"ABOVE ALL"; besides all this - 02/11/2010

"Above All": Application; Application; Application; Apply this to your life and see if your life is the same! What God has shown me over the last few days, has really been revealed in my heart this morning. I was saved in September of 1981, and somewhere along the way, I went from living a 'Glorified Life' to living a 'Forgiven Life'. I can't quite put my finger on when it happen, but I do remember one instance which caused me to take pause and to adjust my position. I had only been a Christian for about 5 months, and I was standing outside the church after a meeting; I was excited in this 'New Life in Christ' that I was experiencing every single day; and a brother (I think he was a brother; he could have been the devil), came up to me, placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "You must be a new Christian?"; to which I replied, "Yes, I am. How can you tell?"; and he said, "Don't worry; you will adjust."; this could have been the turning point. I do remember that after he said that to me, I thought to myself, "I don't want to adjust. I like this feeling of walking in a 'Newness in Christ'; but somewhere along the way I did adjust. Some how I settled for 'Normal', and left walking in a 'Glorified Body', to begin to walk in a 'Forgiven Body'. Okay, so I don't loose you completely, let me tell you what I think the difference is between these two lives. The Forgiven life in Christ, though being saved and going to Heaven, is still wrestling with the flesh; although I was living in Christ, I was not living with Christ. The Glorified life in Christ has a new Zip Code already; this New Life In Christ knows that I am already seated in the Heavens with Christ; so the sins of the flesh are 'beneath me'; in other words, I do not need to be wrestling with the flesh anymore, but instead I am wrestling against the principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I see now what Paul is trying to express, in so many ways; but you can not receive it, until you believe it. We are no longer of this world; we already have a new zip code!!! I don't know how much planer it can be, but one thing I do know, I get it now; after over 29 years of walking in the Lord, I can begin to experience what it is like again to walk in a 'Newness'. Paul has been explaining throughout this Book of Ephesians, that we are one in Christ; not only as a body of believers, but as an individual; we are grafted into His body, the moment we believed. It was at the moment I received Christ into my heart in September of 1981, that I no longer was a citizen of this world, but became a citizen of Heaven. I no longer had to care for the things of this world, because they did not matter anymore, and all this stuff would be tested in fire, and found not to stand the test. I had 'New Cares' that were to be the focus of my 'New Life', things that are not of this world, things that are not able to be consumed in fire. In Ephesians 5:19-21, Paul speaks about more that just an attitude; he is speaking about a place to be living; "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." This is what it is like to be walking here on this earth, but living in Heaven with Jesus; we are already seated in Him; so we should be walking accordingly. The life that is forgiven will be able to make it to Heaven, there is no doubt about that; Jesus died on the cross to redeem those that are lost; the only thing needed for receiving that redemption is to believe on Him that was sent. But Jesus rose on the third day, and He ascended up into Heaven, where He sets at the right hand of the Father, and we do not have to wait for anything else of happen to experience being glorified in Him. If you are waiting for this flesh to die before you can experience your position in Christ, you are living the life of a 'Carnal Christian'; that is a Christian who is living in the flesh; waking each day to take on a battle afresh against the flesh, and able to be victorious, most of the time. However, it is not any longer necessary to be fighting that flesh; why?; because that flesh is dead; it has been crucified with Christ. There is a new creature that has been raised in Christ's resurrection, that no longer has to be concerned with the things of the flesh; but now must be concerned with the spiritual things; why?; because that new creature in Christ is now a Spiritual Vessel that lives for the things of the Spirit, and lives for the things of Heaven. This is the 'Great Mystery Of The Gospel'; that we have been changed already; that we have been glorified already; that we are set apart already; that we are holy, sanctified and undefiled already; that right now...I said right now we are grafted into the Body of Christ; and in Him is no unclean thing. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. (And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;)" Ephesians 1:17- 2:1 Having Done All To Stand; Therefore Stand; Being Strong In The Lord, And In The Power Of His Might!