The Sequel

This is a continuation of the “Where Do You Live?”  post. I really feel God wants us to have this so secure in us that we can change our world!

“even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:5-7 NASB)

If we have given our lives to Jesus, we are now living in Him, seated in Heaven. That is a fact. It is Truth. Let me give you an example:If I climb up a ladder onto my roof to fix a tile or something and when I am there I realise that I have forgotten to bring something I need,  I have to go back and get it. I have a choice, I can either go back down the ladder and fetch it or step off the roof. (I know it is a very poor example but bear with me.) If I step off the roof I am immediately faced with one of the laws that we have to abide by when living on earth. The Law of Gravity. What goes up must come down! We cannot get away from it. Throw a ball in the air and it comes back down again. You fall over and there is nothing to stop you hitting the ground. It is a Law. It is Truth.Just as there are laws for our earthly living there are certainly laws that exist when we live in the Kingdom of God. One of those is that we are seated with Jesus in Heavenly places. It is not only true but Truth. It cannot be broken.Gravity is always there whether we believe it or not. So is this Truth there whether we live by it or not. I want this to sink in. You can choose whether to live as if you are seated with Christ or not. Try shouting it out loud, “I am seated with Jesus in Heaven”, “I am in Jesus”, “Nothing can separate me from being in Him”, “This is The Truth!”

I want to tell you about my friend. He loves God, reads his bible regularly, prays, goes to church, life group and extra meetings. On the surface this man is an amazing Christian. Let me give you an example of a normal conversation that I might have with him, one that happens on many occasions:

Me: How’s your week been?

Friend: Good, I suppose.

Me: Everything alright?

Friend:You know, same old. same old.

Me: What’s happening?

Friend:The enemy seems to be having a field day with me at work. Getting attacked left, right and centre. You know, it’s always like this.I must be doing something right for satan to bother with me.

Me: What do you mean?

Friend: You know? Why would he bother to attack, if I wasn’t doing something right? I will just keep doing what I’m doing!

No matter what the conversation was about: work. home, church or friends, the answer would be the same.The enemy was always attacking. I asked him once to keep a journal and count the days he was under attack and the days he was living in victory!! What do you think he found out? What would you find out if you did the same? We are created to have abundant life and Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection has secured it for us!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10: 10 NASB)

The enemy is continually prowling around to see who he can devour.

“ Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.“ (1 Peter 5:8 NASB)

The enemy doesn’t try to derail us because we are doing such a fantastic job in the kingdom! He doesn’t want us to even start to see where our Spirit lives, and so he continually tries to put obstacles in our way to keep us looking earthward and not heavenward! Can you imagine if every Christian on the planet suddenly grabbed hold of the Truth, knowing they were seated in Christ, next to the Father living by Kingdom rules and not earthly ones? The world would be so different. It would be mightily different if you grasped it now. How much would you change the world that you live in?

I am not sure if you were brought up in church with the same kind of preaching that I was. “Life is not meant to be easy!” I think it became my mantra. I would came to expect life to be hard, I expected disappointments. Of course there were obstacles, what else would I expect! Jesus never said that life was never meant to be easy, George Bernard Shaw did, in his book ‘Back to Methuselah’ which was written in 1921 and even he is misquoted, he actually said,

 

I do like that but it still is not what Jesus said. He said.

“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt 11:30 NASB)

I want you to let that sink in ……….Say it out loud…..Declare it. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Not hard, heavy and burdensome. EASY and LIGHT!! Is it sinking in yet?

Many people often use Jesus’ life as an example of the hard life but His life was full of doing what He saw the Father doing. He had a joyous life, seeing His Father’s plan come to fulfilment. If my life was filled with doing  what I saw God doing, it would not be hard. I make it hard. The worst and hardest part of Jesus’ life was His crucifixion and that is beyond imagination. I cannot even comprehend how awful it must have been, but He went through it so that we wouldn’t have to!!! Why then do we live a life of crucifixion and not resurrection? We have the same power at work in us that Raised Jesus from the dead! Another Spiritual Law, another Truth!

“and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power  which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, “ (Ephesians 1:19-20 NKJV)

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.“ (Romans 8:11 NLT)

We need to see that not only are we in Christ but He, through the Holy Spirit, lives in us and the Holy Spirit brings exceedingly great power. We all know the passage in Ephesians chapter 6 that concerns the Armour of God. Part of the Armour is the Belt of Truth. It is not a belt of not telling lies but putting on the Truth of the Kingdom. Living by Kingdom Laws. Not living just in the realm of the Law of Gravity in our earthly bodies but in a Heavenly Realm where we can walk on water!!

I want to make one thing absolutely clear. I am not saying that we don’t go through hardship and difficulties in our journey.Of course we do. Part of our growth in God comes out of the trials we face. What I am saying is that we have to look at our journey with a different perspective. We are not earthly beings attempting to live in The Kingdom of God. We are actually Spiritual beings having an earthly experience! Our spirits are one with the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is never altered by our trials and pain in the flesh. Our spirits are always living in the Kingdom and we have to recognise that. That is the choice we have.

Change the place you see yourself living. Not here on earth but in Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. King of Kings! Lord of Lords! In Him seated at the right hand of the Father!

I believe that we are in a new outpouring of the Power of God. I believe He is readying His Bride. Are you going to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb? Will it be as a guest or as The Bride?

^“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
(Revelation 19:6-9)

I want to finish with a quote from the great man of God, Smith-Wigglesworth. He ministered during the early part of the Twentieth Century and knew where the power in his life came from.

“In the World, new diseases are always surfacing, and doctors cannot identify them. A doctor said to me, ‘The science of medicine is in its infancy, and we doctors really have no confidence in our medicine…we are always experimenting.’ BUT THE MAN OF GOD DOES NOT EXPERIMENT! He knows, or ought to know, the mightiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not, or should not be moved by outward observation but should get divine revelation of the mightiness of the name of Jesus and the power of His blood. If we exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will come forth and get glory over all the powers of darkness.”
“The moment you pray the heavens are opened. If you have to wait for the heavens to be opened, something is wrong.”
“We must have the devotion and the confidence to believe that He will not fail and cannot fail. You will never get anywhere if you rely on your feelings, there is something a thousand times better than our own feelings and it’s the Living Word of God! There is a divine revelation within you and me that came when we were born above, this is real faith.” (Smith-Wigglesworth)

 

Take time to let this great Jeremy Camp song soak in,