If God be for us…. then who can be against us?” If Christ is truly All and is in ALL according to Colossians 3:11, then........
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Everything is Him in some manifestation, form, or expression, and all of it originated from the Eternal thought of the Father which is found in John chapter 17;
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that “ALL OF THEM MAY BE ONE”…….. Father, just as YOU ARE IN ME AND I AM IN YOU. May they also be in us, SO THAT, THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, SO THAT, THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS YOU AND I ARE ONE: I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME! May they be brought to COMPLETE UNITY to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me TO BE WITH ME WHERE I AM, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:20-24)
This has become one of my favorite passages of scripture! There is a passion in this dialogue of Christ with His Father that is hard to miss!
This is Jesus “open and laid bare”, bearing the deepest desire of His heart, the original thought of the FATHER……. SEEING ONLY GOD IN ALL THINGS! "THAT THEY MAY BE ONE AS YOU AND I ARE ONE, YOU ARE IN ME, AND I AM IN YOU!"
What is the reason behind Jesus passionate plea for THE WORLD to believe? For God so loved the WORLD, He gave His ONLY begotten Son! (John 3:16)
Looking at the ONE Word, we see ONLY HIM! “If your eye is SINGLE it is full of light, but if your eye is EVIL (I always thought double was the opposite of single?) it is full of darkness. And if that light in you be darkness, then how great is that darkness?”
Here “EVIL” is equated with seeing "TWO" in the same way “EVIL” is equated to an "UNBELIEVING HEART" in Hebrews chapter 3!
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)
“The light of the body is the eye: therefore when THINE EYE IS SINGLE, thy whole body also is FULL OF LIGHT; but when THINE EYE IS EVIL, thy body also is FULL OF DARKNESS.” (Luke 11:34)
“If therefore the light that is in thee be DARKNESS, how great (dark) is that DARKNESS!” (Mathew 6:23)
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other! You cannot serve God and wealth (or any other God “AND”…….combination for that matter).
Man was specifically designed to successfully serve and worship only one God at one time! It doesn’t matter what you think, we were created in the image of Christ, and He could only do that (one thing) which he saw His Father doing, and we can do no different!
Seeing more than God in any given set of circumstances creates what the Bible calls “The Dividing Wall of Hostility.”
“For He himself is our peace, WHO HAS MADE THE TWO ONE, and has destroyed the barrier, THE DIVIDING WALL OF HOSTILITY, by abolishing in his flesh the law (of sin and death) with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to CREATE IN HIMSELF ONE NEW MAN OUT OF THE TWO, THUS MAKING PEACE, AND IN THIS ONE BODY TO RECONCILE BOTH OF THEM TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS, BY WHICH HE PUT TO DEATH THEIR (our) HOSTILITY.
The DIVIDING wall? Is it possible for us to see a DIVIDING WALL, or any other divided “anything”……… if we are seeing ONLY ONE? If the wall is a dividing wall, itself being the reason for the ONE becoming two…….then the ONLY conclusion in seeing more than God is a manifestation of hostility in some form or expression! In our seeing "two or more" in any given circumstance, we ourselves end up creating the conflict, war, turmoil, strife, fear, distrust, anger, depression, lack, frustration, isolation, and the list goes on…….. ad nauseum!
It took me years to learn what the book of James was about. Because I could only discern it based on the "separated gospel" of seeing more than God, James became to me the ultimate doers manual for right Christian living! And in my discerning James through the dual eye of separation, I saw something that made me cringe! Why? Because I could only see what he was saying as me having to DO SOMETHING in my own strength to try to change my life!
Looking in the mirror, and walking away forgetting who I am! Forgetting there is ONLY ONE always opens us up to SEEING more than one! (James 1:26) What causes fights and quarrels among you? (James 4:1) It takes at least two to have a quarrel, and if there is more than two involved in the quarrel, doesn’t it get much worse? Being a DOUBLE-MINDED (seeing more than God) man, UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS! (James 1:8) Can fresh water and polluted water flow from the same spring? (James 3:11)
God has just recently shown me; that at the heart of this awesome book of James is the ongoing and original Eternal thought of the Father, which always exposes duality and separation in every form and on every human level! And what was the reason for James writing this amazing book?
"That they may be ONE, even as you and I are one!” (John 17:21)
And when we are still walking in a consciousness of the God up there, or the God who will show up in the next event, or God AND [fill in the blank], we subject ourselves once again to what Paul described as “The Law of Sin (not sins) and Death!” Or in maturity, we could now define it as the law of duality! Seeing SIN and DEATH is seeing more than just ONE! SIN, being another word for separation, and DEATH, another word for division!
There is another Law, which Paul called; “The Law of The Spirit of Life…IN CHRIST JESUS!” The Spirit of Life, nothing else, not Life AND [fill in the blank] No, this wonderful law contains ONLY ONE……ONLY LIFE! ONLY THE LIFE OF CHRIST! And now look where this SINGLE law operates…….ONLY “IN CHRISTJESUS!” This new Law of seeing only ONE, The Spirit of Life, has swallowed up the former law of seeing more than God, or The Law of Sin and Death! So Now we are able to see just as CHRIST sees! And He ONLY sees the Father in every person, place, thing, or situation! He only sees The Spirit as the ONLY ONE at work in those people, places, things, and situations! The Spirit Works in that wonderful and freeing place of our seeing God ONLY! We Rest, knowing we are simply the created conduit of His Life In Us and As US!
If this is true, wouldn't it stand to reason that when the NEXT trial shows up unexpectedly, we NOW need to call it as He sees it! And How does He see it? He sees it as just another expression of HIMSELF, there for the express purpose of our reconciling it to Him as Him, and with no distinction whatsoever!
No distinction between light and dark, plenty and lack, fear and faith…………because NOW YOU SEE ONLY HIM! Now your WHOLE BODY IS FULL OF LIGHT! How much of your body, read Luke 11:34, YOUR WHOLE BODY!
“HERE THERE IS NO GREEK OR JEW, CIRCUMCISED OR UNCIRCUMCISED, BARBARIAN, SCYTHE, SLAVE, OR FREE……. but CHRIST IS ALL, AND IS IN ALL!” (Col 3:11)
Now I wish I could say I just woke up one day and decided to see things this way, but that is far from being true. Everyone is ok where they are at, and the sooner we learn it is the Spirit’s job to reveal the Father in every situation, the better we will be! If we are full of strife, worry, and fear, then we are also a perfect candidate to learn to RELEASE what we are holding on to, REST in His Unconditional Love, and expect to RECEIVE the NEXT THING!
In this SINGLE EYE of SEEING ONLY GOD IN EVERYTHING, Jesus walked the face of the earth. Even Pilate, the ONE WHO COULD HAVE PRESUMABLY TAKEN HIS LIFE, couldn’t claim any power in HIS presence;
“Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I HAVE POWER either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "YOU WOULD HAVE NO POWER OVER ME IF IT WERE NOT GIVEN TO YOU FROM ABOVE.” What was Jesus looking at? Who did He see? Was it Pilate AND… the Father? Was He seeing separation and duality? Or was He seeing ONLY His sovereign Father through all of what he went through......and in this particular situation, standing there in front of Him in the form or expression of Pontious Pilate? And it was right there Jesus saw Pilate fulfilling the original thought of His Father!
"That they may be ONE, even as you and I are one!” (John 17:21)
Without going to the cross, He knew better than anyone, we would ALL be lost! Without the cross, there would be no LIFE! It was for the JOY that was set before him, He endured the cross!
What was that JOY?
“That they may be ONE, even as you and I are one!” (John 17:21)
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Is there anything existing that is apart from HIM? Is Christ Divided? Are we? Are our trials? How about our seeming lack? Is anything NOT HIM?
“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will He not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written; "for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
These are questions that need to be answered!
Question: If God is for us, then WHO can be against us?
Answer: Now that we see ourselves operating in this new Law of the Spirit of Life In Christ, God is ALL we see! And so it’s in this place of SEEING GOD ONLY…..ONLY GOD HIMSELF can be against us! No devils or demons! They can ONLY exist in a consciousness of sin! We have moved away from elementary things to the reality of our being ONE IN HIM! Thank God He is not now, nor will He ever be against us!
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Question: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
Answer: In this place of seeing Him as ALL, and IN ALL, the enemy has been stripped and laid bare, powerless to even touch God’s elect! There is NO CHARGE OF ANY KIND because He is the All in ALL who fills everything in every way!
Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, I do not condemn you, either. Go From now on sin no more." (John 8:10-11)
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Question: Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?
Answer: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither DEATH nor LIFE, neither ANGELS or DEMONS, neither the PRESENT nor the FUTURE, nor ANY POWERS, neither HEIGHT NOR DEPTH, NOR ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION, WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD”
Let me ask just one final time.
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
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Comment by Chris Welch
Chris Welch I laugh at separation, at brothers/sisters who close themselves off in a box like we're in some way not worthy of the other.The leaders meetings....the special groupings
according to personality and interests....when in reality where are you going to hide in God's Light,in whom is no shadow? Now every good meeting where the Holy Spirit connects people of all ages, types and standing are that foretaste - that downpayment - that proof that John 17 is on its way bigtime."The burning that we felt in our hearts on Emmaus Road.". The "there I am in the midst" when 2 or 3 are gathered.
Clearly more than God just being everywhere, which He also is.
Reading Fred Pruitt and Ole and Nancy caused a bit of crisis on this until in 2008 I learned that as well as the gold inside and out of the Holy of Holies' furniture - which speaks of both our own Christ as Us walk,plus the ways the Holy Spirit most normally reaches out to others through us.....there's this other thing that's growing ever more powerful when we gather together....the Shekinah Glory. God Himself turning up in a greater more tangible way than His general Imminence.
Now in the 70s Maurice Smith and so many were ministering on John 17. The unity in meetings felt so strong we risked our lives on it,some of us giving up university to move in together and live in community. In England we had Fulness magazine because we were convinced we were spawning literally a new Reformation. Well, we were right and wrong.This WAS the genuine.But it was a downpayment.A firstfruits. A Pentecost Early Harvest.
The late harvest only comes when people learn to live Christ as Us fulltime.When we learn the substance of this article....there IS no double seeing...there is Nothing else.So as a tuner who has to regularly navigate round 7 octaves of 220 wayward strings....I just laugh when people try to cut me off and lock me out. There is only one Jesus...so where are you going to hide yourself?More seriously though we are entering a time of the actual fulfilment of the Festival of booths/tabernacles.This is a corporate version of learning Christ as Me and IT IMMEDIATELY precedes the Jewish Feast of Ingathering.This leaped out at me again above. Its what we expected in the 70s but could only make happen in meetings and the world smelled a rat.Now hopefully....its a Final Harvest version John17" May they be brought to COMPLETE UNITY to let the world know that you sent me... ." This is a world sized statement being based on the passive verb form "be brought". By whom? The Holy Spirit. Who prayed? Jesus. So we're talking dead cert. It is irrelevant that we "see the opposite"...we continue to proclaim the done deal....that there is none else...there is nowhere to go.Speaking as a tuner whose stated mission is heaven-bent on harmony!!!!
more from Rich
· Rich Novek I love you guys, you are the catalyst for my 4 and 5 am nights/mornings! Bless all of you for your awesome insight, wonderful comments! We are all, as our wonderful brother Dan Powers says, "recklessly abandoned to Christ!"
Chris, the one thing I did not expound on that God left for you my brother! Can we even conceive what has to happen in ... See moreorder for this statement to come to fruition..... "May they be brought to COMPLETE UNITY to let the world know that you sent me." What World? The divided and separated world! What has to happen? What needs to be turned on it's ear for us to see this as Christ sees it?.......EVERY-THING! That is exactly what has happened with me in the last 14 weeks I have been on FB! From appearances, my whole life is a mess! It's GOD"S ORDAINED PERFECT CHAOTIC MESS!..........And if I make no distinction between what it is now, and what it was, or will be, I by faith remove the dividing wall of hostility/separation, and the internal conflict dissolves into the peace that surpasses all human understanding! Read on..........."[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [FULL AND ACCURATE] knowledge of the Son of God, that [WE MIGHT ARRIVE] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him." (Eph 4:13 AMP)
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