God's Portion by Vanessa age 19

Possibly one of the most incredible messages you will ever read

GOD’S PORTION
A TRANSCRIPTION OF A RECORDED MESSAGE BY VANESSA (One of the ACTS TEAM 1986-1991) through Francois Du Toit on today's Grace Folk (Facebook)

If God did not express His love in a tangible way in causing His love to take on flesh and blood, we would have been in a pitiful state. God demonstrated His love towards us, by causing His Son to take on flesh and blood. We are here on earth as a product of His love. What a glorious origin to have! Let us turn to Heb. 4:1. “Therefore, since the promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” There have been many things attached to the rest of God, but I believe if we want to discover how to enter into the rest of God, we must discover how He entered into His rest. It says in Heb. 4:11 - “let us add diligence that we may enter into the rest of God.” In other words, God has a rest.
We see in the Word that creation and re-creation (redemption) corresponds with one another. Creation is a type(representation) of re-creation. Creation is the shadow in the physical sphere, while re-creation (Creation 2.0) is the substance in the spiritual sphere. To understand on what basis God rests concerning re-creation in Christ Jesus, we must see on what basis God rested concerning creation. Practically in our lives we will only rest according to the measure of the revelation in our hearts of why God is at rest concerning us. We must see God’s persuasion concerning our rest, before we will be persuaded that we can rest concerning our own lives!
Practically in our lives we will only rest according to the measure of the revelation in our hearts of why God is at rest concerning us.
Eph. 2:10 say “We are God’s workman-ship created in Christ Jesus.” Heb. 4:3 say “God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world!” On what basis is it possible that God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world, even before creation itself? Prov.8:22 - 25 give us an answer in this matter. It speaks there of wisdom personified in Christ Jesus - “The Lord possessed Me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old (creation). I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth.” God was so satisfied and overwhelmed in His inner being with love that He could not but give utterance to it, and Christ was brought forth. Christ was such an exact replica of what God has desired, that He found His full delight in Him, and have decided to create nothing else that would not have the same features as Christ. God’s desire and purpose was for fellowship and a love relationship, and Christ was the fulfillment of every aspect of it. From having full satisfaction in Christ Jesus, all God’s works would only be an outflow of Christ and not a creation of anything new. Creation was thus actually only an outflow of Christ and not a creation out of nothing. This is why the Greek text in Col. 1:16 is saying that “In Him all things were created” and then “Through Him” and “For Him.” Everything that was made visible in creation already existed in Christ Jesus! Visible creation was the proof of the success of the original blueprint.

This is the reason why Prov. 8:30-31 says “Then I (Jesus) was beside Him (God) as a master craftsman; and I was daily His (God’s) delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world (earth) and my delight was with the sons of men.” This is also why Acts 15:18 says - “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” God knows His works from eternity, because He has determined that no work of creation would be anything else except an expression of Christ Himself. Therefore the whole of creation finds it’s essential features in Christ Jesus.

That is how it was possible that God’s works were finished before the foundation of the world. So let us now discover in Gen.1 how God entered into His rest concerning this work. In Gen.1 we read how God created the heavens and the earth. In the creation account we read six times (1:3, 10, 12, 17, 21 & 25) God’s reply, as the creation plan was unfolding. Every time it says “and God saw that it was good, ...... and God saw that it was good, ...... and God saw that it was good....” That word “good” means that everything that God beheld after He had created it touched the pleasure of His heart. It found favor in the sight of the Beholder.
Then He says here in Gen.1:27 - “So God created man in His own image. God created them, male and female, He created them and then God blessed them; and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue and have dominion over it.” Verse 31 - “And God saw everything He had made and indeed it was very good.” Verse 28 says, “then God blessed them”. The word “blessed” is the Hebrew word BARAK which means that He appreciated them, He adored them. I know that to the religious mind this might seem like heresy, but it says that He kneeled down and adored them. He appreciated them. God is love and this love could only rest in an encounter with a being of the same kind and likeness! God can only find His rest in a being of the same image and likeness as Himself, a being with the same love as His, a love of the same kind as His own. Love can only find its rest in love. Love can only be satisfied by love.God can only find His rest in a being of the same image and likeness as Himself, a being with the same love as His, a love of the same kind as His own. Love can only find its rest in love. Love can only be satisfied by love.
Love desired someone else to love and it needs a response of the exact kind and quality of love. That is why God, in His creation of man and woman, desired a response in a being on whom He could lavish His love. Eph. 1:7 say that through redemption God lavished His love upon us. God could only enter His rest when He had found a being whom He could appreciate. God could only enter His rest when He had created a being whom He could wholeheartedly appreciate and adore. God’s rest has found it’s fulfillment when He was persuaded that man was the full and perfect expression of what He has desired for in His heart to fellowship with. So when did God enter His rest? When He appreciated the work of His hands. When He created man He said, “man is very good.” All of creation was good, it has found pleasure in His heart, it has found favor in His sight, but when He created man, He said “behold it is very good”. In other words man exhausted the creative ability of God. Within the limits of man, the being of man, God found everything that satisfied the desire of His heart. God discovered in man everything that He needed to satisfy His own desire for companionship. God rested because He found in man the mirror-reflection of Himself. He found in man the same kind of person and love as in Himself. Man was indeed the joy of His desire. That is why it says “and God said it was very good”.

God could rest, because of the very good quality of creation. That word “rest” means that I have come to a place where the reality dawned upon me that I need to add nothing to my life. Nothing can be added to the PERSON of who I am in Christ Jesus, even if my experience does not match up with it. My experience cannot add or take away from who I am as a person, because my experience is only an outflow of my knowledge of who I am in Christ Jesus! The reality that you need to add nothing to your life is indeed a strong reality to walk in. That means you are walking in the consciousness that you experience ultimate satisfaction. Rest is to walk in the consciousness of being in a state of absolute peace, assuredness, confidence, tranquility and love. He entered His rest because of you being in that state. So how would we enter the rest of God? Would you agree with me that it is to appreciate as God appreciates? So now I start to appreciate the new creation within me as God alone appreciates me, because through appreciating as He does, I would definitely enter into the rest He enjoys! Appreciation is when I salute the work of another person on my behalf. Appreciation is to acknowledge God for the good and perfect work that He did within you in Christ Jesus. All that I can do in reaction to God’s perfect workmanship in Christ Jesus is to respond in appreciation.

Why was God’s interest in creation so focused upon man? What was God’s purpose with man? Was He looking for some profit in the works of man? If God really sought man’s work, He should have created him on the first day and then together with Him, man and God could have planned and worked together in creation. If His interest was in the works of man, He would have created man on the first day and let him work hard!

The word “blessed” is the Hebrew word BARAK which means that He appreciated them, He adored them.

The opposite is actually true in that God took much time to create everything in great detail for man. You could have made everything, but God made it for you so that you would not be disrupted in your rest. Love took much time when He created creation. He took much time in depositing wealth into the earth. God could have given us just black and white and we would have done well, but He went to His ultimate in designing the earth wherein man would get to know Him. God created perfect circumstances and atmosphere for a perfect romance. He went to the ultimate of His creative thought when He created the world. He spends much time although it says one day, one day, and one day. The Word says that one day is like a thousand years to God. When He completed everything, God created man, because the one thing that He desired, was that everything must be completed for the advent of man. Everything had to be completed so that all that man had to do was to get to know Him and appreciate everything that He has done for him. God went a far way and spent a lot of time so that your appreciation can be a rest and not a frustration of works to you.

Gen.2:1-2 “Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished and on the seventh day God ended His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day.” God blessed all of creation but the only day He blessed was the seventh day. Why? He sanctified it, because of His rest from all His works. The word sanctified means He “set it apart”. I believe that He sanctified it for Himself and man. It was a day of celebration wherein God would discover His rest, and it was a celebration wherein man would discover God’s rest. God rested from all His works! That word “rest” means He came into a state of tranquility. It was a celebration in the ceasing from exertion. It was the celebration of the birth of mankind. Is that not precious! So Adam and Eve’s first day that they ever lived on the face of this earth was the Sabbath, a day of resting and mutual enjoyment. The Sabbath day was sanctified and set apart for man and God. It was a holy day, a day of romance, full enjoyment and love-inspired fellowship.

In looking at the book Ephesians, we will see that the verse that forms the basis of the whole book is Eph.1:4. This verse has got the most beautiful ingredients that are enriching our faith. It says “God associated us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” In other words our identification did not come after the fall. God initially identified man in Christ even before creation, and this was the cause of everything that followed. It says in Col.1: 13 that “the kingdom of God is the kingdom of the Son of His love.” John 1:28 say, “that this Son was in the bosom of the Father.” The word bosom speaks of the essential and eternal place of blessedness with the Father. It speaks of the intimate presence of the Father. And this is the place that the Son of God accommodated even before creation. I believe that God was so inspired by the intimacy that He enjoyed with Him, that He saw in His Son the potential of many brethren. He saw His Son becoming the master copy of the whole human race. He desired to see many sons. It says in Heb.2: 10 that it was fitting for Him “to bring many sons to glory”. And so God created man through the inspiration that He received from intimacy with His Son. So God’s eternal purpose was always for man to enjoy what His Son enjoyed. To enjoy that place in the bosom - that eternal and essential place of blessedness in God. And so he says here in Rom.8:28-29 “and we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” We have discovered God’s purpose for us and that is to accommodate the same place as His Son accommodates. We are called according to His purpose. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” I want you to see that God desires you to accommodate no other place than that which His Son accommodates. With man’s fall there came a hindrance in the purpose of God, but we have discovered that God’s purpose is like a bulldozer. To mankind it might have seemed like four thousand years of the fall, but to God it was like a second. Nothing could hinder His eternal purpose for man. Man would be the reproduction of that which He experienced in His Son; man would be the fruit of His Son. Nothing could stand in the way of God’s purpose for you and for myself, Nothing! The whole creation was inspired by His intimacy with His Son. This is such a precious truth! That is why God’s dealings and plans with mankind is so strong. The inspiration that God gets through intimacy with His Son, are proven to be so unquenchable that not even the sin of man on Christ could quench it!

God associated us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” In other words our identification did not come after the fall.

Col.1:12 - “Giving thanks”. All that Paul could do when he discovered God’s fulfilled purpose was to give thanks. That is all he could do. The Greek word for thanks is the verb of the Greek noun for grace. Giving thanks is a spontaneous outflow of seeing grace that was given to you in Christ Jesus. We give thanks or appreciation to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. We are filled with gratitude. Remember that song, “ Give thanks with a grateful heart” - it is all that we can do in response to perfect redemption; otherwise God would have created us on the first day. All that Adam could do was to appreciate and enjoy the completed creation. Adam could not add to anything that God created. Adam could not have been created on the sixth day and said, “Well Lord, let us add to the elephant, let us add to the lion or let us change a few things here or there.” He could not add to himself, he could not add to anything. All that he had to do was to appreciate and to enter the rest that God Himself had entered into. See how precious and valuable the relationship is between God and His Son. When you understand the relationship and place of the Son, you will understand the place you accommodate in Christ.

Col.1:12-16 - “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Is that not beautiful? It says the Son of His love. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin. He is the image of the invisible God, the First-born over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.” This is the precious place that the Son accommodates as the apple of God’s eye. All things were made through Him, for Him; unto Him and in Him all things consist. The word consist means that all things find their essential features in the Son of God. All things that were created were inspired by God’s intimacy with His Son. All things find their essential features in His Son, and now through His blood He has bought us and He has redeemed us to once again find our features and persuasion concerning ourselves in Him as the Son. That word “features” means our faith, our substance, are found in Him the Son.

Jesus Christ was presented the blueprint of all of creation and all of mankind. If the blueprint is a success, then the product must also be a success. That is why when the fall of man came, no one else could proof the design, or proof the success of the design but the master copy. If God created all of mankind through the inspiration of His Son, then His Son must proof the success of the design of man. That is why it could only be the Son of God that took on flesh and blood. No one else could redeem man, no one else could proof that God’s creation in man was a success, except the only begotten Son. John 1:14 Christ has come to redeem us to the bosom of the Father, He has come to redeem us to that place of rest that Adam should have walked in. John 14:1 - “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also”, says the Master copy.
...in Him all things consist. The word consist means that all things find their essential features in the Son of God. All things that were created were inspired by God’s intimacy with His Son.
Let us look at John 1:18 - “No one has seen the Father at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Now He says in John 14:3 - “I have come to receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you may be also”. Those mansions are not mansions in the sky, but it is a place of accommodation in God. It is a place where I find my absolute satisfaction, and a place where God has found His absolute satisfaction. I believe that the Sabbath can be termed as God’s unhindered enjoyment of man and man’s unhindered enjoyment of God. Now I want you to see that in the same way as Adam could not add to the creation of God, you as a new creation cannot add as to what God created you to be.

He says in John 14:3 - “I will come to you and I will receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may also be”. See clearly that it takes nothing from your side to be in that place of blessedness. Eph. 1:3-4 says that God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, even before the foundation of the world. God created you in Christ and it is God who recreated you in Christ before you even knew it. The Word clearly says in Eph.1:10 that “when the fullness of time came, God brought everything in heaven and earth back into Christ Jesus.” “ Of God you are in Christ Jesus and that not of yourselves! “ - 1 Cor.1:30. You may pray for twenty hours, sing and fast and jump before God or even go and preach for ten years. He says that “I will come and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” What does it take from your side to enter in and experience that place of blessedness you already accommodate in Christ Jesus. It takes my appreciation of it! If God entered His rest through the appreciation of what He created, then I enter into my rest as a new creation through what He created me to be.

Adam’s appreciation of creation was such a normal response in the light of awakening in a perfect atmosphere and creation like the paradise. When God created Adam, everything was already finished and completed, and when he awoke in creation, the only thing that was still left was the enjoyment and appreciation of everything around him. That is the reason why appreciation could not be works to Adam, but a normal response out of the perceiving what God has done. Creation is a type of recreation! In recreation or redemption after the fall of man, God did the same as in creation. God finished the whole of redemption before man could awake in his salvation. In Eph.2:11-16 we see that God reconciled and recreated the whole world (Jew and Heathen) back to one new man, from the two, through the cross, in the body of Christ Jesus. Through the death of Christ, every man’s spirit was cleansed from the old man and made alive with Christ to hear God, understand God, and to respond to God. God just brought mankind, in terms of their spirit, back to where Adam and Eve were before the fall so that they can now again hear the Gospel and make a decision for it. Man was not made new and alive at his decision for God, but when he died and was made alive with Christ at the cross and resurrection - Eph. 2:5-10. Every person that responds to God do not have it’s own cross and resurrection! Heb. 9:25-26 says that Christ died once and was resurrected once, and if you were not part of that, you have missed it completely. This is confirmed with the fact that at the Friday of the cross, the whole of mankind was unacceptable to enter into God’s presence, and on the Monday after the resurrection the invitation came to all mankind to enter into the presence of God on the new and living way (Heb. 10:19-22). God had to cleanse mankind at the cross through the offering of the body of Christ; otherwise a invitation to enter would not be possible. When the whole of redemption was finished after resurrection, the Gospel came to the whole of mankind as to AWAKE them unto what was already completed. It corresponds to what He said on the cross “it is finished!” That is why 1Cor.15:14 says, “AWAKE unto righteousness, and do not sin...” You cannot become it or work for it, because you are it already, and just need to be what you already are. Nowhere is there a command to become dead to sin and alive to God, because you just have to RECKON yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus - Rom. 6:11-13. God has finished everything and you can only awake to the fact that you as a person are already complete in Christ, and now reflect Him in your life. Ps. 17:15 - “As for me I will see your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness.”

Man was not made new and alive at his decision for God, but when he died and was made alive with Christ at the cross and resurrection - Eph. 2:5-10.

When you heard the Gospel, you awake and then saw that there is nothing left to be done to become the image and likeness of God, because you are already that through redemption. God has already restored you back to one new man at the cross, and all that is left now is to enjoy it! Just appreciate what you became in Christ at the cross and resurrection and when you do that you will receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that will seal you - Eph. 1:13.

I want to repeat this very important truth; If God entered His rest through the appreciation of what He created, then I enter into my rest as a new creation through what He created me to be. So often our experience contradicts what the Word says, everything starts giving its opinion against you and says your experience does not come near to what the Word says. Your experience says the Word cannot be true, and it challenges the integrity of God’s Word. In a situation like that, you just start to appreciate your new nature. Sit there and start to meditate upon the innocence that has given birth to your spirit. Start to appreciate the innocence in your spirit.Start to appreciate the purity that is in your spirit because of redemption. Start to appreciate the new nature that has been placed within you and immediately that rest becomes a constant consciousness. Immediately that rest becomes a reality that dawns as the sun dawns. Appreciate “until the morning star rises in your heart” - 2 Pet. 1:19. Only then will you start to appreciate the bosom of your Father as the place of blessedness that you accommodate in Christ Jesus. In doing this, it does not say that your circumstances will change immediately, but your inward being will start to overrule the outward tribulation - 2 Cor.4;16-18. Day by day the inward man must be renewed, not by looking to the temporary outward things, but by looking to Christ as my mirror-reflection of the eternal in me.

Start to appreciate the innocence in your spirit. Start to appreciate the purity that is in your spirit because of redemption.
There is a blessedness in walking in the consciousness of that place of blessedness in the bosom of the Father. How? Through the appreciation of the truth that you are there and it is He who has brought you there. God brought us back into Christ Jesus at the cross. In other words each one of us right now are accommodating that place where the Son of God is. When contradiction comes and your experience does not match up with the Word, just sit there and say “Father, I appreciate the fact that Your Son has redeemed me to a place where I cannot add to anything. I am right now accommodating a place in Your bosom in Christ Jesus. I could not add to anything in my life, even if I wanted to, because it was prepared two thousand years ago”. It was of His working that you are what you are, otherwise you would have helped Jesus to do it. 1 Cor. 15:10 - “But by the grace of God, I am what I am.” He prepared that place beforehand, before you or I were even born. And what does God desire from you? Your appreciation, because through your appreciation you enter into the reality of it. Appreciation and faith is actually exactly the same thing.

Heb. 4:1-3 ‘Therefore since the promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it, for indeed the Gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the Word they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” They did not appreciate the calling of God to them through the Gospel. “For we who believe do enter that rest, so I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter My rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the earth”. God’s eternal purpose was established from the beginning of the earth, that you would accommodate the Son’s place in His bosom. You would be accommodated in His bosom in Christ Jesus and that was finished from the foundation of the earth. You cannot add to it, just get persuaded about it and enjoy it. In Heb. 4:4-7 God urges us not to harden our hearts but to appreciate the completed work of Christ. “Again He designates a certain day saying to David - Today after such a long time as it has been said ‘Today if you hear My voice ‘, do not harden your hearts.” The calling of God is heard in His voice, God’s love-call is heard in His voice. His voice and His calling is the Gospel. You do not need to call man through any other means except the Gospel, because his heart responds to the love-call of God. He says “do not harden your hearts”. Hardening of heart and rebellion would be the exact opposite of appreciation. “If Joshua had given them rest, He would not afterwards have spoken of another day. There remains therefore the rest for the people of God.” A rest being your absolute enjoyment of God and His absolute enjoyment of you. That is the rest of God that you enter into. It is not your rest, it is the rest of God that becomes your rest, as you see the reason for His rest concerning you !
You do not need to call man through any other means except the Gospel, because his heart responds to the love-call of God.
It is very important to see that God finished everything Himself, because if you do not see it, you will try to produce it through your own works. God is at rest because of what you became in your spirit in Christ Jesus through resurrection. This truth is settled in your heart. Start appreciating God’s initiative, because so often we think it must come from our side, that we must come into His presence with boldness, that we must break through the veil into the heavenly places, that we must take the initiative to approach God as a lion. It is God’s initiative that opened for us the new and living way. He is the One who drew you. He is the One who called you. In Rom. 5:8 it says “Herein is the love of God demonstrated, that Christ died for us while we were God’s enemies.” He embraced us in His love while we were sinners, ungodly and His enemies. In Eph. 2;3 it says that we were children of wrath and not children of the wrath of God as we always interpreted it. We were not children who were going to get God’s wrath, but we were children of a nature of wrath. A nature that was in vengeance against God, a nature that blasphemed the living God. And while we were in that state of vengeance against God, He embraced us in His love. Do you agree that the initiative came from Him! Start appreciating God’s initiative, because when you start walking in that consciousness it is no longer something that must come from your side, but it is simply appreciating what has already come from His side.

Esek. 16:6-14 clearly shows us the initiative of God. See with your spiritual eyes how all this happened to YOU in Christ Jesus in the New Testament. ‘And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘ Live!’ I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed it was the time of love; and so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, says the Lord God. Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God. How easy it is to love out of a initiative like this. God did it with you so that you just need to be it to the full extend.

Hos.11:1 - says “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called him to be My son.” Verse 3-4 “I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know it was I who healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke off their neck and I stooped and fed them.” Verse 8 - “How can I give you up, oh Ephraim?” What was the motivation of God calling man out of a perverse and crooked generation? Man went and blew everything. God should just have left him. Hos. 11:9 - “I will not execute My fierceness of anger, I will not destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. And I will not come to you with terror. 1 John 4:9 - “In this the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has send His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and He sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” Paul writes in another place and says - ‘I do not need to teach you concerning brotherly love, because God Himself teaches you.”

Let us clearly see God’s initiative in His act of propitiation. The word propitiation is a term that the Greeks use when they used to bring their sacrifices to their Greek gods. They had many drink offerings to their gods as Vines writes and says, “ in order to change the mood of their gods to be favorable towards them.” So there was a constant act of propitiation in their hope, and a bare glimpse of anticipation in which they wished that their gods would became favorable towards them. Now it sounds as if their gods were very moody. I praise God that our God is not a moody God. One day I must sneak in and the next day He hauls me into His presence and the day after that He throws me out again. But there is just no shadow of turning in the heart of God. I do not need to shrink back. That is why He says that His heart has no pleasure in those who draw back, because His heart has never ever changed towards man. God desires for us to take initiative, because He first took the initiative. He wants you to respond wholeheartedly to what He did wholeheartedly in Christ Jesus with you. I am possessive over God only because He was first possessive over me.

The Greeks themselves had to do these acts of propitiation; they had to bring their own sacrifices. The God that we have come to know did Himself the act of propitiation on our behalf. He brought His Own sacrifice and actually offered His only begotten Son. God’s mood did not need to change to be favorable towards you. His mood has always been one of loving kindness and tender mercies towards you. It was your mood that had to be changed. God’s mood was in love towards mankind even before the sacrifice of His Son. We were children of wrath and vengeance against God. So now God comes with His Son, the Lamb of God. The Word says in John 1:29 - “Behold the Lamb of God”. Can you imagine what was going on in the minds of those Jewish people concerning the Lamb of God. They were so used to bring their own little lambs for the last 1400 years, and here John shouts out “Behold the Lamb of God.” The lamb was God’s act of propitiation, God’s act of favor. When those Greeks brought their sacrifices to their gods, their gods already had their favor, but they were trying to win the favor of their gods. In the New Covenant, it is God who is seeking to win the favor of man, - that is why He sent His Lamb. He desires to change the mood of the hearts of man.
I am possessive over God only because He was first possessive over me.
This is such a precious reality that will enrich your faith, if you make it a point to walk in the consciousness of God’s initiative over your life. In the light of God’s initiative, your walk and relationship with God is not a burden, but it is simply responding to what He first did. Herein is the love of God demonstrated, that He first loved you. God did not need to be reconciled to you, you needed to be reconciled to God. 2 Cor.5:18 - “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is why God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” Why? Because He desired godly offspring in bringing man back into a relationship of favor with Him - Mal. 2:15. - “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” The word pleading means “to seek the favor of”. God was seeking the favor of man, desiring a change of mood in the heart of man towards Him. Now on that basis I implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. I want this reality to dawn upon you through the Spirit.

In Eph. 3:8-12 we read about the unreachable riches of Christ that is preached to the Gentiles. This revelation is driving Him to let all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which was from the beginning of the ages hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. This manifold wisdom of God is now made known to the church, which is according to the eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is the mystery? The mystery that was hidden for man was, that for all the years God longed and desired mirror-reflection fellowship that would be the same as His fellowship with His Son. This eternal purpose (Eph. 1:3-4) was accomplished through creation in Christ Jesus. The fall of man disturbed and cancelled the function of this purpose in man, but was preserved in Christ Jesus as the blueprint. With redemption God, through the Blueprint, restored man again in his spirit to the image and likeness of God and called it the new creation.

Col. 1:25-29 says the stewardship of God is the mystery that was hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed in Christ Jesus. The riches of the glory of this mystery IN the Gentiles is revealed as Christ in them, the hope of Glory! God has restored His image and likeness in man again through the cross and resurrection. God has made mankind new in their spirits in bringing it back to the image and likeness of Christ, which is the image of God - Heb. 1:3. That is why Eph. 4:22 says “Put on (command in the past tense - let it manifest, be what you are) the new man that was created according to God’s righteousness and holiness.” See also Col. 3:9-11. The result of this successful redemption is stated in Eph. 3:12 - “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” I want to read to you a translation that someone wrote out of the Greek. “ Our union with Him is a result of His faith, not our presumption. He initiated our union, we are not imposing upon the presence or the promises of God. We have thus obtained an unrestricted, an unreserved approach.”

I shared with someone this story to illustrate the point. I really wanted to get to know Susan, because I have seen her and I picked up in my spirit that she has a treasure I need to tap into. So I go to her and tell her “Susan, please do you not want to come and have some coffee with me with cream cake and biscuits.” You see, she has my favor, but I desire her to get to know me as well. I desire for her to have me as a pleasure, a pleasurable friend. So I invite her and she is just stubborn. She just does not want to come and I am inviting and imploring and pleading with her. “Come and have coffee with me.” And after the third month she eventually responds. And she comes down to my room and she is hesitant and restricted in her approach. She says, “Well may I have one of these biscuits.” I mean, I am overwhelmed that she eventually responded. I am leaping up and down, and I am bringing out the cookies as fast as I can, and I cannot carry enough cups of coffee over to her, and I just want to sit down and get to know her. In other words, she is not imposing. And then she sits and says, “I hope that I am not imposing on your presence.” Do you see what I am saying? Your union with God is a result of His faith, not our presumption! He took the initiative. This was not your good idea! You were not the one breaking down the veil into the heavenly places. He drew you with cords of love; He prepared that place before you were even born, you could not add to it even if you wanted to. Do you see what the rest of God is?

In God’s desire to repossess you He knew what the price would be to repossess you as His own possession; God knew that the price of redemption was the life of His Son Jesus Christ. He gave that which was most precious to Him to repossess you. Now He has nothing but you. In giving everything to repossess mankind He has nothing as His possession but mankind. Even His Son is part of the human race now and sits in heaven at the moment with a physical body! He says there in 1 Tim. 2:5 that there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; Jesus the firstborn among many brethren. Can you understand why God is possessive over you? Do you know what it does to your spirit when you dwell in the consciousness that God is possessive over you. Meditate on that. Let us read Zeph. 3:17 from the Amplified. ‘The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty one, a Saviour who saves, He will rejoice over you with joy, He will rest in silent satisfaction and in His love He will be silent and make no mention of past sins or even recall them; He will exalt over you with singing.” Appreciate the response of God, His possessiveness over you. Religion is busy with idolatry, the heathen worship gods that has eyes that cannot see and mouths that cannot speak and hands that cannot handle and ears that cannot hear. They worship idols and get no response from that idol. I cannot see any reason why they should continue their relationship with that idol. What is it that inspires your relationship with God - the feedback you receive daily from God. How do you receive feedback? Through appreciating and meditating upon the Scriptures and a life of worshipping God. That is how you receive feedback. We are not busy with a God that we are worshipping and there is no response. We are not praying towards God and there is no feedback. God is a God that have given testimony of Himself in your spirit and He is sustaining that witness! We have a God that is full of emotion over you. He exalts over you with joy. When you discover God’s possessiveness over you, you cannot but respond. He rests in silent satisfaction over you.
Now He has nothing but you. In giving everything to repossess mankind He has nothing as His possession but mankind. Even His Son is part of the human race now and sits in heaven at the moment with a physical body!
Let us read Ps. 132:3 - “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house or go up to the comfort of my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty God of Jacob.” Verse 7-9 - “Let us go into His tabernacle, let us worship at His footstool, arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness and let Your saints shout for joy”. Verse 13-14 “For the Lord has chosen Zion; and He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever, I will dwell here for I have desired it.” That word “desire” means unsatisfied longing until that desire is satisfied. God has chosen Zion, because He so appreciated that which He saw in the human race, that He could enter into His rest. Love found enough within the creation of man in which it could be satisfied. In beholding what God did, there is an enriching of my faith that takes place, because with dead religion there is no feedback from the individual they worship. There is no feedback at all, no inspiration to continue in that relationship. But God has called us to a place that His own Son enjoys and we have feedback from God. You must get to a point of persuasion in your life where you refuse to live in a relationship with God without living in the consciousness of the feedback of God that there is in your spirit. God has given full testimony of Himself in the spirit of man, and wants you to live daily in the full consciousness of it.

This sounds like heresy to the religious mind but David said in Ps. 73:25-26 “Who have I in heaven but You O God, and having You, there is nothing I desire on this earth.” In beholding God and keeping my eyes upon Christ, I get the feedback of 1 John 4:17 - “As He (Christ) is, so are we in this world.” So you can say with boldness of yourself what God says of you, because He has reconciled us to a relationship of equality and mutual encouragement. A relationship of equality means what must be experienced by the one, must be experienced by the other, otherwise it is not a relationship of equality. Do you see what we are involved in. We are involved with a God who exalts over you, a God who is filled with emotion over you, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim; My compassion grows warm within Me over you. I have created you to be My resting place” says your God.

Deut. 32:9 - “For the Lord’s portion is His people, and Jacob is the place of His inheritance.” To say something is your portion means to say, I desire nothing else; it is my hope for tomorrow and the future, and this is my absolute delight. God says - “Israel, you are My portion, you are My hope for the future, you are My delight, you are My inheritance and Jacob is the place of My inheritance.” God inherited through the death of His Son. God inherited you through the death of His Son. Eph.1:11 in the Greek reads as follow - “In whom (Christ) we were made His (God’s) inheritance, having been chosen (predestined) from the beginning for this purpose in accordance to the purpose or intention of Him (God) whose might carries out in everything the purpose of His own will.” The work of the cross was the initiative of God to get mankind as His portion. To secure this purpose and to make sure that it will be an absolute success, He carried it out personally as the One who works everything in the universe according to His will. It is nice to be the focus of such unquenchable initiative, whereby God is overwhelmed to have mankind as the reward of the success of the cross and resurrection.

Deut.32:10 - “Jacob is the place of my inheritance. You found him in a desert land, a wasteland, a howling wilderness, you encircled him and instructed him.” While we were in a wasteland God encircled us. While we were enemies and hostile in our minds towards God, He encircled us and marked us out for His own possession. He then kept us as the apple of His eye. That word apple speaks of the focus of a being. Ps. 17:8 - “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wing.” ZECH. 2:8 - “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” That is why David says; “What is man that You are mindful of him.” Man has always been the focus of God. We must understand what was the purpose, which God treasured within Himself. The thoughts of God, throughout ages, even though they were hidden from man, were wholly upon man. The thoughts of God were focused upon man, His desire was focused upon man, and everything in the heart of God was inclined and purposed upon man. When the time came for revelation knowledge to be birthed in you, and you discovered that the mind of God has always been upon you, you cannot but become possessed. God is possessed with mankind. We became possessed by the thoughts of God over us. The purpose that God treasured in His heart throughout the generations had now been unveiled to us. This is our stewardship, to unveil and demonstrate the purpose that God treasured within Himself, that man should accommodate the place that His Son is Himself accommodating at the moment. This is the mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations in the Old Testament, Christ in union with mankind. The image and likeness of Christ, as God’s hope of glory, is again restored in mankind.

Out of the fact that we are God’s portion, His inheritance, we come to another conclusion, namely that God is our portion. This is absolutely Biblical and logical for in a covenant the two parties belong to each other. Ps. 16:5 - “You O Lord are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. Ps. 119:57 - “You are my portion, O Lord.” Jer. 10:16, 51:19 - “The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name.” Lam. 3:24 - “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him.” What an inheritance to have God as your portion!

Eph. 1:15-18 - “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you might know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints.” The whole Ephesians 1 is not speaking of your inheritance, but it is speaking of God’s inheritance which is you. It says - “I pray that you might grasp how precious you are to God as His possession and as His inheritance.” That is the beauty of the Gospel. What happens when I discover that? I fulfill it. I fulfill that desire within the heart of God. In the Living Bible translation he says - “I want you to realize that God has been made rich because of you!”
Out of the fact that we are God’s portion, His inheritance, we come to another conclusion, namely that God is our portion.
Is. 32:17-18 - “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” We have nothing to add to our redemption except to appreciate the peace, quietness and assurance of it forever. Verse 18 - “My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places.” All that you need to do is to enjoy this great and mighty redemption. I want to encourage you to start enjoying the nature that is within you. It is the nature of God. In the mirror of Christ you see yourself as God has always seen you. Innocent, blameless and pure without guile. Wallow yourself in it, indulge in the liberty of truth revealed! Because you know that you are the image and likeness of the Son in whom you find your essential features. Enjoy the resting place He has brought you into. Amen.

Pictures by Chris Welch -holidays/tuning/friends

Similar material for free download by Francois Du Toit or available here at Lulu as a £5 book

See also Andre Rabe's new book Imagine. Since this post it is now available