like Jesus. Paul tells us, "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 by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." (Galatians 4:19) As we see, the Father wants to reproduce Himself in us. However, let us keep in mind that the process of building Christ into one may be very slow, but the results are living as Jesus lived. The Father wants to make Jesus men and women out of us. Look at the reality of this, "[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." (Philippians 2:13 AMP)

The Father is actually building His love, His righteousness, His strength, His wisdom, His very self into our recreated spirits. He does this by the Holy Spirit through His Word. It is not simply the knowledge of the Word, but it is the Word that is built into us, implanted into us and becoming a part of us that counts. (James 1:21) As you study the Pauline Epistles you will see the vast revelation given to Paul concerning this and become convinced that the ultimate of every one of those Epistles is the building of the life of Jesus into every believer.  The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John reveals, "... as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17) The Father's plan for building Himself into us is wonderful. We are to take Jesus' place. We must learn to act in His stead. We are to be His representatives. (John 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:18) Here is another look at the Father's glorious plan for His children... 

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:9-14) PTL!!! 

For many, these things seem almost impossible to be true. They seem beyond what we could ever expect from God. However, let us receive the truth and know, that the Father loves us more than we love ourselves. He is more ambitious for our success than we are. It is simply faith in His ability that puts us over. The Bible tells us, "Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]." (Ephesians 3:20 AMP) Also keep in mind that the Father does not force these things upon His children. He doesn't drive us. It is simply the Father's ambition, His desire to make us successful and to enable us to enjoy the riches that belong to us through Christ our Lord.

It comes down to our attitude towards God's Word as well as our willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit's work in us. Jesus tells us, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27) 

Jesus is saying that the doer of the Word dug deep and built his house upon the rock, God's Word, and it made his house able to stand against any storm that might beat against it. Jesus also tells us, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." (John 15:5, 7) As a branch, we cooperate with the Vine and bear His fruit; we are laboring together with Him; we are operating together with Him; we are truly identified as one with Him and the Father is glorified. In us, the Lord has found a place for His ability to energize and act here on the earth. We are growing in Grace, and are growing in the knowledge of God, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

As we saw above, the climax of the Father's heart's desire for us is, "...the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."  However, though these are great and precious promises and though every believer is in Christ, it does not mean His Word is in every believer. So, let Him live His Life in us, that we begin to enjoy our share of our inheritance in Christ. Let us draw from the dividends on what He has done for us and in us. Let us come to enjoy the riches of His Grace. Let us let His Word have full control over every part of our life; let it have dominion over every phase of our thinking. Jesus said, "...If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32) Let the desire of the Father loose in us, so that we can look and act like Jesus. Amen?

New Creations in Christ

To seal man's redemption, making it both eternal and available to all mankind, we see that Jesus our Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) ascended into heaven, with His own blood obtaining eternal redemption for us on the basis of His substitutionary death and resurrection on our behalf. "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption...But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 9:12, 10:12-14) 

When Christ sat down at the Father's right hand, man had been perfectly redeemed because he had been legally identified with Christ in His redemptive work. (Romans 4:25, 5:1-2) Now man, by faith in Jesus Christ has a new identity. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Let us look at how the believers new identity from spiritual death to life in Christ Jesus unfolds. To discover these thing, we look to the Pauline epistles, where we find the greatest revelation of the believers identification in Christ. 

" Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." (Romans 6:6) "I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me." (Galatians 2:20) On the cross, God made Jesus to become sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) It was our spiritual death and our sin nature that He bore. He became identified with us on the cross as our Substitute. 

"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection...Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (Romans 6:5, 8) When Jesus died, we died with Him. First, spiritual death was laid on His spirit, then He died physically, in the same manner that Adam died. Spiritual death is separation from God. It was spiritual death that eventually brought physical death to Adam and all people. (Romans 5:12) Jesus speaks of Himself to the people around Him at the tomb of Lazarus, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:25-26) Faith in Christ removes the sting of spiritual death and gives us eternal life. 

So, as a result of His crucifixion mankind can now find their identity with and in Christ. When Jesus died, we died with Him. As His spirit left His physical body and went into Sheol (Psalm 16:10) Hades (Acts 2:31) we were identified with Him. Paul tells us, "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death..." (Romans 6:4) "Having been buried with Him in baptism..." (Colossians 6:10) Baptism in these verses is a type of our burial with Christ. Though His body was laid in the tomb, (Matthew 27:57-61), His spirit suffered in Sheol, Hades, as He paid the penalty that was due man. He could adequately pay man's penalty and meet the demands of justice because on the cross, He had become identified with man. 

Keep in mind, the penalty He paid was not His, but man's. In the mind of God, it was you and I there in that place of torment, bearing the judgment that was due us. On the basis of this identification the person who confesses with their mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and takes Him as Savior, receives the redemptive work of Christ, and will not go to Sheol, Hades, but goes free. However, the person who refuses Christ's redemption on his behalf must go there. Also, always remember that Sheol, Hades, was never meant for man. It is a person's freedom of choice to refuse God's redemptive work though Christ, that puts him there. In other words, a person can chose Sheol, Hades, over heaven, darkness over light, Satan over Christ.  Therefore, it is a person's decision as to where they go for eternity, not God's. 

Next, we see the satisfaction of man's penalty paid for by Christ. The Apostle Paul sums the meritorious work of Christ this way, "God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." (1 Timothy 3:16) In that place of torment, when justice was satisfied, Jesus was "justified (declared righteous) in spirit." Now the Father could declare man righteous and legally freed from spiritual death. Now the Father had the right to impart life, His own nature, to the spirit of man. (2 Peter 1:4) Notice, "even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:5) "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." (Colossians 2:13) 

Sheol, Hades, could not hold Him. When man's sin was paid for by Jesus, Peter tells us, "For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption, (His body in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb). (Acts 2:27) Paul tells us, "and what is the exceeding greatness of His (God's) power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:19-21) 

Now that man has been redeemed, made alive, declared righteous in Christ, the Father has "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) Now it is up to us, all believers. Our Heavenly Father desires us to take what is legally ours and in the Name of Jesus put every enemy of ours under our feet that we might reign as kings with Him. (Romans 5:17) The identification of man with Christ has destroyed the work of Satan in humanity. This means that no person on the earth ever needs be identified with the first Adam, but can live, can have abundant life now through Jesus Christ, the second Adam. 

So, let us rid ourselves of the lies of still being sinners, of never being able to please God, of unworthiness, of failure and weakness. Let us, "Put off the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, (our identification with the first Adam) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man (our identification with Jesus, the second Adam) which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24) PTL...