Awesome Love

I think I can remember memorizing John 3:16. It was among the first verses my parents taught me to recite. It becomes a familiar verse to every Christian and to some who never enter into that wonderful relationship. But to memorize any verse concerning the love God has for us does not even begin to reveal the depth of that love. We can marvel at this awesome love but as mortals we cannot comprehend a love that is far greater than anything we are capable.

The love God has for us began before the foundation of the earth. It began before any creation for Jesus was designated the Lamb of sacrifice and was slain! We cannot understand that process is not necessary to God for He is I AM. God created process for us in our limitation but He reveals His instantaneous provision by His Word concerning our healing. I Peter 2:24 (NASB)and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Only God knows what is necessary to create man in His image. From the beginning of man's creation, we can see that God only demanded from man a faith that would identify with His Word. Even now, though we have so much more opportunity to "possess" His Word in Bibles, books, study helps, and churches, we are incapable of identifying with God in His unsearchable vastness. We cannot even grasp the concept of eternity with no beginning or ending, how can we grasp a God that fills ALL space? Or that He loves us with an everlasting love and that nothing can separate us from that love?

We can grasp these concepts through the processing and keeping of covenant. Only a failure to respond to a covenant demand could activate the curse of a covenant. No other action could do that. So when God makes a covenant with man, only the failure to respond to His covenant can activate the curse of the separation or death. God sets out the conditions of a covenant and its limits. John 3:16 (KJV)For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God makes the "limit" of covenant to whosoever believes.

Adam understood covenant for God was teaching him. He understood that when God said he could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that this was a covenant "expectation". He was not the one Satan approached, but he failed to cover Eve and keep her from going against God's covenant Word, so the curse came from Adam's disobedience or failure to give a covenant response.

This is why Jesus came. Our flesh limits our response to God. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. So God sent Himself to take our place and be the creation. He showed us not only what was expected but what the creation of God is. In other words, He not only came fulfilling all covenant expectation of God, but He showed us what man in God's image is to be. God came as the only begotten Son. Not the only son, for we are adopted through the Blood of Jesus to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. Through His sacrifice, we become children in a Royal Family. Through our obedience and identity with His Word, we are being matured into sons doing the work of the Father.

What love God has manifested to us. What love yet remains to be manifested.

I John 3:1-3 (ASV) 1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is. 3 And every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

When Jesus appeared to Saul, a change began that was not limited to a name change to Paul. There was a continuing manifestation of Jesus to Paul until he became the Apostle who still ministers to us through his letters. It takes the Holy Spirit manifesting the Word to us to bring the maturity we need. But all of this is provided in the Love of God for He is continually pouring out His love on us. Let everything that happens to you be surrendered to His Love for you through the Blood of the Lamb. Even if Satan means it for harm, God's love for you will see that it is changed to good.

Romans 8:28-32 (NLT)28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

The Promise in Judgment

So many things have been judged at the Feast of Passover. Egypt, slavery, hopelessness, sin, death and the grave. The promise of Passover is the judgment executed on that which held us in bondage.

A new existence with great promise was opened for the Israelites at Passover. They began the journey to the promised land. The parable of their experience is repeated in many ways in many examples but the bottom line is the same--God leads through a wilderness before we are ready to claim His promise. The unhappy lesson we learn from the Israelites is that, though delivered from the slavery of Egypt, they remained slaves to their unbelief. God could take them out of Egypt but they could not release Egypt from their hearts.

We see Jesus entered the "mode" or process of the covenant-making ceremony in the thirteenth chapter of John. Everything He said or did in these chapters is very significant. In John 18:4-9 Jesus said the same phrase twice.

John 18:4-9 (NLT) 4 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. 5 “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I Am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7 Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 “I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”

People had been seeking Jesus during the entire 3 1/2 years of His ministry, but Jesus is saying this for a reason. First, He is proclaiming Who He is. He is the I AM . When He said, "I AM", the men He was facing fell to the ground. The power of His Name was exhibited to them.

Second, they had to verbally express the person they were seeking. They wanted a man they were to crucify. They were not seeking Him to receive from Him. But they were to know the consequence of seeking Him for this purpose and to them He revealed His identity as He had not done to casual seekers before.

Third, He was not only fulfilling the Old Covenant and processing a New Covenant, He was opening the door for another covenant in the future.

Let us look closely at these verses. Jesus said, "Who are you looking for?" In the days we are walking out prophetic words spoken thousands of years ago, we are going to have to define Who we are looking for. For two thousand years people have been looking for the Savior, Healer, Deliverer, and Lord. We are going to see governments in chaotic transitions, "natural" disasters on every hand, plagues and turmoil in everything we have established as necessary. In Hebrews 12 we see that everything that can be shaken will be shaken. To turn the world from an established "religous" seeking of God, to facing God once more walking on this earth, there is going to be a tremendous shaking. To walk through these days with the peace of knowing Whom we seek, we must, as His Church, have a deep personal identity with Him as Lord over everything in our lives. No longer can we put on and take off our relationship with Him. For so long, we have identified God with the church we attend. Everything that touches your life, work, school, play, home, stores, entertainment and every relationship must be Christ centered. Your relationship with your church must not be the only outlet of your worship of Him.

The world may be seeking Him to crucify Him again, but He is not coming this time to be crucified but to be glorified. He will first be glorified in you, His Church. This will be a purifying time as we lose all desire to receive glory for our own and learn to let His glory be in us to glorify Him. Jesus WILL be coming for a church without spot or wrinkle or any kind of blemish. This means the world will be seeing the glory of God in you, His Church. The battle within the church right now is a severe testing of faith as we see disease, poverty, disasters and things we cannot explain away. We cannot meet these with the same "almost passivity" that has gripped the church as it seems the Lord has "delayed His coming". It is time to wake up and trim our lamps. That means cutting away what served us yesterday and prepare for a "new burning". I used to watch my grandmother go through the ritual each night as she brought out the lamps. The globes of the lamp were washed and the cloth wick turned up and all the black edge was cut off. Then the lamps were lit by setting fire to the new cloth. We are that cloth.

Once more Jesus is asking the question, "Who do YOU seek?" We not only seek Him for what He can do for us, but we must be willing to let Him work in us to become those He is seeking--true worshippers, worshipping in spirit and in truth.

The Courts of man

In all of the Gospels the account of the crucifixion and the trials that preceded this event are given. In Luke the account is more detailed in certain ways. So look at Luke 22 and 23. We see three different courts were involved before Jesus was crucified. There was the religious court, the civil court and the Roman court.

In an earlier blog, I showed how the covenants of God are open ended. Each covenant leads to the cutting of a deeper covenant that prepares for another covenant with deeper relationship with God available. Nothing God does is done away with but is fulfilled and opens to give man more possibilities in God. Everything God did in the O.T. brought man closer to the coming of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all of the former covenants to open closer relationship to God in the New Covenant of His blood. However, we have not seen all of the prophecies fulfilled even though He fulfilled the necessary steps to see them fulfilled. Acts 3:20-21 (NLT)20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. 21 For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.

We have always taken for granted that Jesus had to go through the trials before He could be crucified. Even though the crucifixion was the prophesied manner of the cutting of this New Covenant, and all that happened to Jesus was a part of this New Covenant, God was preparing the way for the return of Jesus and the fulfilling of the Davidic Kingdom Covenant. He was even crucified with the proclamation that He is King!

If you remember, I wrote earlier of God's earliest manner of teaching man was not through the priesthood, the tabernacle and the Law, but by giving them covenant making and city building. This became so inherent within man that it was the natural way of relating and governing. Abraham recognized immediately the covenant language of God's covenant approach. Everything God did after this in Israel's slavery and deliverance, giving of the Law, establishing Israel as a nation was a part of that Abrahamic covenant.

In establishing a New Covenant, Jesus also prepared the way for His return as King of Kings over the nations of this earth. God prepared the way for the judgment of the nations and the courts that rule over man. Jesus was taken to the religious, the civil and the national courts where judgment was pronounced over Him. The religious court of the Sanhedrin judged His Words. The civil court of Herod judged His ministry and found it "disappointing". International Rome through Pilot judged His Kingdom and let Him be crucified to protect its own. The courts of our recognition, whether of city, county, state, national or U.N., now stand open to the Judgment of the King. He has the right to bring judgment over the governments of this earth when He returns.

God relates to this realm through covenant. He always moves within covenant. He paid the price to let you have dominion in His Name over principalities, demonic forces and disease and to disciple the nations. In Him, you have the destiny to rule with Him and to live eternally in His Presence.

Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-56 This passage in Matthew is the longest and perhaps most detailed of Jesus' preparation for His sacrifice. All the Gospels have an account of this time as it is an important part of the cutting of the New Covenant which Jesus had already started. The eleven disciples went with Him to Gethsemane but Jesus chose Peter, James and John to go further with Him and then left them to go beyond them. I have heard the three criticized for sleeping when Jesus needed them to be praying with Him. Most do not understand the depth of the spiritual battle that was being waged and the overpowering weight that caused these three to sleep. They did not have the Holy Spirit at that time to the measure to withstand the battle.

Jesus had to face that force of darkness alone. I have often heard it preached that Jesus wanted to be spared the cross but submitted to the will of the Father. I believe this battle He fought at Gethsemane was far more than that. Jesus had lived His life on this earth in full union with the Father. Now He had to take the whole world into Himself to take our place. All human nature and sinful darkness had to be brought to judgment. Before God, all sin had to be punished. The cup that was presented to Jesus was not the death of sacrifice on the cross.

The cup could not be taken away unless Jesus drank it. Holy, sinless, pure before God, Jesus had to take on the sin of the whole world in order to be the sacrifice that would cleanse every sin and all darkness. His powerful Blood would fight it and be the perfect vaccine to cleanse and make holy for all time. But the depth of agony to become the sacrifice for anyone who would come to accept it, is beyond our capacity to know. If you have ever withdrawn from the sight of sinful activity in disgust, you might have an inkling of what it would mean to drink the cup Jesus was handed that contained the deepest dregs humanity can sink into. What is done in secret, what is thought and what is acted on, every plot and degradation of man in any generation, Jesus had to accept to pay for their cleansing. Yet, He could stand in front of religious condemnation without retaliating. He could go through three beatings in less than 12 hours, once by strong soldiers until His face was marred more than any man, beaten by 39 stripes, tormented and vilified, finally crucified and still say "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." What a wonderful Savior! What a magnificent Lord! What love! To go through everything our salvation cost would be a tremendous feat for Jesus, the Holy Son of God. But to go through that and carry me is beyond my power of comprehension. I can only praise Him and be eternally grateful.

The Feast of Passover

We are approaching the Feast of Passover. Millions of People will celebrate this Judaic feast. Most Christians will be acknowledging this feast as the time that Jesus was crucified. Because "covenant" is a term used to describe certain acts and times in the Bible and not a way of life, we do not recognize covenant in the feasts. But at the time that God was meeting Moses to give the written part of the Abrahamic covenant, God established the three times that Israel was to celebrate the feasts that God ordained. It was a covenant response that Israel, as a nation, was to give to God and so recognize the relationship they had to God. Each feast was unique and the response or ritual of each feast expressed a different aspect of that relationship.

The Feast of Passover was a feast of remembering the deliverance from the slavery and bondage of Egypt. The celebration of their freedom from slavery gave the Feast an element of gaity. The ritual was repeated yearly and so became ingrained in each generation. Therefore, it was not only the Feast of Deliverance but was also called the Feast of Remembrance. The ten plagues were rehearsed each year and Israel's immunity was celebrated during the ceremony with a splash of wine on each plate as each plague was announced.

It was also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The need to rid the house of the yeast was an annual exercise in rigorous housecleaning as walls, ceilings and floors were vigorously scrubbed. Any grease and dirt must be removed during the week before Passover. Only unleavened bread is eaten during the entire time that Passover is celebrated. The Passover meal is eaten the evening before the Sabbath of Passover, which is the first day of Passover that lasts seven days, ending with another Sabboth. These Sabboths are not to be confused with the seventh day Sabboth. Every feast began and ended with a sabbath day of rest, no matter what day of the week it happened to be.

Each of the feasts have a relationship with God. We see the relationship of Jesus to the Feast of Passover. We see the relationship of the Holy Spirit in the Feast of Pentecost. We see the relationship of the Father in the Feast of Tabernacles when God sent His Son to tabernacle with us at that feast time. We see the three feasts brought up to a higher spiritual understanding as they were repeated in the New Testament as His Church is created. We will see each one brought to a higher plane of understanding as God brings His Church to the perfection of the Bride.

Each feast time is a time for humble worship before a Mighty, Eternal God so we might be brought into deeper understanding of His Love and provision for us.

A Continuing Ministry

John 17:25-26 (NLT) 25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Matthew 11:27(KJV) All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

The world worships "idols" because they do not know God. Man thinks that God can be taken out of government and schools and public places because they do not know they are finite and God is infinite. Knowledge in this realm is limited until God chooses to increase knowledge. Only Jesus can reveal the Father to us. We can search, study and strive to know more, but until Jesus reveals through the Holy Spirit, we do not know.

However, Jesus does choose to reveal the Father. It is part of the covenant promise to us in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is with us,and in us, as Teacher and Guide. Jesus has made known the Father and will continue to make the Father known. The Spirit is leading us in experiential knowledge of the Love of the Father. To block this is the most consistent attack of Satan to believers. Satan's goal is to cause you to question the love of God for you personally. If he can get you to question His love, he can get you to question God's forgiveness. These two doubts undermine any identity you have with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God becomes a Being you worship but cannot identify with. You doubt He hears you when you pray or will love you enough to answer. His Will becomes clouded with your inability to believe His love and so all unanswered prayers are channeled as His Will. When we cannot identify with the Father, we cannot identify with His love. I have heard people question that God could love Jesus and let Him suffer such a death.

Jesus knew the Father loved Him. He was also driven by that love. When we are confident that we are loved by the Father, we will also be confident that Jesus reigns within us. We, too, become driven by that love to love as we are loved.

Viewing Glory

John 17:24 (NLT)Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

I think glory is misunderstood and therefore limited in our thinking. Our concept of glory is one of imagination mostly. The artists of the beginning of the last millenium used haloes to show glory. Bright light is often associated with glory. But Jesus gives us a clue in this verse as to the glory of which He spoke. It was given to Him by the Father before the world began. We know Jesus is very God and has no beginning for He is eternal. The very essence of God is One.

In The Revelation, we see that Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Everything created has a beginning. We, as the concept of man in God's image, had a beginning. All creation began at the time of this declared purpose of God, "Let US make man in Our image." For a creation of substance, God had to have a ministry of substance. Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,"YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? And again, "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"?
Colossians 1:15-17 (NLT) 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Jesus is not a part of creation. He is the begotten of the Father. In Isaiah His Name is Everlasting Father. He is One with the Father. His ministry is Creator. The glory He had before creation began is the glory of Eternal God. We worship Eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The glory Jesus had while on this earth was the glory of man in God's image. In all things He took our place that we might become as He is. The only way we can see this glory is to be WHERE He is. He took us into Himself and we were crucified with Him, we were buried with Him and we rose with Him. The only way we are changed is by our identification with Him and the precious Blood He shed for us. He is now seated in His rightful place on the Throne and we are now translated into His Kingdom of Light. Colossians 1:12-14 (NLT)12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Jesus told His disciples He was going to prepare a place for them so they "could be where He is". John 14:3 (NLT) When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. On the cross He finished paying the price. He took His precious blood to the altar in heaven and came back to His disciples to breathe on them to receive the new Life He had purchased. John 20:22 (NLT) Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Glory in Unity

John 17:22 (NLT) “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.

Do these verses of Jesus' prayer for unity impress you with the vital importance of unity? We can see it as a concept, but do we see it with its importance to our eternal destiny? There is so much in our human nature to prevent unity. Viewed through the eyes of our nature, unity seems an impossible dream. Feelings of rejection, of being used, of being cheated, of being belittled cause us to withdraw at best and can lead to retaliation. Out of our nature come criticism and judging, which, when shared, lead to separate camps and suspicion. Condemnation and guilt also cause withdrawal and loss of unity.

Do you hear the positive faith with which Jesus prayed? His having given the glory to create the unity is such a positive, "completed action" statement. It stands with His declaration on the cross, "It is finished!" This glory is to produce the unity.

Unity among the disciples was much like the unity we have. We all are followers of Jesus but disputes arise. Resentments come when some press in to receive something we want but do not seem to achieve. Feelings of being left out or ignored cause resentments to rise. Judas Iscariot committed suicide and Peter went out alone to weep. The disciples rejected the women's report of His resurrection, and only two went to the tomb to "check out" what the women said. Human feelings disrupt unity.

But on the day of Pentecost, they were all together and of one accord. They were all waiting for the fulfillment of Jesus' Word. What happened? The Glory of the cross. Jesus had declared that the time had come for Him to be glorified. The darkness of those traumatic days had been illumined by His Resurrection.

Embracing our own cross to see our human nature swallowed up into His glorious nature is the necessary step to unity. Overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and by our identification with His Word as our testimony is an ongoing reaction to every evidence of our human nature surfacing in reaction to a circumstance. We labor to enter into His Rest. We practice surrender to Him. We work out our salvation. We take His Word very seriously and make it personal.

The Glory of Unity

I have rejoiced often in the unity Jesus prayed that we would have. To me, there is a reward of unity. If we embrace this unity and refuse to let the poison that Satan spreads to prevent it, we open ourselves to receive the answer to Jesus' prayer. John 17:22-23 (NASB) 22"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me."

I have given you this translation for it says "perfected in unity" instead of "perfect unity". Yes, the unity we receive is perfect, but we are perfected in that unity. We have a lot of surrendering of self, learning to keep our mouths shut, learning when to speak, learning compassion and mercy from our Savior when we surrender to unity. We learn to respect others and what God has given to them but not to us, we learn to need and to minister to need, we learn to give and to receive. This unity is a tool in our perfection that God uses.

Jesus said that this is the evidence that the Father sent Him into this realm and that the Father loves us even as the Father loves Jesus. To see and marvel at this unity is more effective than witnessing miracles. I have seen great miracles but seldom does a miracle bring the conviction that leads to salvation as the love that reaches out to include. God is love and He is bringing us into His likeness. Love must be the very essence of all we are and do. In seeking to be like Him, let the prayer of faith lay hold of His love to be in you as the center of your being so that it becomes the motivation of your actions. His love does not hesitate to sacrifice to reach out, nor does His love limit what we can become in Him. We need to love as He loves.

Unity

John 17:20-21(NLT) 20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

No doubt you have read this passage many times. Perhaps you have pondered this and realized we should have unity. But I want us to ponder the type of unity Jesus is speaking. It is the same unity He had with the Father for the Father was in Jesus and Jesus in the Father.

Satan resists this oneness. He uses many different methods but any one of them seems to be very effective. He uses our emotions. We don't feel love or acceptance from someone and that is reason to keep them at a distance. We don't agree with their doctrine, their lifestyle, their speech or actions or their friends and so we keep them at a distance. The reasons are many but the results are same--we don't have unity. Churches accept some churches and resist others that may be walking in as much light as themselves. Even though the disciples were walking and talking with Jesus, they still had time to have differences with each other. These come from within and have outward consequences. They keep people apart.

Can we take people in and have them take us in? Yes, by the Holy Spirit. We can even feel their pain and their testing by the Spirit. We become intercessors for the Body of Christ in this way. When you feel down or have strange pains that you do not normally do, don't just feel you are having a bad day. Go to the Lord in prayer and surrender these to the Lord. Wait before Him for an answer. The Spirit will reveal to you if it is someone going through this very thing and you are standing in for them or if you need to go to get help from another who will pray for you. Don't live in identity with "down emotions" or pain or confusion. Live in identity with Jesus, His Word, and the Spirit of God in you.

Take this prayer of Jesus very personally. He prayed for you. He prayed for your unity with ALL who believe in His Word. He wants His Church in Him as He is in the Father. Work on this concept for Satan certainly is working at it. You don't want to express Satan's work but the work Jesus completed for us. We are one with Him.

Sanctified

John 17:17-19 (ASV) 17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

John 17:17-19 (NLT)17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

I have given you two translations. The first, no longer in print, is harder to read for it is word for word translation. The second, thought for thought, is easier to understand. I like to read both and meditate on them until the Spirit quickens to my spirit what He wants me to receive that day. What I received as I meditated on them today is the wonder of all Jesus did in this realm for us. His sacrifice meant a new birth for a new creature. We cannot sanctify ourselves for we cannot do what Jesus did. Jesus IS The Truth. The Word of God is the instrument of truth used by the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. The Holy Spirit manifests into us what belongs to Jesus that the Father gave Him. This He did for us while in our realm. Now seated in the place of victory, He intercedes for us so we will not become sidetracked and fail to enter our victory.

If we understand in our spirit that Jesus took our punishment for the broken covenant with the Law, and that He truly took our place in all things, then we have to accept that He did it so we could eternally be where He is--starting right now. You are sanctified at the present moment by His act and by your faith in Him. I am teaching children how to appropriate from God. If they learn now how to draw from Him, they will have the advantage of walking in His provision the rest of their lives. You can start now to do the same thing. Jesus left for us in this realm His victory over the world. 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." In your darkest moment, faced with unanswerable problems, stand in His victory. You don't have to have the answers when you have Him.

The sanctification Jesus became gave Him the victory, for He walked in total obedience to the Father and the Father's will became His will. We follow in His steps and walk in Truth. Our obedience to praise and trust Him in all things will keep us in the way of Truth. He paid the price for us to be truly sanctified.

In the world but not of it

John 17:14-16(NLT)14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

When God's Word begins to shape us, we become misfits in this world. God calls us from all types of experiences and beginnings. Some have never been a part of the world activities as far as practices go, and some have been very much a part of the age with its indulgence. That has nothing to do with what you need in Jesus Christ. It has only to do with how God will use you in reaching others and your compassion for their need. "We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God", and Jesus came to redeem all of us. We all start from common ground at the foot of the cross. It is God's Word that shapes us and molds us into His image for we are God's workmanship.

We are confronted with the hatred of Satan and of those in darkness who hate the light. The religious ones who have found their justification in their religion do not appreciate the continuing growth into Light that God's Word produces in those who follow Him. The religious rulers hated Jesus and sought to kill Him. People are still eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and death and darkness are still the result. The destructive opinions that are formed still take the place of God's Word in their lives. Jesus prayed for those who are not of this world that God's Word would protect them from the evil one.

I find great joy in reading this, for Jesus, who has so linked Himself to us that He takes our place, now links us to Him and His position. He has declared that we are not of this world. He has proclaimed it before the Father! He is bringing us into the covering of His covenant for us with God the Father. No matter what Satan loves to whisper to me of my failings, I go back to this declaration of Jesus and know that it is not about me but all about Jesus and the Word of God. I am who He says I am! He has become My life, my joy and peace. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me! Let this be the testimony of your lips!

John 17:13

John 17:13 (NIV)I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

This passage is very important for us to understand for so much of the fulfillment of Jesus' purpose depends on this. We need to see how closely Jesus followed all of the Father's purpose in sending Him to us. As a man, He had to finish everything only a man could do in giving the covenant response demanded of us. In Jesus, we have given every response demanded as we walk in His footsteps. Jesus understood the power of the words we speak and their longevity. He spoke the Word God gave Him to speak, knowing that they would remain in this realm for us to claim. He had so much He had to do as a man for our sake, not only for taking our place, but so we could enter into the fulness of God's purpose for us.

There are two things I want you to see now. First, Jesus was speaking the unity He had with the Father while on this earth as part of the protection we have in The Name. He was speaking that unity as the unity we have with one another. That Word remains for us to pick up. This is the Word that Satan has fought so effectively in the generations that have followed the moment of Jesus speaking it. If you can hear and believe this proclamation of Jesus, you can walk in the unity that will mean a powerful Church walking in the full authority Jesus walked out for us. He walked in the authority of both realms--heaven and earth. Unity will allow His Church to do so also. To be one with all of the blood bought saints of His Church on earth should be our constant prayer. Criticism of what people are doing or not doing, rejection because they do not believe as we do, jealousy of "success", and hesitation to accept them for any reason cause us to refute the unity Jesus has provided.

Second, Jesus knew that the words He spoke would live forever. We do not realize the power of the tongue, but your salvation depends on it. We believe in our heart (spirit) that Jesus rose from the dead. (That means we believe He took our place, not only by taking our punishment for what we deserved, but taking us with Him all the way to resurrected Life, seated in His victory.) That belief is our justification and righteousness, but our salvation is not complete until we confess His Lordship with our mouth. Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
Every word you speak will be heard again so you can give account for them. It is so necessary that our words are in conformity with His Word and we echo His Word in our every action.