We need to allow HIS GRACE to increase in our lives more and more each day... His grace is the royal blood that is rushing through our veins that enables us to be true kings and priests of His Kingdom!!
Unedited from the Heart of the Father all spoken between April 28 and May 5 2011.
God often speaks but never to this length or depth. Every spare moment during these days He would pour out His heart in words as I typed just trying to keep up. I would never have imagined it would have amounted to this many pages or words it is quite beyond me and written far greater than I could have possibly written in my wildest dreams (unfortunately my writing skills only limited this but the Lord by His mercy has made it clear despite my inability.)
I would not even feel to share this with anyone, because just like when a friend shares secrets deep in their hearts, when the Lord speaks we must treasure it and only share it as He tells us to. Only as His words were drawing to a close the Lord made it very clear this is a message that He desperately wants to speak to all His children. I have been praying and asking the Lord for His will to be done and He would do exactly what He wants with what HE has written it is His book and I want to take no credit for it whatsoever. I just want to get out of the way and decrease, so He can increase and be glorified.
I pray that He would be glorified and speak clearly to you about your destiny as His child. His Will be done in your life.
A month ago God miraculously spoke an entire book to me in eight days. As the Father spoke I sensed His urgency and longing for His children to awaken to who they are as children of God and wake up to the Eternal plan that God wants to accomplish through His children to fulfill His eternal plan and kingdom in this world and universe.
Unless you know who you are, where you came from and where you are going you will waste your life wandering aimlessly. Unless you know the destiny you have been created for you will be totally incapable of fulfilling it. This is the great tragedy of the Christian church, we do not know who we are, who our Father is and His Eternal Plan for His church and thus are unable to live the monumental destiny He has created us for.
As God spoke it really began to open my eyes up to our true identity as a child of the King of the Universe. What an unfathomable privelege and awe to call the King of the Universe my Holy Father. I pray through His words our Heavenly Father would continue to open our eyes more each day to simply be in awe of our most Awesome Holy Father.
Destiny Awaits
Unless you know who you are, where you came from and where you are going you will waste your life wandering aimlessly. Unless you know the destiny you have been created for you will be totally incapable of fulfilling it. This is the great tragedy of the Christian church, we do not know who we are, who our Father is and His Eternal Plan for His church and thus are unable to live the monumental destiny He has created us for.
Your Heavenly Father yearns more than you could evern comprehend, to awaken you His child to your destiny He has created you for. How will you respond?
Embark on a journey that will change your life forever. Discover your true identity and fullness of your spiritual inheritance that your heavenly Father longs for you to live. He created you for this purpose and sent His son to die on a cross to make this inheritance available to you.
Who am I?
Every person spends their life wondering who they are, ever searching for and building their own identity. This is a great tragedy because there are many Christians who do the same thing when the Father has recreated them in Jesus Christ with a sure and definite identity. If you are a child of God, you should not wonder like the rest of the world who you are because you have been made in the image and likeness of God!!
Every action, thought and word in our lives is influenced by your perceived identity. Your identity is the source of everything in your life, it determines how you act today and who you will become tomorrow. Until you find your true identity in Christ, you will live like the rest of society and miss out on the life your Heavenly Father has created you to live.
God clearly tells us in His word our true identity.
Gen 1:26 ? And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The Father's Great Plan for His Children
The Father created you in His very own image to be an extension (the Fathers hands and feet) of His heart, His will and His eternal kingdom on this earth!!
This is such a great privilege, it is truly incomprehendible. Do you realize this is the sole purpose you have been created for? For it was the Father's good pleasure and great delight that He created you in His image and likeness!! As a King longs for a son to carry on his legacy and kingdom, the Father has created you in his image as his children to be His kingdom representatives in the earth.
It would be incredible just to be an amabassdor of such a great kingdom, but you are not just an ambassador who just carries messages from the King. The King created you in his likeness to bear his image that you would not just be an ambassador of His Kingdom but that you would be the very heart and will and mind of your Heavenly Father. You don't have to look outside of yourself or call the king because the king has created you in His image with His very heart.
The Fathers plan for His children is so great, one cannot even begin to comprehend it. It was the Fathers great plan when He created mankind that they would expand the garden of Eden (the glory, authority and power of the kingdom of God) across the whole planet earth and even beyond!!!!!
Tragically, man decided to depart from the Creator's great plan, reasoning that his ways would be better and he could become like God and be in total control. He did not realize this would be impossible, since mankind was created with an innate need to follow something (you are never in control of your life... only following that which you have chosen to rule over you.. whether it be the gods kingdom or another kingdom.. many is only a servant of the kingdom he chooses to live in whether the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.. "freedom" is only an illusion of the great deciever for the only place to truly be free is in the kingdom of God bearing his image and likeness (for this is what the human being was created for) anything outside of this is bondage.
Creation was subject to bondage because the ones who were governing it (human beings) gave their authority over to the evil one. Now every thing was backwards. But the Creator was not surprised or caught off guard, for even before making mankind he foresaw all of this taking place. That is why He sent His only son as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
Have you ever wondered, why did He even bother going through all this hastle? Why did He create a race of beings knowing that they would walk away and defy the very one who made them? Why send the most precious thing, the Fathers only son, to be disrespected and executed??? But this is the awesome and unfathomable depths of the love of tour Creator, even before the foundation of the world sending His Son to die to redeem a seemingly worthless and rebellious race of pathetic beings.
When you think of all the Father has done, it really doesnt make sense does it?? We deserve nothing at all in fact, the earth (in its current state) would have been better off if man had not been created at all. So why bother making mankind. For this one decision has greatly destroyed and corrupted an otherwise perfect creation? Why?
His ways are Higher than our ways
The Fathers plans are always perfect. He knows what He is doing.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth.
No one can even begin to fathom the greatness of His ways and His eternal plan. It is because of His final plan (of HIS GREAT KINGDOM covering the earth as waters cover the sea) that He created mankind (that they would bear His glory and be the ones who His kingdom would come through) and has continually intervened in unfathomable ways since the beginning of the world ONLY TO BRING MANKIND TO THE VERY HOUR THAT IS UPON US NOW..
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, - Gal 4:4 KJV
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. - Gal 4:5 KJV
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. - Gal 4:6 KJV
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. - Gal 4:7 KJV
When the Messiah came, all Israel understood he was coming to establish a kingdom but they completely failed to see or understand the kingdom that Jesus came to set up. Two thousand years later we still do not understand the kingdom that Jesus came to this earth and died that He could begin.
Jesus said it is expedient that I go away. He insisted that the way this kingdom would be set up is by the king coming and dying. That doesnt really sound like a good plan for establishing a kingdom, but Gods ways are higher than mans way. How little we comprehend the greatness of the Fathers plan from the very beginning.
For what Adam lost and corrupted - God had created him to bear his image, and rule and establishing the kingdom of God across the whole earth - Christ came to BEGIN A NEW RACE OF BEINGS (as the ones in Genesis 1) who would once again bear the image of the Father and establish His kingdom in all the earth!! Christ came to redeem us from the fallen adam nature that we would be literally reborn as an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TYPE OF BEING. It would be as if you were a tiny ant and by Christs redemption you are born again as a LION, a completely totally different creature.
As an ant you were tiny and insignificant and a slave but recreated in Christ you become like the Lion of Judah Himself, bearing His very image and likeness to establish and extend the Kingdom of God across the whole earth. For just as Jesus was a king so too we are kings of his kingdom. As David foreshadowed in the old testament we have become both kings and priests unto our God, just like Christ in every way. For we are reborn in his image, not just a little bit like Him but exactly like Him!!!!
The very same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you and I!! The resurrection life that raises you from the dead even while in this mortal body is in you now. The very same power that raised Lazurus from the tomb dwells in you and I!!! This very same power has raised us to life, when we were previously dead in sin. If this were not enough Jesus said that we raised us to new life so that we could do greater things than He had ever done on the earth!!!
Such a thought seems ridiculous and impossible. Many religious people would even get mad at you for daring to believe that you can be like Jesus. You cant do those kinds of things, only Jesus can do that. How quick we are to disbelieve the bible and believe our carnal mind instead! How quickly we dismiss and disbelieve the words of Jesus!!!
How greatly we limit ourselves from what God has planned and prepared for our lives. How often He looks and us saying, IF only YOU WOULD BELIEVE ME and TRUST ME!! God has an extraordinary plan for every moment of our lives. There is no such thing as an ordinary day, not even an ordinary moment or second!!! Gods promises in His word are so great and every person who believes such promises begins to live an extraordinary life. God created you in such a way and has so great of a plan that you would not be ordinary even for a second!! How great the Fathers heart breaks longing for believers to BELIEVE HIM!!
Can you hear the heart cry of Jesus when he says, when I return will I find faith on the earth??? WILL ANYONE BELIEVE ME?? Will my people find and begin to live their true destiny in Christ? God wants you to stop searching the world for validation or approval. He wants us to stop wondering who we are and begin to look for our true identity in His Eternal Word.
Can we we begin to believe our true identity, that we have been created in our Heavenly Father's image and likeness? He wants us to dare to believe all of God's Word, not reasoning out the things that we can't understand or don't have faith to believe for. Don't be limited by your natural mind for it can't even begin to comprehend the greatness of His calling and plan for your life. Will you dare to believe ALL OF GODS Word and simply say, though I can't even begin to comprehend this, I believe it because you have spoken Father!
This is the faith that God is looking for in the earth. The greatest faith does not believe for personal gain or to ask for material goods or to raise the dead or anything else. The greatest faith that God is longing for in His people is to SIMPLY BELIEVE HIS WORD!!! You will never amount to anything your life unless you decide to believe God's word, whether you understand it or not. Until you begin to believe God's Word you will spend your life searching for a lower and pathetic identity in this world. Sadly, there are many believers today who are more concerned with their identity in this world than their spiritual identity in Christ. If only I would realize the greatness of my identity in Christ, I would never seek any other identity.
For God has made you His own son through faith in Christ Jesus. - Gal 3:26 NASB
If that were not enough, He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, - Eph 1:3 NASB
Can you even imagine what it means to be blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in heavenly places???
What greatness awaits you! But you will never find your God given destiny and full inheritance as a child of God until you begin to believe God's word declares your TRUE IDENTITY!!!
[6] and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ... [10] For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. - Eph 2:6, 10 NASB
You are a child of the GREAT KING OF THE UNIVERSE!! Your father is the king of the universe and are you heir to all that He is and has. It's time to awaken to your true identity and discover the inheritance that awaits you as a child of the King. For He has raised you up to sit with Him on His throne in heavenly places!! This is a great place of authority and power over the entire kingdom!!
Awaken to Your True Identity
You were a slave but you have been set free.
Imagine growing up as a slave your entire life. The king visits your village and something incredible happens. He recognizes you. The kings parade is going through the village and his eyes meet with yours. His countenance is changed and immediately he sends his servants to take hold of you and brings you into his chambers. You are terrified unsure what to think.
The king begins to account to you a very tragic tale of how his only son next to sit on the throne was kidnapped and vanished never to be found again. In desperation, the king searched the kingdom many times over again for his son but could not find him.
Not until today at least. To your amazement the king proceeds to explain that you are the missing son he has searched so long and hard for. Would you believe him and allow him to set you free from your captivity and go back to the palace and live as the son of the great king enjoying all the benefits, privileges and responsibilities of being the heir to the throne? Oh course you would!
Yet when our heavenly Father, the great king of all kings comes to us in our slavery and bondages of this world, recognizes us and brings us into his presence announcing to our wonder and awe that we are no longer slaves to this world but children of the great king Himself, why are not as excited? If you were the slave in the parable you would be overjoyed and run to your father's kingdom as fast as you could with no thought of looking back. So why don't we believe our heavenly Father when he declares an even more wonderful and awesome salvation? Why don't we believe our heavenly Father with all of our hearts as we would an earthly king. We would be overwhelmed and immediately accept our new found identity of an earthly kingdom. So why do we hesitate to believe we are children of an eternal kingdom that is so much greater?
As the slave in the parable without a doubt your life would change forever. You would no longer be a slave in anyway. However, the way you think act and talk will need to be radically transformed you would still act as a slave.
This is our greatest struggle as believers, we accept Christ as king and lord of our lives and we are recreated of a new race born in the image and likeness of the Father but still have the mindset of a slave. Though it is a most awesome thing to be saved by the blood of Christ and be eternally rescued, you will never fulfill the destiny God has created you for, unless you allow him to change your slavery mentality and to awaken your heart to who you truly are.
Only when God awakes your heart to who He has recreated you to be, will you be able to fulfill the God given destiny that Jesus went to the cross to make possible. It is a very sobering thought to realize that we can miss out on the full salvation that Christ died for if we do not allow him to awaken our hearts and minds to our true identity. You need to know who you. It will change the way you live in every detail of your life!!
Father awaken our hearts to who you have created us to be. I want to believe your word and your plan with all my heart. Please show me who you have created me to be as a child of your eternal kingdom. Father like the slave in the parable show me how to believe you with all my heart mind and strength. From this moment forward please show this child how to live m entire life, every moment of every day in newness of life in your eternal kingdom. Like the slave in the parable this day I accept by faith that I am a child of the great king and I run to your kingdom with all my heart no looking back. Father I thank you in advance for leading my every step on this great journey to the fullness of my inheritance that you have created me for.
Who is keeping you from recieving your inheritance??
Neither height nor depth can separate you from Christ. Then if Christ has broken the chains of Your captivity what is stopping you from going free?? Imagine a prisoner serving life in prison, is pardoned and his cell is opened but he chooses to stay in his cell. Is this not totally insane?? Sadly as Christians the insanity is so prevelant that it seems normal. Many people accept Jesus as their personal savior and faithfully attend church but live their entire lives in some type of bondage. This is a great tragedy because it is the Father's will that no born again believer would live in bondage. Christ did not die to set you partially free but totally and completely free. We are limiting what Christ has done for us on the cross if we do not allow him to totally set us free.
This too was the problem with Israel when God delivered them from Egypt. God had miraculously set them free from Egyptian captivity but they were still in their minds they were still slaves. Imagine if you experienced the miraculous power of God sending the ten plagues on Egypt and then parting the Red Sea for all of Israel could pass through and then closing it on the Egyptians. Clearly if you were an Israelite in the Exodus you could claim to know God. But this is not the cause because even after seeing great power and miracles of God, they were still living as slaves and had no idea who thy were or the greatness power and glory of the God who they served.
This is an important truth that we must absorb deep into our hearts. Witnessing and even taking part in miracles, even great miracles of power and deliverance from God, will not help us to see God more clearly unless we allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate our hearts. Jesus Himself emphatically reminds us that "in that day there will be those who have done miracles in my name and I will say I never knew you". He also adds in another place a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign. Miracles are a tremendous display of Gods power but we must not follow miracles but rather we must follow Christ! A great problem occurs when we begin to seek signs and wonders and not the Father Himself. This is a very dangerous place that will only leave one deceived. If we are not willing to be transparent and surrendered in the presence of a Holy God we should not seek miracles for it will only leave us deceived.
Miracles are tremendous of displays of Gods power that are intended to only point and lead to the Father Himself. God gives us miracles to draw us into His presence. He performed many miracles for the children of Israel to deliver them from Egypt, only to lead them into a divine encounter with Himself. In like manner God has provided many miracles in my life to lead me from the world, redeem me by the blood of the Lamb and is continuing to use miracles in my life to lead me deeper into His presence. I greatly appreciate and marvel at the miracles God has done in my life because they only reveal a greater glimpse of His power and splendor but I do not seek miracles. I long only to Know Him and live in His sight. I know the miracles will not transform my mind and unlock my inheritance and lead me to my God given destiny but miracles are like neon signposts along the road that lead me to the presence of the living God where I will encounter Him and be forever changed. God does not want us to be satisfied and seeking miracles, but gives them to us as a glimpse of who He is that we would seek Him more and with all of our hearts.
By His mighty hand and miraculous power He lead Israel. In His own words the Father speaks from His heart,
You know how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.5Now if you will obey me and keep my gcovenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.6And you will be my kingdom of hpriests, my holy nation.' This is the message you must give to the people of Israel." Exodus 19:5-6 NLT
Read these words again as if the Father is speaking directly too you because this is a new testament promise to all believers. (Peter actaully quotes this exact same scripture in one of his letters.)
You know how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.5Now if you will obey me and keep my gcovenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.6And you will be my kingdom of hpriests, my holy nation.' This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.
He too has carried us on eagles wings of deliverance from the world and has brought us to Himself. He has brought us to Himself that we would be his own special treasure, his own children!! A priest speaks of having a special relationship with God. To be a priest of the most High God is the greatest honor bestowed upon any being because you bear the Father's name and represent the King of Kings to the rest of the world. Imagine being an Israelite at this point. God has just delivered you from 400 years of slavery and now the King above all Kings is declaring His deepest longing to place you in the highest position of His kingdom giving you the honor of representing the Greatest King in the history of the world. Wow!! Selah (pause and think calmly) Can you even begin to fathom this? Going from the lowest position to the highest position in the world. Wow will the whole world bow to us now, you wonder with great anticipation. The future looks bright and surely within a couple of years all the world will bow to us. If God be for us, who can be against us? We will be the glory and dread of all nations!!
So what happened?? Clearly God had delivered Israel to captivity, setting them free from all slavery and made them priests and kings (sons of God in new testament language). As Israel correctly said if God is for us who can be against us. With the power and miracles of God behind them they would conquer and obtain their God given inheritance that awaited.
A Willing Heart is More than Words
7So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him.8And all the people responded together, "We will do everything the Lord has commanded." So Moses brought the people's answer back to the Lord.
Moses returned to share with the great plan of the Father that they should become priests and kings. The people responded saying they would do all that God had said.
9Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you."
Moses told the Lord what the people had said.10Then the Lord told Moses, "Go down and prepare the people for my arrival.
Notice God did not deliver Israel from Egypt and lead them straight to the Promiseland. If you look geographically on a map Mount Sinai is not the most direct route to the promise land of Canaan. Did God give Moses bad directions? Of course not. God knew the only way that Israel could obtain their inheritance is to have their minds transformed in the presence of the living God and learn their true identity. If they went to the promiseland as slaves they would not be able to obtain their inheritance. Likewise, we cannot obtain our eternal inheritance and live our God given destiny unless we are transformed by the presence of the Living God.
All the miracles, signs and wonders God had done to deliver Egypt from slavery were to bring them to this point where they would encounter God and hear Him speak, so that they would be transformed and always trust [believe] Him. The success of Israel unlocking their destiny and obtaining their inheritance hinged on this pivotal moment. For though God had brought them out of slavery, they still had the mindset of a slave. Here in the presence of the Living God their entire being would be transformed so that they would be able to obtain the inheritance and God given destiny ordained for them.
16On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram's horn, and all the people trembled.
The great day finally arrived and the presence of God descended on the mountain but instead of Israel drawing near to the presence of God, they trembled in fear. This is one of the most remarkable passages in all scripture. Israel had seen God's miracles and deliverance many times so why are they now afraid? What was different about this time that even Moses who had seen the burning bush and knew God more than all Israel
was so frightened at the sight that he said, "I am terrified and trembling."
The Difference between Miracles and the Presence of God
God is omnipresent everywhere all the time but the fullness and weight of His presence is not everywhere all the time. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for the "glory" of God is kabowd. It is defined as all that God is. This tiny word describes God's nature, character, heart and his entire being.
When God is present in all of His glory everything thing that is hidden will be exposed because He Himself is light!
1It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a ilofty jthrone, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.2Attending him were mighty kseraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.3They were calling out to each other,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his aglory!"
4Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's bArmies."
Isaiah one of the holiest men in Israel encountered the direct presence of God and was greatly exposed. Like a brilliant stadium spotlight shinning in a small room, the direct presence of God exposes everything in you. One of two things happen when we encounter the direct presence of God. Either we will run in fear or allow the light to change us. If we are unprepared or unwilling to let go of what is inside of us we will run from the presence of God as fast as we can. If we long for God to change our hearts to become more like His, we will stay in the light and even though it is painful, our desire for change and for the glory of God is greater than the desire for comfort!!
"Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing.
As God tells Moses we need to prepare our hearts to enter the presence of God. As mentioned previously this begins by surrendering every area of our life to God and becoming completely transparent allowing God to deal with our hearts and motives. 2 Corinthians 6 implores us that we are the temple of the living God. Consider the magnitude of this statement. In the old testament God dwelled in the Holy of Holies and the high priest could only enter once a year to make sacrifice for the people. No one would dream of approaching or entering into the temple of God but now that forbidden most holy temple is now located in your very person. Have you ever considered this? It is both a great privilege and great responsibility to be the temple of the living God because where ever you go God goes.
There are many places that believers go or things believers do that are not in line with the character and nature of God. God is holy and will not dwell in unholiness, so He simply cannot go to such places. Have you ever considered that many of our thoughts, actions and lifestyle greatly limit the presence of God in our lives because we often live in places that are incompatible with the Lord of Glory. Just like you would not live in a corrupt house, God will not dwell in corrupt or run down temple.
This is why the Father cries to His children in 2 cor 6 not be associated with anything that is contrary to His nature and character.
How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light flive with darkness?15What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?
God does not give you rules just so you can follow them and appear like a better person. God gives us a covenant to have a relationship with Him. In a marriage covenant, a wife would say to her husband if you honor me with all your heart and not go searching for other girls then we can have a relationship. In the same way, God is not giving us a bunch of rules to follow but from He is pouring out the secrets of His heart and saying "I long to walk in relationship with you and here is how you can live so that we have a deep, vibrant and intimate relationship". You only give secrets and special privileges to those you can trust. That is why God gives these stipulations, as if to say if you really want to be my close intimate friend this is who you will act, so I can show you the deepest and most intimate secrets of my heart. In fact in the very next verse He shares with us the greatest secret and deepest longing of His Heart.
"I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
(can you hear the deepest longing of His heart).
Following this most intimate secret He tells us how we can obtain this most precious inheritance!!
17Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don't touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.
18And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord gAlmighty."
1Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
Why do we work toward holiness?? It is not for some abitrary purpose, God is not a taskmaster who gives us menial tasks but everything He tells us do has great purpose and is only leading us to our obtain inheritance and God given destiny. He tells us to work toward holiness because without holiness no man will see the Lord (Matthew 5:8)!! And if we do not encounter the presence of the Lord we will not be able to obtain the great destiny God has prepared for us.
It was just over a week journey from Mount Sinai to the promiseland. This week long journey took Israel over forty years because they would not enter into the direct presence of God and allow their hearts to be changed!! Let this be a great warning to us all! For our inheritance is even greater than Israels!! In fact, Israel's inheritance was only a type and shadow of the the eternal inheritance God would give New Testament believers!!
1Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit.
If we do not prepare our hearts we will run when we encounter Gods presence and will not be transformed to obtain our full spiritual inheritance. As previously stated our inheritance is far greater than Israels for our inheritance is of an eternal spiritual Kingdom.
We have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.23You have come to the assembly of God's efirstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.24You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new fcovenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
It would be a great tragedy to miss out on the fullness of this inheritance!!!
25Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!26When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."27This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
If we do not allow God to break our captive mindset we will too will never know the greatness power and glory of the God that we claim to know. This is a very sobering thought which we must seriously consider. If we do not surrender to God and allow him to change our mindsets we will never know the one true God. We must have our minds transformed otherwise we will only create our own image and form of god and will never know the one true king.
Just how important is this?? Israel was delivereed from egypt a type of (accepting Christ and coming out of the world), experiencing great miracles and power of God but never fulfilled their God given destiny or obtained their inheritance because they never allowed their minds and hearts to encounter the presence of the living God. Only after encountering God's presence will your heart be hanged and awakened to who you truly are.
Hiding from God
Adam, Where are you hiding?
Jesus Christ did not go to the cross so you could live an ordinary life. The greatest lie of the enemy is that you are just an ordinary person living an ordinary natural human life on this planet. In the Old Testament God had to constantly remind His people that they were not like the rest of the nations surrounding them. They were a peculiar nation. The enemy of our soul has succeeded at stealing our inheritance from us if he can convince us that we are ordindary. This is why he is constantly infiltrating our minds with lies trying to convince us that we are ordainry.
The enemy of our souls is so terrified of us learning our true identity because if we learn who we are, he will surely be defeated. This is why he labours day and night to try to infiltrate our minds to convince us that we are ordinary. If we are not aware of the enemies tactics we will eventually fall for this lie.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. - 2Cr 10:3 ESV
The greatest war in the history of the world, is believers in God fighting to learn their true indentity. The enemy is fierce, going around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Before you became a christian, the enemy did not care about you. But the moment you accepted Christ, you were red flagged by the evil powers of this world and they are at work trying to do whatever it takes to stop you from learning your true identity. Be warned as you read these pages the enemy of your soul will try to steal the word from you.
Though the enemy is powerful and succeeds to steal the inheritance of many believers, you don't have to worry about the powers of darkness at all if you are equiped with armor of light. One of the greatest revelations God has ever given me is that it is the will of God that the enemy of our soul would have no power or influence over the believers life whatsoever!!! Absolutely zero!!
In the book of Job God promises every believer that there is a path that no fowl knows. In Psalms 91 He confirms again
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. - Psa 91:1 NASB
He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. - Psa 91:4 NASB
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. - Psa 91:11 NASB
Not only will he guard us in all of our ways but as a bird covers her chicks, our Heavenly Father promises to cover us that we are completely hidden from an enemy that would try to destroy us.
I will never forget the day God made this real to me. I realized it was God's will that the enemy would have not only have no power over me. Not only that he would not be able to find me at all. As believers, we decide if we will give access to the enemy in our lives! If we stay hidden under cover, the enemy cannot find us. But if we drift deciding to go our own way and do our own thing, unknowingly we give the enemy a foothold into our lives. How important is it to stay surrendered and walk in total obedience to our Savior. When we do mess up we need to repent immediately and go right back under cover, otherwise we will give the enemy a foot hold into our lives.
This revelation has changed my life. In the past, when I sinned or messed up I would be ashamed and hide from God. When God spoke to me I realized the errors of my own way. In running from God and hiding I was only giving the enemy a foothold in my life. I pray this would sink deep in your heart and we would learn to run to God when we sin rather than run from Him because in doing so you are giving the enemy a place in your life.
The very reason that Jesus died was to set you free from a sin consciousness. By the blood of Christ you are made as white as snow!! The purpose of the New Covenant was to totally erase sin. The Old Covenant only offered propitition but still left a sin consciousness but now through the blood of Christ God sees you as He sees Jesus.
"AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE." - Hbr 10:17 NASB
Because of the atonement of Christ taking your place God, when God looks at you all He sees is the perfect sinless person of Jesus Christ.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. - Isa 53:6 KJV
There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. He has ONCE AND FOR ALL died for and cleansed of all inqiuty present, past and future. So often in our human reasoning we so foolishly consider some sins, unforgivable and live in guilt. By thinking this way we are actaully saying that I believe my sin is more powerful than the cross of Jesus Christ!! Please let this sink deep into your heart, there is nothing that you can do that is stronger than the power of the cross!!
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. - 1Jo 1:9 NLT
The day God showed me this scripture changed my life forever. Our High Priest is longing and waiting for us to confess our sins that He can totally abolish and forever destroy them from our lives. When I used to hide from God in my sin, I was actaully inhibiting the work of Jesus Christ in my life.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. - 1Jo 1:7 NLT
Not only does hiding in our sin give the enemy a foothold in our life but worse it inhibits our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God has sent His son to restore us back into right relationship with Himself but as long as we are hiding from Him, like Adam in the garden of Eden, the Father will never be able to restore us into the relationship He sent His Son to bring us into!!
If you have been hidng from God in any area of your life, confess your darkness to Him for He is faithful and has already forgiven you and has been waiting and longing for you to bring this to Him.
Father I want to live the extraordinary life You sent Your son to the cross for. Holy Spirit penetrate my heart with these words of truth that I would no longer listen to the lies of the enemy or hide from my Heavenly Father when I mess up. Teach me to run to you with all my heart, allowing the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from all sin. Jesus I bring before you my entire life, no more hiding, cleanse me from all sin.
Father no more hiding I promise. I am running to you now with all my heart. Father as I continue on this great journey to your heart, continue to unveil my true identity more and more each day.
No More Hiding, Seeking the Glory of the Father
If you are a born again believer, there is no such thing as an ordinary day on this earth. There is no such thing as an ordinary job or family or home or ordinary in any scope of life.
Jesus Christ went to the cross that you would be extraordinary in every area of your life!! Unless we learn our true identity, we will be in great jeopardy of settling for much less than God created us to live for.
For as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.
We are totally incapable of even beginning to comprehend our inheritance and what God has planned for us. This is why Paul prayed
[9] For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; [10] That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; [11] Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; [12] Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: - Col 1:9-12 KJV
There is only one we can come to know our true identity and become partaks of the inheritance of the saints, IN LIGHT! God is light and in Him there is no darkness. The only way we can learn our true identity is to live our lives in the presence of God (in light).
When a tiny infant is born into this world, they are helpless and have no idea of their identity. The infant's parents look after more than just the physical needs of the child. Studies show that babies require love and affection as much if not more than physical nourishment. People who do not recieve this affection when they are young often struggle through life. Children who grow up in broken homes or without parents at all, greatly struggle to find a strong identity. Children who grow up to be successful in life almost always have at least one strong parental figure in their life who has grounded them and instilled in them a strong personal identity.
Our spiritual lives are no different. If we are to be successful in our spiritual lives, our spirits require a strong parental figure who will ground us and instill in us a strong personal identity. The only one who can do this is our Heavenly Father.
[26] Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of thesky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. - Gen 1:26-27 NASB
Our Heavenly Father who created us, is the only one who knows our true identity because He created us according to His own image and likeness. As finite human beings we cannot even begin to comprehend the length, height, depth and breadth of our Heavenly Father. He created the vast universe and we cannot even begin to wrap our heads around that! This is why it is so important to encounter the presence of God and learn to walk in relationship with your Heavenly Father for it is the ONLY way that you will learn your true identity.
God has placed pastors and other spiritual leaders in our lives as signposts and guides to direct us into a deeper relationship with God Himself but these people will never be able to show us our true identity and unlock our spiritual inheritance. Unlocking our spiritual inheritance is completely dependent on seeking, establishing and maintaining right relationship with our Heavenly Father. Tragically, this has not been stressed in our churches and as a result very few believers are even aware of the relationship their heavenly Father longs to have with them!!! How it must break the Fathers heart to see His children faithfully attending church and doing many great things but missing out on the sole purpose He redeemed them for, to walk in relationship Him!!
Even those who are aware that God can speak often fail to establish and maintain a vibrant intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father. This is no surprise because the enemy of your soul will do anything to distract or inhibit you from walking in relationship with your heavenly Father because then you will learn your true identity and destroy his kingdom of darkness. The most cataclismic battle of all time rages as all the powers of hell are against you trying prevent you from walking in relationship with your Heavenly Father. The deciever will be happy to give you anything -power, position, finances, even a bigger ministry or anything your heart would so desire - to distract you and keep you from walking in relationship with the Father.
That is why it is so important to lay all of our desires and ambitions at the foot of the cross. Any desire that we have not laid down the enemy will use to tempt us and distract us from walking in relationship to the Father! Do not be decieved the prince of this world has greatly decieved and lulled to sleep many of Gods people especially in North America today with material possesions and riches to the point where we are actaully fulfilling the words of scripture (in a very negative sense)
thinking and saying... 'I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' Oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. - Rev 3:17 NLT/MSG
Tragically, the words of Jesus perfectly describe much of His church today. We think we have everything we need but we are oblivious to the ONLY thing that we truly need and greatly lack, the presence of God and a personal relationship with Him!! We do not need more church programs, discipleship class, evangilism, revival or anything else. (All these things are good and important but without walking in a right relationship with the Father we are living in a form of godliness but denying its power!!)
As we just explored, there are many things that can inhibit us from taking the first step to unlocking our spiritual inheritance.
The Father's heart yearns to have intimate relationship with you!! This is the very reason He created you! In fact, everything God has ever done whether it be creating the universe, making the earth perfect for human life, the careful and intimate creation of the world by Gods own hands, creating man in His image and likeness, speaking to Adam and Eve, making a covenant with Abraham, giving Abraham and Sarah the promise child in their old age, providing the sacrifice of a ram sparing Isaacs life, bring forth the twelve tribes from Jacob, leading faithfully leading Joseph to become great in Egypt, miraculously sparing Moses life and raising Him up to lead Israel out of Egypt, raising up Joshua and a new generation who would conquor the promiseland, raising up David a king after Gods own heart, God sending what is most precious to Him (His very own son) as royal seed from the line of David who would give His life to redeem (bring back) Gods children back to Himself and every thing He has done in your life by his mercy and grace to bring you to where you are today!! From the beginning of time to this very moment everything God has done is for one purpose, to have intimate relationship with mankind and that includes you!
Selah!!! Pause and reflect for a moment how every action God has ever taken in history and in your life has been motivated and fueled by an intense desire to have personal relationship with you!! Have you ever realized this before?? Every action God has ever taken has been motivated by His great desire to create you in His image and likeness!! All He has ever done in history has only been to bring His most precious creation (human beings, even if that were just you!!) to the place He orginally and forever intended them to be, in the image and likeness of HIMSELF!!!
What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
When I consider all you have done Father I am left speechless!!
There is no great love story ever writ,
No song ever sung,
No love that can compare,
to the Great and Holy One!!!
One can not even begin to comprehend the great depths of the endless ocean of God's love for you!!! At the thought of all He has done my heart is left speechless in wonder and awe!!! Because My Father has done so much to bring me into relationship with Him and express the greatness of His love toward me how can I do anything less than answer to His calling.
Suddenly, hiding behind the bushes from God seems so incredibly foolish. Every lie of the enemy seems incredibly pathetic and empty. For though He is Holy, how can I fear a God of such great love. For if this God is all that He says He is, I long to draw near to His glorious presence even if it kills me, rather than to hide in my own shame and self righteousness!!
My soul is ever restless until it finds its home in thee! (Augustine) The only place our hearts will ever be complete and satisfied is in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Let us not fall into the trap that Israel did at Mount Sinai, being were afraid of God because they did not want their hearts to be exposed.
It is a fearful thing to come into the presence of the living God because everything in us will be exposed. It will be painful and will require us to change. But just like my family dog who recieved countless porcupine quils into his nose and face, we need God to deal with our heart and pull out every wicked way in us that we can live in His sight!! You were not intended to live with the quills of darkness in your heart!! Though it is painful, as believers WE NEED TO SEEK and encounter the presence of the living God otherwise we will live our entire lives with the quills that darkness has already embeded into our hearts!!
If you truly desire to learn your true identity and obtain your full spiritual inheritance we need to boldly seek and enter the presence of God!! Though change is painful, it is also glorious, for here in Gods presence your mind will be transformed from a slave to this world of darkness to a child of the Kingdom of light!!! Learn from Israels mistakes.
The hour is come to enter into the inheritance God has for His children!!! There are no words to properly describe the awe and wonder of the journey that is before us.
[31] What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? [32] Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? [33] Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one--for God himself has given us right standing with himself. [34] Who then will condemn us? No one--for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. [35] Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ... [37] No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. [38] And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. [39] No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Rom 8:31-35, 37-39 NLT
The Journey begins - Learning our true identity - JOURNEY TO THE FATHERS HEART!!
Until we know who we are, we will have no idea of what our inheritance is. Before we can obtain our inheritance we must allow to awaken us to our true identity. To do so we must seek to find and sustain a personal relationship with our heavenly Father.
With our hearts prepared (nothing hidden) and surrendered we can enter the presence of God with pure hearts through the blood of Christ.
You need to know that if you have truly surrendered every area of your life to Christ and diligently do desire to please Him with all of your heart there is NO condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Your past no longer exists because you have been recreated as an entirely new being in Jesus Christ. Most christians are never able to realize their true identity and come into the fullness of their inheritance because they are haunted by things in their past life. They simply cannot believe they are the righteouesness of God because their past life tells them otherwise. This is a lie straight from the pit of hell that has robbed many from realizing their true identity. Please dont believe it for another second!! I myself greatly struggled with my past life until one day God spoke His truth to my heart about how He sees me.
"My child your old life no longer exists. All things have truly passed away and all things have become new!! When you accepted my son into your heart and were born again, your really did become an entirely different being!!! you are no more related to the old life at all. Looking into your memory of your past life is no different than looking at a person you see walking down the street. You have absolutely no relationship to them whatsoever.
in fact everything that you were literally NO LONGER EXISTS!! the person you were no longer exists!! I have erased it forever!! Your life is now hid in Christ!! My child I see you perfectly EXACTLY THE SAME as I see my and know my Son Jesus perfectly!!! The life of Jesus is your past, present and future!!! You have been grafted into His life, therefore His past is your past, His present is your present and His future is your future!
Have I not said in my word that you are a joint heir with Christ? (Romans 8.17)
A joint heir; one who succeeds to a share of an inheritance (websters 1828).
Everything Christ is and has past, present and future you now share with Him!! This is really what it means to be in Christ.
The greek wrod en (G1722) is mostly commonly translated into "in" in the new testament. Vines defines this word as "a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest". Due its common use in the english language we do not grasp the depths of its true meaning. I ofen used to think about being "in Christ" like being "in" a house. Inside the house I would recieve protection and safety. Though in Christ there is great protection and saftety there is much more to being in Christ than inside a house. Unlike the house, when we are in Christ we are not just inside of Him but actaully a part of His very being.
A more accurate way of understanding "in christ" would be to consider another analogy.
We are in Christ, like our heart is inside of our body. Our heart is not just inside of us, but a very intrical part of our being. If our heart was not inside of us we would not be alive. This is no different than our lives in Christ. To be in Christ is to be a very intrical part of His very being!!! If we were not apart of Christ He cannot exist in His fullness!! Selah!!
I can hardly believe those words but God said them so they must be true!!
22And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],
23Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself]. (Ephesians 1 AMP)
For in Christ's body lives the fullness of Christ!! Just like the human body cannot exist without the heart, Paul is telling us that Christ cannot exist in fullness without you and I!!
Paul exapands this thought in 1 Corinthians 12 in saying, you can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts-limbs, organs, cells-but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.)This perfectly sums up what it means to be in Christ. As the heart is a very important and necessary part of our human body in which we could not live, every believer is a very important part of Christ.
When Jesus came to this earth He said I have no place to lay my head. The very reason Christ came was to begin a new race of people who would be his body - the very hands of feet of Jesus in this earth - and only continue the life of Christ on this earth.
Through Isaiah God says speaking of Christ,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. - Isa 53:10 NASB
Who are Christ's offspring??
[24] "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. - Jhn 12:24 NASB
I did not plan to write any of this but I believe God took us on this tangent because of the importance of understanding what it means to be in Christ! Jesus Christ is the corner stone and foundation of who we are! There is no other!!
[11] For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. - 1Cr 3:11 NASB
All old things have passed away, we are a completely different being with a completely different identity. No matter what our mind says we are the righteousness of Christ. We have no life of our own. When God looks at us He sees us as He sees Jesus!! It is out of this assurance that we can draw near to God with a pure heart knowing that we are literally a part of Christ and our life past, present and future we is His life!
[19] And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. [20] By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
It is very easy to read over this passage and miss the absolute shock and awe of it. To fully understand this passage you need to look from the prespective of a Jewish scholar of the Torah. As a Jew it would be a most foolish and irreverent thought to dare to enter the Most Holy Place. Such an act would be considered absolute irreverence and end in sure death!!!
God did all this in the Old Testament to reveal to mankind the awe and wonder of being able to enter the presence of the King of Kings!! No person would even dare to do such a thing. Only the high priest could enter once a year and even then, he was greatly at risk of losing his life!!
Do you see the terror and awe of the King we serve!! He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, greater than any King in the history of the world. Esther was terrified to enter the presence of King Xerxes because legend has it he had
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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