Oswald Chambers and the Third level

Sometimes as you look through classics you are like a pig hunting for truffles which is a Norman Grubb phrase I used the other day with Dan. Who would have thought that Oswald Chambers would spell out the three phases of growth so plainly and so accurately in the chapter below? Here they are:

1. By the Cross of Christ I am saved from sin,




2. by the Cross of Christ I am sanctified;




3. but I never am a sacramental disciple until I deliberately lay myself on the altar
   of the Cross, and give myself over emphatically and entirely
   to be actually what I am potentially in the sight of God,viz., a member of the Body of Christ.

In this last stage there are some points. a) it is deliberate. No one can do it for us.And we do it freely when we are ready. There comes a time when as it was said in Hitchhiker's Guide to Christianity...we arrive at Psalm 110 :3 Your (F)people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; (G)In holy array, from the womb of the dawn,

b)it is entire. Not bits here and there. We see the vision and it consumes us. We may not feel able to give our whole self....but even here we give ourselves freely to the One Spirit whose speciality is to prepare the offering. He can get us there. All we supply is a basic willingness to be made willing.

c)that's when we really become part of the Body of Christ. Our body becomes His Body...but really the truth is we, individually, begin to function in harmony with and simultaneously with all the other parts of His corporate Body on Earth and in heaven.

I said to Stuart Wentworth about my time in the second level...that we were in fact building on jelly. I had spent 10 entire years of my life sowing into what I thought was the Body of Christ. I had left University early for the privilege...effectively spitting in the face of human qualifications provided in those days without cost....to spend each and every day sharing my life with others full-time in the church. Only to realise that it was all only the second level. And that the Body of Christ really only begins properly to function in the 3rd Level. After what Jorge Pradas decribed as each individual's own "Identification with Christ". We enter one by one....but we go out the other side as a fully functioning corporate being.

So for this reason the Ecumenical Movement towards Unity is essentially one mad piece of delusion. Because corporate unity can only work once each and every individual has answered before God this issue: "Unite my heart to fear/respect/sanctify Your Name". You cannot make a unity out of loads and loads of schizophrenic individuals. But once a whole load of individuals know who they are in Christ...unity is a doddle. And once the Ecumenical brigade understand the hours and hours of wasted time in meetings they have spent, they will be completely pig sick. As Florida showed....you can have all these things in a moment , once you really want them!!!!

So before getting into the chapter entitled "Sacramental Christianity" can I fend off the irritation that Sacrament will cause by saying. 1.Sacrament is not in the Bible. But two of the main ones are real enough!! Vehicles of grace. Baptism in water and the Lord's Supper or Communion. There are also others. Laying on of hands. Giving people cloths and hankies. Even our church, when it rolls out a long cloth like a river or a canopy...so people can experience God's grace.

But all these are nothing compared to the real thing. Which is you and me, with Christ inside, moving around, doing His stuff. This is the meaning behind the Furniture in the Holy of Holies. The Lord's Supper in the Holy Place, with the Candle sticks....is really only the "practice run", not the real thing itself. The real thing is Christ in you as you.

2.What is the difference between a "sacrament" and something from the pit of hell...the delusion that we as independant beings can somehow buy a bit of grace? What is the difference between a Toronto Fire tunnel, and say the Austrian village Corpus Christi festival where the bones of hopefully genuine miracle-moving saints are wheeled round the neighbourhood in a cart...Elisha's bones-ish style? What is the difference between Morris Cerullo or Rheinhardt Bonnke anointing his partners with oil, and a Baptist Church mass-dunking its 13 year olds because they are of age....or the Catholic Church mass-massing their 8 years olds at 1 st Communion.What is the difference between Moses raising up the serpent in the wilderness, and the subsequent worship of the same object? What is the difference between Gideon's ephod, and his subsequent shame in creating a religion out of it?

The only difference as far as I can tell is one thing: The Now Word of the Lord. Doing things entirely by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. That is the only difference as far as I can tell. A fire tunnel could become just as deathly. Just give it time!!!

So the first sentence about "sacramental" here is:

1. to the point.



2. incredibly deep



3. immediately addresses dead religion from the word "go".
   

Here it is then : "Sacramental Christianity" from "Conformed to His Image" by Oswald Chambers

THE word " sacramental" must be understood to mean
the real presence of Christ being conveyed through the
actual elements of the speech and natural life of a
Christian. " Everyone therefore who shall confess Me
before men," that is, confess with every part of me that
" Jesus Christ has come in the flesh "—come, not only
historically, but in my flesh. (This is a quotable quote Dan)
1. SACRAMENTAL SERVICE
But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom the world hath been. crucified unto
me, and I unto the world. GALATIANS vi, 14, R.V. marg.
By the Cross of Christ I am saved from sin, by the
Cross of Christ I am sanctified; but I never am a sacra-
mental disciple until I deliberately lay myself on the altar
of the Cross, and give myself over emphatically and entirely
to be actually what I am potentially in the sight of God,
viz., a member of the Body of Christ. When I swing clear
of myself and my 'own consciousness and give myself over
to Jesus Christ, He can use me as a sacrament to nourish
other lives. Most of us are on the borders of consciousness,
consciously serving, consciously devoted to God; it is all
immature, it is not the life yet. Maturity is the life of a child
—a child is never consciously childlike—so abandoned to
God that the thought of being made broken bread and
poured-out wine no longer unseals the fountain of tears.

When you are consciously being used as broken bread and
poured-out wine you are interested in your own martyrdom,
it is consciously costing you something; when you are laid
on the altar of the Cross all consciousness of self is gone,
all consciousness of what you are doing for God, or of what
God is doing through you, is gone. It is no longer possible
to talk about " my experience of sanctification " ; you are
brought to the place where you understand what is meant
by our Lord's words," Ye shall be My witnesses." Wherever
a saint goes, everything he or she does becomes a sacrament
m God's hands, unconsciously to himself. You never find
a saint being consciously used by God, He uses some
casual thing you never thought about, which is the surest
evidence that you have got beyond the stage of conscious
sanctification, you are beyond all consciousness because
God is taking you up into His consciousness; you are His,
and life becomes the natural simple life of a child. To be
everlastingly on the look-out to do some work for God
means I want to evade sacramental service—" I want to
do what I want to do." Maintain the attitude of a child
towards God and He will do what He likes with you. If
God puts you on the shelf it is in order to season you. If
He is pleased to put you in limited circumstances so that
you cannot go out into the highways of service, then enter
into sacramental service. Once you enter that service, you
can enter no other.
2. SACRAMENTAL FELLOWSHIP
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit
JOHN xii, 24.
If you are wondering whether you are going on with God
examine yourself in the light of these words. The more
spiritually real I become, the less am I of any account,
I become more and more of the nature of a grain of wheat ;
falling into the earth and dying in order that it may bring
forth fruit. " He must increase, but I must decrease,"
I only decrease as He increases, and He only increases
in me as I nourish His life by that which decreases me.
Am I willing to feed the life of the Son of God in me ?
If so, then He increases in me. There is no pathos in John's
words, but delight, " Would to God I could decrease more
quickly! " If a man attracts by his personality, then his
appeal must come along the line of the particular work he
wishes to do; but stand identified with the personality of
your Lord, like John the Baptist, and the appeal is for
His work to be done. The danger is to glory in men—
" What a wonderful personality! " If when people get
blessed they sentimentally " moon " around me, I am to
blame because m my heart I lay the nattering unction to myself
that it is because of my way of putting things ; they begin
to idealize the one who should be being made broken bread
and poured-out wine for them. Beware of stealing souls
for whom Christ died for your own affectionate wealth.
3. SACRAMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fin up
on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church.

COLOSSIANS i, 24.
By " sacramental responsibility " understand the solemn
determination to keep myself notably my Lord's, and to
treat as a subtle temptation of the devil the call to take on
any responsibility that conflicts with my determined identi-
fication with His interests. God's one great interest in men
is that they are redeemed; am I identifying myself with

that interest ? Notice where God puts His disapproval on
human experiences, it is when we begin to adhere to our
conception of what sanctification is, and forget that sancti-
fication itself has to be sanctified. When we see Jesus we
will be ashamed of our deliberately conscious experience
of sanctification, that is the thing that hinders Him, because
instead of other people seeing Jesus in me, they see " me "
and not Jesus. We have to be sacramental elements in His
hands, not only in word but in actual life. After sanctifi-
cation it is difficult to state what your aim in life is, because
God has taken you up into His purposes. The design for
God's service is that He can use the saint as His hands or
His feet. Jesus taught that spiritually we should " grow
as the lilies," bringing out the life that God blesses.

Rattling of the Bones: 2 blog posts of note

I have been away with the family. I have also been reading through some of the books in my recommended list. Some I have only skimmed before and am only now reading properly, others I am reading with great interest to see how I feel about them now.

In this blog I want to ignore these and recall a message by Alan Vincent to the church in Hazlemere, Bucks in the mid 70s. It was on the subject of the "rattling of the bones"in Ezekiel 37:7.

But first here are two outstanding blog posts of the last week or so.
The first from Jamie is an outstanding description of how grace works in our lives .
The second is from Terry Virgo on not forgetting the commands of scripture.

When I returned from RiverCamp (see link) Morris Cerullo had sent a brochure on the Names of God. John Paul Jackson has done a series on these names as have many teachers and preachers. When we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation and more so as He is released in our lives in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, unknowingly we find ourselves signed up to a Holy Spirit Training Course on the Names of God. This is the same course that the Israelites were on in the Wilderness after leaving Egypt.

• YHWH-Yireh (Jehovah-jireh) — "The Lord will provide" (Genesis 22:13-14).
• YHWH-Rapha — "The Lord that healeth" (Exodus 15:26).
• YHWH-Niss"i (Yahweh-Nissi) — "The Lord our Banner" (Exodus 17:8-15).
• YHWH-Shalom — "The Lord our Peace" (Judges 6:24).
• YHWH-Ra-ah — "The Lord my Shepherd" (Psalm 23:1).
• YHWH-Tsidkenu — "The Lord our Righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6).

• YHWH-Shammah (Jehovah-shammah) — "The Lord is present" (Ezekiel 48:35).

My purpose in mentioning these is to catch the spirit behind Jamie's post."We can simply let the Life of Christ within us do the walking and with each step see how our paths are made straight for us, one step at a time. "
But rattling alongside this is the substance of Terry Virgo's blog describing how God's ministries were sent in with apostolic commands and injunctions.
But I want to stress even more than Terry does various points.
Firstly...unlike today when we have Bible studies on these scriptures....
1. The substance of these commands was coming out of a warm , caring relationship of the Holy Spirit's Presence coming through the love, care and intercession of the apostles ministering the Word. Many of whom had been through this same living, breathing, process with Jesus Himself whilst on Earth. Initially in 3 years of ministry, plus 40 days of rather special ministration with the resurrected Christ, before His ascension.
2. The total understanding of these injunctions is that NO WAY, no ABSOLUTE WAY were the hearers going to fulfil this in their own strength.
3. If that was true under a Pentecostal Baptism in the Spirit understanding....it is a gazillion times more to be stressed in a 3rd Level approach.

Let me explain the last point.
Maybe the apex of "Holy Spirit and Me" technology was reached in the late 80s with Benny Hinn's book "Good Morning Holy Spirit"
This is Pentecostalism to the nth degree of intimacy. You can't go beyond this.
Jesus said about John...there is no one born of women greater....but the least person of the Kingdom would in fact be greater.
This might have sounded very strange at the time when Jesus said this. I am going to say something just as strange. What I am saying is this.
The next generation in God will go way beyond Benny Hinn's book.
Why.
Because it was always prophesied so.
Psalm 110:3 Your ^(F)people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power and

Psalm 24:4-6(He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.

He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

You see in Genesis 3:5 we picked up an evil spirit of the Devil himself
whose total way of existence is summed up in a delusion of separateness.
He catches us up in his lying existence to make-believe that we as him can
live as self-running beings, with no need for a spirit battery!!!
When really in the background he swapped our God linkage in our spirits for
a permanent devil linkage. Only Christ's cross has severed this link.
But throughout history until the present day, this has not fully come to the fore.

So to this day Christians are running around as "separate " beings
trying to focus on Christ
trying to pray
trying to work miracles
trying to preach a message of salvation
even....and listen to this....trying to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Now in the best light that Benny had at the time, he saw himself in a dual relationship with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit and Benny.

But from now on the Holy Spirit does not even allow us this luxury.
He is saying in Psalm 24 verse 4 "You have spent your entire lives
living by what is false. You thought you were gods in your own right.
Then you tried to live your renewed lives in this same old revelation...as separate beings in your own right. I have overlooked this since the Pentecostal outpouring in the 1900s, but now
is my time for a generation who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Who experience within themselves this Name change. Not Benny and the Holy Spirit. Benny is dead. Now it is Christ Benny and the Holy Spirit.

So you see the generation that is now emerging and is to come will be a totally new type of believer. Totally identified with the death of Christ
And consequently because of the Jesus words "if you abide, in my Word,then you are Truly my disciples, and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free."
Now.
On Earth.
Not in some heavenly future.
AS real as we experience the outbreak of the Presence of God in meetings now....so this will become our every day experience together...all day long. And the apostles were the prototype.
Yup, they had disagreements. They were slow to grasp that Gentiles were included in the deal.

But they didn't lie.
They didn't go off with other women.
They didn't grasp money to themselves.
They were submissive one to the other.
Not one was on a power trip. And they had raw POWER!

So don't any of you dare talk to me about the sweet by and by. About some Feast of Tabernacles in the future, as if it can't be lived today. (Joseph Prince I've got your number) It is in the future...but only if it is now...if you see what I mean. My heaven in the future is dependant on me getting heaven now by asking Jesus into my heart. It's like that.
Don't give me that rubbish about putting up with one another's sins til we limp into glory.
Don't give me that grace rubbish which never actually cleans up our lives.
Grace is like honey. But is also like fire!!! Just you wait and see!!! You won't know what's hit you.
Well actually you will. Because of this very blog.
But listen!!!You're going to be OK.
Jacob was OK after his wrestling. God let him live.
You and I are going to live too. On this earth.

So back to Alan Vincent.
You will notice there are 2 stages to the revealing of this glorious Body in Ezekiel 37.
The one prophesying assembled the bones. Called them together. Then they began rattling.
If you put all our blogs together there is a tremendous rattling.
Some are more Calvinist. Some are more Armenian.
Some are more grace...some are more like Janelle
Some are more individual in outlook. Some are more corporate Body of Christ
Some are more faith and here and now, some are more glorious Hope of our Calling

Well I've got some good news.Whatever you currently are becomes irrelevant in the 3rd level.
Why. Because as Paul says in Corinthians they were immature, saying we are of such and such a ministry. In the 3rd level we get the LOT. Everything we are now missing.
Evangelicals who currently get the exchanged life thing, the "I am dead with Christ thing" but have no clue about moving in the Spirit....Guess what!!! they're going to get particularly soaked!!!
Charismatic Christians, who love the gifts of the Spirit, but who haven't the first clue about living a normal every day life in God...guess what.......they're going to carry their giftings and anointings right into family life, creative life, work life, educational life....and God's going to especially bless them at that, because now everyone is laughing at them.

The 3rd level is the 2nd prophesying. How do I work that out?
Well in the first level the Body of Christ as lived out corporately was impossible.
It's the release of the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit that makes Body life a reality.
This is represented by the Holy Place and the Holiest Place. The outer courts was about us cutting covenant as individuals. The Holy Place and Holiest Place is about corporate life.
Particularly in the 70s the first prophesying was taking place as described by Maurice Smith's prophecy.

Now I believe is the time for the 2nd prophesying. The rattling was about assembling everything together. It was never meant to look good folks. It's a skeleton!!! Actually the Bible says skin and tendons came on it. But it was still a dead body.
Have you noticed the world has not been attracted by us so far!
Do you think there may be possibly another stage!!!!
Well that's what the 2nd prophesying is for!
This is the gist of Alan's word...but he didn't add the 3rd level bits.
So I believe that the 70s impartations were real. The visions were real in the same way that the Bible passages are real. But at that stage we did not have the Holy Spirit technology.
Our vision was a vaguely warmed up version of the church life as we knew it back then.
But the Way of God is a heart thing. David was the prototype of this.
Psalm 84:5 How blessed is the man whose ^(H)strength is in You, In whose heart are the ^(I)highways to Zion!

Later it is still my intention to do a summary on my thoughts about ministry, as affected by the revelation that a mature level, a third level, a father level as experienced by the Early church fathers, does exist. And it affects every single aspect of
1 the way we do church and
2 the way we do or don't do seminaries.

You don't getPsalm 84 " the strength" or "the internal heart highway" to Zion in a seminary.
You don't get it necessarily in a Morris Cerullo school of ministry or Youth with a Mission training centre. Perhaps you get an earnest...or a downpayment....
Jesus knew how to bring forth ministries by the power of His Word, all while they were sharing in ministry with Him. How cool is that? Maybe Rob Rufus is on the way to this. Maybe Peter Stott is also.

More on this later............

It's the Power that will bring the Young, Dan's last post

It is strange that Dan has just posted this.
I really haven't begun to share what happened to Christine and myself at various times through this year's RiverCAMP. And I have not much time right now. Bear in mind where I am coming from. My background is the power encounter in Great Kingshill in 1972 which energised a lot of us to spread the Kingdom around our year at school. I have hung around Morris Cerullo's events here, and Chicago and San Diego. I missed Toronto. But I have been schooled (and I mean that positively and negatively)by Ed Miller and Jorge Pradas in seeking God's face ,face down on hard concrete floors, for hours at a time sometimes, other times just lesser time periods...but really meeting with God on my insides...just knowing that a connection has been made and that the 3D answer is just a matter of time away.....it's just a necessary detail....a bit of the bureaucratic function of existence!!! What, you mean you want to actually see the results too!!!! That's just crossing the T's!!!!God's confirming Presence on a matter was always the final say...because time and time again the answer followed some time later. Folks, this was real stuff. We saw money come from nowhere to setup an outpost south west of Paris. We saw people in the same family in our church totally healed of leukaemia. We saw the most rebellious people in Bible House have such grace break through on them...they actually were streets ahead of any of us who were praying.

So..... the thought of lying on your backs on cushions while listening to worship music surrounded by lots of girlies for a few days was not my idea of a spiritually extensive breakthrough time.
I really began to understand Toronto better through Florida and our own glory conference in May.....because, as many of you bloggers will have realised by now sometime before Noah's flood:
Toronto is about the Father's love for us. And really marks a new season in the Body of Christ.
Mark Stibbe's teaching sessions were fantastic. As were all this year's speakers. But how much of the drive of our previous "work for the Lord" actually comes from our own "orphaned" view of existence. Oh I must work hard for the Lord so He'll accept me. Do you know, once we have a true Holy Spirit drive embedded in us we'll achieve more in a millisecond of actual obedient walk, than we'll have achieved over a decade with the other stuff.

So just to say....although there were soaking times....but we tended to actually fellowship together as a church(the 20 or so that were there)...and sad to say this is still all too rare at home in our busy schedules...... the worship and teaching sessions were really powerful, and God's Presence really hovered. I tell you what was really nice...haven't experienced this since the early Dales Weeks with Ern Baxter.....when God the Choral conductor brings in different sections of the Body in tongues throughout the large hall. Awesome.

But how this relates to Dan's blog is that the Youth Work was Outstanding with a capital STAND OUT. Do you know that the same Matt from Rustington who came over to pray over us as a church the other week...he was leading the over15's. He said he had never in his whole Christian life been in any meetings like the ones the 15 plus age group were having. There was a prophetic flow in one meeting he had never seen anywhere. When they took the praise...and my eyes are filling up at this point as I once again crack up, the young men were dancing with a vigour that you have never seen anywhere. The girls too. But generally if there is any life in a church, teenage girls will tend to bop around....but this was something else. And I'm crying yet again, because this was what Ern Baxter prophesied and I am now living right before my eyes...and what I put 20 years ago on a part of my double CD under the heading X - Rated Christianity : " Psalm 110 :3

Thy people offer themselves willingly In the day of thy power, in holy array: Out of the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4 Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.

And there it is again : AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.....which I've been writing to you about and you've been thinking ...what's this weird guy on!!! I didn't remember it was here....Now I'm crying again.

Have you seen a young army of men ...not sullen...not spaced out on drugs...not primarily interested in the next bit of skirt they can insert their member into, not the next fast car.....

but single - minded drive to see the Kingdom of God come down from heaven, to see Jesus worshipped with the respect that is rightfully His , and this done with all the strength they can muster, all the heart that God has given them.....I tell you, if you can still stay standing at that time,and not collapsed on the seat in front totally , absolutely wrecked, then you have more strength than me.

On,Now,To the Third Level

This blog has a prehistory....about 100 A4 pages are to be found in the Comments sections of my friend Dan Bowen's blog Life On Wings since February 2008. Here also you will discover loads of incredible related blogs both by Dan and his associates and friends. The only reason for creating a separate blog at this point is that the project I wish to undertake is more substantial than a comments section will allow. So many have been so encouraging and wonder why it's taken so long. Well the climate has changed and I think the time has come to present many of the 3rd level teachings in a systematic way for a grown up Church. I am going to use "Yes I am" by Norman Grubb, available here. Norman uses "3rd Level" a bit differently. I use it to mean the Father level , of 1John 2:12 onward.Both corporately and individually. I believe, since Luther we have been retracing the steps of grace back into the spiritual reality of the Heavenly Tabernacle, of which Moses' version was a prototype, a shadow. I believe the three areas of the tabernacle , correspond to a salvation Christianity, a Baptism in the Spirit type of Christianity, and now the third level, where God wants by His grace to reproduce His Son in us , outside of meetings, learning how to live full-time in Him. In time to come there will be no need for levels-talk, because this will be the norm as Psalm 110 verse 3NASV."We shall offer ourselves freely in the Day of His Power."
Yes I Am is not a book.It is a spiritual symphony in words 60 years in the writing. It contains tramlines of thought that are second nature to the author, but need teasing out in chunks to new readers.
Here is a testimony that is so similar to the material now appearing on blogs everywhere. It comes from the epilogue....So let's begin as we mean to go on, eh, BACKWARDS!!! I would like others to add relevant postings too, to the material as it unfolds.
===================================

July, 1980
Dear Brother Norman.
Thank you very much for making yourself available to come
and stay with us We so appreciated ycur fellowship and your
showing us the way of God more perfectly.
Every day is such a wonderful experience in unbroken
fellowship and communion with the Father. That was how He
meant it to be from the beginning. I know that 1 am one with
Him, and that 1 am no longer I, but Christ living in me, in my
human form. And the thrilling thing is that I can do abso-
lutely nothing to deserve or merit Him. I used to think that the
Christian life was wrapped up in rules and regulations, dos and
don'ts, laws and commandments, and daily disciplines. That's
religion — man's way of being one with Him. I've discovered
that on the cross He said, "It is finished." He settled it forever,
once and for all! I am complete in Him by virtue of Him in me
and as me. There is absolutely nothing I can do to add to the
righteousness of God in my life. Everything that Christ is, I am
—justified, sanctified, glorified, etc. (Rom. 8:30, 1 Cor. 1:2).
Oh, what a wonderful mystery! One with the Father! So many
know only the saving knowledge of Christ by His blood for the
forgiveness of sins, and so very few know the replaced life
through His resurrected and ascended body, of victory, joy,
peace, overcoming, triumph, and complete rest. It is now my
everyday continual experience that in fact I am a new creature,
where old things are passed away and all things are become
new. God intended only for His life to be manifested in us.
Satan no longer has any foothold in me and sin no more
power, no more dominion over me. Condemnation is a thing
of the past that no longer plagues me. In reality, our becoming
born-again puts us in the same standing with God the Father as
Jesus being born of a virgin!
As I know who I really am, there is only victory in Christ.
When trials and afflictions come, it's only God putting His
Christ through such circumstances in life to bring forth life in
others. I have been bought with a price... His precious blood,
and am no longer my own. I am now for others. I am now the
express image of the very nature and character of God in the
earth. It is written that God has "created all things for His
pleasure." At first thought that sounds selfish, until one
realizes that His pleasure is that of giving His all. He's not
looking for something to get from us to fulfill His desires or to
please Himself, but rather His pleasure is to give. That has now
become my pleasure and purpose in life. I no longer look to
God for what 1 can get out of Him for me. My nature is now
His and that is to give. Now as I give, it's with the
understanding that He first gave to me. He is my source. "I loveHim because He first loved me."
With that in mind, trials and afflictions are a pleasure
because they are for the benefit of others. I used to think trials
and afflictions were the "dealings of God" to perfect me, to
sanctify me, to improve me — me, me, me. But I've discovered
that Jesus completed the work of redemption, sanctification,
and perfection: "He hath [past tense] perfected forever them
that are sanctified." God is no longer interested in dealing with
me, but that the world through me might be saved. As long as
we think trials and afflictions are for us as the dealings of God,
we will forever be trying to get our lives in order and
disciplined in order to reach that unobtainable goal of
perfected self. We become very self-centered, self-assessing,
self-disciplined. I've given up once and for all that self-
assessing life, realizing the finished work He has done.
When Jesus said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father...,"
He did not set an impossible standard for us. He accomplished
the work of perfection at Calvary and it is found only in the
replaced life. It is actually possible to fulfill all of Matthew 5,6,
7 without even trying. It is possible to live a life free of sin. "As
He is, so are we in this world." How can I say He hath perfected
Me? Because it is no longer I that live, but Christ!
When we can welcome and embrace circumstances joyfully
and with thanksgiving, we can endure all things and become
(as you have well put it. Brother Norman), co-saviors with
Christ. I am now crucified to the world and the world to me
that the world I come in daily contact with might be saved. I die
daily for the benefit of others, that life might spring forth in
them. God has ordained difficulties and seemingly evil
circumstances to happen to us for the express purpose of
Christ being made manifest to others.
Knowing these things, the life of God becomes reality. We
live by faith, not by sight, nor by feeling or circumstances. We
live by that which is eternal and unseen, not by the physical.
lying vanities around us. We are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. This world is no longer our home.
We are simply pilgrims passing through. The world of faith
becomes more real to us than the physical world that we see
and touch and smell and taste and hear, with our five senses.
Faith establishes the word of God as fact, as evidence, as
substance, as already accomplished. The promises of God are
in Him "yea," and in Him "Amen" — by us\ All we do is say
"Yes" and "Amen" to what God has already said, and it is so!
When we live by faith, it doesn't matter what happens around
us. We no longer judge things by outward appearance, but we
judge righteously. This is where life becomes fun and exciting
and full of victory as we let God be the judge in life, and we live
by the unseen, eternal reality!
As life becomes a walk of faith, we then see everything with a
"single eye." Jesus said our eye is either single or evil. One or
the other. To see double is to see evil. Adam and Eve partook
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They then saw
with double vision. They then became judges in life rather than
leaving that to God. The -devil very subtly fooled them by
saying, "You shall become as gods, knowing good and evil,"
when in fact the Father wanted them to be gods. We are always
trying to become something when in fact we are simply to be
the "I am" within us. It's so simple that it's complex! When we
look at everything in life as good or evil, we become the judges
(as God), always classifying everything in one category or
another. We become bitter, frustrated, judgmental in life.
There is no joy, no peace, no rest.
To see with a single eye is to have a pure heart. That's why
Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." Paul also speaks of living our lives in "singleness of
heart." When we have a pure heart, walking in singleness of
heart, with a single eye, we see only God in everything. Every
circumstance, every problem, trial, affliction, seemingly evil
thing, is the manifestation of God to us. We can flow with and
be in harmony with everything that takes place, and be at peace
with God and every man. Proverbs says, "There shall no evil
happen to the just." Knowing this, life is exciting! It is fun!
When we see God only in life, we can truly give thanks in and
for everything!
There is such an emphasis today on getting and keeping "the
presence of God" in one's life. I also once strived and struggled
and cried out to God through daily disciplines to get the
"manifested presence" of God. I thought the presence of God
was dependent upon what I did. I have since thrown all of that
out of the window forever, realizing now that I in fact am the
presence of God. the Holy of Holies, the temple of the Holy
Ghost. I no longer have to go running around striving to get
His presence in my life. /am the manifested presence of God,
even as Jesus was upon earth in His flesh. I am the will of God
in the earth, that the world though me might be saved bv virtue
of Him that dwells permanently within me. As Christ is lifted
up. He will draw all men unto Himself — by us.
Psalm 22:3 says, "But Thou art holy, 0 Thou that inhabitest
the praises of Israel." I've always thought that the way to get
His presence was to praise Him and then He would come down
and inhabit my praise and manifest Himself to me. But that's
the God of the Old Covenant, the God of "influence," or as the
world calls it, a philosophy. Most people look at God as an
"influence": "Here I am down here, and there You are. God, up
there; and if I do certain things and fulfill certain principles,
You'll come down with Your presence and bless me." Even the
world lives by that philosophy, feeling they'll be blessed by
doing and fulfilling certain principles in life. Israel, an
unregenerate people, lived by that principle. But because God
is self-giving, He doesn't expect anything out of us. 1 don't have
to fulfill anything to get His presence. My God is not a God of
influence, but He's a God that has taken permanent residence.
He has taken permanent abode in me. The veil was rent once
and for all from the top to the bottom, opening the way into the
Holy of Holies whereby I freely partake of His presence... no
strings attached. Because of that, praise is now a natural, free,
flowing, continual expression unto Him. Praise becomes as
natural as breathing, and is a state of being and not an act. Our
lives can simply be a praise to Him (Eph. 1:12). The act of vocal
and demonstrative praise simply flows out of that state of
being in which I find myself— that of union with Him, one and
the same with Him. I no longer know a God coming and going,
a life of ups and downs according to whether I praise Him or
not. There is such a higher realm where He becomes you and
you become Him and are one with the Father.
The organized church today is, by and large, a modern
Moses'Tabernacle, trying to fulfill certain principles, rules and
regulations, dos and don'ts, laws and commandments, and
daily disciplines in order to get the presence and approval of
God. That's fine, as long as one does all that; but Scripture says
that no one can keep the law. It also says that whoever does the
law must also live in it. You're blessed if you can do it. but
cursed if you can't. (I've been trying for thirteen years, but
never could.) Besides that, even if one could keep all the
principles, laws, disciplines, etc., there is room for pride
saying, "I've done it." But God will share His glory with no
man. There is absolutely nothing we can do to merit His
presence or approval; neither does God expect us to do
anything to obtain it, because of His very self-giving nature.
It is the tangible, felt, manifested presence of God that the
organized church is looking for today. They'll never find it
though, and only become frustrated in the process, because
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation, but behold, the kingdom of God is within you."It
is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeketh for a sign, a
manifestation of God. Once again, the signs and
manifestations will automatically and naturally follow them


that believe. It will be a natural outflow of who we are and not
what we do.
For years I have been asking God for a great hunger and
thirst for Him. I felt that the more hunger and thirst I had, the
more God would come to me. I now realize I've been wasting
my time and energy. But as I now understand who He is within
me, I am full, I am satisfied, my thirst is quenched, my hunger
is gone. Even as the Scriptures declare, out of my belly, my
innermost being, flow rivers of living water. Jesus said, "He
that drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."
He said, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall oe filled." He also said, "He that
cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me
shall never thirst." There is an end! That end is Christ! 1 no
longer hunger or thirst. I now only know a permanently
satisfied, fulfilled life in Christ — full and overflowing for the
benefits of others.
I've given up trying to improve my life. All I have to do is to
be who I really am, which is Christ in me. If I may be so bold, I
am a god, created in His very image with the indwelling Christ
my all. It's no longer I that live, yet it is I, yet not I, but Christ.
No wonder Paul calls it a mystery! Jesus was the firstborn
among many brethren. He came as a Son to be an intercessor
to bring many sons to glory. Paul said, "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus," the "mind" of total self-
emptying, and then spoke of Jesus' exaltation. I, too, am to
have this intercessory mind of total self-emptying to take
humanity's lowest place on the cross. And any exaltation that
follows will be from God.
After years of struggling and striving, frustration and failure
(a necessary step!), I have finally ceased from my own works
and entered into rest. Oh, what fellowship divine, what
communion, what "est! I know Him, even as 1 am known of
Him. I used to work so hard at being a Christian... and, as a

result, God was at rest. Now I'm at rest and He's at work! In
this rest, prayer becomes a state of being. It's no longer an act
of formality. It's continual communion and fellowship with
the Father. Then and only then is it possible to fulfill the
scripture "Pray without ceasing."
I have come to a realization that it was not/that committed
myself to Him. It was He that committed Himself to me. My
spiritual life is dependent upon His total commitment to me.
As long as I think that my walk with God depends upon my
decision, my dedication, my commitment to Him, then life
becomes a never-ending parade of recommitment,
rededication, reconsecreation to Him. In reality, however, the
Christian life is dependent on replacement.
Hallelujah, it is wonderful in Him! The best Bible college
there is is life itself! "For me to live is Christ." Our mission on
earth is to live and to be the Christ to an unregenerate world
around us.
I have concluded in my life that it is absolutely impossible to
live the Christian life, and that God never intended us to do so.
He intended the Christ within us to live it. Then and only then
is it possible to fulfill the law and the spirit of the law (Matt.
5,6,7). And it only comes as a revelation from the Father. Jesus
asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "Thou art
the Christ." Jesus told him, "Fleshand blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. "Jesus then told
Peter, "Upon this rock [upon this foundation, upon this
revelation] I will build My church." Paul said that "the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For 1 neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." Many try it build the church upon principles,
upon teachings, upon everything imaginable except the Christ.
But "except the Lord build the house, they that build it labor in
vain." It is upon this revelation of the Christ that life is fun. Life
is exciting, fulfilling, and wonderful. Oh what fellowship, what
communion,what victory! Hallelujah to Him for ever! I'm sure I'm repeating to you many things that you've already grasped years ago.But I appreciate your listening ear.....
I love you Brother Norman.Thankyou for your love and rich fellowship.
Christopher Bernard