Sifting

We have seen who Jesus is by revelation of the Holy Spirit. He is the very Bread of God come down from Heaven and is as necessary to our inward man as natural food is to our outward man. That is so often proved by our choices. If, on the one hand, there is an opportunity for some spiritual food, and on the other hand there is an opportunity or invitation for some natural enjoyment, the true disciple always says: 'I am for the spiritual food! That is more important to me than all natural pleasures.' This is the kind of disciple that Jesus must have: those to whom He is the only life. That is gathered into this word which He used: 'Except'... 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man... Except ye drink His blood ye have not life.' There are no alternatives to this. There is nothing that you can put into the place of this. It is this, or nothing - or, it is this or spiritual death.

Yes, He wants disciples to whom He is the only life, not just life and something else. There are whole multitudes of disciples who want Christ and something else, to whom Christ is not all-sufficient, the only life, and the Lord is going to sift out those in his body who carry the name of 'disciples'. He has always done it. He did it in New Testament times. The mighty persecutions which came upon the early Church were His means of sifting out, and through the ages He has done this thing by many means. He is doing it in the world today. Oh, what a tremendous sifting is going on amongst Christians! It is already beginning in the east and is going to develop in the west - the western world is not going to escape this. The great multitudes who may call themselves by the name of Christ's disciples are going to be found out. Let us be quite clear and certain on this point. If Christ is not our only life we are going out, for sooner or later we shall not be able to stand up to the test.

Rich

Human Consent

Without revelation from our loving Father regarding the design of our human vessel, body soul and spirit, that being the origin describing the first Adam, later to have that order reversed according to Paul describing the second Adam Christ Jesus, spirit, soul and body, there is in my opinion great distress throughout the body of Christ. Be that as it may, and even though it has profound significance to what I want to share here, I know his spirit will make known to each of us what is needed.

Eve, as in Adam and especially Eve from the Garden, have taken a bad rap and although she was the one deceived, there were two of them making that same choice, to try and be like God. Through the woman and man, consenting to this treasonous act, sin brought death to us all.
The other day I stumbled upon something so glorious I just had to share it here. Isn’t it just luscious when our eyes are opened to see something so full of wonder that it causes our hearts to skip a beat?

I began to look at the whole thing of our originally being created in His image and likeness, one facet of that being; we can above all of his creation, choose freely what we will.
As the first woman freely chose to be like God cutting humanity off from Life, plummeting us all into an alienated state of being, along comes another woman by the name of Mary, when presented with heavenly facts, realities that defied human reasoning, of her own free will consented to likewise partake of a succulent meal offered to her.

The fruit eaten by the first woman caused us to be alienated from the life of God, but as this young woman likewise freely choose to imbibe of the very words of God delivered to her by the angel Gabriel; the source of eternal and everlasting life was coming into the world through, of all things, a “woman”!

One expression of the word ‘consent’ is as follows, ‘asking permission’, also, ‘harmony’, wow, God asking our permission, specifically Mary’s, and then seeing how through her free will volitional choice, God through his son Jesus was going to establish a harmony that would totally eclipse the spectacular beauty of even the Garden.

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it has not yet fully entered into the heart of man, the things God has prepared for those He loves!”

Rich

Growing or Dying

Much like trees, we are either growing or dying. One of two options waits our choosing, existing within the false stability of spiritual death (stagnation), or to be corrected and to further experience the fullness of life offered to us in knowing Him.

Without the merger we have in being one with God through our spiritual union, there would be no possibility of any uploading (transformation) taking place in our continued maturation.
In my opinion continued growth is contingent upon what Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that is given to us from the mouth of God.”
With the increase of new insight and information there will be at first a contesting as we are prone to become very static in what we believe, the integrating is never done seamlessly.
The influx His life brings within us will always cause a radical disruption to fixed and established previously held “incomplete” thoughts.
It is this very rigidity that Jesus spoke of in connection with pouring new wine into new wine skins. It is within the every day encounters we face that I see Him using to keep us inwardly malleable, which allows Him to further expand our capacity to further emerge from the fairy tale way of looking at life and what it means to be a “Christian.”

I like what my friend and brother Bill Landon says about this, “What most people see (and practice) in this world is religion and not Christianity. Christianity, real Christianity, is a state of being and a personal relationship with the Father. Religion is outward works, rites, and rituals. Religion is primarily about looking good and smelling good and doing the “right things.” Real Christianity is about living and further, Christianity is a life not to be seen. Jesus addressed this reality by saying, “What you do in secret, your heavenly Father will reward you openly.”

Rich