Coming Out of Darkness Part 14 by Gary Sigler

Facebook note on Sunday, 03 April 2011 at 15:50

Not I, but Christ In Me

The Apostle Paul knew the power of the human mind, and the power of human beliefs and suggestions. That is why he said for us not to walk as the gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. The carnal mind is what keeps us in bondage to the flesh. We think, "How can I possibly walk free of Satan and in the power of God?" We know that the scripture says we have been delivered from sin, sickness and death, but that is not our experience. I have sickness in my body and I know that for a fact. Some say that sin and sickness are not real, but that does not make them go away. Our problem is the darkness, the blindness, and the ignorance. The problem is in not knowing what we have inherited in Christ. It is the blindness of not seeing who He is in me. It is no longer I: "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). If I, through the Spirit, put to death the carnal self-life, and I am no longer living, and the Life of Christ is coming forth in my body, I will begin to realize the resurrection power of Jesus giving Life to my mortal body. We do have the Life of God in us. If you have experienced that Life, no one can take it away from you. Just as you have experienced His Life in you, you can experience everything that He is by that Life growing in you. We are alienated from that Life due to the darkened understanding and the ignorance. Paul told the Corinthians, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:4). We must realize that this also applies to Christians. The god of this world is the spirit of the age that we live in. It is all the human beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." We must renew our minds to conform to the Word of God. If our experience does not line up with the Word, then our experience is wrong, not the Word. We must spend time seeking God so that His light may enlighten our darkness. Coming out of darkness is a gradual experience. After the night has ended, the day gradually dawns. The Church has been in darkness for 2,000 years, but the day is beginning to dawn. You will soon see a people on the earth who walk in the reality of Christ in themselves. If you open to the truth of these words of His indwelling presence, you will begin to come out of the darkness. If you are not consciously aware of God living His Life in you, then for you He is not real. You have only a story-book God. You cannot walk in the Spirit as a theory, or only as a good teaching. If you begin to walk in the Spirit, you will begin to see your enemies fall at your feet. Paul also said that you need to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The spirit of your mind is a renewed consciousness. Human intellect alone will never know the power of God. He must come alive in your consciousness. The Glorious Church "He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme head of the church which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all -- for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere [with Himself]" (Eph. 1:22-23, Amplified).

The Church has been in darkness

for 2,000 years,

but the day is beginning to dawn.

You will soon see a people on the earth

who walk in the reality of Christ

in themselves.

There is enough revelation and power in these words alone that, if you believe them, they will bring you out of the darkness. I began a few years ago to learn the power in the spoken word. I learned that what I believed in the new heart God had given me was far past the reasoning capabilities of my natural mind. I had to learn to follow and listen to the Spirit of God within me, instead of listening to my natural mind. I began to have an experiential encounter with God in my being. This is still a limited experience, but it is growing. There is a realm in God where there is no sin, no disease, no sickness and no death. The Church is not yet fully there, but we are beginning to enter into it. The Apostle Paul said, "Put on the new man" (Eph. 4:24). What does that mean? We are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). What does that mean? We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). What does that mean? These statements are given to us as facts, as present realities, not as something to hope for someday. There is a realm in God where we can experience these things. It is a conscious awareness of being that which the Word declares.

If you are not consciously aware

of God living His Life in you,

then for you He is not real.

You have only a story-book God.

You cannot walk

in the Spirit as a theory,

or only as a good teaching.

If you begin to walk in the Spirit,

you will begin to see

your enemies fall at your feet.

We begin to experience these things when we have a spiritual birth and begin to grow in the Spirit. The Word says, "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:46-49). This is what the Church is coming into. We are to bear the image of the heavenly. Just think of it! A group of people on the earth who are manifesting the heavenly character of Jesus. Paul told the Corinthians, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17). In your spirit is the Holy Spirit. These spirits are not two spirits, but ONE SPIRIT. "The two shall become one, and I speak a great mystery of Christ and the Church" (Eph. 5:31-32). You are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. As we are transformed andPaul told the Ephesians, begin to live in our spirit, where the Spirit of God dwells, we become the visible expression of the invisible God. What a divine mystery! Coming Out of the Wilderness We have all been in the wilderness, and there is an awareness today that something is about to break upon the scene, that the Church truly is going to come out of the wilderness. What I carry within my heart more than anything else in these days is the desire that God’s people would have the love of the Father revealed to them. The Unveiling of the Father’s Heart. We have all experienced the Father’s love to a degree. But for the Church to come out of the wilderness, we must have an unveiling of the Father’s heart. Though I experienced a revelation of the love of God when I was first saved, at times this takes place in a more special way. There have been times in my life over the last 25 years, and there are still times even now, when the presence and the essence of God is so lovely and so wonderful that I sit and weep and weep in the love of God.

Even though you have experienced

the love of God, there continues

to be an unveiling of how great that love is.

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 13:11, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the multitudes]it is not given." To you it has been given. How can we understand that? Many times I have asked God, "Why is it that I have this burning desire, and this love in my heart—why is it that everything within my being cries to be conformed to the image of God?" And the only answer I have ever been given is, "Because to you it has been given. You haven’t worked for it. You haven’t been good. In fact you can’t be good enough for it, but to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God."

The Mystery of the Gospel

When you read Paul’s writings, he speaks a lot about the mystery of the Gospel. "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25). "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory" (1 Cor. 2:7). "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ" (Eph. 1:9-10). Can you be a part of this? If we take these verses literally, then there is hope for every one of us. In the fullness of times, God will do this, because He is sovereign, because He is El Elyon, the Most High God, the supreme Ruler of the universe, and He has purposed in himself to bring all things into one in Christ. If you receive the Word of God you have great hope, because there will come a day in your experience when you will fully reveal and manifest to the world the glory of your Father God. When is this going to happen? Well, in one sense of the word, we could say that it has already happened. When were you put into Christ? I might say that it happened for me in 1969, when I heard the Gospel for the first time. I was raised in a church, one of our mainline denominations, but when I was 29 years old I was still going to church seeking for God, when someone told me the simple Gospel—that this God who I thought I served, the God I had been searching for all my life, all He wanted was for me to simply open my being to Him and receive Him as Lord, and then I could experience Him. And when I did that, I experienced being in Christ. I could spend hours telling you of my experiences during the first few days. I knew that I had been placed into Christ, and everyone around me also knew it, not because I immediately went out and preached the Gospel, but because my life changed. Without my saying a word, the people I worked with began to say to me, "Gary, what’s wrong with you?" I was not the same. To them, it seemed like there was something wrong with me! In 1969, I entered into the awareness of being in Christ, but you know what? That’s not when it happened! The Gospel plainly declares to us that we were placed in Christ at the cross of Calvary. Can you believe that? First of all, can you believe it for yourself? And then, can you believe it for those around you? To be continued