His Rest and Ours

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the LORD's,  and the fullness thereof; the  world,

and they that dwell therein.

I'm sharing another page from my journal today.   I'm trusting you'll be able  to "read into it" because I don't want to add an "explanation" since, sometimes, if you're like me, it gets in the way and muddies the water.  So,  I'm trusting understanding to come as you read it from your own perspective.  Here goes!

Sunday, November 24,2019

HIS  PLACE of REST IS US:     See Psalm 132:4-5, 7-9 and 13-14 NASB

                                4                I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids

                      5                Until I find a place for the Lord,                                     

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.

7 Let us go into His dwelling place;
Let us worship at His footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
And let Your godly ones sing for joy.

10 

For the Lord has chosen *Zion;
He has desired it for His habitation.
14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.  (emphasis mine)

(* Zion is also representative of  the Church and didn't Jesus tell His disciples He would not only be with them but also in them in John 14:20)

I Kings 8:10     Solomon's Temple

My words here: When they finished their works of service (making a place for Him) He entered into His place of Rest and the Glory Came and filled the whole house.

• Deep calls to Deep: (My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love. Psalm 42:7a  The Passion Translation)
• The Fire the repentance  and cleansing of the places  in us which He hasn't  been allowed to  fully possess before is the doorway to His rest and ours.
• None of us know the depth of cleansing from the old ways that we need.  Only the Spirit can show us.  (see Hebrews 4 in The Passion Translation)

Now as I write this I'm adding parts of 1 Chronicles 5:11 and 13 and all of 14. MEV  

11 When the priests came out from the Most Holy Place—for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves--... 13...and praised the Lord saying,

“For He is good and His mercy endures forever,”

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud. 14 And the priests were not able to stand in order to serve because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

These verses help tie it all together for me, because surrendering our ways and our works over and over, exchanging them for His  gives us rest from our works and prepares the way for Him to find  His place of rest in us.  And that's when the Glory can begin to  fill  us, His Temple, more and more and more.

          Scriptures taken from the Modern English Version Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by Permission. All rights reserved
       

2 Corinthians 4:7 

But we  have this treasure in earthen vessels, 

that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. 

Three Lives Made One

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.

This is a  followup to  my last post, Three Lives Revisited Again, and I don't plan on posting any of the others in that series as I first wrongly assumed I would.  The one I posted was intended to be used as a reminder that we all need to be transformed into what God originally created us to be-a fully functional whole child of God who walks in unity with our Father without schism, confusion, dysfunction or lack of any kind. In the previous blog the dysfunction was pretty much made plain, now I only wish to focus  on Jesus and emphasize restoration. Everything needed was provided in full when we received Him as our Savior,  but we must yield to the process of transformation in order to begin to live as mature Sons of the Living God.  Realizing the need for transformation was the whole purpose of  re-posting the original Three Lives blog.

Since He's the One who created man in the first place He's the only one capable of taking us  up to that high calling we've been restored to and the process it takes to manifest it. So I'm sharing something He said to me Thursday, November 26, 2019.  

[Please note the italicized  personal pronouns in the following word. Truthfully, I just recently received understanding why He chose to use them.  It's because I'm in part an intercessor who prays on my own behalf, my family's behalf, the body of Christ, and people in general.  The word's He speaks to me  generally result from those prayers.]

There are yet  places in the Heavenlies we haven't gone to before because there are places in our own hearts we haven't gone to before with Him. We must allow Him to plumb the depths of our own hearts so He can have full access, so we can be filled with  the fullness of God. And all this must come through an intimate knowledge of His love.  

         Ephesians 3:19   

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. 

For only His Heart beating in ours as one will *suffice.

[* I questioned the use of the word suffice but He was adamant in the use of it, so I looked it up in Websters 1828]

      suffice:

• To be enough or sufficient to the end proposed.
• To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.

End of Word to me.

Wow! One within ourselves and one with Him!  That's restoration! He was saying exactly what He meant to say! Using THE word which emphatically stated what He wanted to do could only be accomplished the way He said to do it! In other words He wants to transform us into what He created us to be in the beginning with each of us with our own unique gifts and personalities fully functioning without schism within or with our relationship with God our Father. It is only with an intimate knowledge of His great love for us and in partnership with Him can we rise to be all He created us to be, have all He wants us to have and do all He wants us to do.

And here's something He said to me Friday, December 20, 2019:

He's given us the divine nature with His indwelling Spirit-we should give Him room to develop it.  (see 2 Peter 1:4)

After choosing Him the first time as Savior and LORD,  let's keep choosing Him over and over again.  Let's  choose to agree with His written Word whether we understand it or not.  Let's choose to agree with His love for us whether we feel like its true or not. When His Word says we are the righteousness of God In Christ Jesus, let's choose to agree with what He says in order to experience knowing more and more we are righteous In Him.  When we read we are dead to sin and alive to Christ, let's agree with it whether our minds can grasp it or not and we will begin to KNOW we are!

 In John 6:63 Jesus said the words He speaks are spirit and they are life. Every time anyone chooses to believe His Words and receives them are at the same time receiving the transforming power that comes with them!  Since  those of us who have received Him are already one spirit with Him according to I Corinthians 6:17, let's choose to enter His rest concerning His word.  And look at John 17:23 in The Passion Translation.  O, how it melts my heart!

John 17:23 The Passion Translation (TPT)

    You live fully in me and now I live fully in them
    so that they will experience perfect unity
    and the world will be convinced that you have sent me,
    for they will see that you love each one of them
    with the same passionate love that you have for me.

Since Jesus already paid the price and we've already been restored to oneness with Him and the Father, if we choose to cooperate with Him He fully knows how to bring us into the manifestation of that reality.  If there's a roadblock anywhere within us He's the ONE to shine the Light of His Love  within in order to bring us into wholeness. Allowing Him to plumb the depths of our hearts will take us to new heights with Him and In Him. 

Since God's original plan is still His plan, and He's provided everything we need to receive it,  I believe I'll choose Him and His way, and with His help, choose it over and over again, and allow Him to do what He promised in  2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

2 Corinthians 4:7 

But we  have this treasure in earthen vessels, 

that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Three Lives? continued

The title of the previous blog Three Lives? with the question mark calls for a response upon considering the information presented. So I'll be the first to respond with a resounding, "Yes!"  I have led three lives.  No, I'm not a communist or a counter spy as intriguing as it may sound, just a woman who's been divided within herself more than I ever understood. Unfortunately many of us can answer it the same way, but now is the time to begin the process of leading one life, unified, integrated, whole...and boy, am I ready!  Since it was God's original design and plan for man whom He created in His image and likeness-in the God class-when He breathed the "breath of lives" into Adam and Eve, Jesus provided the way for all who receive Him to be restored to oneness within ourselves and with Him.

into Adam making him a a triune living spirit, soul and body, and though three (like God), also  one whole being without schism under God's influence, it would be to our great advantage to pursue Him to receive that unity of ourselves under His influence restored. 

Though the process has begun, "MY Goodness!"  it's not necessarily fun...just being honest here.  I've been on this journey for a while now, but it seems the farther I go, the greater the obstacles.  Not because God intended for it to be that way, but because our old nature has to be dealt with along the way, and we have to be strengthened to "see" ourselves, our condition, and our lives the way they really are, and deal with them head-on without excuse or blame, by taking ownership for how we've lived our lives-deceived or not!  It kind of stings a bit just writing that down!  Woo hoo....not fun at all to have to get down in the the middle of this sort of thing....

So here's a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.  God  is for us, not against us. He's forgiven everything already, all we need to do is to remember that and receive cleansing.  No condemnation here!  He just wants us to be healed and whole-fully functional sons and daughters participating in the family business under His healing influence.  Remember what Jesus said to His disciples about having much more to say to them, but they were not yet able to bear it, (John 16:12)?  That's what it's still like today.  It takes not only a head knowledge of this love for us as individuals but a revelation of His goodness and a receiving of His love and grace for us personally to be empowered to go to the deep places with Him.  How else can we deal with a real issue without taking full ownership of it?  Otherwise it must be someone else's fault we're the way we are and if that were true, it would leave us in the VICTIM status having given up all control over our own lives and condition-and that's exactly what Adam and Eve did once they were already in disobedience to the Divine order.  Taking no responsibility for our actions comes with the territory- it's the lower nature's way, the deceivers way, the way of darkness.  Granted, there might be reasons and very good ones,  that we have come to the place we are-even through no fault of our own- but however we got there or here is not the issue. The issue is coming out of it into wholeness, into the Light.  If we play the blame-game or if we're in denial concerning our true state, then we can go no further with Him in a particular area, and in this case, we can go no farther on a particular journey until we deal with the obstacles in the way.  The Good News here is this:  He will take us as far as we can go and strengthen us to go farther on the next go round as we're willing.  He won't make us go anywhere we don't want to go.  He won't overrule our choice, our will.  He's not a thief, He's our advocate, our Helper.

Often the most valuable assets  are attained by doing whatever it takes to achieve them no matter how difficult the task at hand.  So again I'll add, things in the spirit realm are often gained by similar processes as in the natural. We find the laws or procedures that govern what we desire and co-operate with those laws or rules necessary to reach a given destination, or to achieve the desired goal.

I hope to share more concerning this journey that I'm on of coming into a more integrated life with a heart less divided.  For now I'll end with a link to The Message Bible in Matthew 11:27-30.  It's one of my favorites and one  I've shared it before concerning the "unforced rhythms of grace..."

               http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2011:27-30&version=MSG

Three Lives? Revisited Again

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;

the world, and they that dwell therein.

For a number of days now, I've felt impressed to share a series of three  blogs which I originally posted in 2013.  So here's Three Lives? the first of the three I hope to post here.  I trust you'll receive something beneficial if you choose to read it.   Nevertheless,  The Blessing of  the LORD overtake all who stop by.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Three Lives?

I Led 3 Lives  was a television series in the 1950's  loosely based on an American guy who joined the communist party for the FBI and assumed the role of a counter spy- thus the three lives, U.S. citizen, communist and counter spy.  Though I was a child I remember the series and watched it a few times, but  recall very little about it.   It was very much a show for grown-ups, and I was much more interested in  watching  Hopalong Cassidy-loved his white horse and, of course, his good-guy white hat. Oh, I digress, but the thought of it made me happy...so back to the subject.

Nonetheless, even as a child I found the title and the thought of leading 3 lives very intriguing and mysterious. Considering this I find it no surprise that several years ago while reading Derek Prince's book War in Heaven, I came across a  statement which very much appealed to me, and have thought much about it since. In order to arrive at the destination I desire a little background information is in order, so I'll share some interesting facts from his book which will help clarify my basic premise.

In referring to Genesis 2:7 Mr. Prince shared that the word "life" is plural! This discovery truly captivated me!  I wondered how this new understanding might broaden the meaning of the intent of its use in this particular verse. And further, how it might bring greater enlightenment regarding how we were created by God and how He intended for us to function. After all, He didn't change His plan.  His original plan is still His plan. Check out the verse I'm referring to and see for yourself. The following is from the King James Version, Genesis  2:7: (emphasis mine)

And the Lord God formed man of the

dust of the ground, and breathed into

his nostrils the breath of life; and

man became a living soul. 

 

Now look at the difference when you add the word 'life" in its plural form:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul. 

It's truly fascinating!  Not only does this suggest the character and functionality of God in three persons,  but also man whom He created in His Image--all of this in the opening account of his creation.  What a foundation He laid, but before I can go on, it's also necessary to take a look at another plural word in Genesis 1:1 (emphasis mine)

In the beginning God created the heavens

and the earth.

The word "God"  in the original language is the word Elohim. Mr. Prince explained that though we in the U.S. add the letter "s" to  change the form of a word to make it plural, in Hebrew it is normal to add "im" to change a word to the plural form.  It's pronounced "eem"as in "seem", thus the first mention of God  referring to Himself in the plural form. Another interesting fact is that verbs in Hebrew can either be singular or plural and must match the form of the words to which they are connected. A plural word such as Elohim normally would be matched with a plural form of the verb, but such is not the case in this instance.  Mr. Prince writes that the word "created" is singular in form indicating that in God there is both plurality and singularity or unity. As Christians we've known God to be a triune Being (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), but to find it so clearly stated in the first words of the Bible in the creation account was quite an amazing discovery to me further verifying our own three part being!  Very interesting indeed and there is so much more information, knowledge and revelation available to us than we can begin to imagine, but He is willing to teach us all things! Wow!

Now that the foundation is laid, I'll return to my point: God created us in His Image and Likeness.  We all, to some extent, have understood this, but I'd like to expand on it.  Since God is 3 in 1 and has both plurality and unity within Himself, when He breathed the breath of lives into man, man became a living soul with both plurality and unity within himself just like God our Father.  Now isn't that a wonderful fact, especially since God's purpose for man has never changed. As I said before, His original plan is still His plan though it was delayed for a time. While  Man enjoyed unbroken fellowship with his Creator before the Fall, his unity within himself (his spirit, soul and body) as well as his continuous life source remained unbroken. Though they, man and woman, were made to be fully functional  living spirits, they were also fully functional living souls who lived in a fully functional living body without schism fully operating as one whole being while they remained in oneness with each other and most importantly, with God.

We know Satan entered in to cause separation and we also know he was successful.  His plan was to separate man from God and steal the ruling authority God had given man when He blessed them. The way he so subtly chose to do this was to present them with something which would first divide them within themselves which, if received, would lead to their downfall.  He needed to confuse and change the natural order in which they were created by God to function-as one, spirit, soul and body in cooperation with God Himself-to accomplish his plan. This is clearly demonstrated in Genesis 3:6 when after the woman listened to the strangers voice and seeing that the forbidden fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eye and desirable to make one wise she, being deceived, gave in to temptation. She gave some to the man who was with her  and he chose to eat.   By this act of disobedience they put their spirits in subjection to the sensual desires of their souls departing from God and the laws He had established to govern spiritual beings such as themselves-those created in the God class in need of a spiritual overlord. And the rest is history.

But now through God's great graciousness to us, Jesus restored the privilege of choosing Him as our spiritual overlord!

Though the fall of man was great,  we as men have had little understanding of how greatly we all have been affected by the lower nature we inherited because of it.   The segregation of our spirit, soul and body  because of our separation from God  and His original design has been devastating.  However, The Very Good and Great News is this truth found in Romans 5:17:

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 

The purpose of all I've written is to share a little about the separation of our "3 lives" which were designed to function as one integrated whole person, but now we are often at odds within.  At times we might follow our spirit, sometimes we might follow our emotions, and other times we might just follow our appetites depending on our circumstances or how we might feel at the moment. I know I mentioned several times that God's original plan for man is still His plan, however,  the deceiver's original plan is still his plan, which is to divide and conquer, to separate man from his Creator and to keep man from the reunification of his "three lives".

I'll end this first installment with the following scripture which Jesus Himself  said so very plainly:

John 10:10 KJV

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

         

The Divine Nature

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;
the world,and they that dwell therein.

After spending some time with Him recently the Holy Spirit said to me:

He's given all who have received Him the divine nature with His indwelling Spirit. Each person should give Him room to develop it. 

It is up to us individually how much room we really want to give Him and how much of the divine nature  we really want to display.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure  in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

The Subtleties of the Old Nature

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world,

and they that dwell therein.

O my goodness! The title of this post infers the plural form of subtle, and there are INDEED many subtle ways the old nature makes efforts to meddle into our lives, but today I only want to visit one way it has been a persistent irritant in my life in a number of ways.  First of all I want to thank God for His great faithfulness, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Word which really does do the work, and for Jesus Himself who paid it all for me.  I did go on here more than intended, HOWEVER, right at this moment, it's exactly how I feel!  Most likely because HE just brought me through one of the most difficult struggles of faith I've experienced to date...at least, that's what it has felt like during this last month and more of what has seemed to be a wave after wave of stuff, difficult stuff to deal with. 

So here's the skinny.  This morning as I lay in bed in an effort to "seize the day" even as the Spirit reminded me to be diligent about, the inspired thought came to me to begin again with the yearly daily Bible reading my church family is participating in.  So, I went online and started in the Book of Esther and listened to the whole book and it was indeed a Blessing, and a strengthening to me. I did the whole book because I know I need to be filled back up to the point of overflowing because I've used up all my supply.  Next I went to the New Testament to catch up a bit there. I  chose to start with 2 Corinthians 1 and listened through chapter 12 and this is where "the skinny"-the real information- begins.

All of a sudden as happy as I was to hear the victorious story in Esther, I was miserably aggravated to begin hearing this story- I didn't want to hear  anything about hard times! I even felt a little angry and didn't want to continue listening and I pretty quickly committed all the feelings to the LORD.  I felt terribly that I felt the way I did, but He helped me, and I received my cleansing, but it was still an effort on my part to see it through.  And  thanks be to God that He brought me through because the help I need was in  this very familiar  passage in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 KJV (emphasis mine.)

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

His Peace began to settle on me as I accepted these words...AGAIN. He does change us from glory to glory in His likeness, and we sometimes revisit those very same places we've gone to before, but each time we go when He's raising us up to a new level, we have to deal with "the thing" we have to deal with to advance with Him. Thank God He is so faithful and kind and compassionate to see us through our growing pains! 

So now we've come to the subtlety I mentioned before.  After His Peace settled in I was  made aware of the issue which had made this so difficult for me to overcome-a sudden light of understanding filled my mind and it was so clear to me. I had become very weakened physically. I couldn't overcome it with all the tools I had relied on previously. I had used up all my resources and reserves  over a long period of time and have been in need of a real R&R leave- a time for rest and recuperation (which had I done voluntarily, I wouldn't have been forced to take this one in this way. Woo-hoo!)


So this is what I saw so clearly.  I was using my "tools" listening to healing scriptures, reading them aloud, decreeing them, laying hold of what I already knew to do and speaking words I know are absolutely true such as, I'm strong in the LORD and in the power of His might, and He renews my strength as the eagles, I run and am not weary, I walk and don't faint. So why didn't they work? Well, they did in my renewed spirit, but it was the motivation behind the words that could not affect the strength of my body or my soul though I've committed my whole self to the LORD for His purposes. So what am I saying here?  I was trying to renew my strength because there was that part of me that still believed I had to get mine renewed, I wasn't truly, in the deepest level of my heart or mind, trusting His Strength alone to see me through and cause me to really become strong again in every area without effort on my part other than just receiving what is already true and already mine!  Once again after repentance, I have been enabled by Him to enter His rest after ceasing from my own works as God did from His, for the Word Himself did indeed divide my soul and my spirit and judged the thoughts and intents of my heart in order for me to see that I was trying to strengthen myself by my own works! Ugh!!!! The carnal nature truly is subtle and can be open to the enemy's assault.  But the Greater One  truly takes us from strength to strength as we trust Him to do so (Psalm 84:7). I am eternally thankful for His great love, kindness, grace and PATIENCE and  now, during my necessary R&R I can agree so much more readily with what  Paul said in verse 9:

 Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

And I know better than ever before I can rest in that power!

So, this is my story today and again, I'm so thankful for His specific leading. I  trust that anyone who reads this will receive a breakthrough wherever one is needed the most and that you will experience the love of God as never before!

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure  in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.