Not I, but Christ In Me
The Church has been in darkness
for 2,000 years,
but the day is beginning to dawn.
You will soon see a people on the earth
who walk in the reality of Christ
in themselves.
There is enough revelation and power in these words alone that, if you believe them, they will bring you out of the darkness. I began a few years ago to learn the power in the spoken word. I learned that what I believed in the new heart God had given me was far past the reasoning capabilities of my natural mind. I had to learn to follow and listen to the Spirit of God within me, instead of listening to my natural mind. I began to have an experiential encounter with God in my being. This is still a limited experience, but it is growing. There is a realm in God where there is no sin, no disease, no sickness and no death. The Church is not yet fully there, but we are beginning to enter into it. The Apostle Paul said, "Put on the new man" (Eph. 4:24). What does that mean? We are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). What does that mean? We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). What does that mean? These statements are given to us as facts, as present realities, not as something to hope for someday. There is a realm in God where we can experience these things. It is a conscious awareness of being that which the Word declares.
If you are not consciously aware
of God living His Life in you,
then for you He is not real.
You have only a story-book God.
You cannot walk
in the Spirit as a theory,
or only as a good teaching.
If you begin to walk in the Spirit,
you will begin to see
your enemies fall at your feet.
We begin to experience these things when we have a spiritual birth and begin to grow in the Spirit. The Word says, "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:46-49). This is what the Church is coming into. We are to bear the image of the heavenly. Just think of it! A group of people on the earth who are manifesting the heavenly character of Jesus. Paul told the Corinthians, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17). In your spirit is the Holy Spirit. These spirits are not two spirits, but ONE SPIRIT. "The two shall become one, and I speak a great mystery of Christ and the Church" (Eph. 5:31-32). You are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. As we are transformed andPaul told the Ephesians, begin to live in our spirit, where the Spirit of God dwells, we become the visible expression of the invisible God. What a divine mystery! Coming Out of the Wilderness We have all been in the wilderness, and there is an awareness today that something is about to break upon the scene, that the Church truly is going to come out of the wilderness. What I carry within my heart more than anything else in these days is the desire that God’s people would have the love of the Father revealed to them. The Unveiling of the Father’s Heart. We have all experienced the Father’s love to a degree. But for the Church to come out of the wilderness, we must have an unveiling of the Father’s heart. Though I experienced a revelation of the love of God when I was first saved, at times this takes place in a more special way. There have been times in my life over the last 25 years, and there are still times even now, when the presence and the essence of God is so lovely and so wonderful that I sit and weep and weep in the love of God.
Even though you have experienced
the love of God, there continues
to be an unveiling of how great that love is.
Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 13:11, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the multitudes]it is not given." To you it has been given. How can we understand that? Many times I have asked God, "Why is it that I have this burning desire, and this love in my heart—why is it that everything within my being cries to be conformed to the image of God?" And the only answer I have ever been given is, "Because to you it has been given. You haven’t worked for it. You haven’t been good. In fact you can’t be good enough for it, but to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God."
The Mystery of the Gospel
And when I did that, I experienced being in Christ. I could spend hours telling you of my experiences during the first few days. I knew that I had been placed into Christ, and everyone around me also knew it, not because I immediately went out and preached the Gospel, but because my life changed. Without my saying a word, the people I worked with began to say to me, "Gary, what’s wrong with you?" I was not the same. To them, it seemed like there was something wrong with me! In 1969, I entered into the awareness of being in Christ, but you know what? That’s not when it happened! The Gospel plainly declares to us that we were placed in Christ at the cross of Calvary. Can you believe that? First of all, can you believe it for yourself? And then, can you believe it for those around you? To be continued
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