Seeing The Father

Seeing God means having ears that hear and a heart that is able to receive and abide in that which the Father bestows. It means knowing His thoughts (1Cor. 2:11-12), even as sons and daughters come to know the thoughts of their natural father. Seeing God also means not fleeing obstacles or times of barrenness.

Those who see God, rest in, feed upon, and submit to His faithfulness in the midst of the issues of life (1Cor. 1:9; Ps. 37:3), for the know He makes even the desert to bloom (Is. 51:3), and will perfect that which concerns them (Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:28).
Their identity and dependence is not within themselves or upon themselves, but in their Father.

The inability to see God was the great dilemma of the Israelites after they departed Egypt. They saw His “work for forty years” but went “astray in their heart” (Heb. 3:9-10). They were blind to see that the circumstance in which He placed them was the very avenue through which He intended to bless them. In resisting the circumstance, they resisted God. They either forgot or didn’t know that all spiritual life is conceived in the barrenness of an empty womb. Sons and Daughters know their lives are empty, and that if they do bring forth a bounty or blessing, it is because, in the midst of their barrenness, the Father plants within them that which is born of Him!

Rich

Carving Out An Identity

Here are some thoughts I offered in response to comments a friend shared in one of my recent blog posts.

“It is my opinion that because there are NO vacuums in life, out of necessity if it isn’t going to be about life, then it is all about death. Most, however, do not or would not see it quite this starkly!

“Self was intended to be clothed inwardly and outwardly in the adornment of the living God (life). In forsaking this God-designed expression, self then had to be defined apart from its original purpose. Self-reliance became part of this craving to carve out and establish an identity apart from God (death). I see self-reliance as one of Self's offspring, others being self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, etc. All these things emanate from the corruption within our soul. Everything pertaining to 'self' is opposed to God, and feeds into our inherent sin/Satan nature. When Satan said, "I shall be like the most high God...I will ascend..." etc. I think he was trying to carve out an identity for himself separate from his maker. When we rely on 'self-anything' aren't we doing the same? As born-again children of the most high God, we are to live out of his indwelling spirit. Putting us into impossible situations forces us into a position whereby we canNOT resort to relying on 'self' but on God alone.

“Out of defying God and trying to become like God, man, having his eyes opened, was plunged into total darkness, and in this darkness the father of lies and religion began to make his presence known in the world through human agents.”

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” The construction of man consisted of body, soul and spirit, and each of these three components were to be united when man freely chose to eat from the Tree of Life; this spoke of a ruling nature that up to that point he was yet without. Consequently, the other tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil likewise figuratively represented a nature.

In my opinion, Satan, the fallen archangel who once radiated all light, glory and worship back to God, grew tired of being in a subservient position and up to that point was found blameless until, pride welled up in his heart, “I will ascend to the highest heights, I will be greater than God.” This insidious malignant cancer became the inward impetus that propelled his meteor-like crash landing upon the earth.
I love this quote from Jesus, “I was watching Satan falling from heaven like lightening.”

Jesus highlighted who and what Satan was, “a father of lies” (a usurper) but it is important to realise that only God has the capacity to create. Satan can only replicate. Satan was never ever a bona fide father like God, so Satan, knowing this, had to lie, cheat and trick Adam into acquiescing of his own choosing to swallow his baited pitch, hook, line and sinker.

What and how much Satan knew of God’s purposes and plans for man was obviously enough to do what he did in his covert, stealth-morphed disguise. He knew that man had or was to become a fuller expression of what Satan (Lucifer) had once been, a glory-bearer, one who would radiate the wonder, beauty and majesty of this living God!

In his mutinous defiance, man then became a host for Satan to have his spirit, likeness, image and nature represented throughout the earth. The only thing was, that man was blinded to his now having a nature that he would think was 'human', but in fact (according to Jesus) he became by nature a child of wrath, a son of disobedience.

It is out of this that man carved his identity. Prior to the fall, he lacked an identity - much like a pumpkin which lacks an identity until a face is carved into its flesh. Man's craving for identity was metaphorically carved into his flesh the moment the father or lies entered his soul.

Rich

No Frown On Father's Face

The involvedness and the fullness of what we receive through the simplicity of saying yes to God’s offer of becoming His child and a living member of his family is not just a life long journey of continued discover and celebration, but something I believe is going to be but the first baby steps that long continue as we step into eternity.

There never has nor will there ever be any sign of disgust, frustration, impatience on the Father’s part regarding us who have been re-birthed out of the intensity of His love, you will never witness at any time a frown on His face! We are an infinite treasure that never ceases to bring a smile to his heart in light of our discovering the wealth that is ours in his son Christ Jesus.

This salvation he has provided for us was never intended to be something, although perfectly completed and finished by making us one in and with him in our spirit, a place whereby we choose to settle and simply wait to be called yonder.
It is out of this vast inexhaustible place of perfection and completeness that becomes the very impetus of making us eye witnesses to this same salvation invading our entire soul, mind will and emotions.
As it were the power and kindness of his unconditional love opens up the arteries of our inner being to let that love flow and as it does, brings along with it all that we stand in need of, full maturation.

I am convinced that without some knowing, some measure of the experiential reality of the Father’s total and unconditional love for us, the demolition that He has to undertake within our lives will demoralize us.
We are All blinded to the existing default under tow of self-reliance within Sin that still exists within our flesh, and it this nefarious parasite which desires to keep us locked into a performance based approach to life and living.
On finishing these thoughts I want to conclude with what my friend Art has said and I quote him here, “It is by regeneration in our spirit that we’ve already received everything that Christ is to us, including peace. Christ does not give peace; “Christ Himself is made unto us peace, rest, wisdom, and sanctification (holiness)” (1Cor 1:30). He Himself, as peace, indwells our spirit.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me (in union with me) ye might (may) have peace (Greek. eirene, meaning “rest”). In the world ye shall (will) have tribulation (Gk. thlipsis – “pressure”)” (John 16:33).

We enjoy Christ as our peace and rest by abiding, not in the world, but in Him who is always there, abiding in our spirit. The “ye,” in John 16:33 above, which is called to abide in Him is the “ye” of our soul-self, our self. We have a part in living by His life, we are called to abide in our inherent union we have with Him in our spirit. Thus our soul self is called to “walk in the spirit,” that is to remain in union with Him and subservient to Him in our spirit.

Since Christ now indwells the believer’s spirit (2Tim 4:22, Rom 8:8-9) and Paul says Christ is “all” (Col 3:11b), then the believer has no need of anything more. In the light of these facts one might ask, “So then, why don’t I live overcomingly, with His peace and rest?”

An admission of recognized failure to live overcomingly with rest and peace is necessary and usually produced by the situation we may be suffering; it is “good” for us. It is good because the suffering exposes us and reveals to us the gap between our rock solid “standing” or position “in Christ,” and that of our present feeble “state of being.” Recognizing the failure of “our way” is a necessary Christian crisis and a blessed realization that we must have if we are to let go of self-reliance and choose to live by relying upon His love, grace, and life within us.

Rich

Learning To Trust Christ Within

The following is another part of a continuing article my friend Art is writing, I found this to be of utmost importance and wanted to share it here.
I would love to have and hear any feed back you would care to share after reading it.

Rich

“The Word” that Paul preached was the resurrected Christ as “the Spirit of life” indwelling the believer’s spirit as God’s full provision for all the things believers encounter in this life. The only thing necessary is for the believer to know and trust in His indwelling Spirit in order to enjoy the life and peace that Christ “is” within our spirit. “… to be spiritually minded (Gk. phronema, purposed in mind) is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

Some Christians may honestly say, “Okay, faith and continuing trust are keys to enjoying life and peace of Christ. But what if I just don’t have continuing faith?”

First, let me make clear that while under the grace gospel, a believer may lack faith for their daily living, as I did for many years. I recall that it was in 1994 that I confessed that though I trusted God for my eternal salvation I had an awful time trying to trust Him for my daily living. Thankfully, Paul says my lack of faith is not condemnable because I am “in Christ.” “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”(Rom 8:1).

Lacking trust in Him for our daily living does however prevent us from enjoying rest and peace in our soul. I personally suffered the stress of it for many years. It led me to a stress induced heart attack at age 49. Suffering that heart attack has brought me to see the truth and to a degree of cure for my lack of trust in Him for my daily living. Thus, I was blessed with suffering a heart attack.

To understand faith in God as the key to peace we need to understand “peace” in a deeper way. “Peace with God” is one thing and “the peace of God” is quite another. I had long had “peace with God,” but I had not enjoyed “the peace of God.” Christ is the source of peace, working for us by placing our faith in Him. Both kinds of “peace” may be seen in these two verses.

“being justified by faith, we have peace WITH God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) “The peace OF god, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philip 4:7).

Most fundamentally, to enjoy the “the peace of God” we must first experience “peace with God.” There was a great gulf that existed between God and mankind ever since Adam’s rebellion against God. Adam’s rebelliousness and Sin infection has passed to all men (Rom 5:12). Thankfully, God has made a way for man by bridging the great gulf between God and man, reconciling man to His self “in Christ.” God made peace with man by giving His dear Son Jesus on the cross for all “the sins of the world.” Every believer now has “peace with God” since they have believed and placed their faith in the work of Christ on the cross to justify and reconcile them to God. The Apostle Paul declared by divine inspiration that “(Christ) was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification.” Therefore, “being justified by faith,” we, who once were at enmity with God (Rom 8:7), may now enjoy “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:25; 5:1). Now, having God’s remedy, any man “in Christ” enjoys “peace with God.” We simply need to trust Christ’s cross-work for us.

The result of “peace with God” is “the peace of God,” present within every believer’s spirit by the deposit of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a). Every believer then has the potential to enjoy the “peace of God.”

The “peace of God” makes believers able to stand in the midst of all the troubles of life. The “peace of God” is available to rule our hearts; but it’s the result of our continuing faith and trust in Him. This is why the Apostle wrote to this the believers at Rome . “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13). There’s the key – “believing.”

Only those who are at “peace with God” can know and in fact should know “the peace of God.” Yet, it does not automatically follow that all those who are at “peace with God” necessarily enjoy “the peace of God.” Believers must continue to believe, to cling to Him, in order to enjoy the “peace of God.” The word for continuing to believe is “trust.” Believe from the Greek means to “trust in, cling to, and rely upon” Trust is a continuing belief.

Believer’s may and should take their concerns to the Lord, because they can trust Him. Believers can enjoy “the peace of God” as they practice Paul’s admonition seen here in Philippian 4:6-7.

“Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

The key to Philippians 4:6-7 is we approach the Lord in genuine thanksgiving; believing such that they can leave their concern with Him. Now note the promise (v7) that follows Paul’s instruction in verse 6.

“The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (verse 7).

Verse 7 does not indicate you get what you want. It simply indicates that “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Enjoying “the peace of God” is as “the brass ring” Christians seem to reach for, yet we do not need to reach for the brass ring, we simply trust Him.

We can trust because, as believers trusting in Christ, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). “Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means” (2Thes. 3:16). Therefore believers should not be constantly overwhelmed and defeated by the adversities of life. Rather, we should heed Paul’s exhortation to “Let the peace of God rule (Gk. brabeuo, govern) in your hearts” (Col. 3:15).

Since we are admonished to “Let the peace of God rule” in our hearts, then it is clear we have the role of “letting” if we are to enjoy Christ “who is our peace” (Eph 2:14). It is clear that the mark of Christian’s life working is the enjoyment of rest and peace. The key to rest and peace is FAITH, in the form of a continuing TRUST in the truths of “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) as presented by the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 11:13).

The Lord of peace Himself indwells every believer’s human spirit and so peace is ever-present as peace within the core of every believer. All we need to do is trust Him who “is our peace.” He is ever-present in all the situations of life. He’s the sovereign Lord and God of the universe. He is over “all things”; so nothing touches our lives unless He permits it for our “good.” Job is an example of this; the Devil had to get the permission of God to touch Job. Yes, Job suffered, but the end of Job’s situation left him better than before and he was now humbled. Shall we not trust Him in “all things”?

It is Christ’s enlivening and empowering resurrection life within the believer’s spirit that delivers us in this day of the age of grace. Today we live by the “faith of the Son of God” (Gal 2:20). In the KJV the word “of” is translated from the Greek “ek.” Here “ek” means “from and with.” We live by Christ’s life and Christ’s “faith” – it’s not our faith. It is faith we gain from having Christ with us; the Spirit of the very Son of God His Self is within us as our source of faith. It is not our faith – it’s His supernatural faith in us that we are to live by. As we “turn” our heart from self-reliance to rely upon Him, we are “letting go” of “trying” to fix the situations we face. His faith springs up to supply us, yielding rest and “peace of God” to our soul.

Patient faith is not a way “around” our troubles; rather, our new found faith in and reliance upon Christ is the way through our situation. Many Christians pray for peace for one another, i.e., “Lord give him (or her) peace.” Is this a legitimate prayer for believers? No, it is not. They fail to see that Christ Himself is the very peace of God within us, and our faith in Him is the only way to overcome our troubles in rest and peace.

Some might say, “I’ve read “faith of the Son of God (Gal 2:20 KJV). I guess I have Christ as my faith within me, but its not working. How may I come to a trust Christ in me for my daily living?”

First, we must receive Christ, as “the Spirit of LIFE” into our spirit at our new birth (John 3:6, 1Cor 6:17). Then, now being one with Him in our spirit, the Lord uses the sufferings of our daily life to turn our heart to Him so He can flow His Spirit-life into our self-soul, to renew our soul (2Cor 4:16) to trust Him. As Lord of our life, He permits the situations and circumstances of life to come into our lives “for the good” (Rom 8:28). Now look at the very next verse to see why “all things are working” - “…that we might be conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom 8:29a).

Then we might then ask, “What is Christ’s image?” Here Paul reveals Jesus’ way of living - Jesus trusted the Father.

“Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus…And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience (to God the Father) to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!” (Philippians 2:5, 8, AMP)

Jesus trusted the Father’s hand in His earthly walk. Jesus trusted the Father unto death. Only Christ in us can carry us through the trials of life…by His faith in the Father. So, we must cling to (TRUST) Christ in us because He is our faith in the Father.

The Lord purposes that we would let go of believing our outward circumstances in the world around us to trust Him who has overcome the world.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation (Gk. thlipsis, pressure): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Jesus said believers have but one work and that is – to believe.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work (ordained) of God, that ye believe on him (Jesus) whom he (God) hath sent.

We must come to “believe on Him” – that is to trust Him who is Lord over all things and who loves us unconditionally – He will carry us through.

Knowing our deepest need to be changed inwardly, in our soul, the Lord permits seemingly insurmountable situations to come into our lives in order to turn us from self-dependence. We’ve always depended upon our fallen sin-infected self-life, but the stress of our self-dependence is great because deep down we know we can’t control anything. By these situations, He works in us to bring us to see the truth and to cooperate with His work and His will in our lives.

The Father’s desire is that we rely upon Christ’s overcoming, uplifted, indwelling life. His life is able to meet our deepest needs, and to deliver us while we remain in the midst of trial. We are delivered by His life spreading from our spirit (His dwelling place) to our needy soul, which needs a new “mindset” or “attitude” (Philip 2:5) – a change from self-dependence to one of trusting Him as our all in Him.

When we receive His light into our soul, we are changed “from glory to glory.” This is the work of the “the Lord’s Spirit” (2Cor 3:18) as we turn our heart from Moses (the old way of the Law and “works”) to Christ within us (2Cor 3:15-18). We turn to His grace-filled life within our spirit. This turning of our heart is a yielding of our soul’s mind, emotion, and will to the Lord, permitting us to receive the current or flow of His life supply to be ours for our daily living.

Is Grace Just A Concept?

It says that the Law came through Moses, but that grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. In another place it says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

Is truth simply relegated to the best translation of the scriptures and if so, then why the sending of the Word that was made flesh? Meaning, for some, they see it like this, there’s God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Holy Scriptures.
What if in the Word becoming flesh as a man, that all the arguments would be removed in trying to wrestle and debate over rightly understanding whose concept was the right one?

Maybe “grace and truth” is so much more than the religious abstract theological puzzle pieces men have used to keep us from responding to His closeness?
The Father’s closeness came among men through his son Jesus only to become that closeness within us through the finished work of God.
The work of the Father as I see it is now in the “now-here” in this moment of wanting to bring revelation, not a concept of who and what grace and truth really is, and what that discovery will further unleash in the world you and I live in!

Rich

Three Levels of Deliverance

The following is a wonderful picture of His amazing grace in operation as we continue in our journey with our God and Father.
This is taken from an ongoing series of articles by my friend Art Licursi.

Rich


Paul and his co-workers suffered many difficulties, such as coming close to death, in their travels and effort to spread the mystery “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) that Jesus gave to Paul for us. Here we see mention of the “trouble” that came to Paul and his co-workers.
2 Cor. 1:8-9 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, (so) that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Paul mentions three levels of deliverance as relates to the troubles believers will endure. In the following verses we see that Paul speaks of “deliverance” that was working in his life in three ways; 1) “delivered” (past tense), 2) “…doth deliver” (present tense) and 3) will “yet deliver” (future tense).
These three “deliverances” apply to three parts of man’s being, his spirit, soul, and body (1Thes 5:23), occurring at three differing times. as it now is in the life of all Christians.
2 Cor. 1:10

Who delivered us (Who has delivered us by flowing His life to us in our spirit) from so great a death,

and doth deliver (Who is continuing to deliver us by flowing His life to us in soul):

in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us (Who will yet deliver us by His resurrection life manifested as our new incorruptible “spirit-bodies” - see v9b)

I interpret these three levels of deliverance as follow.

1) At our rebirth our human spirit was delivered by regeneration (Titus 3:5), by the “spirit of life in Christ Jesus”; thus our spirit is now totally delivered (1Cor 6:17, Col 1:27).

2) While we live our life on earth our soul is “being delivered” - it is being “renewed” (2Cor 4:16, Rom 12:1-2). Thus, Paul commends us to be renewed in our soul’s mindset or attitude.

Philippians 2:5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus:

3) We as Christians are yet to “be delivered” in body - in the twinkling of an eye we will exchange these corruptible bodies for incorruptible spirit bodies (1Cor 15:52). Philip. 3:21 Who shall change (metaschematizo, transfigure) our vile (earthly) body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Mankind has been dead toward God, much as we might say a phone line is said to be dead. There had been a break or cessation of communication and relationship between fallen man and God since the fall of Adam; Sin had separated mankind from God.

1) All mankind is born into this world “dead in spirit” toward God, since sin in his being has made him unable to live righteously. Due to the effects of sin in man’s being, fallen man is strong toward sin and weak toward righteousness. If we deny this we lie or we’re burying our head in the sand.

2) Our bodies have a sentence of death in them. The death rate is still unchanged – one per person. These vile bodies will one day be exchanged for a glorious body like unto Jesus’ resurrected body. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Sin works death in us completely, 1 Cor. 15:56a “The sting of death is sin.” Thus, we see that Christ came that we might have His resurrection life (Gk, Zoë, spirit life) and have His life more abundantly (John 10:10) – that is His life is to permeate our entire being, eradicating death in our spirit and our soul, and then yielding our new spirit-body.

So what is it that we are we being delivered of or delivered from in the three parts of our being? We see in 2Cor 1:9 (above) that Paul is speaking of deliverance from of “the sentence of death.” We were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1b). God delivered us by depositing the life of His Son into our spirit ( Col 1:27. God has already regenerated us in spirit, (Titus 3:5) by depositing Christ’s “spirit of life” into our spirit (1Cor 6:17). We were made alive in our spirit where we had “been dead in trespasses and sins”

“And you hath he quickened (Gk. zao, made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2:1)

Christ’s life in our spirit is now flowing to renew and bring life to our soul, delivering us from the mindset of the flesh which ends in death. Romans 8:6a For to be carnally minded is death…He is now making us alive in soul by bringing us to renew our mindset to trust Him in all things. Romans 8:6 … to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Now we also look forward to the day when our physical death will be swallowed up of His life. He will “yet deliver” our body by making it incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality (eternal life), then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

The life of Christ we received into our spirit at the moment of our rebirth has forever enlivened and is “sanctifying us completely, in (our) spirit soul and body” (1Thes 5:13). Christ’s life is fully dealing with the sentence of death within His own.

Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

The Purpose Driven God

Does it all come down to God being driven to accomplish, squeeze out of us, the biggest bang for his buck?
Here’s a wild thought, perhaps there is a much higher priority within His heart (other than what he can accomplish through us), maybe it’s as simple as him wanting us to be with him and him with us! Egad, not that simple is it?

Rich