John 17:10-12 (NLT)10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. 12During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
In the way that God gave covenants to this world and the way covenant making survived through the centuries (until the last 150 years in the western world), is evidence of the powerful wisdom available to man in God. God is always faithful to His covenants with mankind. So much of His ways are revealed in covenant making and keeping, that His Presence is worshipped even without knowledge as archaelogical findings have revealed. We have discussed the exchange of names in the covenant ceremony, but I want to show you God's wisdom in using names in covenant to perfect His purpose in us.
In this prayer of Jesus, the One in Whom our destiny rested, the covenant Name God had given to Jesus is credited with the protection and growth of the Word in the disciples. In the second chapter of Philippians we see that His obedience and faithfulness to complete the work God had sent Him to do, brings the Name to the victorious position of the Name above every name. Philippians 2:9-11 (NASB) 9For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The importance of names for us is shown again in the Revelation to John. Revelation 2:17 (NLT) “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it."
Revelation 3:5 (NLT) All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
Revelaltion 3:12 (NLT) All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
How do we overcome? We give Him covenant response by believing His Word, voicing it as our own testimony, and by the Blood of the covenant, the surety of God's covenant with us.
Jesus knew the power of the Name God had given Him. He knew it was the means of protecting the disciples even when they were confused by their own desires and lack of understanding. He has given us His Name to do the work God has for us to do. We will reveal His glory to the world by the power of His Name.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
John 17:9-12
John 17:9-12 (NASB) 9"I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11"I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12"While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
(NLT) 9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. 12 During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
To those hearing this prayer, it must have been confusion. The Apostle John is the only one giving us this prayer. He wrote this long after the other three gospels were written and I believe only after he had learned to be so led by the Spirit that he knew that oneness with the Spirit.
Two things have been emphasized to me in this passage: the power of prayer and the path of glory.
Jesus was not praying for this world. It was for love of this world that God had sent Him to this world. He would pay the price for the salvation of "whosoever" and take their punishment, but His prayer was not for those who would choose to reject Him by choosing the way of this world. His prayer of protection was not for deliverance from this world but that they would be protected in the Way. It is as we walk in the Way that we bring glory to Jesus, the Way. Jesus knew the testing that lay ahead of these men, and He knows the testing that will come to you. It is our reaction to these tests that need His prayer of protection. Only Judas lost his connection to the Way.
We see the human reaction in the disciples to the greatest test they had known and we see the fear and confusion. In all the darkness of that time, they did not lose their connection to the Word planted in their heart. We learn the value of the Word when we go through our dark hours. Just living in this world tests the Word in us. All of the relationships we have test us. Circumstances test us. We can't always look back and be proud of our reaction to the test, but the Word remains stedfast in us and the Spirit guides us to greater understanding of the Word in us. The path of Light grows steadily brighter. (Proverbs 4:18)
(NLT) 9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. 12 During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
To those hearing this prayer, it must have been confusion. The Apostle John is the only one giving us this prayer. He wrote this long after the other three gospels were written and I believe only after he had learned to be so led by the Spirit that he knew that oneness with the Spirit.
Two things have been emphasized to me in this passage: the power of prayer and the path of glory.
Jesus was not praying for this world. It was for love of this world that God had sent Him to this world. He would pay the price for the salvation of "whosoever" and take their punishment, but His prayer was not for those who would choose to reject Him by choosing the way of this world. His prayer of protection was not for deliverance from this world but that they would be protected in the Way. It is as we walk in the Way that we bring glory to Jesus, the Way. Jesus knew the testing that lay ahead of these men, and He knows the testing that will come to you. It is our reaction to these tests that need His prayer of protection. Only Judas lost his connection to the Way.
We see the human reaction in the disciples to the greatest test they had known and we see the fear and confusion. In all the darkness of that time, they did not lose their connection to the Word planted in their heart. We learn the value of the Word when we go through our dark hours. Just living in this world tests the Word in us. All of the relationships we have test us. Circumstances test us. We can't always look back and be proud of our reaction to the test, but the Word remains stedfast in us and the Spirit guides us to greater understanding of the Word in us. The path of Light grows steadily brighter. (Proverbs 4:18)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
John 17:6-8
John 17:6-8 (NLT) 6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. The same Scripture from the NASB. 6"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7"Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
Last time we saw that we have two viewpoints available to us--our human viewpoint and that of the spirit. As you read this seventeenth chapter of John, you become aware of God's viewpoint. I started reading the New Testament every six weeks when I was a young girl in high school, so I was reading this chapter every six weeks. This chapter shaped my relationship to God. I marveled at the faith Jesus had in these men. I must confess I have slipped now and then, but I have tried to look at people as Jesus looked at His disciples, with God's faith. God looks on us with faith in His purpose for us and knowing the power of the grace aimed at us. Jesus expressed this faith in His prayer that includes each one of us. The disciples listening to this prayer must have wondered if He meant them. The reason for this is simple. Jesus knew how to refuse to listen to Satan and tune in to the Father and hear Him for Jesus knew the Father. We, like the disciples, do not seem to know the voices that speak through us. Satan can plant thoughts in our mind and we think it is our own thinking. Our own nature can control our desires and motives so that we drown out the "still, small voice" of the Spirit of God. Condemnation resulting from the accusing voice of the enemy rules our attitude toward our selves and others. I often wondered how Jesus, after living with these disciples and knowing them, could leave them in charge of the church for which He had paid such a horrendous price. But I saw the answer in this chapter. Jesus moved in the faith of God and He intercedes for us with this faith.
One thing that stands out to me in this chapter is the reliance Jesus had on the Father. He lived in this realm taking our place. He prayed long hours knowing this was the contact He had with the Father. By the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him, He kept Himself in constant reliance for every word and action so He could be that expression of the Father. He only took His cues from the Father, and by the Holy Spirit, He could hear and see the Father. This same Spirit has come to indwell us. If we reacted to the Holy Spirit as Jesus did, we, too, could walk in that close union with Jesus, our Lord, directing us. In this prayer, Jesus is asking the Father for us to have this relationship with them.
In these three verses is the key to this relationship. Jesus did not establish any doctrine for His church. He gave us the Way. He did not give explicit teaching so we could mentally learn to "know" God. We can only know God by the Spirit revealing to us. Jesus manifested the Father's Name to them. How? By walking out, living in, the relationship of a man in relationship to God as God wanted to be to man. Is that sentence confusing to you? God's purpose for man is directly connected to Him. He is creating us in His image. The threefold ministry of God is concentrated on this purpose. Jesus came as the prototype of God's purpose, the exact representation or image of God. He could say to Philip, have I been so long with you and you have not seen the Father? If we would allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us and direct us as Jesus allowed Him to do, we would have the same power working through us and a very wonderful relationship to our Lord and the Father.
How did Jesus see the disciples and say "they have kept Your word"? Our "keeping" God's Word is not always expressed by our actions or momentary doubt and discouragement. It is a condition of heart. Deep in our spirit is a rooting of God's Word. Our soul does not always express this rooting. Our minds and emotions do not always keep in step with our spirit. When we believe in our heart, the result is righteousness. It is when our mouth agrees with our heart that the result is salvation. Religious people know how to "speak" and "act", but their heart remains rooted in this realm under their own control. Jesus looked into the heart of man and He knew what was planted in them. In Colossians 3:16, Paul counsels us to "let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you". God has provided us so richly what we need to become, but it is up to us to appropriate and walk in that provision. Just remember, God has faith in you and He knows what He can produce in you.
Last time we saw that we have two viewpoints available to us--our human viewpoint and that of the spirit. As you read this seventeenth chapter of John, you become aware of God's viewpoint. I started reading the New Testament every six weeks when I was a young girl in high school, so I was reading this chapter every six weeks. This chapter shaped my relationship to God. I marveled at the faith Jesus had in these men. I must confess I have slipped now and then, but I have tried to look at people as Jesus looked at His disciples, with God's faith. God looks on us with faith in His purpose for us and knowing the power of the grace aimed at us. Jesus expressed this faith in His prayer that includes each one of us. The disciples listening to this prayer must have wondered if He meant them. The reason for this is simple. Jesus knew how to refuse to listen to Satan and tune in to the Father and hear Him for Jesus knew the Father. We, like the disciples, do not seem to know the voices that speak through us. Satan can plant thoughts in our mind and we think it is our own thinking. Our own nature can control our desires and motives so that we drown out the "still, small voice" of the Spirit of God. Condemnation resulting from the accusing voice of the enemy rules our attitude toward our selves and others. I often wondered how Jesus, after living with these disciples and knowing them, could leave them in charge of the church for which He had paid such a horrendous price. But I saw the answer in this chapter. Jesus moved in the faith of God and He intercedes for us with this faith.
One thing that stands out to me in this chapter is the reliance Jesus had on the Father. He lived in this realm taking our place. He prayed long hours knowing this was the contact He had with the Father. By the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him, He kept Himself in constant reliance for every word and action so He could be that expression of the Father. He only took His cues from the Father, and by the Holy Spirit, He could hear and see the Father. This same Spirit has come to indwell us. If we reacted to the Holy Spirit as Jesus did, we, too, could walk in that close union with Jesus, our Lord, directing us. In this prayer, Jesus is asking the Father for us to have this relationship with them.
In these three verses is the key to this relationship. Jesus did not establish any doctrine for His church. He gave us the Way. He did not give explicit teaching so we could mentally learn to "know" God. We can only know God by the Spirit revealing to us. Jesus manifested the Father's Name to them. How? By walking out, living in, the relationship of a man in relationship to God as God wanted to be to man. Is that sentence confusing to you? God's purpose for man is directly connected to Him. He is creating us in His image. The threefold ministry of God is concentrated on this purpose. Jesus came as the prototype of God's purpose, the exact representation or image of God. He could say to Philip, have I been so long with you and you have not seen the Father? If we would allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us and direct us as Jesus allowed Him to do, we would have the same power working through us and a very wonderful relationship to our Lord and the Father.
How did Jesus see the disciples and say "they have kept Your word"? Our "keeping" God's Word is not always expressed by our actions or momentary doubt and discouragement. It is a condition of heart. Deep in our spirit is a rooting of God's Word. Our soul does not always express this rooting. Our minds and emotions do not always keep in step with our spirit. When we believe in our heart, the result is righteousness. It is when our mouth agrees with our heart that the result is salvation. Religious people know how to "speak" and "act", but their heart remains rooted in this realm under their own control. Jesus looked into the heart of man and He knew what was planted in them. In Colossians 3:16, Paul counsels us to "let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you". God has provided us so richly what we need to become, but it is up to us to appropriate and walk in that provision. Just remember, God has faith in you and He knows what He can produce in you.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
John 17:4-5 (NLT) I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
While here on earth, taking our place, Jesus had to make the "connection" of the full circle back to His place with the Father. This, too, was as much for our benefit as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. But after His death and resurrection and ascension, Jesus would have another ministry for us as our High Priest and would no longer be to mankind as the disciples had known Him. They knew Him "after the flesh" but they had a different revelation of Him after His resurrection and an even more different viewpoint after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. I am going to give you two translations of a verse that means much to me and often comes to my mind. II Corinthians 5:16 (NASB) Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. (and) II Corinthians 5:16 (NLT) So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
We have two viewpoints. One is natural, "after the flesh" or a "human view", and the other comes to us by the Holy Spirit and allows us to see with our spirit. Paul says we "see through a glass darkly" as we look at spiritual things, but one day we will see face to face. Our human nature and this water realm in which we live have a distorting factor. Even when we receive a revelation and see momentarily, we have to guard it from being distorted by our own interpretation or circumstances around us. Our High Priest knows what it is to live in this water realm. He knows and understands our "dust" and how limited we are in understanding.
It was in this time, before the horrendous undertaking of providing our entrance into the House of God, that Jesus had to pray as a man to God, nailing down for us by claiming it for us, the glorification of the completed circle. This, too, was included in His declaration on the cross, "it is finished!" Our salvation is completed all the way to the glory of sharing in God's eternity in His completed purpose, man in the image of God.
While here on earth, taking our place, Jesus had to make the "connection" of the full circle back to His place with the Father. This, too, was as much for our benefit as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. But after His death and resurrection and ascension, Jesus would have another ministry for us as our High Priest and would no longer be to mankind as the disciples had known Him. They knew Him "after the flesh" but they had a different revelation of Him after His resurrection and an even more different viewpoint after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. I am going to give you two translations of a verse that means much to me and often comes to my mind. II Corinthians 5:16 (NASB) Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. (and) II Corinthians 5:16 (NLT) So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
We have two viewpoints. One is natural, "after the flesh" or a "human view", and the other comes to us by the Holy Spirit and allows us to see with our spirit. Paul says we "see through a glass darkly" as we look at spiritual things, but one day we will see face to face. Our human nature and this water realm in which we live have a distorting factor. Even when we receive a revelation and see momentarily, we have to guard it from being distorted by our own interpretation or circumstances around us. Our High Priest knows what it is to live in this water realm. He knows and understands our "dust" and how limited we are in understanding.
It was in this time, before the horrendous undertaking of providing our entrance into the House of God, that Jesus had to pray as a man to God, nailing down for us by claiming it for us, the glorification of the completed circle. This, too, was included in His declaration on the cross, "it is finished!" Our salvation is completed all the way to the glory of sharing in God's eternity in His completed purpose, man in the image of God.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Eternal Life
John 17:1-3(NASB) 1Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Th other day, we dwelt on the word, "glorify". I have chosen this translation for it follows the "word for word" method of translating closely. I want to briefly show you the reason for dwelling on this word. Only people alive on this earth can "glorify" God. Why? We do it with our covenant response. Jesus was asking the Father to interact with Him in covenant. He needed God to give Him the Father's help in what He was to take on--the weight of the world's sin and adamic nature and its' punishment--in covenant curse. In this way He could glorify the Father. Our response of thanksgiving and praise in the midst of our deepest testing and trial, glorifies the Father and Jesus Christ because we are relying on Their strength and grace to reach Their victory so we can be victorious. The Spirit of God in us is our hope and salvation. We still manifest in our flesh the trials and pain and weakness of this earthly realm, but God manifests His victory over the world in us as we go through our trials responding to Him. This does not make the suffering less real to us--whether it be sickness, financial, broken relationships, or persecution for His Name's sake--but it witnesses to the world the reality of God's grace toward us. Faced with the reality of Jesus' suffering and the way He died, the Centurion said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39)
The authority the Father gave to Jesus Christ over all flesh was/is the authority of God over the adamic nature in every man, woman and child on this earth at any time. This authority allowed Jesus to carry everything to the cross and finish the work He came to do. No one was left out. If you meet a person who is laboring under the deception that he or she cannot be saved because of what they have done, show them this verse in the Bible. Jesus rejoiced that He could give Eternal Life to all the Father gave Him.
The verse we are considering today is the third verse and reveals a treasure of truth concerning eternal life. There is a ministry God has to this realm to accomplish His purpose in creating this great Creation. Jesus came as the exact representation of His Nature. The Creator became the creation to reveal the "fnished work" of God, man in the likeness of God. He did not come for His sake, but for ours. He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. He took the punishment of sin for us and took the "curse" out of the covenant He cut for us. He is the Lamb of the covenant, the Heir of the covenant and, because He took our place, we are joint heirs with Him of the covenant blessing.
The Holy Spirit is God in this realm ministering the victory Jesus won for us. The ministry of the Holy Spirit demands a great sacrifice for He dwells within each of us who have yielded our bodies to Him to control. Because this is such a great sacrifice to the Holy Spirit, the Father does not demand that He makes any compromise with His nature. If we continue in our adamic control and refuse to yield to His gentle persuasion, He does not have to live in us but can continue His ministry to us as He does to the whole world, convicting us of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:8-9)
The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a precious treasure. He will guide you into the unveiling of knowing the Father. He will open the Word of God to you to reveal hidden truths. He will lead you in the path of righteousness and teach your feet to walk in His ways. He will open "large places" for you and teach you to "live" in them. He will manifest Jesus to you in such a way that, as Lord of your life, He can reveal the Father to you. The Holy Spirit will guide you to that knowledge of the Father so you can know Him in your spirit and your redeemed soul. This is eternal life. You know you have deep in you the abiding Presence of the Son, Who promised to never leave you, the Spirit, sent from the Father to guide you on your journey, and the "knowing" of the Father. This is the witness to the world that is desperately needed in this dark hour.
Th other day, we dwelt on the word, "glorify". I have chosen this translation for it follows the "word for word" method of translating closely. I want to briefly show you the reason for dwelling on this word. Only people alive on this earth can "glorify" God. Why? We do it with our covenant response. Jesus was asking the Father to interact with Him in covenant. He needed God to give Him the Father's help in what He was to take on--the weight of the world's sin and adamic nature and its' punishment--in covenant curse. In this way He could glorify the Father. Our response of thanksgiving and praise in the midst of our deepest testing and trial, glorifies the Father and Jesus Christ because we are relying on Their strength and grace to reach Their victory so we can be victorious. The Spirit of God in us is our hope and salvation. We still manifest in our flesh the trials and pain and weakness of this earthly realm, but God manifests His victory over the world in us as we go through our trials responding to Him. This does not make the suffering less real to us--whether it be sickness, financial, broken relationships, or persecution for His Name's sake--but it witnesses to the world the reality of God's grace toward us. Faced with the reality of Jesus' suffering and the way He died, the Centurion said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39)
The authority the Father gave to Jesus Christ over all flesh was/is the authority of God over the adamic nature in every man, woman and child on this earth at any time. This authority allowed Jesus to carry everything to the cross and finish the work He came to do. No one was left out. If you meet a person who is laboring under the deception that he or she cannot be saved because of what they have done, show them this verse in the Bible. Jesus rejoiced that He could give Eternal Life to all the Father gave Him.
The verse we are considering today is the third verse and reveals a treasure of truth concerning eternal life. There is a ministry God has to this realm to accomplish His purpose in creating this great Creation. Jesus came as the exact representation of His Nature. The Creator became the creation to reveal the "fnished work" of God, man in the likeness of God. He did not come for His sake, but for ours. He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. He took the punishment of sin for us and took the "curse" out of the covenant He cut for us. He is the Lamb of the covenant, the Heir of the covenant and, because He took our place, we are joint heirs with Him of the covenant blessing.
The Holy Spirit is God in this realm ministering the victory Jesus won for us. The ministry of the Holy Spirit demands a great sacrifice for He dwells within each of us who have yielded our bodies to Him to control. Because this is such a great sacrifice to the Holy Spirit, the Father does not demand that He makes any compromise with His nature. If we continue in our adamic control and refuse to yield to His gentle persuasion, He does not have to live in us but can continue His ministry to us as He does to the whole world, convicting us of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:8-9)
The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a precious treasure. He will guide you into the unveiling of knowing the Father. He will open the Word of God to you to reveal hidden truths. He will lead you in the path of righteousness and teach your feet to walk in His ways. He will open "large places" for you and teach you to "live" in them. He will manifest Jesus to you in such a way that, as Lord of your life, He can reveal the Father to you. The Holy Spirit will guide you to that knowledge of the Father so you can know Him in your spirit and your redeemed soul. This is eternal life. You know you have deep in you the abiding Presence of the Son, Who promised to never leave you, the Spirit, sent from the Father to guide you on your journey, and the "knowing" of the Father. This is the witness to the world that is desperately needed in this dark hour.
Friday, February 12, 2010
The generosity of God
John 17:1-2 (NASB) 1Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
Notice how often the word "give" is used by Jesus. All through the New Testament this word is important. If we are to know the full measure of what God has given to us, we must realize the full extent of God's generosity to us. Jesus shows us in this verse how completely He emptied Himself to take on our identity. He so identified Himself with us in this realm that He thanked the Father for giving Him the authority over all flesh. He also, because He was not a partaker of the Adamic nature, understood His relationship to the Father and what that authority meant to this realm.
I'm going to dwell on this for a moment. What does "all flesh", or as some translations say, "all people", mean to you? To me, every person who has ever, or will ever, live on this earth is included. The work of Satan is to belittle what God says to us. He sowed doubt of God's intention to Eve and incited curiosity in both Adam and Eve to try out for themselves and see if God meant what He said. Once he had them act in rebellion to God's Word to them, there was no going back for them. Jesus is the only Way we have of "going back" to that relationship of Light. But the seeds Satan has planted in the thinking of people, leads to division in our thinking and reacting to "all people". Differences of race, of position of importance and financial standing, differences of religious acclimation and even of geographical origin, cause us to view people in categories and allows us the freedom to accept or reject, like or despise. Suspicion and indifference eat away at the command of Jesus to go into ALL the world and make disciples of ALL nations. We may even see our own neighborhoods with this division of acceptance of this challenge. The Father has given to Jesus the authority over ALL flesh and His command to us overrides any attitude we may have toward anyone. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you the love of God for "the world" that caused Him to give us Jesus.
Jesus had complete identity with us as humans with adamic nature and He had complete identity with the Father. He knew the authority the Father had given Him was the means to His giving eternal Life to all those the Father had given Him. There was no point in all He would have to go through that that authority would wain or change. This is vital for us to understand. In moments of weakness and stress, Satan tempts us to give up or doubt our standing in Him. The authority in Jesus' Name never changes. The victory Jesus won for us will never weaken. You can stand secure in His unchanging grace. When Jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him, He was expressing a most important aspect of our salvation.
What Jesus expressed in His prayer was a positioning of Himself as a man on this earth in the full authority the Father had given Him. This was the authority of heaven that He would move in to secure our salvation and would be the authority to come out of the grave in resurrection Life. The authority of this earth was the complete submission to the Father to go all the way and take from Lucifer the authority he had usurped from Adam. Jesus has the keys of all that would hinder you from God's purpose for you to live in His Presence eternally. In His Name, you have this authority. What Jesus earned in His victory, He earned for you. He gives it to us.
The work of the enemy is to cause you to doubt God's Word to you. Doubt your salvation, doubt your authority, doubt your ability to stay the course. Our answer to this is simple. "It is written..." What does God's Word say? Don't look into your own self for the proof against Satan's attack, look into His Word. The strength to stand is not in yourself but in the victory of Jesus and in His finished work. He HAS overcome and we overcome by His Blood and by the word of our testimony (speaking our agreement with God's Word). The authority God gave to us through Jesus is ours eternally.
Notice how often the word "give" is used by Jesus. All through the New Testament this word is important. If we are to know the full measure of what God has given to us, we must realize the full extent of God's generosity to us. Jesus shows us in this verse how completely He emptied Himself to take on our identity. He so identified Himself with us in this realm that He thanked the Father for giving Him the authority over all flesh. He also, because He was not a partaker of the Adamic nature, understood His relationship to the Father and what that authority meant to this realm.
I'm going to dwell on this for a moment. What does "all flesh", or as some translations say, "all people", mean to you? To me, every person who has ever, or will ever, live on this earth is included. The work of Satan is to belittle what God says to us. He sowed doubt of God's intention to Eve and incited curiosity in both Adam and Eve to try out for themselves and see if God meant what He said. Once he had them act in rebellion to God's Word to them, there was no going back for them. Jesus is the only Way we have of "going back" to that relationship of Light. But the seeds Satan has planted in the thinking of people, leads to division in our thinking and reacting to "all people". Differences of race, of position of importance and financial standing, differences of religious acclimation and even of geographical origin, cause us to view people in categories and allows us the freedom to accept or reject, like or despise. Suspicion and indifference eat away at the command of Jesus to go into ALL the world and make disciples of ALL nations. We may even see our own neighborhoods with this division of acceptance of this challenge. The Father has given to Jesus the authority over ALL flesh and His command to us overrides any attitude we may have toward anyone. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you the love of God for "the world" that caused Him to give us Jesus.
Jesus had complete identity with us as humans with adamic nature and He had complete identity with the Father. He knew the authority the Father had given Him was the means to His giving eternal Life to all those the Father had given Him. There was no point in all He would have to go through that that authority would wain or change. This is vital for us to understand. In moments of weakness and stress, Satan tempts us to give up or doubt our standing in Him. The authority in Jesus' Name never changes. The victory Jesus won for us will never weaken. You can stand secure in His unchanging grace. When Jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him, He was expressing a most important aspect of our salvation.
What Jesus expressed in His prayer was a positioning of Himself as a man on this earth in the full authority the Father had given Him. This was the authority of heaven that He would move in to secure our salvation and would be the authority to come out of the grave in resurrection Life. The authority of this earth was the complete submission to the Father to go all the way and take from Lucifer the authority he had usurped from Adam. Jesus has the keys of all that would hinder you from God's purpose for you to live in His Presence eternally. In His Name, you have this authority. What Jesus earned in His victory, He earned for you. He gives it to us.
The work of the enemy is to cause you to doubt God's Word to you. Doubt your salvation, doubt your authority, doubt your ability to stay the course. Our answer to this is simple. "It is written..." What does God's Word say? Don't look into your own self for the proof against Satan's attack, look into His Word. The strength to stand is not in yourself but in the victory of Jesus and in His finished work. He HAS overcome and we overcome by His Blood and by the word of our testimony (speaking our agreement with God's Word). The authority God gave to us through Jesus is ours eternally.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Jesus prays for us
The 17th chapter of John, which is the prayer of Jesus for all who would believe in Him, begins with the word "after". There are several words similar to this that connect passages of Scripture. I always backtrack to catch what is being connected. In this case, it is very important for it is the foundation of His prayer. So let us start with John 16:33.(NLT) I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
There is a great emphasis put on our having faith for that which we are praying. This directs a person's focus on the problem and having faith that the problem is going to disappear rather than on the victory Jesus earned for us. Many have said before and it bears repeating: it is not about you (or your problem), it is all about Him. He HAS overcome the world and He has declared, "It is finished!" When we approach every problem, whether it be disease, financial crisis, or relationships of any kind, it is good to remember that He has overcome the world. Everything in this realm that concerns us has been met in Jesus. We look to Him with faith in Him and lay our problems at His feet. Our ministry to others who bring their problem to us for prayer, is not about us but about Him. We simply, with faith in His Name, obey His command to continue His work by laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, and ministering His peace to the troubled waters and making disciples.
In Luke 11:1, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray. The prayer (which we call the Lord's Prayer) He gave them is actually a pattern for a life of prayer and will, when followed, teach you to pray. The prayer we are going to study is one of the very rare times a prayer of Jesus was recorded. How I have often longed to know what Jesus prayed and how He prayed in the times He went alone to pray. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit Who helps us to pray! In this prayer I have found so much concerning our relationship to God and each other and seen how we are viewed by Jesus with love and faith.
John 17:1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
The relationship Jesus has with the Father is so clear in this verse. We can see His viewing this moment on earth with the clarity of the eternal purpose established before the creation began. His union with the Father, in eternity and on earth, is clearly God taking our place to bring God's declared purpose of making man in God's image into fruition. Jesus wanted only to fulfill this moment in time with the Father's control so the glorification of the Son would bring glorification to the Father. The total submission of Jesus on earth to the Father is as much a part of the creation of man as the creation of Adam. To be in the image of God, our spirit must be made alive. We must have an entrance into the realm of Light. Jesus came for this purpose and He knew all eternity was focused on this hour in time.
Our idea of glorification is not yet in line with the expression of Jesus. In John 12:20-33, Jesus uses this same term concerning His death. Both the Son and the Father use the word, "glorify", in relation to the coming event of Jesus' death. The complete identity of Jesus with the Father and His total submission to His will is what gave glorification to a time of pain, horror and sorrow for the disciples and confusion to many believers. If Jesus needed to pray for this glorification, we need to be aware of the need for this in our own times of testing. How we go through a testing will bring glorification to the Name of Jesus and the Father or our failure to keep in mind the greater picture will result in our having to face the testing again.
Keep in mind that the One in control has gone through and overcome the world.
There is a great emphasis put on our having faith for that which we are praying. This directs a person's focus on the problem and having faith that the problem is going to disappear rather than on the victory Jesus earned for us. Many have said before and it bears repeating: it is not about you (or your problem), it is all about Him. He HAS overcome the world and He has declared, "It is finished!" When we approach every problem, whether it be disease, financial crisis, or relationships of any kind, it is good to remember that He has overcome the world. Everything in this realm that concerns us has been met in Jesus. We look to Him with faith in Him and lay our problems at His feet. Our ministry to others who bring their problem to us for prayer, is not about us but about Him. We simply, with faith in His Name, obey His command to continue His work by laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, and ministering His peace to the troubled waters and making disciples.
In Luke 11:1, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray. The prayer (which we call the Lord's Prayer) He gave them is actually a pattern for a life of prayer and will, when followed, teach you to pray. The prayer we are going to study is one of the very rare times a prayer of Jesus was recorded. How I have often longed to know what Jesus prayed and how He prayed in the times He went alone to pray. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit Who helps us to pray! In this prayer I have found so much concerning our relationship to God and each other and seen how we are viewed by Jesus with love and faith.
John 17:1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
The relationship Jesus has with the Father is so clear in this verse. We can see His viewing this moment on earth with the clarity of the eternal purpose established before the creation began. His union with the Father, in eternity and on earth, is clearly God taking our place to bring God's declared purpose of making man in God's image into fruition. Jesus wanted only to fulfill this moment in time with the Father's control so the glorification of the Son would bring glorification to the Father. The total submission of Jesus on earth to the Father is as much a part of the creation of man as the creation of Adam. To be in the image of God, our spirit must be made alive. We must have an entrance into the realm of Light. Jesus came for this purpose and He knew all eternity was focused on this hour in time.
Our idea of glorification is not yet in line with the expression of Jesus. In John 12:20-33, Jesus uses this same term concerning His death. Both the Son and the Father use the word, "glorify", in relation to the coming event of Jesus' death. The complete identity of Jesus with the Father and His total submission to His will is what gave glorification to a time of pain, horror and sorrow for the disciples and confusion to many believers. If Jesus needed to pray for this glorification, we need to be aware of the need for this in our own times of testing. How we go through a testing will bring glorification to the Name of Jesus and the Father or our failure to keep in mind the greater picture will result in our having to face the testing again.
Keep in mind that the One in control has gone through and overcome the world.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Covenanted relationship
In these short "thoughts for the day" concerning covenant making and covenant keeping, I have relied heavily on the Holy Spirit to give you something on which to meditate and to be challenged to seek God for a closer relationship. I have not sought to give you a systematic study of covenant making nor explain each covenant God has made with this realm and with mankind. I confess the desire to know and understand what God has done and is doing has driven me to seek and study along those lines, but I am aware of the danger that such seeking can be. We humans will make gods out of anything that piques our curiosity or admiration. I determined long ago that to "know" Him was the most important emphasis for my life and any search must result in a deeper relationship and stronger communication with Him or it was of little worth. So while these blogs may be short on the teaching of covenant making, I hope they serve as a teaser to know and understand a little more of God's ways so your relationship with Him is enhanced.
One thing I have learned along the way is that God meets you where you are so He can take you where He is. Man complicates this into head knowledge. God wants you to know Him in your spirit and it is into your spirit that He brings His peace and joy that are without human understanding. My search to know Him has resulted in my feet finding the Rock and I know I stand in Him. The high winds and waves are about to crash upon this whole earth and I want you to know that sure standing in Him. I pray this small effort to bring you my "thought for the day" will result in your seeking Him with focused knowledge and understanding in His ways. So much of Christian experience is rooted in church doctrine. This is, or can be, good if those doctrines reveal His Nature, His Purpose and His awesome love for you that protects, and provides that you reach His goal for you. My experience with doctrines that segregate you into an identity with a particular church, and result in isolation within that church, is that the doctrines themselves become what you know and by which you are identified. The people within such walls do not come to know the joy of intimate relationship with Him, or if they do, it is in spite of the effort to control them. Man's traditions and rules do not satisfy that longing to know Him. This is why God has made His covenants a very personal thing. As you respond to His covenant approach, you touch Him and are touched by Him.
After Jesus gave to His disciples the structure that God was giving for their protection and provision in the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He prayed for them. I wonder how many times He prayed for them, individually and collectively as the men He had chosen to carry on His work. But in the 17th chapter of John, His prayer was not only for them but for us. In His prayer we gain more understanding of the relationship God is seeking and is providing in His covenant. We realize that it is not just action that God wants from us but a deep, abiding, and fruitful relationship. God was giving to us a covenant in Jesus that would not only provide the Way to become like Him, but the shelter that is evidenced in the marriage covenant. The marriage covenant was meant to provide a shelter of love, trust, protection and provision for growth and maturity of each partner and each child that would come under that shelter. While marriages may fall apart and fail because they do not recognize they are in a God-given covenant and so are responsible to God how they live under that covenant, the covenant God has given us in Jesus cannot and will never fail. We have an abiding place in His covenant that fulfills all God has promised. Each one of us is held in His hand.
This has been an introduction to the study of Jesus' prayer for us. There is so much in this prayer that Jesus was seeking to "anchor" for us while He was still in the likeness of man and could achieve as a man. There was so much Jesus did for us in a human body that could not be achieved in any other way or by any other being. It makes us aware of the importance of our bodies and our life on earth. The work God has for us to do must be done in the time alotted to us. Read His prayer in the 17th chapter of John and we will study it together. Have a blessed day!
One thing I have learned along the way is that God meets you where you are so He can take you where He is. Man complicates this into head knowledge. God wants you to know Him in your spirit and it is into your spirit that He brings His peace and joy that are without human understanding. My search to know Him has resulted in my feet finding the Rock and I know I stand in Him. The high winds and waves are about to crash upon this whole earth and I want you to know that sure standing in Him. I pray this small effort to bring you my "thought for the day" will result in your seeking Him with focused knowledge and understanding in His ways. So much of Christian experience is rooted in church doctrine. This is, or can be, good if those doctrines reveal His Nature, His Purpose and His awesome love for you that protects, and provides that you reach His goal for you. My experience with doctrines that segregate you into an identity with a particular church, and result in isolation within that church, is that the doctrines themselves become what you know and by which you are identified. The people within such walls do not come to know the joy of intimate relationship with Him, or if they do, it is in spite of the effort to control them. Man's traditions and rules do not satisfy that longing to know Him. This is why God has made His covenants a very personal thing. As you respond to His covenant approach, you touch Him and are touched by Him.
After Jesus gave to His disciples the structure that God was giving for their protection and provision in the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He prayed for them. I wonder how many times He prayed for them, individually and collectively as the men He had chosen to carry on His work. But in the 17th chapter of John, His prayer was not only for them but for us. In His prayer we gain more understanding of the relationship God is seeking and is providing in His covenant. We realize that it is not just action that God wants from us but a deep, abiding, and fruitful relationship. God was giving to us a covenant in Jesus that would not only provide the Way to become like Him, but the shelter that is evidenced in the marriage covenant. The marriage covenant was meant to provide a shelter of love, trust, protection and provision for growth and maturity of each partner and each child that would come under that shelter. While marriages may fall apart and fail because they do not recognize they are in a God-given covenant and so are responsible to God how they live under that covenant, the covenant God has given us in Jesus cannot and will never fail. We have an abiding place in His covenant that fulfills all God has promised. Each one of us is held in His hand.
This has been an introduction to the study of Jesus' prayer for us. There is so much in this prayer that Jesus was seeking to "anchor" for us while He was still in the likeness of man and could achieve as a man. There was so much Jesus did for us in a human body that could not be achieved in any other way or by any other being. It makes us aware of the importance of our bodies and our life on earth. The work God has for us to do must be done in the time alotted to us. Read His prayer in the 17th chapter of John and we will study it together. Have a blessed day!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Unfruitful understanding
Jesus told His disciples that some of what He was saying to them was hard to understand but they would understand later. He is saying the same thing to us today. We have so complicated the message of the endtime that it is no wonder there is confusion. We can see in the Scriptures how God uses what He has established to proceed toward His goal for us. The feast days and the covenants, together with the prophets, foretell and give understanding to the actions and Word of God.
There is a three-fold fulfillment to what God has established in the Old Testament. Three is a very important number for giving understanding. God has a threefold manifestation of ministry to this realm--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are a spirit with a soul, living in a flesh body. God dealt with the natural realm with natural responses in the O.T., with the soul, and responses of the soul overcoming to salvation, in this last 2000 years, and for a short period of time, with our spirit, bringing us to the perfection of a Bride, made ready for her Bridegroom. Each of these periods have had a "cusp". Jesus fulfilled all the Law and Abrahamic covenant in His ministry on earth and opened the door to the church age. The generation living on the earth now is living in a "cusp" as we finish up the period of the saving of the soul and enter into the victorious time of God's Church walking in the Spirit, manifesting the glory of God to the world. God has never sent judgment to this earth on any people without first giving them warning and opportunity to change. A victorious church will reveal God and His purpose to a world fast sliding to judgment. I believe the harvest will be rich. We can see people going through tremendous testing to their faith as the Spirit leads us away from the hold the world has had on the church. I have felt for many years that people learn "unbelief" in church. The passive acceptance of scriptures of power and vibrant Life have created passive Christians. This is changing all over the world. The Spirit is breathing new life into the Church. The witness of Jesus Christ is standing out in the face of growing opposition. We are seeing the beginning of a people walking in the power and close guidance of the Spirit as God intends for His victorious Church. The victory of that early Church is the parable revealing what this last-day Church is to be. We will not fade into the darkness of doubt and ignorance of God, but walk in an ever growing brightness in the midst of darkness. Jesus is returning for a church without spot or wrinkle. So don't stumble at the press of the iron in your life. Rejoice that the Spirit is preparing you for your Bridegroom.
Our witness is not just to the Power of God but to His Nature. The revelation of Jesus Christ to your heart must result not just in awareness of Him but also in change into His likeness. Release those human chains to unforgiveness, passivity to loving and commitment, acceptance of people's lost condition and the tolerance of the world's opinions. Tolerance of sin will lead to the adjusting to it. That tolerance is the "bushel" that hides the Light. Be the light of the world and shine in this dark time.
There is a three-fold fulfillment to what God has established in the Old Testament. Three is a very important number for giving understanding. God has a threefold manifestation of ministry to this realm--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are a spirit with a soul, living in a flesh body. God dealt with the natural realm with natural responses in the O.T., with the soul, and responses of the soul overcoming to salvation, in this last 2000 years, and for a short period of time, with our spirit, bringing us to the perfection of a Bride, made ready for her Bridegroom. Each of these periods have had a "cusp". Jesus fulfilled all the Law and Abrahamic covenant in His ministry on earth and opened the door to the church age. The generation living on the earth now is living in a "cusp" as we finish up the period of the saving of the soul and enter into the victorious time of God's Church walking in the Spirit, manifesting the glory of God to the world. God has never sent judgment to this earth on any people without first giving them warning and opportunity to change. A victorious church will reveal God and His purpose to a world fast sliding to judgment. I believe the harvest will be rich. We can see people going through tremendous testing to their faith as the Spirit leads us away from the hold the world has had on the church. I have felt for many years that people learn "unbelief" in church. The passive acceptance of scriptures of power and vibrant Life have created passive Christians. This is changing all over the world. The Spirit is breathing new life into the Church. The witness of Jesus Christ is standing out in the face of growing opposition. We are seeing the beginning of a people walking in the power and close guidance of the Spirit as God intends for His victorious Church. The victory of that early Church is the parable revealing what this last-day Church is to be. We will not fade into the darkness of doubt and ignorance of God, but walk in an ever growing brightness in the midst of darkness. Jesus is returning for a church without spot or wrinkle. So don't stumble at the press of the iron in your life. Rejoice that the Spirit is preparing you for your Bridegroom.
Our witness is not just to the Power of God but to His Nature. The revelation of Jesus Christ to your heart must result not just in awareness of Him but also in change into His likeness. Release those human chains to unforgiveness, passivity to loving and commitment, acceptance of people's lost condition and the tolerance of the world's opinions. Tolerance of sin will lead to the adjusting to it. That tolerance is the "bushel" that hides the Light. Be the light of the world and shine in this dark time.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Covenated Expansion
John 16:12-15 (NLT) 12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’
The disciples were the product of the Old Covenant which they saw Jesus fulfilling. They did not realize then that His fulfilling the Law of the Covenant would lead to the cutting of a New Covenant. The teaching Jesus gave them and the way in which He led them were a preparation for them to come under the new covenant. He led them from a natural way of responding to a spiritual means of responding to God.
There is a common acceptance that the Holy Spirit speaks to us. It is an inner Voice and easily ignored or misunderstood. (It depends on how loud this natural realm is to us!) He does not always appeal to our minds and seldom to our human understanding. But for a long time I have felt that His Voice is misunderstood in other ways. If we can accept it, the Holy Spirit does not just give us words but there is an impartation with His speaking when we follow His direction. In the five translations that I read, there are five different words used for His speaking. One says "He will disclose it to you", one, "make known", another, "show you", and, "declare it". You may say, what is the difference. The same word in other places says "manifest it". I have had the experience of "telling" people and I have also had the experience of the Spirit manifesting the Word into them. The difference is in our reception. When we are open to the Spirit's guidance, what He says to us is not just for our information but becomes a spritual growth as He imparts the Word that the Father knows we are now ready to receive. This becomes vitally important when we realize the Spirit is imparting the victories Jesus won for us while in this realm. As the One taking our place, Jesus reached in to the Father and "earned" victories that will allow us to become one with God as Jesus prayed. "ALL things that the Father has are mine," Jesus said. This is what the Spirit will manifest in to you. The revelation the Spirit brings is not limited to a revealing of Jesus to us but causing us to become what He speaks to our spirit.
TRUTH is not a collection of facts that are true. TRUTH is a Person, a personality of God. Truth is Jesus. God is at work in you to achieve His purpose. You are His workmanship. God's creative work did not end with the natural realm in which you live. Your likeness to Him is His goal. His hand is shaping you. Be pliable clay!
The disciples were the product of the Old Covenant which they saw Jesus fulfilling. They did not realize then that His fulfilling the Law of the Covenant would lead to the cutting of a New Covenant. The teaching Jesus gave them and the way in which He led them were a preparation for them to come under the new covenant. He led them from a natural way of responding to a spiritual means of responding to God.
There is a common acceptance that the Holy Spirit speaks to us. It is an inner Voice and easily ignored or misunderstood. (It depends on how loud this natural realm is to us!) He does not always appeal to our minds and seldom to our human understanding. But for a long time I have felt that His Voice is misunderstood in other ways. If we can accept it, the Holy Spirit does not just give us words but there is an impartation with His speaking when we follow His direction. In the five translations that I read, there are five different words used for His speaking. One says "He will disclose it to you", one, "make known", another, "show you", and, "declare it". You may say, what is the difference. The same word in other places says "manifest it". I have had the experience of "telling" people and I have also had the experience of the Spirit manifesting the Word into them. The difference is in our reception. When we are open to the Spirit's guidance, what He says to us is not just for our information but becomes a spritual growth as He imparts the Word that the Father knows we are now ready to receive. This becomes vitally important when we realize the Spirit is imparting the victories Jesus won for us while in this realm. As the One taking our place, Jesus reached in to the Father and "earned" victories that will allow us to become one with God as Jesus prayed. "ALL things that the Father has are mine," Jesus said. This is what the Spirit will manifest in to you. The revelation the Spirit brings is not limited to a revealing of Jesus to us but causing us to become what He speaks to our spirit.
TRUTH is not a collection of facts that are true. TRUTH is a Person, a personality of God. Truth is Jesus. God is at work in you to achieve His purpose. You are His workmanship. God's creative work did not end with the natural realm in which you live. Your likeness to Him is His goal. His hand is shaping you. Be pliable clay!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)