TEF8 - From a Word to a Lamb by Daniel Yordy

© Daniel Yordy 2013
The original with all spoken formats and downloadable PDF is here

The Bible is like the human body. It is complex, with many differing parts great and small. Sometimes it's hard to tell how those differing parts are even part of the same thing. Yet in the end, just as the body is one, so the Bible is one seamless whole. However, just like the blind men of Hindustan, each trying to define the whole by the little part he stumbled upon, so most read the Bible.

The blind men of Hindustan never connected with the reality that the elephant is a living animal, thus all the parts can be known only in reference to that living animal. In the same way, most who read the Bible do not know that they are reading the Lord Jesus Christ and He revealed in us, His body. They do not know that the whole point of everything is the Word become a Lamb and living in us.

The whole point of everything, including the presence of the accuser, is the glory of the word God speaks, the Always-Speaking of God. The Word God is always speaking has a name, we call Him Jesus.

Now, in most people's minds, “glorifying Jesus” has a different meaning that that held in God's mind. Most people imagine a solitary image, high above all, before whom we peons bow. You can see that this image is Lucifer's image of himself. But most Christians know also that Jesus is something other than that image, yet they cannot lose the image, so they mix the Jesus they know with the self-image of a deluded angel.

Therefore, when John writes about the Lamb in his gospel, most see the Jesus we know, living in our hearts. But when John writes about the Lamb in his vision, most see the other thing, the exalted solitary image, high above all. Thus everything related to that image in Revelation, especially the “two witnesses,” must be of similar “deified” exaltation, high above us mere fleshy mortals.

They read the Word just like the blind men of Hindustan, as a series of chopped up and unrelated things. They do not have the key that unlocks to them the body of God.

I want to give, here, a series of verses, or even short statements, found through the Bible. I want you to consider them carefully, including the order in which they appear, as they are a seamless whole.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. Genesis 1 – the beginning of everything through the Speaking of God.

“Did God indeed say?” Genesis 3 – the entrance of the accuser.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. Deuteronomy 18 – Moses, the only command the Old Covenant requires, the only word that counts.

You have magnified Your word above all Your name. Psalm 138 – The singing of David

Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? . . .She cries out by the gates. . . “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. . . Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates. . . For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 8 – the wisdom of Solomon

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55 – the seeing of Isaiah

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger. Luke 2 – the Word entering His creation in weakness.

The seed is the word of God. Luke 8 – Jesus, explaining one nature of the Word.

When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Luke 18 – Jesus, asking the greatest question in God's heart.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory – Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1 – John, showing us the Word from the beginning becoming the Lamb, a second nature of the Word.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. John 12 – Jesus, giving us the most staggering reality of the Word, that One becomes many, the Word itself births the faith that receives it.

I spoke openly to the world. – You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18 – Jesus, before His accusers.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1 – Jesus, becoming the Word in many.

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 – Paul, giving another picture of the Word becoming many.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Hebrews 1 – the one Word of the Old, through which all the Old must pass.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne. . . stood a Lamb as though it had been slain. . . thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5 – John, seeing the same Lamb exalted.

And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11 – the Word that forms Christ in the many and that sets creation free.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Revelation 12 – the many having become one, birthed before the accuser.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Revelation 14 – The many together as one.

These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. Revelation 17 – the whole point of everything, the singularity, the triumph of Almighty God.

There is just something in God that gets a real kick out of defeating the accuser by His Word alone, revealed through weakness in many.

Do you see how the Great Story of God just ties everything together? The book of Revelation could not possibly be known any other way. It is an essential element in a seamless whole; it is the capstone, the climax of the story.

Now, the Word of Christ which we speak is this same Word woven through every one of these verses. You can see, then, the incredible importance to the entire purpose of God that is our speaking of Christ.

And I (the Word God speaks from the beginning having become the Lamb) give (that's everything, nothing in God or in the universe is withheld) to My two witnesses (that's us, the Word having become many), and they shall prophesy (that's us, birthing the new heavens and earth, setting creation free).

I have made this statement many times: The whole point of everything is the Word God speaks, a woman in travail, and the face of the serpent. Here is another way of saying that same thing: The whole point of everything is the Word God speaks, declared as many in weakness, defeating all opposition.

This is what God has always had up His sleeve.

Now, look at what John saw in Revelation 5. Remember that this is a vision, which is the symbolic language of God. Thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb.” This is a symbol of the most valuable thing to God in all creation except the Word that He speaks. Look at the phrase: “a woman in travail in the face of the serpent.” Look at the phrase: “declared as many in weakness defeating all opposition.”

There is one word in the Bible that these things define – faith.

The exaltation of the Lamb is the audacity of faith against all opposition. When John saw the Lamb exalted above all, he was seeing you and I, in utter weakness, in utter inability and impossibility, speaking Christ our only life with all confidence and joy.

There is no greater honor of the Lamb who fills our hearts than that.

Those who “honor” the Lamb by putting Him high above on a pedestal, do not honor Him at all, because they do not believe all that He speaks. They do not make Christ, the Word God is always speaking, personal in them.

When you and I make the Word God speaks, Christ, our very and only life, Christ as us, by the declaration of our mouth (witness) against all opposition, we ARE the firstfruits, we are the thousands, we are the body of Christ.

We are God revealed. We are human.

The Word is that which births; the Lamb is that which carries. The Word births Christ inside of us; the Lamb carries us through all things to the Father. By the Word, we are transformed into the image of Christ, by the Lamb, we no longer worry (unbelief) about “measuring up” or “getting it right.”

You know, I have seen this over and over in my own experience. The very thought of obligation or “making it” or “falling short” of God and “missing out,” produces only one thing in me; it causes me to pull back from confidence in God, to withdraw my heart from singing inside of Him. In complete contrast, my continual, utter sinking into the Lamb carrying me, Christ as me, has the opposite effect. As I live rejoicing in the expression of the Lord Jesus that I find myself to be, giving thanks for all things God allows against my way, the joy of His word transforming me billows up in continual expectation.

Notice that it is the Lamb who conquers the Beast, and that He does so through our testimony.

Now, I say that obligation produces “only one thing in me.” That's just me. Most people are quite zealous about obligation producing more than their heart drawing away from confidence in God. Most people insist on doing something about their “problem.”

ALL desire to “measure up” comes from a testimony as well, a witness, a claim. That claim is that the one who needs to “measure up” in fact does not. We must understand that claim and its true source. The idea that I, as I find myself to be right now, am not sufficient, do not “measure up,” have some lack, something wrong, some contrary propensity, that idea comes from ME. It is the rebellion of Adam, the cry of self. “I deserve better than what I am in my makeup, God. I don't like the way You made me.”

Here is an absolute law. I do not find my true self, as Jesus said, by getting rid of my false self. That approach is self-evidently false. The very act of “getting rid of a false self” establishes me as the prevailing self in my life. In complete contrast, as I sink utterly (surrender, repent) into the Lamb carrying all that I am, as I rejoice in the way God made me as I find myself to be right now, that I am simply an expression of Christ Himself, then I know my true self. And in knowing my true self, the false self just fades into oblivion, sort of like what happens to darkness when you flip on the light switch.

Now, I'm going back and forth in my own mind between two verses. Let me bring them in here.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:3-4

Revelation 12:11 is the most important verse in Revelation; by understanding it, we expand it to include in itself everything else in John's vision. In my last letter I called Romans 10:3-4 the most important negative verse in the Bible.

But I also want to bring in a little blip by Fred Pruitt that came into my in-box yesterday, before I continue drawing my thoughts together.

~~~

So – Evil is the absence of God? By Fred Pruitt

What I had trouble with from the beginning reading that, was the "absence of God." I could not fathom it.

And yet the more I let it sit there, it began to occur to me that even though there can really never be, anywhere, anytime, any place, an absence of God, yet to a creature, in its own perception, there may be an absence of God by the will of the creature. Of course by creature I am meaning angels or human beings.

If I had to make such a definition, I would be more specific and say that evil is a denial of God, a refusal of God, and is involved in will. I mean really that the only place evil can occur is in the will of the creature that denies God by breaking off its will from God in order to have and assert that it has its "own will." THAT is evil. And from the state of that creature, God appears to be absent, and ultimately is absent to that will that continues in denial, even though we know He is All in all -- this creature that has broken itself off from Him cannot know it, however, because it is consumed with itself.

~~~

One could also say that “evil” that creates this false thing called “self” is the desire to improve on whatever the creature finds itself to be. To connect fully with God, to know Christ living as me, I must be joyfully content with the way I find myself to be. The primary reason both humans and angels pull their mind and will away from God is the birthing of an inherent dissatisfaction with self (sin), “God, You made me wrong.”

Now, being utterly content with self is 100% compatible with a deep thirst for an increased knowledge and revelation of God. In contrast, being dissatisfied with self squelches any thirst to know God more fully.

“For they being ignorant of God's righteousness.” What a statement! These are the Pharisees Paul is speaking of, and Paul knew the Pharisees, he had been one of the best. These people knew the law of Moses inside and out. They could quote it in its entirety. They knew every particle of what it meant and how it was to be applied to every aspect of life. And some of them, including the pre-Christ Paul, came pretty close to keeping that law to perfection.

So how does Paul claim that they are IGNORANT, that is they do not KNOW, God's righteousness.

I walked for many years with a people who held a mighty vision before their eyes of the victory of God over sin and death in our present lives. But because of the King James Bible and Augustine's prejudice, they determined that the enemy, the thing that can prevent an individual from experiencing full victory over both sin and death, was the human flesh, that is this human “nature” that carries in itself the propensity always to be stumbling and falling, always to be sleeping when it should be praying or crying out in fear when it should be sleeping.

Now, we were a Spirit-filled people; we knew the demonstration of God's power. We were not legalistic.

I know the full meaning of “seeking to establish their own righteousness” as it works itself out in many different personalities, good and Christ-loving all.

We KNEW that our human makeup was the “problem,” the thing keeping us from being part of the fulfillment of the great vision we carried. And thus our whole effort was getting God to help us fix our problem, this deficiency in our construction.

What we did not know was that this way of seeing was an interesting mixture of atheism and rebellion against God, both at the same time. Atheism says “God, You are absent,” rebellion says, “I should be better than what I am.”

Now, I know individual people who responded differently to this dilemma than I did. As I said, my belief that I was falling short of the vision caused me to draw back in discouragement. That reaction IS the only godly reaction; it is Romans 7. But I know very well a number of individuals who “took themselves in hand” to make their human self subject to the vision, subject to a God who yet remains separate from them in their own minds.

Every effort of the human to “make it” or “get right with God” or “get your flesh into submission” or even “hear and obey” results in one thing alone. It results in a religious ego, an iron barrier, that prevents that person from ever surrendering to Christ as their only life. Now, Jesus remains the Lamb, and He carries them. Thus these are good, kind, godly, and anointed people. Yet they count union with Christ to be the greatest evil (flesh cannot be okay, let alone filled with Christ) and the exaltation of the self they have produced to be what God desires.

Hatred of self is the greatest love of self that exists. For the hatred is coming from a self who is convinced he has been wronged by his Creator and, in fact, should be far superior to what he finds himself to be. Hatred of self is the fall of Lucifer; it is the sin of Adam. It is the supreme love and exaltation of self.

You see, when Jesus said, “the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” the Christian mind says, “Oh, that's my fault. If I were just a better person, my flesh would not be weak.” NO!!! Jesus was talking about the way God, in His incredible wisdom, designed us to be as His image and likeness.

Jesus spoke to two kinds of people: those who let their flesh run wild through all the lusts of this world and those who put their flesh under subjection to the clear requirements of a holy God. Of these two groups of people, which ones heard Him gladly, which ones received Him with all their hearts? And even those who had trained their hearts to “get their flesh underfoot” who did receive Christ as Savior, became Paul's nemesis, following him around, always speaking against Christ as our very and only life.

Here is the incredible thing. And it is exactly what Jesus said. When we no longer love ourselves, we discover with all joy that we love ourselves, precious and holy, our own personal expression of Christ Himself.

The tree of knowledge gives two options: let your flesh feed on all the lusts of the world OR get your flesh under control.

The tree of life gives only one option, an option that is not related to either option from the tree of knowledge: surrender your “self” utterly into the Lamb and allow Him to be your flesh. Be utterly content with the way God made you. Be complete in Christ.

In so doing you begin to delight in yourself as you find yourself to be, but also, when you remember how you once viewed “self,” you see with horror the power of self-love that sat behind your former “self-hatred.” But as we delight in ourselves as we find ourselves to be, we also discover the knowledge of God flowing out of our surrender into union with Christ and the expectation of God increases without end.

God made us the way we find ourselves to be BECAUSE that's how He wants His image to be. God cannot reveal Himself through us unless we delight in His workmanship.

Let's look more closely at Revelation 12:11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Let's start with a grammar lesson. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. It is an absolute law of human language that you cannot use a pronoun without first introducing the noun. For example: The dog barked; he barked at the cat. The pronoun “he” is clear, because it takes the place of the noun “dog.” We know exactly what the pronoun “he” refers to. In this sentence, the noun “dog” is called the antecedent of the pronoun “he.” “He” clearly refers to its antecedent, “dog.”

Descriptive (not prescriptive) grammar is vital to us in understanding any sentence. The verb always rules both sentence and meaning. Action verbs are always superior to linking verbs in conveying meaning and interest. The action of this sentence is “overcame.” Thus “overcome” rules both the sentence and all the meaning it conveys.

Notice the progression from “Let there be light” to “Did God indeed say.” What word stands between those two? “Subdue the earth.” The reality of overcoming came into the human understanding before any accusation against God appeared.

But the moment we know the action taking place, we must also know who is doing the action, that is, subject/verb.

“They.” Who are they? You see, this is wrong grammar. Now, in full contrast, the direct object, that is, the object receiving the full impact of the action, is “him.” “Him” has a clear antecedent in preceding verses, that is, the dragon, the original serpent, the accuser. But “they” has no antecedent. Three times, in Revelation only, the pronoun “they” is used with no antecedent. God simply does not say who “they” are.

I believe God uses incorrect grammar here in order to underline the reality of life, that it is by invitation only. “Of all the trees of the garden (including the tree of life) you may freely eat.” “Whosoever will may come and drink.” “If any man thirsts.”

It's easy to tell who “they” are. Consider these words: “Look at me, God. I belong to You. Let every Word you speak be fulfilled in my life in all of its fullness.” To “they,” these words are a continual joy and expectation, as normal as breathing. To “not they,” these words don't mean a thing.

“They” are those who say, “I AM one of 'them.'”

“They overcame him.”

We must understand this God who fills us full. He is bizarre, to put it mildly. He is meek and lowly of heart; He reveals Himself through weakness; when He shows up in the earth, He stoops to serve. But He sure does like to “kick butt,” I guess, is the only real way of saying it. Why is that? Why does God set this whole thing up as a really good, knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred fight?

Yes. When we have the answer to that question, we get to go to the head of the class!

Remember that “overcome the accuser” came into the picture BEFORE any human sin.

God created all things good, first. Then He placed the operative word into the mix, the action verb – conquer, overcome, subdue. Then, He brought the accuser into the picture, third. “They overcame him.” You see, those three words are the gist of Genesis 1 through Genesis 3:1. Everything from Genesis 3:2 until this present moment is the unfolding of the three prepositional phrases, the three “by's.” But the stage is set fully with “They (Christ revealed in weakness through many) overcame him.”

I do not want to go any further into “him,” in this letter except to say that the word “him” includes more than the serpent, it includes all of his expression among men, including human government, the Beast. And it especially includes all serpent-word spoken in Christianity.

“Overcome,” then, is the action of the human experience, the verb that gives meaning to everything, the tension that creates the Great Story of God.

Now, the rest of the sentence is really bad grammar as well. It should read “by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives to the death.” It should be three equal “by's.” Oh well.

Look carefully at those three prepositional phrases. They are all three adverbs, that is, they speak of the verb, “overcame,” answering the question, “how.” Jesus said, “To those who overcome, I give to eat of the tree of life.” So, yes, every serious Christian asks the simple and very, very large question, “HOW?”

These three prepositional phrases answering the critical question “How? How, Lord, do we overcome,” are NOT three steps. We do not begin with the first, proceed to the second, and finally, arrive at the third. That concept does work in other things God speaks such as our walk through the Tabernacle of God, but it does not work here. Rather, those three phrases are one thing carried between two.

Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, My burden is light.” We always thought that was a yoke and a weight we must bear. Not at all. It is the yoke He bears, the burden He carries. While writing the last couple of pages, I have had this image pressing upon my heart. Let's picture it together and see where it takes us.

Jesus carries the yoke.

A yoke is a wooden bar carved out to fit around the neck and across the shoulders. The bar is carved wide to fit the exact shape of the shoulders in order to spread the weight. From each end of that wooden bar hangs a rope and a hook to which a bucket is attached. I have many years of experience in wilderness community carrying full buckets of fresh water in and full buckets of used water out (every kind of used water). I believe I used a real yoke only once, early on at Graham River Farm. It is easier to carry two full buckets with a yoke than one full bucket with one hand, always off-balance. A yoke allows you to walk upright and comfortably. No yoke makes you twisted and out of joint. No yoke creates bad backs.

Now, picture Jesus, carrying the yoke, all the weight in perfect balance, striding forward lightly and easily. It's sort of like the cross, arms outstretched. In fact, it's easier when you place your hands out onto the bar of the yoke to balance it. Now, let's take the thought that we are looking upside down and inside out. Let's invert that picture.

What you have now is the picture of Much-Afraid. (If you have not read Hind's Feet on High Places, you really must.) There she is, stumbling along, hands out-stretched, reaching for her companions, Sorrow on one side and Suffering on the other, faithful and true. All the way along, it seems to her that it is they who lift her up, who dust her off, who carry her, step by stumbling step, all the way to the High Places. Remember what they said to her after they became Peace and Joy? I quoted them in “The Mercy Seat”; let me quote them again here.

~~~

“Since you brought us here with you, we are turned into Joy and Peace.”

“Brought you here!” gasped Grace and Glory (Much-Afraid transformed). “What an extraordinary way to express it! Why, from the first to last you dragged me here.”

Again they shook their heads and smiled as they answered, “No, we could never have come here alone, Grace and Glory. Suffering and Sorrow may not enter the Kingdom of Love, but each time you accepted us and put your hands in ours we began to change. Had you turned back or rejected us, we never could have come here.”

~~~

Remember what Isaiah said, that in a very real sense, Jesus cannot return to the Father, having completed all He was sent to do, except He find faith. As incredible as it sounds, in the end, it will be the Lord Jesus who says to us, “Thank you, My dear ones, you carried Me home. I could never have returned to My Father except you put your hands in Mine.”

Let's look at Suffering and Sorrow, one on each side of us. On the one hand, lifting us up and carrying us every step of the way is “the blood of the Lamb.” The Lamb always carries us, and when we stumble and fall, weak and hurting, all we can see is Blood. We never consider our mistakes ever again. On the other hand, lifting us up and carrying us every step of the way is “not loving their lives to the death.” The Cross always carries us; we have no self but Jesus. Christ Jesus is our only self. We are He living as us in this world. And thus we are utterly content in ourselves, in what we find ourselves to be, our true selves.

In between these two absolutes, then, is the task given by our Father to us.

“The word of their testimony.”

Speak Christ.

We never speak Christ “in order to.” We always speak Christ “because of.”

This is our task; this is our glory. And in the end, the Lord Jesus will say to us, “Thank you for bringing Me Home. I never could have set creation free if you had not put your hands in Mine.”

The prophetic word of Christ comes out ONLY from a very particular place. It is a place of intimacy and tears, of giving thanks for sorrow and for Joy, for suffering and for Peace.

It is a place of having abandoned all concern for sin and all concern for the sinner, the first utterly into the Lamb's Blood, the second utterly into the Lamb-Slain. And there, carried by the Lamb in all ways, we speak Christ our only life.

Speaking Christ is not saying things about Jesus; it is speaking Christ, the victorious Conqueror, revealed personally in all ways as me.

And in the end, the Lamb will conquer the serpent/beast BECAUSE those who are with Him are called and chosen and filled with faith.

Yes, I am saying that the day will come when the Lord Jesus will say to us before all the universe, “Thank you so much, it was your faith that carried Me home. Every time you spoke Me, all that I am, as your only life in the midst of all your weakness, in the face of all opposition, casting all of yourself utterly into Me, it was you who enabled Me to accomplish what the Father sent Me to do, to set all creation free. I could never have done it without you.”

And we will stand there in wonder feeling like wounded Frodo and bumbling Sam and left-behind Merry and silly Pippin as Lords and Kings and the great ones of the earth and of all the realms of heaven bow upon their knees in wonder and adoration before the One who fills our heart.

And thus we will discover that Revelation 4 & 5 were all about us. We are His glory.

I have shed many tears in writing this; I know it's the word the Lord Jesus wants to fill your heart with right now.

It begins as a Word and then the accuser. Then comes the Word in weakness, then comes the accuser again. Then comes the Lamb in sorrow, then the Word in many, the accuser's last gasp, and the Lamb again, in Glory.

That's God's story. That's the Bible. That's the book of Revelation, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

It's all about God finding faith.

The Prayer that Birthed the Kingdom - Daniel Yordy

PDF Version for download

What is the kingdom of God?

The kingdom of God is the Father being Himself through us.

Christ as us is our own personal joy, but the kingdom is that which goes out from us to others. If our knowledge that Christ is living as us in this world were not complete, then we would imagine that we have to "fix" or "change" ourselves in some way and for some reason. That idea, then, creates all sorts of false images and always, immediately, pushes God into the background.

God being Himself and I being myself go hand in hand. That is not a formula for selfishness - indeed, we're talking about God - who is real and who is alive in us. And this God, who is real and alive in us, just being Himself, is Love.

Now, we have one example in all the universe of the Father being Himself in a visible way.

The Father cannot be Himself in heaven; angels do not make God visible. God presented Christ to the entire universe, both heaven and earth, as His express image.

The Lord Jesus was just being Himself; in full measure, God also, was just being Himself through Jesus. Thus Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is in your midst - among you." The things God did through Jesus were simply God being normal - what He really is at the core of His person.

The kingdom of God was God being Himself through Jesus; thus the kingdom of God was among them. If God, then, is in us, that same kingdom is "in the midst" of all those around us.

When God directed Adam to subdue the earth, God meant AFTER Adam would eat of the tree of life. Subduing the earth was to come by the rivers of living water flowing out of Adam's innermost being.

Since the kingdom of God is God being Himself through us, then the kingdom of God and the rivers of living water are two ways of saying the same thing. Also, to subdue the earth means to bring all things into the knowledge of God being Himself.

We must understand that God is invisible and unknowable, period. God is no more known or seen in all the heavens than He has been in all the earth. Angels long to know the God who created them, but they must wait for us to reveal Him.

The first moment in both heaven and earth that God began to be knowable and visible was the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mary's womb.

We know God by seeing Jesus.

But of course, God does not limit Himself to one person and to one personality. God wants many sons just like Jesus. Thus the kingdom, really, is God just being Himself through many, all of whom are being themselves through Him.

God gave us Jesus as an example of who we are. When we see Him as He is, that is, as the one through whom God was being Himself in a mutual relationship of joy and honor, then we KNOW that we are just like Him. God is Himself through us in the same mutual relationship of joy and honor.

This is why what Paul said is so important. "We do not know Him according to the flesh."

Jesus was a person, that is, He had a particular personality, ways of doing things, personal likes and dislikes. As individual persons, we are different from Jesus. But God is in us as we are, just as He was in Jesus as Jesus' own personality. Jesus was 100% comfortable with Himself. 

Now, before continuing, I want to bring in the one verse in the New Testament that seems to counteract the statement I just made.

Who, in the days of His flesh, when He (Jesus) had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him (God) who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Hebrews 5:7-9

This verse, taught by the ministry under which I lived for many years, was the most powerful theological concept that separated me from God. If Jesus had to line Himself up with an implacable God through "strong crying and tears," then how much more must I?

Paul said that we do not know Him "according to the flesh." That means, we do not know Him out from a separate-from-God mentality nor do we see Jesus as one who lived and walked in any way separate from the Father.

I bring in this that has been the most horrific of verses in my Christian experience because God says it and it seems to be pressing against my statement that Jesus was comfortable with Himself. And when I say "horrific," I mean only when it is used as a "how-to" verse, that is, "how to become like Jesus" through a similar "strong crying and tears." That use of this verse is an extraordinary miss-use of God, of Christ, and of salvation.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. All things that Jesus did, He did as our Head, carrying us inside Himself through what we ourselves cannot do. Those who seek to "obey" Him in outward form do not know Him, that this very One is our life. They are trying to follow the path of atonement on their own and not inside of Him.

If Jesus prayed with strong crying and tears, then He was just being Himself. And I am INSIDE of Him.

*****

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life (the life of the age to come) to as many as You have given Him. And this is the life of the age to come, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (before the age, this period of time, began). John 17:1-5

Jesus' words confirm something I said earlier, that knowing God and authority over all flesh are the same thing. God being Himself through us and rivers of living water subduing the earth are the same thing.

When Jesus said, "Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You," He was speaking of us for we are His glory. It is here, in this personal exchange with the Father, that Jesus begins to include us inside Himself.

Then Jesus prays for His disciples around Him at that time. He states: "I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept . . ."

"I do not pray for the world," is one of the most extraordinary things Jesus ever said. We must understand that the atonement is not "for the world." It is for all men, yes, but in no way for the world. We must have the distinction clear in order to see the kingdom birthed through us. But Jesus goes on to say that while He was physically present - on the outside of His disciples - He had "kept them."

Then Jesus speaks the atonement: Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

To be sanctified is to be swallowed up by the being, the essence, the person of God.

Finally, Jesus speaks the Kingdom.

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

First, Jesus specifically includes you and me inside the creative power of His words.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benegizer/808459254/

But let's back up. What is happening here? Jesus is the Word God speaks. When God said, "Let there be light," that was Jesus, the Word God speaks, issuing forth from a Father who cannot be known, making Him visible. Making God visible - light - and creating all things in both heaven and earth are the same thing. Jesus is the creation of the universe. When God speaks through Christ the ages are formed and all things spring into existence.

Now, in these words, Jesus is speaking into existence an alternate universe, another dimension - the kingdom of God. Heaven, as it is right now, is part of the first creation. Everyone who is "in heaven" remains inside the first creation. Only those who are in Christ are found in the second creation, which is not a creation at all, but rather, a birthing.

But let's focus on this reality. Just as God speaking Christ: "Let there be light," resulted in the creation of all things that exist, so these same words here are speaking into being an entire universe of reality and existence - the kingdom of God.

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4: For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And he says this in Colossians 1: Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love . . .

Paul is saying the same thing; that, just as God created all things that exist by speaking, so He does the same thing again - here - in these words of Jesus in John 17.

Let's begin with the absolute blasphemy of Jesus' words.

The Jews did not name God. Their word for God was not Yahweh, it was YHWH, breath, and unspeakable. Thus Moses said, "Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord your God is ONE.

That they all may be ONE, as (here is that Greek word again - it means "just as") - as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in Us.

Jesus defines exactly what He means as He speaks this word that births a new creation: "That they (you and me, we are right inside His words and the breath coming out of His mouth) ALL may be ONE."

If we do not understand the blasphemy of Jesus' words, we will imagine He was just talking about something of the present creation, something limited by our limitation, maybe "just getting along." We will imagine that He is giving us an ideal, something to hope for, though we cannot ever really know what it means, not until after we "go to heaven," which is, in itself, just a further part of this same original creation.

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but this misconception so fills the minds of almost all Christians that I must speak against it continually. Christians imagine that heaven is the new creation and that earth is the old creation. They do not get this idea from the Bible; they get it from the gross unbelief that fills Christianity. Heaven - the place where our loved ones live who have lost their physical bodies - is as much a part of the old creation as is the earth. God says, in Hebrews 12, that He will shatter (future tense) heaven as well as earth. Heaven is passing away.

Before we continue with the words of Jesus through which God birthed the new creation, let me say this. I am convinced that the birthing of that kingdom is a three-step process. I am convinced this is the teaching of the New Testament.

John said in Revelation 11: "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come . . ." This voice speaks right after these words: Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth . . . And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

Jesus said in Luke 13: "Go, tell that fox, (Herod) 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'

"Today" meant Jesus' time on this earth, "tomorrow" meant the age of the church, and "the third day" means the transition between two ages in which you and I are caught. Another way to understand "today and tomorrow" is as the 2,000 years of the church age, specifically, from AD 29 to AD 2029. (I am not setting a "date," we know that whatever time the Father has set, Jesus altered that time by His words, "the time will be shortened.")

This kingdom, spoken into being by Jesus' words in John 17 is in gestation in the womb of the church. That kingdom has been conceived; it has not yet been born. Revelation 12:5 is the birthing of that kingdom into open and full reality - the new creation consisting of a newly created physical realm and a newly created spiritual realm as inter-related together as the old creation heaven and earth, only more so.

The three steps of the kingdom are first, the conception, second, the gestation, and third, the birthing. The time of the birthing is upon us.

I do not believe that anyone who is right now in heaven is in the full and open experience of that new creation. It has not yet been brought forth in its reality; it has not yet been birthed.

The kingdom of God, in the present hour, is a fetus. Yet, as members of that "fetus," you and I call forth those things that "be not" as though they are. Thus the kingdom is in our mouth and in our heart.

What is the kingdom of God?

The kingdom of God is the Father being Himself through us. The kingdom of God requires physical bodies. The physical body is the temple of the living God.

That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.

God is One. God is person inside of person. In the same way that the person of the Father was inside the Man, Christ Jesus, in that exact way the person of the Father is inside of you and me AS Christ Jesus. God does not erase us, He fills us. God does not replace us, He inhabits us. God fills every particle of our being, spirit, soul, and body. God carries every particle of who and what we are inside Himself.

The act of seeing any part of yourself as separate in any possible way from the revelation of the Father is to place yourself outside of the kingdom - outside of God. Outside of, separate from, the Father is death. All who imagine that they must "get themselves" into the Spirit are dead.

Our faith, the audacity of our faith, really is the dividing line. But even that faith is not "ours," it is the faith of the One who loves us and gave Himself for us. When I say "mine," I mean His; when I say "His," I mean mine. It matters not which one I say, for they are both the same.

I am one.

I am one with God, and I am one with you. Yet that oneness is the oneness of God, that is, a oneness that never violates any individual person's integrity or respect, but at all times highly honors each individual person in every particle of their being.

This oneness is filled with the power of God, that is, with the dynamism of the One who always takes into Himself all that opposes Him, carrying even His enemies inside Himself, stumbling and falling inside the limitations of their weakness, He carries them into death - and into life, and then ascends on high, and we in Him.

Next, Jesus says, "That the world may believe that You sent Me." Let me tell you something, the world, right now, does not believe that God sent Jesus.

Key in, now, to what Jesus says next. He repeats Himself. (By the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.) Jesus speaks the conception of the kingdom a second time.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one.

We possess the glory of God; we are His glory. The purpose of glory is that we might be one. In case we missed it the first time - exactly like God is one. What does that mean? "I in them, and You in Me." Person inside of person: man as God revealed. It's not clear yet? Let's make it as clear as we can. "That they may be made perfect in one."

Do you see what I mean by blasphemy? Jesus' words are open and unrestrained blasphemy. And until we know that they are, we cannot know the kingdom being birthed out of those words.

Jesus was killed because He blasphemed. "I and the Father are One." We are just like Him.

Then Jesus repeats the effect of the kingdom a second time, only He adds another dimension. "That the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."

We must understand what these words are. These are universe-creating words.

Then come the words of the atonement. By these words, Jesus took you and me into Himself, carrying us inside Himself through that dark passage between the cherubs to the tree of life.

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me."

"I desire." "Father, this is what I want."

What do you want?

The kingdom is birthed out of desire. There is no compulsion here, no command, "Thou shalt eat."

Spirit of God, open up to us the passion, the intense fury, the depths of determination, the crazed wildness, the dauntless energy, the sheer grit, the ecstatic fervor, the storm of fire inside these two words: "I desire."

This desire is infinite, it is HOLY, it is God Himself. God is desire.

What do you want?

We know exactly what Jesus wants; He told the Father what He wants. "That they also whom You gave Me . . ." That's you and me. Any idea that it might not be me vanished from my being 34 years ago. I have not thought such a nonsensical idea since, not on the inside of me. I belong to Jesus.

". . . May be with Me WHERE I AM."

"In that day you shall know that I AM IN THE FATHER, and YOU in Me and I in YOU."

Jesus, even here, sets the birthing of the kingdom as the opposite of the world.

"The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me." 

Then Jesus' final kingdom-birthing words are, to us, the most precious.

"That the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

"AND I IN THEM."

It is impossible for us to spend too much time plummeting the depths of these four words. At no point do we ever draw a line and say, "Well, it means this much, but no more." To limit God here is to place upon ourselves the waiting of an entire age before we also may enter in.

The whole of Christianity demands an addition to these words.

PARTLY.

The choice is ours. God never says, "Partly." Nowhere in the New Testament do you find the word "Partly" added to any element of the revelation of Jesus Christ and salvation in us or as us or through us. "Partly" is moral relativism.

"And I in them" is absolute. It is eternal, it is infinite, and it is complete. It is all in all.

I am complete inside the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is complete in me.

What does this mean? It means that God is doing His thing, being who and what He is inside of, as, and through, every particle of my being all the time.

I am the kingdom of God. I am God being Himself through me.

Now, I do not "see" this outwardly, nor feel it outwardly. Thus I am not caught in the arrogance of one who makes claims for himself. I speak by faith; I speak in the absolute certainty that in my blindness, in my ignorance, in my present condition that feels very much like "lostness," the only thing I can know is what God says.

"And I in them."

Here I will hold even unto death.

Yet God is being Himself through me. That means that everything I am and everything I do and everything I go through is God reconciling the world to Himself.

"That the world may know" - not just God, but the sending of God into human flesh.

Yes, Jesus wept on His knees in the garden, some 30 minutes after He spoke the kingdom of God into existence. Jesus was a real man, just like you and me. He felt as limited by His humanity as you and I do. Yet He knew that He was acting as the Head of the body, that the entire body of Christ was kneeling before God. As the Head said, "Father, not My will, but Thine be done," so all the body spoke inside of Him. Jesus was not weeping for Himself nor for His own death.

And neither do we.

We are His heart, the expression of His passion.

Our lives in their entirety, in everything we are and in everything we go through, moment by moment, is for His bride, His precious woman, caught, now in her hour of trial.

The Love of God in all of its fullness and expression is in us.

God is just being Himself through us.

God Requires a Second Witness by Daniel Yordy

Daniel's Note:This letter is a continuation of my series "The Great Story of God." It continues as a circling around both Revelation 11 - the second witness of Christ and Revelation 12 - the climax of God's story. On Sunday, I sent an article that is essential to our understanding of what God is doing in the earth. It is in my heart, however, that this letter be an exalting of Christ inside of you. My purpose is to encourage you with all the courage of Christ. But the word God speaks through those whom He sends follows a pattern that is best seen in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 1 & 2. Notice how Paul goes back and forth between profound encouragement concerning the Word of Christ inside of precious believers versus the conflict between Christ and this world. He does not skip a beat, but flows back and forth, back and forth, from one to the other.The encouragement of Christ and the defeat of the folly of man upon this earth are two sides to the same thing. To Read this Article on the Internet: God Requires a Second Witness





God Requires a Second Witness

"And I will give unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophecy."God has placed His Word on display before the whole universe. God began by speaking, "Let there be Light." By doing so, He placed Christ above all things.But God also placed an accuser into the picture. The serpent was in the garden for God's purposes not his own. When the serpent said, "Did God indeed say," he spoke anti-Christ into the universe.Satan challenged the Word God speaks. He placed against that Word the contention that what God speaks might be fine in heaven, but it does not prevail in the earth or in man.

I watched a few minutes of a video recently in which a pastor was trying to argue that we do not "fight" the new world order because the Bible says that the kingdom does not come to earth until after Jesus "returns." He meant by that, not in this age and not in our lives.Now, the amazing thing is that the Bible says no such thing. This pastor was, in fact, joining his accusation against the Word God speaks with the accusation of the serpent.

You must always treat with great suspicion any claim that "the Bible says" this or that. I am amazed at how often when you hear those words, the New Testament says exactly the opposite of what the person claims.Here is how the Word God speaks works. Let's take a simple word from the New Testament."And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." Ephesians 5:2Now, let's start with what this is not. This is not a nice idea; it is not a suggestion; it is not eloquence; it is not an ideal: it is neither an obligation nor a duty.It is one thing and one thing alone - Christ, the Word God speaks, coming forth out of the being of God into this earth, into this age, into our ears and hearts. It is the seed of God; inside this Word are the very genes of God. When we believe this Word with all our hearts, it has the capacity to reproduce the life that is in it inside of us. More than that, it is absolute. It is unsullied perfection. It is God, untainted and incorruptible.It is the Word God speaks spoken into you and into me. "'Let there be light,' and there was light."Now the pastor I mentioned, and orthodox Christianity, insists that this word is not Christ come again in us. They insist that it is not God's will for this word to be fulfilled in those of us upon this earth who hear it. They insist that it is not God's will that His will be done in this earth in the same way it is done in heaven. This accusation is part of the spirit of anti-Christ.God Himself brought into the picture, into His story, this accusation against Himself, against the word He speaks."By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established." 2 Corinthians 13: 1 - Deuteronomy 19: 15From the time that the serpent first introduced anti-Christ into the ears of man, God allotted 4000 years until the fullness of times, and then God sent His Word into the earth in the flesh.

Jesus was the first witness that the Word God speaks is true, that it is fulfilled in this age, in this earth, in human flesh. Jesus proved the will of God in His body, a body that was subject to all the weakness of death.But the witness Jesus provided did not squelch the accusation against God that His Word was fine in heaven, it just can't be fulfilled in the earth, in human flesh. In fact the opposite happened, and the spirit of anti-Christ rose to new levels of accusation against God.Now the serpent had a better place to occupy than he had before. Now, he could fill the church and Christian theology with his claim that the Word God speaks cannot be fulfilled in human flesh, not in this age and not in this world.John says in 1 John, that the spirit of anti-Christ is centered around the claim that Jesus, the word God speaks, is not revealed in human flesh.Now here is the incredible testimony that the church has raised against the witness of Christ that God sent into the world. They claim that the witness of Jesus DOES NOT COUNT. Why? Because, they say, "Jesus was God and not man only, therefore, since He was "different," God could easily reveal Himself in Jesus, but He still can't reveal Himself in you and in me."But this second accusation against God, that Jesus was "God" and therefore His witness does not count, was also inside of God's intention. That is why theologians go to such great effort with such convoluted arguments to "prove" that Jesus was God while He walked on the earth, even though the apostles and Jesus both argued from beginning to end that He was in fact, man, in whom God dwelt. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 2: 5And that is why God wrote into His story, from before He ever began to tell it, the second witness of Christ.God intends to prove against all railing accusation that His Word, spoken out of His mouth, fulfills all that is in it in all completeness and perfection, inside the earth into which it was spoken and inside human flesh where it dwells.

God intends to prove this great triumph in you and in me.We are caught in the grip of His determination. And just as God allotted 4000 years until the first witness of Christ, so He has allotted 2000 years, 2 days, for the accusation of anti-Christ to come to its fullness in the church.This thing is not about us, about whether we are blessed or happy or whether we have hope or faith or a future, or anything about us. It is about God proving in us that the Word that He speaks, Christ Jesus, is fulfilled in all fullness in human flesh.The witness of Christ is not the testimony of most evangelism, which states that if you accept Christ, you will go to heaven someday. "Go to heaven someday" is an integral part of the accusation against God, an integral part of the spirit of anti-Christ. When I say that, I do not mean to bring any accusation against any dear believers who have their hope set in "heaven" as a "place" that answers all things and not in Christ inside of them. Jesus is the Savior and He does all things well.But the fact the Christianity has evolved the doctrine of "heaven" as a replacement for the Word God speaks being fulfilled in them does nothing to hinder or prevent the telling of the Great Story of God. In fact, that accusation against God is central to God's whole story.

We are finally ready, now, to venture into Revelation Chapter 11 more directly. I have been circling around it all this time because the approach to Revelation and to the story God is telling as it is found in Christianity stands together with the serpent in accusation against God and until we can get out of that accusation and into the knowledge of Christ - the Word God speaks fulfilled in our human flesh, we cannot have any idea of what Revelation 11 is about.But let me conclude this letter by stating what the two witnesses are not and then by sharing my present understanding of what they are.

It is a hideous accusation against the Lord Jesus Christ to claim that these two witnesses are literally Enoch or Moses or Elijah sent back to earth to do in the earth what Christ in us has failed to do. God says clearly in Hebrews 8 that He found fault with the Old Covenant and set it aside. But He says of Christ, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"To claim that God would then, at the end of the age of human folly, reject the Son of His bosom and revert back to the law which was never kept by anyone in order to "prove" Himself in the earth is the depths of anti-Christ nonsense."God, You did it back then, but you sure as hell can't do it in me, not here and not now."Forgive my choice of words, but this accusation against the Lord Jesus in us is so insidiously evil that we must have it clear in our hearts and minds how obnoxious it really is.But more than that, we must understand that John, in describing the two witnesses, is not describing an elite, above-human, aberration in the human experience. He is describing the normal Christian life. There is nothing about these two witnesses that is not true inside everyone in whom Christ dwells.We are His witnesses. Jesus said we are.

But then, we must look more specifically at this moment in the unfolding of the Great Story of God.We are right now well into the transition between the age of human folly and the age that is to come. I cannot comprehend those who are now trying to argue that we are not, after all, at the end of the present age. They have their eyes closed tightly shut and their head buried in the ground. Just Monsanto alone is enough to show us that it's over with as far as the life humans have known on this earth for 6000 years. Genetically engineered plants are the greatest scourge the earth has ever known, and the evil they are and will produce cannot be slowed down or reversed by any present knowledge of man. And the evil men who run Monsanto know this fully. Their intentions are right out of the belly of Satan. Frankenstein's monster has been loosed in earnest. And that is just one of the many present evils that did not exist when most of us were born. If you think I want my children to live their lives in the humanly irreversible nightmare that is being created right now on this earth by wicked man, you've got it wrong. I may be a weak and tired man, but I am filled with all the fullness of God.But God's jealousy in me for the end of the age of human folly is another topic.The key word of the book of Revelation is, of course, "revelation," or "apokalupsis," meaning the unveiling of Jesus Christ. But a close second, and essential for that unveiling is the word "martureo" or "martyr." The modern English word "martyr" has picked up its own slightly different meaning, but the Greek word that is better translated as "witness" or "testimony" is second in the plan and purpose of God only to the "unveiling" of Jesus Christ.Revelation 11 is the witness, the proof, that the Word God speaks, Christ, is fulfilled in human flesh, in this age and on this earth. Revelation 12 is the unveiling of Jesus Christ.These are two sides of the same thing. Both Revelation 11: 3 and Revelation 12: 5 are speaking of the same thing - Christ in us - the normal Christian life in all that God meant it to be.So what am I saying?In the culmination of His story, as the final proof that the Word that comes out of His mouth prevails in the place into which it was spoken, God will have a people, you and me, humans, redeemed from sin and rebellion against God, whose hearts are filled with the love of Jesus, who will walk upon this earth, in these dying bodies, in just the same way that Jesus walked, revealing all the fullness of God through them upon this earth in all perfection, exactly as Jesus walked.Christians can disbelieve such a thing all they want, but they cannot prevent it from happening. They cannot, with all of their arguments, prove God to be a liar. They cannot stop Him from doing what He says through those who believe Him.

But look at me; I am nothing more than Daniel Yordy. Many people know me very well, I lived in a glass house - Christian community - for many years. They know my shortcomings and my downfallings. How is it that I dare to believe that I, also, am part of that fulfillment of the Word God speaks?I want to be with Him. When He PROVES Himself in the earth, I want, with all of my heart, for Him to prove Himself in me. To be anywhere else, to be found incomplete and wanting, when God shows Himself through His own, this is inconceivable to me, it cannot be looked at.Yet I am weak; I fail so many times. Myself, I can do nothing - except one thing.I can say to Jesus, "I belong to You. Let it be to me according to all that You speak."

And so I have no choice, I must declare with all confidence and boasting:Christ is my life; I have no other life.

Be blessed in the Lord,

Daniel Yordy