Thought it might help someone somewhere to post thoughts here as the Lord continually teaches me the sanctity of the mundane. Ill post as often as possible, as long as the liberty is there.

Colossians 3:15

Let the peace of God rule in your heart. This peaceful, quietness of the inner man is the tell tale sign of walking in the light with our thoughts turned to the ever present God. The world becomes a blissful background image to the ruling peace and presence of God, and His statutes become a burden no more, but an outflow of the Christ life within. With our thoughts turned to God and His free redeeming grace, allow Jesus, by the Holy Spirit to live freely and have His being, loving one another and you shall realize that the bond of perfectness is indeed love - but it is Jesus that lives and moves and has His being in and through us. What grace we have to walk in our mundane everyday lives with this peace and light within us.

"Christ in you"

This statement, as well as hundreds more throughout the Bible is always stated by churchmen as a question. "Is Christ BEING formed in you"; "How do we..."; "What do we..."? You've heard it said that we attain this by prayer, Bible study, tears, "travail" (ironically this mention is someone travailing for Christ to be formed in others). Any number of things to "fill us up more" with Jesus. I've always winced at these saying as Jesus doesn't dismember Himself in order to give us part of Him.

It is Christ in you. His entirety. All of Him. There is no more of Him to obtain once we gain Him. He is all ours or not ours at all. It's akin to birth, but tragically, through prayer, disciplines and other forms of self improvement, we have performed the most dastardly partial birth abortion in history.

It is only when we cease our efforts to work something up via effort, no matter how noble it may look on the surface, that God in His giving mercy will send something down.

Resting in the Lord is exactly that, resting. It is only when we cease our efforts that Jesus will begin His. My life in the manifest presence of God has nothing to do with prayer, Bible study or abstaining from things, and everything to do with Jesus living and moving, and having His being in me, as me. This is faith, inwardly seeing that results in outward doing, and it is God Who works, while we rest.

"That ye might be filled with all of fullness of God"

The epistle to the Ephesians is rich with promises, all of which are yes and amen to us. The overarching theme of Paul's writing is this great mystery, the almighty God of all creation making us His habitation by faith. In Jesus dwelt all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and here we see a wonderful promise, that we might be filled in this same way.

It is the great promise of salvation that we might walk in this world even as Jesus walked, that we are in this world even as He was. The Son of man promised we would do even greater works than He did, as lofty as this seems to the carnal christian, still striving against these promises with self disciplined effort.

In me dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the total fullness of God. When we allow the word to cut asunder spirit, soul and body, we begin to see that we are as He was in this life, and our desires, our will, our wants become His wants and we can live freely knowing He works in us to will and do His good pleasure. What we do issues forth from who we are, and who we are is simply a container for Jesus. We can live knowing that our desires and mind are His; we can go through life free to make our decisions, hold our conversations and walk through our lives, because when Jesus takes up residence within, they are no longer ours but His.

What a joy and peace to know the freedom of Christ in me! What great promises we are given to live as Christ lives, knowing He is our example of living. We were never meant to live the Christian life; we were meant to allow the risen Christ to live it through us, Christ in our Human forms.

When we work God rests, but what joy it is when we stop working and God begins to work for us. We rest while our loving savior works. This, and only this, is true Christian life.

You wrote:
"It is Christ in you. His entirety. All of Him. There is no more of Him to obtain once we gain Him. He is all ours or not ours at all. "
Paul wrote: "But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ,(Phil 3:8,Ampl)

"It's akin to birth, but tragically, through prayer, disciplines and other forms of self improvement, we have performed the most dastardly partial birth abortion in history."
Biblical prayers are not for self improvement.
Jesus prayed often and he told his disciples to pray
Luke 22:40 When He came to the place, He told them, “Pray that you will not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed, 42“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”…
Jesus did not pray for self improvement !

"When we work God rests, but what joy it is when we stop working and God begins to work for us. We rest while our loving savior works.
This, and only this, is true Christian life."
This is a completely false claim !

What you write is not biblical faith.
Pray that the Lord may help you to find the truth.

Markus

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure"

Paul penned this expansive epistle to the church at Philippi while awaiting an unknown fate in prison. It is full of glorious forward looking to the day of Jesus return, while also full of exhortation to the saints to stand strong in faith while experiencing onslaughts from every angle; physical, mental and doctrinal persecutions.

Man is prone to isolate Pauls writings the one from the other, rip them from their overall context and also forget who they are written to. Often Paul is exhorting Christians who are not yet walking as he did, with the indwelling Christ; or those who are blown around by every opposition; or those who have experienced trials of their faith, both in those who labor to refute the gospel of grace with a return to laborious works, forsaking the liberty we find in Jesus, and those who simply seek to kill those who make open professions of Christ.

Here we see a healthy dose of all of this, as well as personal greeting and exhortations to trust only those sent from Paul himself. Paul took great ownership of this great Gospel, even calling it "my gospel" at one point.

Why is this important? Paul exhorts those who are easily swayed by doctrines of men to stand fast in faith. Paul exhorts those who are physically threatened to stand fast in faith. Paul assures the saints that his message is Gods message, and none others are to be trusted, bringing to remembrance Jesus words, the promise of His indwelling by the Spirit of truth to teach us all things, with no need for mans teaching. Pride is deadly, and when men seek to dissect and reinterpret plain scripture and hard sayings, it again brings to mind the glorious truth spoken by Jesus, "And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"

Scathing words, and an indictment to all those that seek the person of Christ in scripture. Gods infallible scriptures are how we learn of Jesus and the life He gives us in Him, the commands that He Himself empowers us to obey by virtue of His indwelling, but by no means are a substitute to His person and knowing Him.

Paul was not new in this message of the indwelling Christ, who is in fact the Word of God. This too is a hard saying, the Bible is not in fact the Word of God, the person of Jesus is. The Bible is the expression of Gods mind to humanity to lead us to the risen Messiah, Jesus. Infallible and true, every jot and tittle, yet not the Word of God.

Paul is constantly grieved by those that seek to divide and conquer the church through either works, persecution or the "I am of Paul" mentality. We see this same persecutive spirit at work in the world today, and in our nation it manifest in the cults of dogma, and denies the power of the resurrection.

Paul exhorts in this epistle to stand fast in the perfection we have attained in Christ and persevere, working out our salvation in the midst of the ruling powers of the worlds systems with fear and trembling, standing fast in the faith he preached, the pure Gospel of grace through faith.

Great again is the promise that it is in fact God that works in us not only to do, but to WILL to do. Jesus not only gives us all sufficiency in all things to abound to every good work, but also the desires and wants necessary. To those of us walking in grace by faith, and through sanctification have Christ abiding in us, we can say with great joy, "Christ lives in me, and I do as I please". We can live in perfect will and mind alignment with the God of the universe, and through faith know that God in His rich mercy will live this life through us.

Yet again, this epistle that is so often used by men to dethrone the grace and promises of God, proves to us that nothing can separate us from the grace of God; and we are to consider the trying of our faith a great joy, even though sometimes sorrowful in our bodies and souls. We are strong in our inner man and therefore, since we are partakers of the divine nature, the true vine, even the physical and intellectual trials will only serve to glorify Jesus.

Stand strong in faith saints, and look forward to the final return of Jesus. The kingdom of God is within you now, and will be made physically manifest when every knee finally bows to our now present indwelling savior. I rejoice in this promise, and will by faith walk in the perfection I have attained through faith, with eyes raised waiting for the perfection of all things being brought to bow to the rightful king of kings when He gloriously returns.

Let none deceive you, by grace you are saved, walk and live pure by virtue of continually growing in the knowledge of the indwelling person of Christ; and I say with Paul, even those that preach Christ out of contention, I rejoice that Christ is preached.

"Pray without ceasing"

This text, penned by the pioneering apostle, once again pushes us to tread what seems like impossible new terrain. This is another scriptural command that is oft misused and abused, being held up as a lofty and unattainable standard reserved for those special few. The ivory tower sorts with calloused knees and tear stained eyes. But the apostle isn't setting us up for failure in this over worked and modern life.

Prayer is much more than a set aside time for devotional duty. It is a lifestyle of heart attunement to the ever present God. Words mean far less in prayer than we are often taught, and the revered "prayer closet" is misinterpreted now more than ever.

Prayer is a disposition of life that is a stillness of mind as it simply basks in the ever presence of a loving God. The spirit intercedes for us, and when we are still, just knowing that God is God, this is sometimes the most profitable form of prayer. The secret place of our inner selves is the closet of prayer that is never in a place we are unable to occupy, and this is where God dwells in all His glory.

When we allow ourselves to simply turn our thoughts to God and listen for His voice, and acknowledge His presence, our souls become a well spring of living water, peace, joy, and revival. Location doesn't matter anymore when we thoroughly embrace the omnipresent God. The disposition of prayer replaces the position of prayer, and inwardly we are renewed minute by minute by the indwelling of Christ.

ESchaible,

_________________
Jade

ESchaible
I have already mentioned what you write is not biblical faith.
What you write has more to do with mysticism and new age stuff, very concerning !

You wrote: "Prayer is a disposition of life that is a stillness of mind as it simply basks in the ever presence of a loving God."
This is nowhere found in Scripture. Instead we read in Luke 11: 1
One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.…

"the promise of His indwelling by the Spirit of truth to teach us all things, with no need for mans teaching."
Jesus said: Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.

"This too is a hard saying, the Bible is not in fact the Word of God, the person of Jesus is"
The Bible is the very inspired Word of God !

As I said above: Pray that the Lord may help you find the truth.
I'm concerned about your salvation, may you have ears to hear.

Markus

"That you may know"

As the Lord leads me into more and more understanding of what it means to love Him, follow Him, and live in relationship with Him in the world we find ourselves in today, it is sometimes enrapturing to find those that shared the same leadings. We are so often drawn about by the powers as they seek to distract us, pulling our attention away from God to seemingly innocuous earthly things; things we simply have to do and take care of as we each live our lives. It is dangerous to label these necessaries as sinful or "worldly", as even the pillars we look to as fathers in the faith were some simple coal miners; and the Lord of Lords spent some 30 years as a carpenter.

I am a firm believer that a faith that is true is a faith that penetrates to the depths. Not only the depths of our souls and spirits, but also a complete permeation of our entire lives. If we are unable to live the life we are given with God, than the life we think we have been given is a mere facade, a deception of the powers.

To call back to what I said concerning finding like minds and other burning hearts, I want to simply point out another pilgrim who also was taught the simplicity of knowing the person of Jesus, rather than the barren desert of lettered head knowledge. I don't often feel liberty to quote those who are not the infallible writers of the Bible, but the words of AW Tozer smack with prophetic significance for this modern age, perhaps more even than his own day.

"We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored. All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Let these words burn in your hearts and serve as a catalyst to resist those that encourage the dry seeking of scripture to find eternal life, as even Jesus Himself told us bluntly that those are they that speak of Him. All things must be weighed in the light of plain scripture apart from mans doctrinal gymnastics; but NEVER forget Jesus is in fact a person who indwells the believer by faith, and as such can be known in that way.