Unity of the Spirit

                                                        Unity of the Spirit 

 

                                 The reason why we as believers cannot bring unity to the body of Christ is because we are not the Spirit, but in the Spirit. We are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We must know the difference between what God has done and will do, and what we should and must do.
Look at Ephesians 4: 1-6 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
So God has already joind us together with Himsef in the Spirit and we are to walk it out in the natural as Christ unfolds in and through us, this ' walking it out ' comes at the cost of our natural minds being disintegrated and obliterated, in it's place is the mind of Christ. This is not magical but practical.
1 Corinthians 2:16 But we have the mind of Christ. ( Now )
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Note that we were baptized into one body, past tense. By the Spirit not by human effort and conferences. We are to keep it, not create it. Adam was placed in the garden to tend and to keep it not to plant it. Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
The spiritual sense of the natural account of the garden of Eden is that man was in a state of delight, a delight that was the effect of being and thinking good and truth in fellowship with the Almighty GOD. Adam was simply to maintain this relationship, tend and keep the garden. Those who do not know that the Word has a spiritual sense cannot know these truths, for they are revealed by the Spirit to the hungry believer.
Ephesians 2:6 ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Note that God has raised us up together already, all this is as to our spirit. Man as to his spirit is in the spirit world and as to his body is in the natural world. So for any one to try to do naturally what can only be done and has been done spiritually is contray and bound to end in failure. This is why all the messages and conferences on unity of the body has resulted in more division and confusion. Where natural delight terminates spiritual delight begins. When our best natural efforts to recover that which is lost prove unsuccessful, we are in a state of mind to turn our thoughts and direct our efforts into a new and higher channel. When the natural fails we are better prepared to turn to the supernatural. When our own intelligence and prudence are found to leave our desires unsatisfied and our object unattained, we are more ready to place our reliance on the wisdom and providence of God; and only need some friendly voice, either from within or from without, to direct us to the true Source of our help and happiness.
Your hand does not have to try to be one with you, it was formed in your mother's womb before you understood what a hand is, even so before we grow in Christ to understand spiritual things we were made one in Him by His Spirit and baptism.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ( We did not even know )
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
Note this is NOW not in the future.
When we lose the sense of our individuality, ownership, and rights, then we begin to know that we are one, not doctrinally or theologically but Spiritually in the Spirit, then we effortlessly call each other brethren. Different levels of our spiritual maturity places us in various parts of the same body of Christ, and so simultaneously in the various realms of the heavens, but this is a deeper subject so I'll leave that for another time.
God bless you abundantly, as you draw near to HIM, He will draw near to you.
In Christ,
Brother Roland
 

Earthquake - A Change Of State

The church is falling away more and more to false teachings and errors, at the same time many of the saints are advancing to higher heights. The cause of earthquakes is the changing states of the church in the heavens, for the natural world is only the effects of the spiritual world. That's why in  Matthew 24: 1- 14 Jesus said that there will be earthquakes in different places, this is not the end, in verse 12 he says that the love of many will grow cold and these are believers He's talking about. As the love for God grows cold in the church they fall away to love of self, worldliness, entertainment, materialism, and sensuality. the maturing believers at the same time move up in the Sprit, this process causes the shifting movement in the lower parts of the earth, earthquakes in the natural world are the end results.
                                   When Jesus was crucified ( Matthew 27:51-56 ) as soon as He gave up the spirit there was an earthquake, the reason was that the Jewish church had fallen away and the new church was being  established, a new dispensation was born, the chief corner stone rejected by the old religious order was laid for a new covenant, as this happened in the spirit the effect was felt on earth in the form of an earthquake.
                                    When Paul and Silas was in prison  (Acts 16:26) , they prayed and as the forces of hell was retreating in the spirit there was an earthquake. See also Acts 4:31  In Matthew 24 : 29 Jesus said that the powers of heavens shall be shaken. See also Hebrews 12:25-29
The reason why there were not many earthquakes mentioned in the Old Testament is that the church was not yet established in reality, it existed in types, shadows, and representatives  in the Law. Jesus had not come as yet to redeem man for regeneration and transformation.
                                     In Matthew 28:1-2 When Mary came to the tomb an angel descended from heaven and there was an earthquake, note carefully that it says that it was the end of the sabbath, now this is the key, everything that happened to our Lord Jesus brought an end to the old types, shadows and representatives, He fulfilled them for they spoke of Him, as He fulfilled them they passed away into their realities in the Spirit world.  That sabbath was the very last one in history as the day of Pentecost was in Acts 2 . The Law is not destroyed it was fulfilled, like a seed dies to become a tree for it is a tree in seed form, even so man dies to come into the full experience of his spirit whether in heaven or in hell.
                                     In Revelation 8, 11 earthquakes are mentioned again. Always confirming that a change of state has occurred in the church. In chapter 16 the great last earthquake is mentioned, that by "an earthquake" changes in the state of the church are signified, may be seen above  and as earthquakes are lighter and more severe, here the most severe, because it is said that such an earthquake had not occurred since men were made, it is manifest that by "the earthquake" here are signified the shakings, convulsions, and overturning of all things in the church, and the drawing of them down from heaven. By "being divided into three parts" is signified to be altogether destroyed; for by "being divided" in the Word is signified to be dissipated, because in that case they do not cohere, and by "three" is signified all and the whole ; hence by "being divided into three parts" is signified to be altogether destroyed. How can such a catastrophy come to the church ? The answer is that the church has the Word of God which causes conjunction with Jesus Christ, and to pervert, profane, and falsify the Word is not a light thing. When you have a seed and it does not die in the earth to reach it's potential of a fruitbearing tree, then that seed rots and becomes nothing.
                                     He that endures to the end shall be saved. God bless you.

STRENGTH FOR THE WAY

                                 
                                     STRENGTH FOR THE WAY  
                                                                        The challenges, oppositions, obligations, and responsibilities we are faced with today can drain and sap our strength to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with the zeal He desires. So we need to be constantly drawing new and fresh life from Jesus the vine. He said in John chapter 6: 53 that if we do not eat of His body and drink of his blood, then we will have no life. To eat His body and drink His blood in the spirit means to apprehend, appropriate, and incorporate into our lives His good and His truth.
Jesus said in John 15: 1- 8 that without Him we can do nothing. The natural, physical body has it’s life from this world but is controlled and vivified by the spirit of man flowing into and through it. The body is dead for the born again believer, because he has come into the revelation that man is spirit living in a body and has a soul which is will, mind, and emotions. Romans 6: 1-11. This spiritual body is maturing in the natural body as we live passing through this world, as we are being regenerated we put off the qualities of the earthly, natural man, and put on the qualities of the nature of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1: 4 ; 1 Corinthians 15: 40-50. It’s is not enough to have doctrines in the mind, we need also to have those teachings formed in our will by love to God and our neighbour by doing good continually, and this not for merit but acknowledging that it’s Christ in us who does the works.
                                   To live daily and keep this focus we need to guard against fainting. In the natural fainting means to lose consciousness, grow weary and weak. Spiritually we can lose our focus as to who we are in Christ, what we are called to do for Him, how we are to live before the world, why we are here, and where we are going. If we lose this vision we are fainting. The purpose of this message is to strengthen us and to look into the Word of God for truth to help us overcome fainting in the way.
In Isaiah 40 we see the Lord saying that those who wait on Him shall renew or exchange their strength. We cannot faint in the Lord’s strength, we faint in ours. During the process of regeneration God orchestrates our circumstances as we walk faithfully in Him, and He brings us to the point of exhaustion so that we can see for ourselves that we are weak and faint, we then long for the resurrection power of the Lord and when we call upon Him, wonder of wonders His might and power flows into us and we are strong. This has to be practised throughout our journey on earth for us to be perfected. So then as the strength of the believer is removed, the strength of the Lord is resident ministering healing for the body, for as said before the body is dependent upon the spirit and not the reverse. 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18
Isaiah 40: 28- 31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait ( this word means to bind together ) on the LORD
Shall renew ( exchange ) their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
                                    In Ephesians 1:15 - 22 we read of Paul the Apostle praying for the saints that the eyes of their understanding being enlightened they may know what is the hope of God’s calling, he mentions that they may know also, “ ….. 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, ..” There we have it, God wants us to know experientially the power He used in raising up the Lord Jesus from the dead. How can we know this power except we first come to an end of our own power. Those of us who want to own our lives cannot hope to come to theses revelations, even as the caterpillar cannot hope to become a beautiful butterfly and avoid the process of transformation in the cocoon.                                
                             Matthew 15: 32 Jesus looked at the multitude and saw that if they did not have something to eat they would faint on the way, they were with Him for three days and was now hungry. Three is the number of Divine completion, when we have been with the Lord for a time in our own strength He sees we are in a position for a miracle of receiving spiritual food from Him, if not we won’t be able to go on. We must seek him for spiritual food and then we won’t grow faint.
                                Psalm 27: 13 David said he would have fainted had he not believed …
We must believe the promises of the Lord and keep hope alive, then we will not faint.

                                 Luke 18:1 Jesus said we are to pray at all times, which means in all states. Time in the natural means state in the spiritual. So prayer is a weapon against growing faint. Prayer is desire, not just asking for this and that, for who can pray words always ? However we can all have constant desire in our hearts welling up into our minds bringing hope, this of course means spiritual desires that the Lord sees and observes as prayer. That is what the Lord meant when he said that men should always pray.

                                 Hebrews 12: 1-3 Here we are admonished to keep in mind the things Jesus endured as He walked among men on earth, and in doing so we will not grow faint. In verse 5 we see that the correction of the Lord in our lives can lead to discouragement if we do not focus properly on His dealings with us.

                               So with this short exhortation be encouraged that the Lord loves you and you are His chosen, the moment you believed and received you were impregnated by the Word of God and now the process has begun to conform you to His image and likeness. Go all the way to perfection and don’t faint. God bless.

In Christ,

Brother Roland