SweetZippy

Accessing the Father is not just looking upon His brilliant form , but knowing Him as our father; he gives us good gifts! We need to remember that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights", John 1:17. As we spend time with our father we will approach the throne room with boldness, knowing that He will impart His holy spirit to us. The Holy Spirit is His gift to us. We can only do this because Jesus made us joint heirs with him.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us", John 1:14. He was the lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice. No earthly sacrifice could be such a complete unhindered doorway to the Father. Jesus fulfilled the mosaic law morally and ceremonially, by being the supreme righteous Word in the flesh sacrifice; there will be no better way to come to the Father. The Messiah completed the civil law by being king of the Jews. Thus, this is significant of the Jewish people as He created a kingdom not delineated by tribal boundaries and human blood ancestry, but by faith boundaries and Godly blood ancestry. He created a kingdom where the Jewish people can live freely unhindered by geography. Jesus is the rightful Messiah! This is significant for the gentiles because we now have access to the throne of grace through his sacrifice. We now are sanctified by faith in the Son of God. We are part of His righteousness and so belong to His kingdom, the kingdom not delineated by tribal ancestry, but by acknowledgement of the fulfillment of the law being Jesus. We are all, Jew and gentile alike, joint heirs with Jesus.

1A) If we forget what it means to be lost, we forget the isolation caused by separation from the Father. Jesus experienced this isolation when he cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?". He brought the lost to Himself by suffering the agony and loneliness of separation from the Father whilst having the ultimate separation from mankind, being killed from His own species. So, we need to remember the fundamentals of our Christian faith; the cross, the selfless cross, and as we do, we will witness out of gratefulness as we recall Calvary. A willingness to witness stems from gratefulness of what Jesus did for us. 1B)Those who don't know Christ are lost to what is in their own well-spring. We are filled from His compassion, His grace, His mercy. We have a connection with the Father, who is creating us to be the likeness of His own Son. The spiritual condition of those who doesn't know Christ is the same as Jesus when he hung on the cross and took our sin upon Himself, that is, forsaken, isolated by the Father, and experiencing the darkness of the world and humanity as Jesus did as the Earth was cloaked in darkness during His death.

Faith is an undoubted trust in the truth of God's Word, both written and spoke. We cannot take credit for possessing faith as we are each given a measure of faith. In Romans 12:2 we are told that God has given to every man "the" measure of faith. Jesus condemned the disciples when they were afraid and so lacked faith, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." Matthew 8:26 Faith is knowing that you have always been heard by your Father and that He is to always be trusted. Trusting God, having faith, makes Him happy. Even when we don't see things turning out as we think they should, by knowing that God has heard you, and will work everything out for the best, is faith.

Faith is an undoubted trust in the truth of God's Word, both written and spoke. We cannot take credit for possessing faith as we are each given a measure of faith. In Romans 12:2 we are told that God has given to every man "the" measure of faith. Jesus condemned the disciples when they were afraid and so lacked faith, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." Matthew 8:26 Faith is knowing that you have always been heard by your Father and that He is to always be trusted. Trusting God, having faith, makes Him happy. Even when we don't see things turning out as we think they should, by knowing that God has heard you, and will work everything out for the best, is faith.

Faith is an undoubted trust in the truth of God's Word, both written and spoke. We cannot take credit for possessing faith as we are each given a measure of faith. In Romans 12:2 we are told that God has given to every man "the" measure of faith. Jesus condemned the disciples when they were afraid and so lacked faith, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." Matthew 8:26 Faith is knowing that you have always been heard by your Father and that He is to always be trusted. Trusting God, having faith, makes Him happy. Even when we don't see things turning out as we think they should, by knowing that God has heard you, and will work everything out for the best, is faith.

We are created to do His work, for His glory; these works are always good; these works shine; these works are a testament to God's handiwork. We are God's handiwork. When we do works in our own strength, we will boast. When we do God's works by His Spirit, we are not "doing" we are "being" in the likeness of His Son, co-heirs with Christ, and our light will shine as the resurrection power of Jesus works through us.

Saved means rescued. What do we all want to be rescued from? Things that hurt and destroy us, and things that we hate within ourselves that eventually hurt and destroy us and others. This horror in the world, and within ourselves is sin; sin hurts, it destroys. We all know we need to be rescued, it is a basic human preservation response. To understand that Jesus is sent from a God who is a creator, who sees the world, and our lives within it from His perspective, gives us faith that He knows what he is doing. He is supreme. Father God, who created the world gave us an opportunity to be rescued from the horror of sin, from others and from within ourselves. We are rescued from horror to what? We are rescued from the horror of sin to eternal life. What is eternal life? It starts now. John 17:3 states "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Know Him and you will know real peace. Be rescued from you own hurt and you won't hurt others. Be rescued from sin and know Jesus, the eternal life.

Grace, is counter-culture in our Western society; we work, therefore we get. Because this is so ingrained in our psych, we think this way of others as well and find it difficult, if not impossible, to extend grace without God's nature being unhindered in His expression in us. We, are by human nature, unforgiving and ungracious. To understand grace, we need to delve into the Kingdom culture of Christ and ask for His infilling to extend it to others. Grace demolishes works, pay-back, expectations, and revenge. Grace is the antidote to bitterness. We relinquish bitterness as we understand God's true grace towards as. "Grace, Sweetheart, is like when your Dad came home from work and he was really tired, and sore from carrying all those logs, and he finds out that you have just kicked your toy through the glass door. I know you felt pretty bad. But Grace is like that time, when your Dad got you to clean your toys up and Dad cleaned the glass up so you would not cut yourself. He got you out of the mess and fixed it up."

Wow! We are partakers in His grace! To be seated with HIM - CHRIST! His job is complete, the throne belongs to Him, He rests in His victory, and we rest in His victory also. Oh and my revelation of the moment is that you cannot be seated with Christ, and so His authority, UNLESS you walk in grace and mercy and love, just as He has done for us. That if we are raised with Christ, we are raised with the same power that took Him to the cross..the power of complete surrender to His will...the power to have knowledge of sin against us and yet walk in love. Just look at Jesus at the Last Supper with Judas. Jesus addressed the sin, the consequence, and yet still shared his body and his blood. He still made the atonement for Judas' sin. This says that "God's grace is sufficient for me." His Victory is made perfect in our weakness if we recognize our weakness and ask for His infilling, His mercy, His strength. If we see through His eyes, hear with His ears, and are led by the power of His Spirit who takes us to heavenly realms. Our authority is in Him. Before Jesus went to the cross, to fulfill His boldest act, he prayed "yet not my will, but yours be done."

He is indeed loving, gracious and merciful. I feel a "wee tad", or perhaps more than a "tad" convicted. Where is the evidence of the grace God has given to me and continues to give to me? Where is the loving mercy that I owe others because Christ has died for me while I was a wicked sinner? Even if I had not repented He still would have offered me His nature through His death. It makes me ask for more grace, and to be filled with His mercy and His love. I am indeed reminded that I am completely reliant on Him filling me to overflowing to make His presence evident in my life. I am unable to even perform outside of my "self" without His living body sacrificed for me so that I too can live out His love, His grace, and His mercy.

If we remain in our sinful nature, blinded by Satan's deception, not realizing Christ's gift to us in the power of His blood, we will sin unwittingly. How can one be both "responsible" yet "unwitting"? For the Christian, saved by grace, it is through the ignorance of Satan's wiles. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit and yet tempted by Satan. Jesus was by no means unwitting as he knew the power of the scriptures and he recognized Satan using God's Word in a twisted manner. We are therefore responsible for rebellion if we do not adhere to the Word and abide in the Holy Spirit to give us discernment; this takes time in both reading the Word and hearing his rhema. God has to blame us or he will not prove himself holy. However, he has provided us a way out of our darkness in Jesus. The blame lies in us, by not accepting the sacrifice of His son to allow us to become God's own children with His nature evident in our lives. After all, when we know our Father, that's whose voice we will listen to and we will recognize Satan as being the deceiver that he is.

1. In death, there is a certain script, no chance for change, a definite outcome of grief. In life there is ability to write your script -with the Word of God, and an ability to change - we have the mind of Christ, with a definite outcome of joy. In death there is no choice. One resigns themselves to the inevitability of death and that nothing can change the outcome. As a non-believer, one resigns him/herself to "whatever will be will be", to the inevitable, and that, after our own strength.....there is nothing. Death cancels out the possibility of life; it cancels out the possibility of CHRIST. 2. The difference between them and us, is the choice of life. Deuteronomy 30:19 states:" This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." The difference is, in Christ, we have a choice to actively refuse death by embracing the living Christ. 3. What should I do knowing that the unbeliever is subject to God's "wrath"? Knowing Romans 10:17,that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" I should speak to the unbeliever the word of God in which ever way he listens: pray the Word of God for him, speak the Word of God to him,and most importantly, live the word of God through myself- BEING the REDEEMED, BLESSED CHOICE!

If God appointed Jesus to be the head over everything for the Church, then he has appointed us to be in his body. If we are not part of His body, we are not walking in obedience, therefore we miss out on the blessings of obedience which bring "fullness". Secondly, we are starving the body/others of what blessing we can give them. Disobedience always hurts not only ourselves, but others also.

1. We "pass" on spiritual warfare because we ignorant of its importance in maintaining Jesus as the head. For those who are aware of its vital importance, it comes down to the acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus; laziness in prayer and spiritual warfare is evidence of the slip of Jesus as "head", the slip of Jesus being "Lord". 2. Paul's focus on the absolute spiritual authority in Christ is incredibly important because it is the victory that he claimed when he rose from the dead to forgive of us our sins, defeating death and the devil. His victory is our inheritance, that we can only walk in, if we position Christ as the head and we remain in a healthy body. We need to remind ourselves, and each other of Christ's position of absolute authority as it is the power of salvation. Paul reminds us of what Christ has done for us so we can appropriate our authority which Christ has claimed for us! 3.We can feel powerless in the face of spiritual enemies when we are not prepared; like any warfare, we must be listening to the commanders orders, and standing with our fellow fighters -the body of Christ. If we are not in a close position with Christ, and with the body, we leave ourselves open to defeat. To not be powerless, we need to rely on Him who has "holds the keys to death and Hades". Walk with the supreme victor, Jesus! 4. We are assured of victory in Christ if we keep Him as our head. This encourages us to think with the mind of Christ and have the assurance of His vicory!

We are powerless because we are disconnected from Christ; we are not abiding with Christ; we are not positioned with Christ. Therefore we are not seated with the resurrected Christ. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God; hearing with the "Spirit of wisdom and revelation". When we know Him better, we know His plans and purposes for us and we are joyful to fulfill them. Being joyful and grateful and worshipful in Him and His plans for our lives, puts us in a position of the resurrection power for His glory and the outworking of the five-fold gifts within the congregation. This can be changed by us walking in the reality of His resurrection power in our lives and imploring God for His Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we can know him better, by asking for boldness to "work out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." Practice makes perfect. King David slew beasts before he slew Goliath. Jesus turned water into wine before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Believe for opportunities around us to delight our heavenly Father and practice our faith!

Hope...is both exciting and restful. We have hope that we are heirs with Christ, and are walking in our predestined plan, "for the praise of His glory" Our hope, our achievements are His glory, "on Earth as it is in Heaven", to share this inheritance, this knowledge and revelation with them. We have God's purpose being worked out in us on Earth and a wonderful resurrection in Heaven. Our present day lives will reflect our position/belief in Christ; that of an eternal purpose being worked through us for His glory. Every day is a gift, every challenge is a call for us for us to call on our Father, every joy is to be shared with the giver of life. Our motivation is to know Him better by knowing that we have been "included in Christ". This hope is the backbone to our hopes and decisions. All we do is based then on our position in Christ. We rejoice, we pray, and we rest. our hope is real; based on the resurrection power of Christ in us.

#1. If I were to inherit $10 million it should affect my life now. Sadly it shows that I am not prepared for this sort of inheritance with little knowledge investment planning. I would make sure that this money would be treated with respect and caution. I would go to great lengths to invest it wisely so that this $ would grow.It would be invested in short term, medium term, and long term plans. Just as we have the parable of the talents so I would respect and honor that which the Lord has given me. As for now? I would position myself so that I would not be near financial sucking parasites who would rob me of my inheritance.I would encase myself with honorable persons and a system of growth that will bring rewards to bless others and so, the growth of the Kingdom of God. #2.Our inheritance is "glorious" and "in the saints". This means that I will acknowledge that I can use my inheritance NOW to accomplish great things. It means that some promises are for "down the track" and some are for long-term provision. #3. This is so exciting.....the fact that our inheritance is with "the saints". It means that I will have to fellowship with a variety of the body to achieve my inheritance. I know that when you invest, you do not put "all your eggs in the one basket"; such investment methods are foolishness. Some investments may be made with different types of persons who I ordinarily would not mix, yet the returns I need may be held with these people and I will have to draw on their experience with God to access my inheritance. Thank you Doctor Wilson, this is truly revelatory.

#1. We look forward daily to a continual communion with Him. We look eternally to His reign that begins now, with us as His ambassadors dispensing His will and His good pleasure; we are His possession. We look forward to resurrection with Christ. #2.To know that we are "in Christ" both now and through to eternity motivates me to live as if I am not of this world. I will live in faith, in hope, and in love. I will not live to prove myself right, but with the communion of the Holy Spirit. #3.The non-believer has no knowledge, or has not accepted his salvation and therefore cannot abide with the risen, powerful, resurrected Christ.

End of term? I would think when we see Him face to face. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 I will be constantly full of the Holy Spirit when I have been signed -adoption papers, sealed- Holy Spirit, and delivered- to Heaven itself. I do believe that we can fill up this Earth with Heaven -God's Spirit- by living in unity, fulfilling His will, so that we bring all things under His head and the outcome is PRAISE, ie, heaven on earth.

To live out our new "inherited" redeemed natures for His purpose, to the end of His praise. To fulfil this purpose, we need to remain "in Christ", under his Lordship/headship, therefore performing in unity under His headship with His body, under his counsel, knowing that it is for His glory! Ultimately, as in Matthew 5, we are Christ's ambassadors.I have heard it said, the world reads "us" not our Bibles.

A)"..that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on Earth- in Him." WOW! We are under the King of Glory's domain! We are bringing "Thy kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven." In all aspects of family, government, healthcare, animal husbandry, in every aspect of dominion on Earth; it is to show Christ the King. Bring back the forsaken garden-of-Eden with Christ as the architect. Adam's sin is dead. Christ is back...in us! This relates specifically to the Creator because we will create according to God's master plan. We will govern, teach, heal and farm according to His will "according to His good pleasure". We are joint heirs with Christ, creating His kingdom on Earth. C)We have unity because of His blood shed for us. We are part of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What it speaks to me is that if we want to remain "in Christ", we need to remain set-apart/holy as saints and faithful in this; this is the premise for unity with the Creator. We are to "remain subject to Him" so that Christ, as the head, will bring all things to perfect fulfilment.

This is amazing. This reply has shown me that whatever age we are we all have the same sin nature and fall to the same hatred and despair. I was only 17 when Christ pursued me and your life was me at 17; when I have not been "in Christ" this nature wants to raise it's ugly head. I need to walk in His redemption, purposefully, daily. Your reply has really challenged me to go and witness Christ to all.

A) I have been freed from the expectations and culture of our current "civilization". Previously, I had accepted the status-quo of my sinful nature/inherited nature. Human sinful nature joined with current world view sinful nurture equalled slavery. I am now have "the mind of Christ" and am thus accountable in my freedom for my thoughts and actions. B)Most definitely a hard, calculating, demanding, ungracious, abortion activist, euthanasia activist, feminist. Unhappy and making every body else's life misery. C)It would be more difficult for those around me than myself as I would have a character that would demand of others in a Cruella-Deville way. My future would be filled with bitterness.