THE ANOINTING (the smearing)

God told Moses to Anoint (smear) the tabernacle
And all of its implements with oil.
In the Tabernacle of God,
Before a priest could perform his duties as a priest,
He had to be Anointed with, smeared with oil.
Oil is representative of, or a type of the Holy Spirit.
The Tabernacle, the place of worship to God,
Had to be Anointed with, smeared with, imbued with the Holy Spirit.
Before the priest could perform his duties
He had to be anointed with, imbued with the Holy Spirit.

We are called priests in the New Testament.
We are to be Anointed with, smeared with, imbued with the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist said that Jesus would immerse believers in the Holy Spirit.
That is the ultimate imbuing or Anointing.
This immersing is to bring us to the condition of being ONE with Him.

When kings came into being in Israel, they had to be Anointed for service.
Another definition of Anointing is the Son of the oil, The Shinning ONE.
That is who Jesus is.

Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ The Anointed ONE.
The ONE from whom all Anointing emanates.
He was not smeared with oil; He is the oil itself.
He is The Anointed ONE and He is The Anointing.

Jesus Speaks of Himself (Luke 4:18-19):
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recovery of sight for the blind,
To release the oppressed,
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus read this prophesy out of the Book of Isaiah, chapter 61.
In doing so He said that it was prophesied of Him.
This Anointing, this imbuing,
Is an impartation of the Holy Spirit for service to God.
Jesus said that unless we remained in the vine (in Him and His Anointing)
We could do nothing of value.

The only thing that God values is what is done by His Anointing;
That is, initiated, motivated and activated by His Holy Spirit.
David wrote the Psalms under the Anointing of God.
The prophets prophesied under the Anointing of God.
All of the Scriptures were written under the Anointing of God.

On the Day of Pentecost Christ Jesus poured out His anointing.
Every recorded revival occurred because God poured out His Anointing.
The Church of God is to operate under the Anointing of God.

The word of the Lord to Zerubbabel was:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,
Says the Lord Almighty.’

Not by the might of men or their power,
But by God’s all-powerful, all seeing, all knowing,
Present everywhere, Spirit;
His Anointing, His super natural being, manifested.

In 1 Chronicles 16:22, God says:
‘Do not touch my anointed ones;
Do my prophets no harm.’

God watches over his Anointed ones.
Those who would touch or harm them
Will do so at great cost to themselves.
This is based on His covenant with those who believe.

The Anointing Is An Anointing Of Joy
The Father speaking of Christ Jesus says:

'Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever;
A scepter of your justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
By anointing you with the oil of joy.' (Psalm 45:6-7)

Anointing in the New Testament

The apostle John says:
‘But you have received an anointing from the Holy One,
And all of you know the truth.’ (1 John 2:20)

Again he says:
‘As for you, the anointing you have received from him remains in you,
And you do not need anyone to teach you.
But as his anointing teaches you about all things
And as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--
Just as it has taught you, remain in him.’ (1 John 2:27)

Jesus said we have but one teacher, the Christ. (Matthew 23:8)

Therefore, the Anointing, the Christ, The Anointed ONE
Who lives in us is our teacher.

In Jeremiah 31: 31-34, The Lord declares:
'The time is coming,
When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
And with the house of Judah
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers
When I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt
Because they broke my covenant
Though I was a husband to them.

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
After that time,
I will put my laws in their minds
And write upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
And they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
Or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’
Because they will all know me
From the least of them to the greatest
For I will forgive their wickedness
And remember their sins no more.'

In the New Covenant God Himself becomes our teacher
Through His Anointing, through Christ in us.
He put his laws in our minds and writes them upon our hearts.

All this I have spoken while still with you.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you all things
And will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John. 14:25-26)

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
The Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father,
He will testify about me; … (John. 15:26)

…When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears,
And he will tell you what is yet to come.

The Holy Spirit in us, Christ in us, God’s Anointing in us,
Teaches us all things and reminds us of everything that Christ has said.
He tells us what is yet to come.

The Apostle Paul tells us:
'He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us,
And put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,
Guaranteeing what is to come.' (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

In other words His Anointing is his seal of ownership on us
And guarantees what is to come. Glory!

A Practical Application Of The Anointing In Us,
The Sick Are Anointed For Healing
Jesus sent His disciples out to do the same things He was doing:
They went out and preached that people should repent.
They drove out many demons
And anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 16:12)

We see here that Anointing with oil brings healing.

Is any one of you in trouble?
He should pray.
Is anyone happy?
Let him sing songs of praise.
Is any one of you sick?
He should call the elders of the church to pray over him
And anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;
The Lord will raise him up.
If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to each other
And pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:13-16).

The Anointing here brings healing and forgiveness of sins.

What Brings Forth The Manifestation Of The Anointing?
From the Scriptures above we can see
That prayer brings forth the manifestation
Of the anointing: healing and forgiveness.

The Scriptures teach us that the Lord lives in the praises of His people,
(Psalm 22:3).
Therefore, praise and worship
Bring forth the manifestation of His anointing.

This can be seen in 2 Chronicles 20:21-22:
After consulting with the people,
Jehosaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord
And to praise him for the splendor of his holiness
As they went out at the head of the army, saying:

‘Give thanks to the lord,
For his love endures forever.'
As they began to sing and praise,
The Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab
And Mount Seir
Who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

In this case praise brought the Anointing,
The manifestation of God’s sovereign protection.
Because the battle always belongs to the Lord.
God rose up in the praises of His people to defeat the enemy.
The praise came after the king and the people sought God
With prayer and fasting.
As a result of this the Spirit of God came on a prophet and he declared:

‘The battle belongs to the Lord.’

This supernatural, prophetic word gave the king and the people hope.
In the natural the situation the king and the people faced was hopeless.
They had to get out of the natural and into the supernatural;
Into the Anointing of God.
They did this by prayer and fasting and finally praising God.

How Can We See A Manifestation Of The Anointing?
As long as we stay in the natural we will never see the supernatural.
We can have ten thousand meetings, preach His word
And sing to Him and never touch His heart.
We have to appropriate the heart of God to receive His Anointing.

It can be for us as Jesus spoke about the Pharisees:
'You hypocrites!
Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you;
These people honor me with their lips,
But their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
Their teachings are but rules taught by men.' (Matthew 15: 8-9)

God knows our heart.
He knows when we are earnest,
And when we are simply going through a religious practice.
If we do not seek God and His Anointing we will never receive it.
However, when we seek God with all of our heart we will find Him.
As Jesus said:

'Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
And many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
And only a few find it.' (Matthew 7:13-14)

So it is with the manifest Anointing of God.
We cannot come to Him as we please.
We have to come with earnest intention and expectation,
To meet with Him above all else.
We have to come to give Him our very best.
We have to come to love Him with all of our hearts, all of our minds,
All of our souls and all of our strength.
We have to give Him the time.
We have to come without preconceptions of what He will do.
We have to allow Him to do what He wants to do.
God is a spontaneous, extemporaneous God.
Our preconceptions keep us from Him.
He cannot bless the natural.
He can only bless what He supernaturally produces in His people.
He can only bless what can only be done through Him.

When you come together, everyone has a hymn,
Or a word of instruction,
A revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.
All must be done for the strengthening of the church.
(1 Corinthians 14:26)

When we have our religious formats that give virtually nothing to Him.
We will get virtually nothing from Him.
When everything is predetermined He has no room to manifest Himself.

One thing I ask, this is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And seek Him in His temple (Psalm 27:4)

When we come to the Lord with the heart of David we will find Him
And His manifest Anointing;
When we are hungry and thirsty for His Living Water, His Anointing,
Then He will be found.
The Bride of Christ will find Him in His fullness.
She will be His charismatic, Anointed Bride.
She will have one passion,
To bring glory to her Bridegroom.
Her love for Him will be as strong as death,
It will burn like a blazing fire.
She will be ONE with Christ Jesus, by His Anointing.

Christ , Messiah, The Anointed ONE
The Hope of every generation
Sent from the Father, perfect image of God
To reveal Himself to the world
Slain from the foundation of the world
Purchased forgiveness of sin
For all who will believe, For all who will receive
Jesus, Savior, Lord of all

*Scriptures are italicized and from The New International Version.

Your Kingdom Come Your Will Be Done On Earth As In Heaven

I have been blogging chapters from Called By Christ To Be ONE.
This blog deviates from that with something I have just received from God.

Your Kingdom Come Your Will Be Done On Earth As In Heaven.
This is what Christ Jesus taught His disciples to pray.
This prayer was not for the by and by but for the here and now.
Why do I say that?
Because Jesus said that the Kingdom of God had come upon them
When He performed His miracles;
It was a demonstration of the finger of God.
The miracles were the evidence
That God's Kingdom had come to earth as in Heaven
Where everything is supernatural.

Christ Jesus conferred His Kingdom,
This Kingdom of the supernatural on His disciples.
The Kingdom belonged to them; it was theirs.
He said it was inside them, Christ in them.
After Christ Jesus left this earth,
The fact that His Kingdom had come to earth as in Heaven
Continued to be manifested, as demonstrated in the Book of Acts.
It continues to this day as recorded by history.
Every revival in history demonstrated the reality of God's Glory
And the presence of His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven.
Glory is the atmosphere of Heaven;
The atmosphere created by the manifest Presence of God
Who is a Spirit;

Scripture teaches that when you speak against
What can only be produced by the Spirit of God it is unforgivable,
Because you are speaking against God Himself.
You are speaking against what can only be produced by God.
The Pharisees did this
When they claimed that Christ Jesus performed His miracles
By the power of Beelzebub.

The Acts of Christ Jesus could only be produced by God Himself.
The Gospels are the Acts of Christ Jesus.
Acts that can only be produced by God.
Unbelief, in the face of that produce by Christ Jesus,
God in flesh, is unforgivable.
There is no hope for it. It is condemned and already dead.

Belief and faith are LIFE and LIFE itself
Belief and faith are supernatural.
In Heaven there is no hope and there is no faith, they are realized.
There is no need to hope for or have faith in what one has.
Everyone in Heaven is ONE with God Himself.
Everyone in Heaven has the character and being of Christ Jesus.

In Heaven the atmosphere is Glory, created by the Presence of God.
It is pure and Holy as God is pure and Holy.
Like air is the atmosphere of earth, Glory is the atmosphere of Heaven.
It is completely supernatural
In Heaven there is nothing natural.

Every person who believes in their heart
That God raised Christ Jesus from the dead
And makes a confession of that faith;
That Christ Jesus is their Lord, is saved.
This is a supernatural event brought about by God himself.
No person can be saved by natural means.
What brings about this belief and this confession? It is an Act of God.
It is a supernatural Act of God.
Each person who has been saved has been saved supernaturally.
There is no other way.
There is no work of man that can accomplish this.
That would be the ultimate blasphemy.

The Good News is that God's Kingdom has come to earth as in Heaven.
It is supernatural, there is nothing natural about it.
God's Kingdom is the realm of His Glory.
It may be proclaimed by a man
But belief and confession can only be produce by God.
It is God touching the heart of a man or woman
And reveling Himself to them.
Out of this revelation they are able to believe
And make their confession of faith.
This revelation is completely supernatural.

What does God say that the New Covenant is?
He tells us, that unlike the Old Covenant that remained in the natural,
In the New Covenant He places His law in our minds
And writes them on our hearts;
This is a completely supernatural event done by God.
So, getting saved begins with a supernatural revelation from God.
A revelation of His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven.
In Heaven all is revealed.
Nothing is hidden, everything is transparent;
Everything is Glorious, everything is supernatural.

Christ Jesus says we are to pray,
To ask God to bring His Kingdom to earth as in Heaven;
That His will would be done on earth as in Heaven.
That everything we do on earth as as followers of Christ
Would be as it is done in Heaven;
That everything that happens in and through His people becomes supernatural.

When Christ Jesus sent His disciples out,
He sent them out to preach this message:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
He sent them out with His Glory, the Glory of His Kingdom.
He told them to heal the sick, raise the dead;
That what they were freely given (God's Kingdom Glory)
They were to freely give.
This was before The Day of Pentecost;
It was an example of what was to happen, typically, after Pentecost;
It was an example of what did happen, typically, after Pentecost.

How does anyone know that God is present or even exists?
When the Glory of His Kingdom is revealed!
God intended that this revelation of Himself and His Kingdom
Would be demonstrated through His people.
It was not to be simply words, but a demonstration of the power of God;
The power resident in His Kingdom;
God intended that the people of God reveal the tangible Presence of God
Through the Glory of His Kingdom, manifested.
Then everyone knows that the Kingdom of God has come to earth
As in Heaven;
Then His will is done on earth as in Heaven.
Then the work of the devil is destroyed,
Which is what Christ Jesus came to do.
That is what Christ Jesus instructed His disciples to do.

Christ Jesus said that the only people who go to Heaven when they die
Are those who have done the will of God.
The simple prayer that Christ Jesus taught His disciples
Is the express will of God;
That His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as in Heaven;
That this be accomplished in and through His people;
That the lost might know that Christ Jesus reigns over all the earth.

The devil has no access to the Kingdom of God in Heaven.
When the Kingdom of God Comes to earth as in Heaven, he is excluded;
He must stand down, stand back, and depart.
When the Kingdom of God comes to earth as in Heaven
The strongman is bound
And rendered impotent.
He rules the world, for the time being,
But when God's Kingdom comes to earth as in Heaven
He is rendered powerless.
Jesus said that the miracles that He did
Demonstrated that He had bound the strongman, the devil,
The perpetrator of all that is evil.
Christ Jesus took from the devil what he had previously stolen.
Christ Jesus restored sight, hearing, wellness, physical wholeness
And even life itself.
When the Kingdom of God comes to earth as in Heaven,
It brings the wholeness of Heaven.
In the atmosphere of Heaven people are made whole again,
According to God's original intention.

Do you want to be made whole?
Get into the atmosphere of God's Glory, the atmosphere of Heaven.

Jesus came to destroy the devil's work.
The devil has perverted everything God intended for good.
Christ Jesus came to destroy this perversion,
By bringing His Kingdom to earth as in Heaven.
Christ Jesus said that as the Father had sent Him, He now sends us.
Christ Jesus has sent His people with the same equipment that He possessed;
As sheep among wolves, but with the attributes of His Kingdom;
The power and the Glory of God, the atmosphere of Heaven,
To destroy all the work of the devil.

The main tool the devil uses is his ability to deceive;
And this, supernatural, evil genius is a master at that among humans.
He has had 6,000 years of practice.
Nevertheless, Christ in His people is incomparably stronger than the devil.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We can do exceedingly and abundantly above what we can think or ask
By the power of Christ in us.
We can declare the good news, that the Kingdom of God is here,
And we can demonstrate that fact just as Christ Jesus did.
This is the express will of God and the command of Christ Jesus.
We are to go into all the world and make disciples of all men,
Through the demonstration of the Kingdom of God,
So, as the apostle Paul said, that their faith not rest on the words of man
But on the power of God.

Without A Vision The People Perish
Without a vision, without a revelation, no one can be saved.
This is a vision of God and His Christ, imparted by God and His Christ;
A vision of the Kingdom of God and His Glory;
A revelation of the forgiveness, mercy, grace and love
Extended by Christ Jesus.
Before any of us come to Christ Jesus
We have been wooed by the Father for a period of time.
This wooing develops a vision within us, a revelation within us.
This wooing is different as each of us is different.
The Father's wooing is tailor made for each one of us.

Once saved, no one can maintain that saved condition
With out continuous revelation, without Christ living in us.
The apostle Paul said we are saved and being saved.
Christ becomes our teacher as He said He would.
When we are saved, the Father puts His law in our minds
And writes them upon our hearts.
This supernatural reality is to give us continuous vision, continuous revelation.
This continuous revelation is why we were given the gifts of the Spirit.
Through these gifts God continuously renews our vision;
He makes things new every morning.

The Work Of The Devil Is To Eliminate Vision
Before a person is saved the devil does everything in his power
To keep them from seeing the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE.
At the same time, God is wooing every person,
Revealing His Christ and His Kingdom.
Often this leads to a crisis moment where the person must make a decision.

With Adam and Eve, the devil told them that there was something good
Outside of what God had told them, the knowledge of good and evil;
That with this knowledge they would be like God.
This was a lie, as they quickly found out.
They were innocent, pure, holy, undefiled and living in Paradise,
But they were able to be deceived.
Had they known what would happen they would have never believed the devil.
Nevertheless, God had made it plain
That they were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
They had the choice to trust God or believe the serpent.
They made their choice, disobeyed God
And suffered the terrible consequences,
As did all of humanity that followed them.

The devil appealed to the pride of Adam and Eve;
He deceived them into thinking that they could be like God.
A totally irrational idea;
In fact the same idea that removed him from Heaven
And doomed him to eternal death.

The Focus Of The Work Of The Devil
Is To Eliminate The Vision Of God's Church
The whole world belongs to to the devil as the apostle John told us.
Deceiving the world presents no real challenge to him.
The Church is the only entity that stands in his way of total domination
And control.
Once we are saved the devil will do everything in his power
To eliminate the vision that God has given us and continues to give us.
God had given Adam and Eve everything in Paradise.
God has given us everything in Christ Jesus.

God is Love. He is only one who is good; He is everything that is good.
Outside of God there is nothing good!
Everything outside of God dies eternally.
As long as we maintain our God given vision,
That there is nothing good outside of Christ Jesus,
And that we have been given everything that is good in Him,
The devil will be powerless to deceive us.

God has made it possible for us to live in His Kingdom
On earth as in Heaven.
We can live in the Secret Place of the Most High God.
It is true that we are still in a natural body,
But in every other respect we can live in His Kingdom,
The supernatural realm of God.
In this condition, the devil cannot touch us as the apostle John said.
As soon as we step out of this condition we are easy prey.

The Devil's Ancient Tools
1.The lust of the flesh: Allowing sex be a driving force in our lives; sex outside of marriage, adultery, pornography, etc.
2.The lust of the eyes: Always wanting what we do not have. Envying what others have.
3.The pride of life: Allowing what we have and what we can accomplish dominate our lives.

These are the devil's ancient tools to lead men and Christians astray;
The ancient tools he uses to destroy God's imparted vision.
His means of deceiving the Church of God are seen in Scripture.

The Deceived Church
1.Having a form of faith in Christ but denying its power: Saying that the gifts of the Spirit and the miracles of Christ are not for today. Such a Church renders itself blind. This is a Church without vision and naked. This is the Church that Christ Jesus encountered in His day. They diligently studied the Scriptures but could not recognize their Messiah. Their worship is only rules made up by men.

2.Claiming to belong to Christ but living like the devil: This is the problem that so many of the New testament letters address. These are people deceived and destined for hell unless they turn around and live for God.

3.Having forsaken their first love: Christ Jesus makes it very clear that maintaining our first love is critical.

4.Thinking that they are alive but are actually dead: By outward appearance this Church seems to be alive, but God does not look as man looks, He looks at the heart. If the heart is not right, it is not right with Him.

5.The lukewarm Church, rich and in need of nothing: This Church lacks first love, passion, and zeal for Christ. They have a fine church building, plenty of money, and everything that appeals to men but Christ Jesus spits such a Church out of His mouth.

All the Churches above have lost their vision through the deception of the devil.
The devil is very proficient at deceiving the Church of God.
This can be seen throughout the Old Testament,
It can be seen in the New Testament Letters,
It can be seen in the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches
In the Book of Revelation;
It can be seen from all of history.

In fact, from the view of Scripture,
There is far more deception in God's Church than there is faithfulness to Him.
Nevertheless, Christ Jesus said
That the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.
Therefore we know that this will be the case.
However, we also know that it was always a Remnant out of the larger body
That maintained their faithfulness to God.
We can fully expect this pattern to continue in our day,
The Time Of The END.
There will be a Remnant who will maintain their God given “vision”
And not allow it to be dulled or destroyed by the deception of the devil.

Living In His Presence Is The Ultimate Vision;
In His Presence Time Is Suspended
In His Presence God reveals to us what He wants us to know;
What we need to know.
In His Presence time has no meaning, it does not exist
Because His Kingdom has come to earth as in Heaven;
Time does not exist in Heaven.
In His Presence you are made whole as you will be in Heaven
Unencumbered by the cares of this world.
In His Presence the cares of this world vanish;
You are lost in His love, mercy, and grace.
You have entered the Glory realm of God; you never want to leave.
It is as if you have died and gone to Heaven.
It is as if you have been born again, again.

When Christ Jesus returns, and meet Him in the air, we shall be like Him,
Because we shall see Him as He is.
In the Glory realm of God you see Him as He is.
It is a foretaste of the permanent, supernatural reality that's coming.
You then become like Him, whole, complete as He is.
His Presence is intoxicating, as it was for the 120 on The Day of Pentecost;
It is full of fire, the all consuming fire of God,
Which eliminates everything unholy.
There is joy unspeakable and full of His Glory.
Christ causes some to laugh their way to wholeness.
This laughter can last for hours
As the God of Heaven gives you His supernatural joy, which is your strength;
This laughter is the medicine of Heaven, from God's own pharmacy.

Only children can enter this realm.
It is reserved for the children.
The Glory realm of God cannot be intellectualized;
His ways are not the ways of man;
As high as the heavens are above the earth
So are the ways of God above the ways of man.
The Glory realm of God is reserved for children
Who are compelled by a child like love,
To climb up into their daddies lap, and love on Him as He loves on them.
You enter this realm as a child or you cannot enter.

In the Glory realm of God you may be in a large crowd
But it is as if you and Christ are completely alone.
There is no intimacy on earth like this intimacy with Christ Jesus.
Every earthly experience pales by comparison.
It is a foretaste of Heaven.
This is what the Church of God needs to introduce
To those who do not believe.
This is what brings people to Christ Jesus like no other.
God Himself is the evangelist, we are simply His instruments.

That is why David could say:
“One thing I ask, this is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His Temple.”

God had taken David into His Glory realm.
David knew what it was to live in the Secret Place of the Most High God.
To be covered with the feathers of God.

In the Glory realm of God the devil is driven out.
This can get exciting as devils are compelled to leave their hosts;
Not necessarily by prayer or any human intervention but by the Glory of God.
On the other hand there is an anointing the comes upon all present;
Some to minister and some to receive ministry.
Sometimes words are spoken, prophecy given,
And sometimes no words at all.
Simply extending a hand toward someone can cause them
To be slain in the Spirit.
Blowing on them can cause them to be slain in the Spirit.
The anointing of Christ Jesus is imparted to the ministers
And His Glory manifested.
The Kingdom of God has come to earth as in Heaven.

David said that one day in the Lords' Presence
Was worth a thousand other days.
One meeting in the presence of the Lord is worth a thousand other meetings.
One word spoken by God is worth more than a thousand words from man.
God can give you, in a word or two, more profound meaning than a library.

Once you experience the Glory realm of God you are spoiled forever,
And that is exactly what God wants to accomplish in you.
Then you are willing to be crucified with Christ to this world
And its miserable ways.
Then you will see this world as it is, a prideful pretense.

There was a sign along the interstate highway in Idaho where I was raised.
It said:

Are you lost? Don't worry about it, you're making good time.

That well describes the condition of the world.
The trouble is, the destination is hell.

For two thousand years the God of Heaven has been offering His Church
His new wine.
For two thousand years the Church has largely rejected it,
Saying that the old wine is better
Just as Christ Jesus said they would.
Men love a comfortable, repetitive, unsurprising religion
That promises Heaven,
And demands little or nothing from them personally.
Whose worship is made up of the rules of men;
Men whose hearts are far from Him.

Nevertheless, there has always been a little band of children, a Remnant;
The original group included fishermen and a tax collector
Who were willing to take Christ Jesus at His Word.
Willing to drink the new wine.
Willing to be crucified to this world with Christ,
To gain the Glory realm of God;
Willing to come to “know” the God of Heaven and His Christ.
Willing to pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
On earth as in Heaven and mean it;
Willing to receive it when it came.

Think about it;
Virtually the whole religious hierarchy of Israel rejected Christ Jesus,
But a little band of children received Him.

Among those who will receive Him in our day is
The “Woman” of Revelation 12;
The Bride of Christ in this generation.
Who will mister in the fullness of Christ Jesus
For three and one-half years prior to The Great Tribulation;
Inviting all men to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
Just as John the Baptist did;
Just as Christ Jesus did.
Just as the first apostles and disciples did.
Just as God did with every revival he sent up to this day.

Christ Jesus is sending His final revival through the ministry of His Bride.
She will invite all men to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
All His children will receive their invitation; they will all be there.

Seek First The Kingdom Of God
Jesus tells His children to seek first, above all else, the Kingdom of God.
Where in His Presence, the things of this world grow dim.
His Kingdom, where Christ Jesus is lifted up to His rightful place;
Where He is seen as He is;
Lord of all, exalted King of the universe, Author of all creation,
Author of Salvation,
Seated on the Throne of Heaven in all its incomparable Glory;
Friend and Lover.
From that position and revelation He draws all men to Himself.
All those destined to Heaven.

Seek first the Kingdom of God,
Where we become like Him because we see Him as He is.
Where there is righteous, peace and joy; where Love reigns.
Where His people are made whole in Him, complete in Him.
The Kingdom of God, where there is all provision for His people,
Lacking nothing.
The Kingdom of God, where His Almighty power is given to His people,
To accomplish His plan and His purposes.

The Kingdom of God where the River of God flows continually;
Where the Living Water is served continually.
Where the people of God drink continually; are immersed continually,
In the atmosphere of His Glory.

THE RIVER OF LIFE

The River of Life is God’s provision and vehicle
That enables us to be ONE with Him.
It is God’s continual and inexhaustible provision,
For those who live in His Kingdom.

Psalm 46:4-5
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

 Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
As clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God, and of the Lamb
Down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
Bearing twelve crops of fruit, and yielding its fruit every month
And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city,
And his servants will serve him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,
For the Lord God will give them light.
And they will reign for ever and ever.

Ezekiel 47:1-12
(A man whose appearance was like bronze,
Showed Ezekiel the New Temple: Ezekiel 40:3)

The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple
And I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple
Toward the east (for the temple faced east).
The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple,
South of the altar.
He then brought me out through the north gate
And led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east,
And the water was flowing from the south side.
As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand,
He measured off a thousand cubits (1500 ft.)
And then led me through water that was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand cubits
And led me through water that was knee-deep.
He measured off another thousand
And led me through water that was up to the waist.


He measured off another thousand,
But now it was a river that I could not cross,
(6,000 ft., more than a mile)


[The River of God is a drink away, if you are thirsty.
You can get in up to your ankles,
Or up to your knees,
Or up to your waist,
Or you can swim in it.
This is the choice of every person.
Each one of us can have as much of the Holy Spirit as we desire.
The River has an unlimited source,
The Self-Existent, Almighty God, God the Holy Spirit.]


Because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--
A river that no one could cross.
He asked me, ‘Son of man, do you see this?’
Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees
On each side of the river
He said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region
And goes down into the Arabah, (Jordan Valley)
Where it enters the Sea (the Dead Sea).
When it empties into the Sea the water there becomes fresh.
Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.
There will be large numbers of fish,
Because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh;
So where the river flows everything will live.


Fishermen will stand along the shore;
From En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets.
The fish will be of many kinds--like the fish of the Great Sea (Mediterranean)
But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh;
They will be left for salt.
Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.
Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.
Every month they will bear,
Because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.
Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:6-12)

Psalm 36:9
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
Your justice like the great deep.
O Lord, you preserve both man and beast
How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings;
They feast on the abundance of your house;
You give them drink from your river of delights
For with you is the fountain of life;
In your light we see light.


Proverbs 14:27
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
Turning a man from the snares of death.

Isaiah 41:17-18
The poor and needy search for water, but there is none;
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
And springs within the valleys
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
And parched ground into springs.

Jeremiah 17:13
O Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
Because they have forsaken the Lord
The spring of living water.

Joel 3:18
In that day the mountains will drip new wine
And the hills will flow with milk;
All the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
And will water the valley of acacias.

Zechariah 14:6-8
On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.
It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--
A day known to the Lord.
When evening comes, there will be light.

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem,
Half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea,
In summer and in winter.
The Lord will be king over the whole earth.
On that day there will be one Lord,
And his name the only name.”

Revelation 7:13-17
Then one of the elders asked me,
‘These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?’
I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’
And he said, ‘these are they who came out of the great tribulation;
They have washed their robes
And made them white in the blood of the Lamb.


Therefore, they are before the throne of God
And serve him day and night in his temple;
And he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them
Never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.

For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
He will lead them to springs of Living Water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

Christ Jesus honors those who are willing to die for him
During the Great Tribulation,
By leading them to springs of Living Water;
Baptizing them in the Holy Spirit;
Immersing them in the Spirit of God who is LIFE.

Revelation 21:22
I did not see a temple in the city
Because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or the moon
For the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light,
And the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
For there will be no night there.
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
Nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
But only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The River of LIFE flows through the City of God,
Continually bringing LIFE to the city;
Nourishing the Tree of LIFE.
Everyone who eats from this tree LIVES.

ISAIAH INTRODUCES THE LIVING WATER
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
And you, who have no money,
Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost
Why spend money on what is not bread,
And your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen to me, and eat what is good,
And your soul will delight in the richest fare.
Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. (Isaiah 55:1)

JESUS TALKS WITH A SAMARITAN WOMAN (John 4:4-14)
Now he had to go through Samaria.
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar,
Near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey,
Sat down by the well. 

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,
'Will you give me a drink?'
(His disciples had gone into the town to by food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him,
'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.
How can you ask me for a drink?'
(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God
And who it is that asks you for a drink,
You would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'

'Sir', the woman said,
'You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.
Where can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well
And drank from it himself,
As did also his sons and his flocks and herds?'


Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water
Welling up to eternal life.’


When we are baptized and immersed in the Holy Spirit,
It is to become a continuous flow of LIFE;
The LIFE of God flowing through us daily,
Welling up, ultimately, to eternal LIFE.
This water comes from the throne of God, the River of LIFE.

John 7:37-39
On the last and greatest day of the Feast,
Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,
‘If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
Streams of living water will flow from within him.’
By this he meant the Spirit,
Whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given,
Since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The streams that Christ Jesus speaks of are from the River of LIFE,
The only source of LIFE.

A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth
For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
And the there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem,
Coming down out of heaven as a bride
Beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.
They will be his people,
And God himself will be with them, and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
For the old order of things has passed away.


He who was seated on the throne said,
‘I am making everything new!’
Then he said, ‘write this down,
For these words are trustworthy and true,’
He said to me: ‘It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost
From the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this,
And I will be his God and he will be my son.’ (Revelation 21:1-7)

Revelation 22:16-17
I, Jesus, have sent my angel
To give you this testimony for the churches
I am the Root and the Offspring of David,
And the bright and morning star.
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’
And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come;
And whoever wishes,
Let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Revelation 22:7
Behold, I am coming soon!
Blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy in this book.

Revelation 22:14
Blessed are those who wash their robes,
That they may have the right to the tree of life
And may go through the gates into the city.


1 Corinthians 6:11
But you were washed, you were sanctified (set apart),
You were justified (given right standing) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
And by the Spirit of our God.

We keep the words of the prophecy of Christ Jesus
By being washed in the blood of Christ;
Receiving His Holy Spirit, the Water of LIFE;
Living in the River of LIFE; the Kingdom of God,
And allowing the Water of Life to well up within us and flow out to others.

Isaiah 66:10-13
Rejoice with Jerusalem (the Bride of Christ) and be glad for her
All you who love her, rejoice greatly with her,
All you who mourn over her
For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts;
You will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance
For this is what the Lord says:
‘I will extend peace to her like a river
And the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
You will nurse and be carried on her arm
And dandled on her knees
As a mother comforts her child
So will I comfort you;
And you will be comforted over Jerusalem.’

The Bride of Christ continually drinks from the River of LIFE,
Therefore all who love Her and all who mourn over Her
Will also drink deeply from Her overflowing abundance.
She will become a mother to the nations, by the power of God,
As the Bride of Christ Jesus.

The River of God flows continually, night and day
In the here and now;
From eternity past to eternity present;
Until and after there is no more night and day.

Matthew 11:12
From the days of John the Baptist until now
The Kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing,
And forceful men lay hold of it.
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
He is the Elijah who was to come.
He who has ears, let him hear.

The Kingdom of God, the River of Life
Is not accessed by the passive.
Forceful men and women take hold of it;
Those who take hold of the reason
That Jesus Christ took hold of them;
Those who take on themselves the yoke of Christ
Which is easy and whose burden is light;
Those who are consumed by their zeal for God.

It is the intent of God that we come to the River;
That we drink from the River;
That we live in the River;
We allow the River to flow out of us.

How do we get there?
We are born again, baptized (immersed) in the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Our hearts are circumcised by the Holy Spirit,
A circumcision done by Christ.
We are crucified with Christ and no longer live,
But allow Christ to live through us.
We refuse to slide back into a religious form of Christianity
That is the natural inclination of men,
And denies the manifest power of God,
Either from lack of faith or inaction.

We refuse to become lukewarm,
Forcing Christ to spit us out of his mouth.
We maintain our first love and our faithfulness to Christ Jesus.
In humility we allow Christ to live in and through us.
We make the focus of our lives the words of David:

'One thing I ask of the Lord,
This is what I seek
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And to seek him in his temple.' (Psalm 27:4)

We believe the words of Christ
Seeking first the Kingdom of God,
Receiving everything that we have need of.
Then we experience continuous personal revival
As Jesus did.
Then we experience continuous corporate revival
As Jesus did.
We eat continuously from the Tree of Life
As Jesus did.
We see the Book of Acts manifested in our lives, daily
As the Apostles and Disciples did.

We let go of this world and take hold of Christ.
We are swept away in the glory of the River of Life
That emanates from our magnificent God.

Christ Jesus chose us to bear fruit for His Kingdom,
As we drink continually from the River of Life.
We bear fruit for His Kingdom,
And Christ’s plan and purpose for our lives is fulfilled.
Then we experience the love, peace and joy He promised.
Our hope of glory is realized.
We are ONE with the Lord.

There is a river whose streams make glad the City of our God

Flow, flow, river flow

River of delight, I delight myself in you

I delight myself in you river, I delight myself in you

Flow, flow, river flow

Where ever the river flows there is life

Where ever the river flows

Flow, flow, river flow


*Scriptures are italicised and from the New International version.

ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus said:


'Now this is eternal life: that they may know you,

The only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' (John 17:3)

In Jeremiah 31, God says through Jeremiah, concerning the New Covenant
The following:
The time is coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
And with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers
When I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
Because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them,’
Declares the Lord.

‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’
Declares the Lord.
'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother,
Saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
Because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’
Declares the Lord.
‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Here God says that in the New Covenant
He will put His law in the minds and write it on the hearts of His people.
When He does this,
It will not be necessary for another person to teach them to “know” Him,
Because they will all “know” Him from the least to the greatest.

The Apostle John picks up this theme in the New Testament:
'But you have an anointing from the Holy One,
And all of you know the truth.
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth,
But because you do know it
And because no lie comes from the truth.' (1 John 2:20)

Continuing John says:
'As for you
The anointing you received from him remains in you,
And you do not need anyone to teach you.
But as his anointing teaches you about all things
And as that anointing is real, not counterfeit;
Just as it has taught you remain in him.' (1 John 2:27)


Here the apostle John connects “knowing” God
To the Anointing from The Anointed One.
The Anointing being that which enables a person to “know” God.
This reality brings together the Old and New Testaments
Regarding the nature of the New Covenant,
And the Anointing, the baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit
Imparted by “The Messiah, The Christ, The Anointed One.”

As Christ Jesus said, “knowing” God is eternal LIFE.
It is Christ in us, the Anointing of The Anointed ONE
That enables us to “know” God the Father,
And Christ Jesus and the Father are ONE.

In order for His Anointing to be effective in us,
We must fully surrender our will to the will of Christ in us;
We must be crucified with Christ and no longer live,
But allow Christ to live in us,
Then we “know” Him and we are ONE with Him.


“Knowing” Christ and becoming ONE with Him are the synonymous.
We cannot “know” Him and not be in full agreement with Him.
This would be an irreconcilable contradiction.
When we are in full agreement with Him
We are ONE with Him.

Everything regarding Faith is initiated by God,
But requires our submission to His will.
God speaks to us in His still small voice.
We hear and respond to that voice.
With the faith that God gives us, we make a confession of that faith.
When we make a confession of faith;
When we make the declaration that Jesus is our Lord,
And believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead,
We are saved out of this world.
We are washed in the blood of Christ,
And receive His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit in us, Christ in us,
The Anointing of The Anointed ONE in us,
Becomes our teacher.
We must then allow our hearts are circumcised by the Holy Spirit,
A circumcision done by Christ,
So that we have His heart;
So that we no longer live but Christ lives in us.
Only when we surrender our will to His perfect will,
Does His Kingdom come, and His will be done,
In us as in heaven.


When we allow Christ to accomplish this in us,
We live in His Kingdom, the Secrete Place of the Most High;
And His Kingdom lives in us.
Then we “know” Him or rather are “known” by Him. (Galatians 4:9)
Then we are ONE with Him,
And have eternal LIFE in the here and now.

LIVING IN ETERNAL LIFE IN THE HERE AND NOW
God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has life;
He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11)


I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God
So that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

Jesus said:
'For my father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son
And believes in him shall have eternal life,
And I will raise him up at the last day.' (John 6:40)

Jesus said about His followers:
'My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
No one can snatch them out of my hand.' (John 10:27-28)

Christ is now our LIFE,
And this LIFE is eternal as He is eternal.
We have died to this world and its ways
We have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live,
But it is Christ who lives in and through us,
And we live in Him.
His righteousness, peace and joy reign in us.

God is LOVE and LOVE is our LIFE,
And His LIFE is our LOVE.
We live His WAY, by His TRUTH as He lives in and through us.
His WAY and His TRUTH are above all LOVE.


God is LIFE itself since He is the Self-Existent ONE.
Without God (which is a contradiction in itself) there would be nothing!
As He is entirely LIFE, He is entirely LOVE.
As He is entirely LIFE and LOVE, He is entirely the WAY and the TRUTH.
LIFE, LOVE, LIGHT, the WAY and the TRUTH, embody God’s eternal Kingdom.


In His Kingdom there is ALL provision and everything that is good.
Righteousness, love, peace and joy reign in God’s Kingdom.
God is all powerful, all seeing, all knowing, present everywhere.
He knows everything about us.
He knows every thought and experience we have ever had.
He knows how long we will live.
He created us and made us just the way we are.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.


God made us in His image, with a soul (mind, will and emotions);
With a heart to rule over these.
But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell from His grace,
Their hearts were corrupted by the knowledge of evil.
Since we are in the lineage of Adam and Eve we too have corrupted hearts.
The only thing that can change our hearts is the Holy Spirit of God.
The only way He can change our hearts is for us to submit our will to His will.


Eternity, LIFE in the Holy Spirit, LIFE in the Kingdom of God
Requires that we have the pure heart of God,
And become ONE with Him.
Eternal LIFE is being ONE with God, forever.

That which was from the beginning,
Which we have seen with our eyes,
Which we have looked at and our hands have touched--
This we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
The life appeared;
We have seen it and testify to it,
And we proclaim to you the eternal life (Christ),
Which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,
So that you also may have fellowship with us.
And our fellowship is with the Father
And with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:1-4)

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.
If it does, you also will remain in the son and in the Father.
And this is what he promised us--even eternal life. (1 John 2:24-25)

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has life;
He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11)

We know also that the Son of God has come
And has given us understanding,
So that we may know him who is true.
And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
That whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)


Christ in us is eternal LIFE in the here and now and the by and by.

*Scriptures quoted are italicized and from the New International Version.

FAITH

(Belief and trust in and loyalty to God)


Faith is the beginning of our relationship with God.
When we hear His still small voice calling us to Himself.
When we understand that He exists and loves us,
And has a plan and purpose for our lives;
When we understand that we are lost and without hope, without Him;
When we understand that Christ Jesus suffered and died for us;
To give us His LIFE;
That He alone is LIFE,
And we make the decision to put our belief and trust in Him.


The righteous will live by faith. (Galatians 3:11)


Enoch was an early person in the Scriptures that demonstrated faith in God.
In fact he got so close to God that God took him away.


Enoch walked with God then he was no more, because God took him away.
(Genesis 5:24)


God taking Enoch away is precursor to God delivering Noah
Out of his evil generation in the Ark (Genesis 7) because of his faith;
God delivering Israel out of Egypt (Exodus) because of the faith of Moses;
And God taking the woman away to safety in the Book of Revelation
(Revelation 12)
Because she is the Bride of Christ.
These people all had faith and their faith produced an outcome:
God acted on their behalf.
God always acts on our behalf, on the basis of our faith.


Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
And certain of what we do not see.
This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,
So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
(Hebrews 11:1-3)


The writer of the Book of Hebrews continues on to recount the faith
Of many of those in the Old Testament.


Consider Abraham: He believed God,
And it was credited to him as righteousness.
Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
(Galatians 3:6-7)


The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith
And announced the gospel (good news) in advance to Abraham.
(Galatians 3:8)


God promised Abraham that:
'All the nations will be blessed through you.' (Galatians 3:8)


The apostle Paul goes on to explain that the “Law,” the Ten Commandments,
Could not save anyone because no one is capable of keeping the “Law.”


He even says that because no one can keep the whole “Law,”
Those who try are under a curse, because it is impossible;
They are rejecting faith and trying to please God in their own strength.


Paul then says: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’
Because the law is not based on faith, it cannot save anyone,
For this reason, God sent His only Son.


'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
By becoming a curse for us,
For it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham
Might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
So that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.'
(Galatians 3:13-14)


Here we see that we are redeemed from the curse of the law
By receiving by faith the atoning work of Christ Jesus
And His shed blood;
By receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit.
The promise given to Abraham,
That all the nations would be blessed through him,
Was that the Holy Spirit would come to indwell the people of God by faith.
It is Christ in us, our hope of glory.


The whole purpose of faith
Is that we can be redeemed;
So that we can receive God’s supernatural provision,
His Holy Spirit.


The law was given by God to demonstrate to everyone
That they could not keep it
And therefore demonstrate their need for a redeemer;
A redeemer who could give them right standing before a Holy God.


The writer of the Hebrews says:
…'By one sacrifice he (Christ Jesus) has made perfect forever
Those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this.
First he says:
‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
And I will write them on their minds.’


Then he adds;
‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.'


And where these have been forgiven,
There is no longer any sacrifice for sin.' (Hebrews 14-18)


We can see that The New Covenant is
When the Holy Spirit comes to live within us,
And He supernaturally puts His laws in our hearts
And writes them on our minds.
Christ Jesus becomes our teacher.
He takes “knowing God” out of the hands of man
And puts it in His own hands.
Jesus said you have one teacher, the Christ.


When we by faith receive Christ Jesus and His indwelling Holy Spirit,
Allowing Him to put His laws in our heart
And write them upon our mind;
Our sins are forgiven and His sacrifice is effective for us.


Our part in this marvelous provision is simply to have faith,
Which activates God’s supernatural response,
The impartation of His Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sin.


The blood of Jesus cleanses all of my sin
The blood of Jesus makes me clean deep within
He can make the blackest life white as snow
He can turn your darkness into light, I know
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God
Hallelujah to the ONE who gave all
He gave His life for me
Upon a tree
So that I could be set free

HOLINESS

(Transcendent perfection; like God; set apart to God)

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy;
Without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12: 14)

God tells Moses to tell the people of Israel:
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,
And how I carried you on eagles’ wings
And brought you to myself.
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
Then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine,
You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
(Exodus 19:4-6)

Here God states His intent for the nation Israel
In the Old Testament.
Peter speaking of today, says:
As you come to him (Christ), the living Stone--
Rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
You also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house
To be a holy priesthood,
Offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
Through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)


In Exodus God instructs Moses as follows
Regarding his brother Aaron the high priest:
Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal:
HOLY TO THE LORD.
Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban;
It will be on Aaron’s forehead,
And he will bear the guilt involved
In the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate,
Whatever their gifts may be.
It will be on Aaron’s forehead continually
So that they will be acceptable to the Lord.’ (Exodus 28:36-38)

The plate of pure gold engraved with HOLY TO THE LORD
Is on Aaron’s forehead.
Covering his mind, observable to all who see him.
Signifying that holiness is of primary importance to the Lord,
And necessary for Aaron to gain access into the Holy of Holies.

I am the Lord your God;
Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
(Leviticus 11:44)


Consecrate yourselves and be holy,
Because I am the Lord your God.
Keep my decrees and follow them.
I am the Lord, who makes you holy. (Leviticus 20:7-8)


Our responsibility is to believe and obey.
Nevertheless, this does not make us holy.
God alone makes us holy, through Christ in us.
However, we are not holy if we do not believe and obey.

Therefore this is what the Lord,
Who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob;
'No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
No longer will their faces grow pale.
When they see among them their children,
The work of my hands,
They will keep my name holy;
They will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel
Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
Those who complain will accept instruction.' (Isaiah 29:22-24)

In what follows Isaiah is looking forward to the New Covenant:
And a highway will be there;
It will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
It will be for those who walk in that Way;
Wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there, nor any ferocious beast get up on it;
They will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
Everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:8-10)

ZECHARIAH’S SONG
His (John the Baptist) father Zechariah
Was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
Because he has come and has redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of his servant David
(As he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
Salvation from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us--
To show mercy to our fathers
And to remember his holy covenant,
The oath he swore to our father Abraham.
To rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
And to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness
And righteousness before him all our days.’ (Luke 1:67-75)

Here Zechariah is speaking about the New Covenant,
The promise to Abraham, that Christ Jesus will bring into effect.

In the Book of Romans the apostle Paul says:
'But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin,
You wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching
To which you were entrusted.
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves
To righteousness.
I put this in human terms because you are week
In your natural selves.
Just as you used to offer the parts of your body
In slavery to impurity and ever increasing wickedness,
So now offer them in slavery to righteousness
Leading to holiness when you were slaves to sin,
You were free from the control of righteousness,
What benefit did you reap at that time
From the things you are now ashamed of?
Those things result in death!
But now that you have been set free from sin
And have become slaves to God,
The benefit you reap leads to holiness,
And the result is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
(Romans 17-23)


In the first letter to the Corinthians Paul says:
'To the church of God in Corinth,
To those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy,
Together with all those everywhere
Who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--
Their Lord and ours.' (1 Corinthians 1:2)


Again in the first letter to the Corinthians Paul declares:
'It is because of him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus,
Who has become for us wisdom from God--
That is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Therefore, as it is written:
Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.' (1 Corinthians 1: 30-31)


In the second letter to the Corinthians Paul says:
'Now this is our boast:
Our conscience testifies
That we have conducted ourselves in the world,
And especially in our relations with you,
In holiness and sincerity that are from God.
We have done so not according to worldly wisdom
But according to God’s grace.' (2 Corinthians 1:12)

Paul says later:
'Since we have these promises, dear friends,
Let us purify ourselves from everything
That contaminates body and spirit,
Perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.' (2 Corinthians 7:1)

In the letter to the Ephesians Paul says:
'For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy
And blameless in his sight.' (Ephesians 1:4)

Again, in the letter to the Ephesians Paul says:
'In him (Christ) the whole building is joined together
And rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling
In which God lives by his Spirit.' (Ephesians 2:21-22)

Further, in the letter to the Ephesians Paul says:
'Surely you heard of him (Christ) and were taught in him
In accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
To put off your old self,
Which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
To be made new in the attitude of your minds;
Created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.’
(Ephesians 4:21-24)

Again, in the letter to the Ephesians Paul says:
‘But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality,
Or any kind of impurity, or greed,
Because these are improper for God’s holy people.'
(Ephesians 5:3)

Further, in the letter to the Ephesians Paul says:
'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church
And gave himself up for her to make her holy,
Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
And to present her to himself as a radiant church,
Without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
But holy and blameless.' (Ephesians 5:25-27)

In the letter to the Colossians Paul says:
'But now he (God) has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body
Through death to present you holy in his sight,
Without blemish and free from accusation--
If you continue in your faith.' (Colossians 1:22-23)

In Paul’s first letter to The Thessalonians he says:
'It is God’s will that you should be holy;
That you should avoid sexual immorality;
That each of you should learn to control his own body
In a way that is holy and honorable,
Not in passionate lust like the heathen,
Who do not know God;
…For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.'
(1 Thessalonians 4:3-7)


In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he says:
'I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intersession
And thanksgiving be made for everyone--
For kings and all those in authority,
That we may live peaceful and quiet lives
In all godliness and holiness.
This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
Who wants all men to be saved
And to come to a knowledge of the truth.'
(1 Timothy 2:1-3)


He goes on to say:
‘But women will be kept safe through childbirth,
If they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.’
(1 Timothy 2:15)

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he says:
'But join with me in suffering for the gospel,
By the power of God,
Who called us to a holy life'-- (2 Timothy 1: 8-9)

In Paul’s letter to Titus he says:
'Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work,
He must be blameless--
Not overbearing, not given to much wine, not violent,
Not pursuing dishonest gain.
Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good,
Who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.'
(Titus 1:8-9)


In the letter to the Hebrews the author says:
'And by that will, we have been made holy
Through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
…Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever
Those who are being made holy.' (Hebrews 10:10-14)


Again, in the letter to the Hebrews the author says:
'Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best;
But God disciplines us for our good
That we may share in his holiness.'
(Hebrews 12:10)


'Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy;
Without holiness no one will see the Lord.' (Hebrews 12:14)

To the degree we allow Christ Jesus to live in and through us,
Will determine the extent of our holiness.
The Holy Spirit in us continually teaches us to live in holiness.
He gives us the power to live what He teaches us;
To become like Christ Jesus in all we do and say.
Nevertheless, it is our choice to follow His teaching or not.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate
To make the people holy
Through his own blood. (Hebrews 13:12)


In Peter’s first letter he says:
'As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires
You had when you lived in ignorance.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy
In all you do; for it is written:
‘Be holy because I am holy.’ (1 Peter 1:14-15)

In Peter’s second letter he says:
'Since everything will be destroyed in this way,
What kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives
As you look forward to the day of God
And speed its coming.' (2 Peter 3:11-12)


In the Book of Revelation John says:
'Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them,
But they will be priests of God and of Christ
And will reign with him for a thousand years.' (Revelation 20:6)


As can be seen from the preceding Scriptures,
Living a holy life is essential for us as the children of God.
Christ Jesus has given every child of God
The power to live a holy life
By his indwelling Holy Spirit.
When we live a holy life; we live in His Kingdom
Allowing Christ Jesus to live in and through us
By doing so we become ONE with Him,
Which is the ultimate objective of God.


Jesus my precious savior
Who loved me before I loved Him
He found me in desperation
And showed me the way to enter in
To the Kingdom, O yes the Kingdom
The Kingdom of God

He said all power is in my Spirit
And My Spirit abides in thee
Lay down those things that now bind you
Take up My yoke and be set free
Be set free, be set free
And become ONE with me.