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You are right now...
a citizen, which means you have a say in what Father does next. If I were to tell you I am remodeling my kitchen and ask you to sand down the cabinets you would have a say in how to do that task. Your skills would decide which sandpaper to use first, the direction of the sanding, and many other such decisions. But, you could not come up to me and say, 'I don't think we should remodel the kitchen'. God has declared what He is up to. He is reconciling the world to Himself and has given us the task of co-reconciling. (2 Corinthians 5:19-20) Now you are free to reconcile but you don't have the right to declare God is no longer reconciling the world to Himself. You are a citizen because you are in the Citizen of all citizens doing what He is still doing. He, in His new body, we who believe, is still reconciling the world to Himself. So, if your excluding people you are not a citizen. If you are bidding all to come to trust Christ, Who has accomplished your every need, you are, right now, by the acts of another reconciled. Equally, you are a citizen cashing in on the Bank of Heaven.
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You are right now...GRACED with the GIFT, Jesus the Christ Himself.
Graced means gifted. God gifted His Son and told Him to tell you that you have life everlasting because of Him. Jesus was told to tell you this by Father Himself. Your job is to trust His word. (John 12:49-50) So then, Jesus is the Gift (Grace). Receive! We are ALIVE with God Himself.
How we define life and death is most important. Being dead is flesh mindedness. Being alive is God mindedness. "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace," (Romans 8:6, NAS77) Note here is the Biblical definition of death and life. If you're heavenly minded, you ARE, right then, alive. If you ARE paying attention to the dictates of the flesh you are, right then, dead. In the future, I hope to speak more on that phenomena, but for today let us stay focused on being alive. Note above, if we pay attention (obey) the flesh we ARE dead. Note also "The last enemy that will be abolished is death." (1 Corinthians 15:26, NAS77) This means, Life and death exist in the here and now, but the goal of God is when we no longer listen to the flesh to obey it. Jesus didn't obey the flesh and now living in us has no intention of obeying the flesh. He is life and peace which means He is the embodiment of hearing/obeying Father. His mind stays on the Father Who both then and now expresses Father's desires. How then can we be ALIVE? "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NAS77) Receive the Gift of God, His Son. When? Each moment. Where do I receive Him? Into my mind, heart, and desires each moment of each day. Keeping one eye always on your heart of hearts and bowing to those desires initiated by God is life. That is being alive and that is who you are, not what you have. You are a soul who can know, prefer, and join in what Papa is doing. Sealed with what? You have been sealed with Holy Spirit. What does this look like? What does this mean?
In years past, kings would write a letter of safety and give it to a subject for free and safe travels. Even though the King had declared such rights, it had no voice nor validity unless his seal was upon the document. His crested ring was pressed onto hot wax previously dripped on the letter. Now the letter itself was the very voice of the King. To disobey the letter was to disobey the King. That behavior was generally not a worthwhile endeavor. But speaking of Jesus... "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;" Hebrews 1:3 (NAS77) Jesus, when on earth, was the seal of God. When the Holy Spirit of promise came, the seal was upon all who turned in trust to Jesus. "In Him...you also were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," (Ephesians 1:13, DLT emphasis mine) As His child, you have the right of passage and what you speak carries the very seal of God. (see yesterday's Encouragement eMail titled Inheritance). You are, right now, the inheritance of God in His Son Jesus Christ. In Him, you have all the riches of God's glory in Christ Jesus for He is your inheritance. When you have Him, you have it all. When He has you, you express all you have. Your knowing what you have or being ignorant of it does not change the fact of what you have nor alter its effectualness. But, once you know what is stored up for you in the Bank of Heaven and that it is immediately available, your walk becomes supernatural. How so?
In every moment you have what it takes. If you don't have it to give, you don't give it. But what exactly do we have? EVERYTHING that pertains to life in the here and now and godliness."seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." 2 Peter 1:3 (NAS77 emphasis mine) In short, we have inherited Christ Jesus, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:3 (NAS77) You are so Spiritually rich you cannot contain it all and find the 'leftovers' spontaneously spilling out and over to all you meet. Yay Jesus! The Wisdom that changes how you interact with this world comes from knowing what Father God is up to. Jesus confesses His 'weak spot'. He claimed several times that He could not initiate anything on this earthly plane, nor force Father into doing His will. By humbling Himself, He became a servant of Father's will. Let's read what our teacher and Lord has to say to us concerning how to live wisely.
Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." (John 5:19 NAS 77 emphasis mine) "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 5:30 NAS 77 emphasis mine) Jesus, therefore, said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me." (John 8:28 NAS 77 emphasis mine) Then He expands His message of how He relates to the world through watching Father to how we are to function. "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." (John 9:33 NAS 77 emphasis mine) "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 NAS 77 emphasis mine) So then, to live wisdom is to let this wisdom live you. Don't do for doing sake, but only do what Father is doing. Do not initiate things but do what Father is highlighting for you to do right now. We, as children of God, have the privilege to let Him be the cause of every effect. To let Him do what He is doing through you is Wisdom. You are right now forgiven.
Yes right now, and even before you were conceived, you were forgiven of every self-willed act to either try to be like God or side with the evil one and openly tell lies about God. How humbling to know, before you did any single self-willed act, it was given to Christ and He took care of it. With a conscience cleared of fear, guilt, and shame, you have both the right and privilege to forgive yourself, others, and even God if you think you need to. This forgiveness has been given to all. It cannot be purchased or bettered. As a loving Father, God leans down from His easy chair and wipes away all your tears. If your heart is broken, He heals it. If you just don't like the life you are living, He gives you a new LIFE, one so big it can live you. NO! It is living you. For it is He in you who both stirs your will to want and gives the thing your heart wants. What does your heart want? You know, at the bottom of your redeemed heart you know. You want God. (Philippians 2:13, Psalm 37:4) You are accepted, you can trust this to be true. Acceptance by God has nothing to do with what you do, but who He is in you. You are a child of God by virtue of God joining His Spirit with your soul. His Spirit, resident within you, lets you boldly say you are both His child and accepted. You know the difference between trusting God and not trusting God. If you do not have the witness within, then you distrust Him.
"(The one who trusts the Son of God has the 'know so' in himself. The one who does not trust what God has said has just called God a liar, because that one has decided not to trust the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.)" 1 John 5:10 (DLT) "And this is the testimony: God has given you eternal life. This life is his Son. You, who have the Son, are alive; not trusting the Son of God is death." 1 John 5:12(DLT) So when are you accepted? When you accept the Son. It is like trusting what God declares is true right now, personally. Doubting it is true is calling God a liar, or believing the lie that says, "you're not accepted". You are right now...
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb (Christ Jesus). It is a done deal. Like a piece of property in the hands of a greedy landowner, you have been specifically purchased back to your rightful owner, GOD. You were tilled by another and produced the crops of hate, fear, avarice, injustice, dissension, and murder until God purchased you for His own. But when did He seal this deal? The day His Son died to separate you to His Father. Now you will support the crops of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23, 1 Peter 1:18-19) Right now He is prepared to share His best with the least person on earth. You know, like the person you were before you stopped trying to be good enough for God to love you and receive the love God has already shed abroad in your heart. God now owns you from start to finish, and no one else can lay claim to you. He has finished what you, on your best day, could not begin. He has called you to His Person and purposes. He has done it all. You are...Adopted - because you were made a child of God, by God, and for God's good pleasure.
Come on. Get real. Why would God see your mess and want to parade you down the streets of life proclaiming, "Look! Look! Here is my child!" The only other such similar Biblical event is when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. "And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, andcoming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." Mat 3:16-17 (NAS77 emphasis mine) In Short, 'take note, this is my kid. I get real joy out of him. Hands off.' Because of this, I say, be encouraged. You're a child of God and you have the authority to say so. "But as many, as received him—to those who believe in his name—he gave to them authority to become children of God," John 1:12 (LEB) Once, my wife and all her siblings were accosted by some neighbor boys who were blocking their way home. They devised and executed a plan for their young brother who was riding a tricycle to scoot past and get home and tell their mother what was happening. When he got home his mother was cutting some bread. She ran to the place where the boys were and raised her hand saying, "You will never bother my children again." Well, she had forgotten about the bread knife which was in her handwhen summoned. It was the hand raised in defiant protection of her brood. The young men never were seen again. That and a trillion times more is how much Papa God loves and protects you. |
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