G
George C
Guest
A Fabergé Egg, made by Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917, was made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gem stones. On the outside it looked like a simple egg of white enameled gold, but it opened up to reveal a golden yolk. The yolk itself has a golden hen inside it, which in turn has a tiny crown with a ruby hanging inside.
Similarly, Biblical revelation has many profound layers. A truth revealed is more precious than gold, but lo and behold, sooner or later comes fresh insight from the same scripture that refines the gold, and brings us closer to the Lord.
It is this new, powerful understanding of a well known Bible scripture I experienced that I would like to share with you. The deeper revelation brought me a rapturous joy as deep as happened when I became born again. I do not know if it was a sign from God, but a few days later I learned from a Christian TV documentary that the very epiphany I received was what Martin Luther, the Christian theologian and Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation, experienced as a breakthrough in his Christian walk. Here is the scripture:
Romans 1/17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith, to faith: as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’â€Â
Understanding fully what it means to be the righteousness of God in Jesus causes the Holy Spirit to transports us – soul and body, not just spirit – fast as light through the suburbs of the Kingdom of God directly into the Throne Room, our secret place of the Most High, our Holy of Holies, our home where we have perfect fellowship with our Father because we are holy by faith in Christ. Once there, everything changes for us. Our faith is energized and we walk in the power of the Blessing.
That is God’s destination for all of us right now in this world, not just when we die. Jesus came to give us life and give us it more abundantly (John 10/10) for He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14/6). However, there is an enemy that is determined to stop us.
The first obstacle is both weird and wonderful. God issues a command in Matthew 5:48 that we “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.†But how on earth can we mere mortals be perfect? It’s impossible, lunacy! Can we keep every commandment of God at all times in order to be perfect? This is what Luther battled with for years, even raising his fist to God on occasions. And if being perfect is an impossible challenge, what are we to make of God’s instruction that we be holy as He is holy (Lev 12/45)? My lor, our minds and thoughts end up like a pack of playing cards thrown into the air! “Impossible!†we cry.
The thing is, though, we know the Word is always right, so if the Word says be perfect and holy then it must be achievable by us; there is no argument against it. But what does being perfect and holy mean? Does God mean be perfect and holy just in our spirit? If so, that’s easy; after all, we know our spirit man was reborn and is perfect and holy in Jesus because the devil cannot enter. However, what about our soul and body? What about our thoughts, our feelings? There is positively no way we can be perfect and holy in these areas. Personally speaking, my thoughts and actions more often than not condemn me from the moment I climb out of bed in the morning and there is very little I can do to change that; I know; I’ve tried many times. So, we give up, we quit, it’s impossible for us to be perfect and holy. Unless…
… unless God gives us the way to achieve it!
Now this is where the full revelation dropped into my spirit. By logic, not only by faith, I knew that if God commands me to be perfect and holy then He must show me how to be so. And He did show me how I was to be perfect and holy. I had to do it by faith. Our faith – our choosing to believe we are the righteousness of God in Christ – is what is required. So, we choose to believe simply because the Word says we are the righteousness of God in Jesus. And we choose to believe we are perfect and holy, not only in spirit – and I cannot stress this enough – but also in mind, will, emotions, and body. In other words we are perfect and holy if we have faith in the Word to be so.
Fully accepting we are the righteousness of God in soul and body as well as spirit is absolutely fundamental to receiving the full revelation, not just intellectual understanding that is based on logic. It is this relative surface knowledge that is the reason why so many of us are not living in the Blessing, why the power of the Holy Spirit is not working fully in our lives. The end result is we are left wondering why God’s promises have not been fulfilled in us although we confess them for years and years sometimes. Furthermore, far too many of us cannot understand why we are still sick when we faithfully persevere to confess health promises. And far too many of us cannot understand why we live from hand to mouth – and that on top of knowing we tithe and give offerings. It all adds up to wondering if we have angered God in some way; worse, we then wonder if we are under God’s judgment. And guess who causes us to wonder? You know the answer – the devil.
The result of all this ‘wondering’ is that we ‘feel’ unworthy, perhaps just a trace, but that’s more than enough for the devil to get an extra foothold into our mind, will and emotions with his lies, deceptions and accusations. And we react, don’t we? For example another driver might cut across us on the freeway and we use bad language. We know it was the devil that tempted us to swear and feel angry in the first place, and we know he doesn’t stop there. After provoking us to sin he is right there again to tap us on the shoulder, accuse us of the terrible sin, convict us, and pass sentence for letting God down. And does the devil ever let up and give us an easy time throughout the day? No way; he hammers us as if we are a sheet of metal under the hand of a panel beater. And what is the devil trying to do? He is ensuring that all these feelings of guilt and unworthiness – in other words ‘condemnation’ – we experience in ourselves twist a tourniquet around righteousness, around perfection and holiness in body and soul as well as spirit, eventually choking off the Blood and the Blessing which would open the way to the manifested promises of God.
Moreover, the devil couldn’t care less about our spirits. He knows that we know we are going to heaven when we die. It’s our minds, our thoughts, our will, our emotions, and our flesh he is interested in; that’s where he does the damage, hoping we all fall for his trick of getting us to feel we have to do something good to gain God’s acceptance, His righteousness, to make it up to Him for letting Him down. And we do fall for the devil’s trick, and most of the time we are not aware of doing so, not in the least; in fact most of the time we do not think it is the devil behind it but ourselves; that’s how clever he is. Of course the devil is rubbing his hands with glee knowing he has accomplished what he wanted. And he knows what will come next: we will try to nullify those innocuous ‘sins’ by doing things that will gratify God: go to church twice on Sunday instead of once; give an extra twenty bucks in the offering; offer to do some work for the pastor for free; become an usher, anything as long as it makes us ‘feel’ good, feel better about ourselves, feel spiritual, and as said, please God; after all doing these things is positive and right, and should be commended.
However, using our good acts to pacify and please God (even if we are not aware of doing so) will never work to give us the righteousness of God in Jesus. Why not? Because righteousness is a free gift and only free, and only given and accepted by faith. Working to gain God’s nod of approval boils down to saying we do not measure up. But right living is not righteousness; righteousness leads to right living.
Sadly, we all fall for the devil’s deceptions. That is until we choose to use our faith and accept we are the righteousness of God in Jesus, that it is a free gift, and this means we are perfect and holy in soul and body as well as our spirits. When we start seeing how God sees us, as perfect and holy, then there is a dramatic effect on our relationships, health, finances – everything. Want proof? Here it is in Matthew 6/33:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.â€Â
But why do we still sin then?
Our sin nature is like a bad toothache. We go to the dentist (Christ), and the Dentist extracts the tooth; He takes the sin nature, the Adamic Curse, out of us by the root; there is nothing left of it; it is gone forever. However, as we know after we have had a tooth extracted, we still feel pain for a time. But the pain is not from the tooth. The pain is merely a symptom of the toothache that will fade over time. And this is what happens to our sin becase Christ is right there to help us. It may take a lifetime but it gets easier and easier to recognize and resist the devil’s temptations.
Romans 7/24-25 says: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!â€Â
Finally, I pray now Heavenly Father that everyone reading this message receives the full revelation of Your righteousness in them through Jesus by faith.
Similarly, Biblical revelation has many profound layers. A truth revealed is more precious than gold, but lo and behold, sooner or later comes fresh insight from the same scripture that refines the gold, and brings us closer to the Lord.
It is this new, powerful understanding of a well known Bible scripture I experienced that I would like to share with you. The deeper revelation brought me a rapturous joy as deep as happened when I became born again. I do not know if it was a sign from God, but a few days later I learned from a Christian TV documentary that the very epiphany I received was what Martin Luther, the Christian theologian and Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation, experienced as a breakthrough in his Christian walk. Here is the scripture:
Romans 1/17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith, to faith: as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’â€Â
Understanding fully what it means to be the righteousness of God in Jesus causes the Holy Spirit to transports us – soul and body, not just spirit – fast as light through the suburbs of the Kingdom of God directly into the Throne Room, our secret place of the Most High, our Holy of Holies, our home where we have perfect fellowship with our Father because we are holy by faith in Christ. Once there, everything changes for us. Our faith is energized and we walk in the power of the Blessing.
That is God’s destination for all of us right now in this world, not just when we die. Jesus came to give us life and give us it more abundantly (John 10/10) for He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14/6). However, there is an enemy that is determined to stop us.
The first obstacle is both weird and wonderful. God issues a command in Matthew 5:48 that we “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.†But how on earth can we mere mortals be perfect? It’s impossible, lunacy! Can we keep every commandment of God at all times in order to be perfect? This is what Luther battled with for years, even raising his fist to God on occasions. And if being perfect is an impossible challenge, what are we to make of God’s instruction that we be holy as He is holy (Lev 12/45)? My lor, our minds and thoughts end up like a pack of playing cards thrown into the air! “Impossible!†we cry.
The thing is, though, we know the Word is always right, so if the Word says be perfect and holy then it must be achievable by us; there is no argument against it. But what does being perfect and holy mean? Does God mean be perfect and holy just in our spirit? If so, that’s easy; after all, we know our spirit man was reborn and is perfect and holy in Jesus because the devil cannot enter. However, what about our soul and body? What about our thoughts, our feelings? There is positively no way we can be perfect and holy in these areas. Personally speaking, my thoughts and actions more often than not condemn me from the moment I climb out of bed in the morning and there is very little I can do to change that; I know; I’ve tried many times. So, we give up, we quit, it’s impossible for us to be perfect and holy. Unless…
… unless God gives us the way to achieve it!
Now this is where the full revelation dropped into my spirit. By logic, not only by faith, I knew that if God commands me to be perfect and holy then He must show me how to be so. And He did show me how I was to be perfect and holy. I had to do it by faith. Our faith – our choosing to believe we are the righteousness of God in Christ – is what is required. So, we choose to believe simply because the Word says we are the righteousness of God in Jesus. And we choose to believe we are perfect and holy, not only in spirit – and I cannot stress this enough – but also in mind, will, emotions, and body. In other words we are perfect and holy if we have faith in the Word to be so.
Fully accepting we are the righteousness of God in soul and body as well as spirit is absolutely fundamental to receiving the full revelation, not just intellectual understanding that is based on logic. It is this relative surface knowledge that is the reason why so many of us are not living in the Blessing, why the power of the Holy Spirit is not working fully in our lives. The end result is we are left wondering why God’s promises have not been fulfilled in us although we confess them for years and years sometimes. Furthermore, far too many of us cannot understand why we are still sick when we faithfully persevere to confess health promises. And far too many of us cannot understand why we live from hand to mouth – and that on top of knowing we tithe and give offerings. It all adds up to wondering if we have angered God in some way; worse, we then wonder if we are under God’s judgment. And guess who causes us to wonder? You know the answer – the devil.
The result of all this ‘wondering’ is that we ‘feel’ unworthy, perhaps just a trace, but that’s more than enough for the devil to get an extra foothold into our mind, will and emotions with his lies, deceptions and accusations. And we react, don’t we? For example another driver might cut across us on the freeway and we use bad language. We know it was the devil that tempted us to swear and feel angry in the first place, and we know he doesn’t stop there. After provoking us to sin he is right there again to tap us on the shoulder, accuse us of the terrible sin, convict us, and pass sentence for letting God down. And does the devil ever let up and give us an easy time throughout the day? No way; he hammers us as if we are a sheet of metal under the hand of a panel beater. And what is the devil trying to do? He is ensuring that all these feelings of guilt and unworthiness – in other words ‘condemnation’ – we experience in ourselves twist a tourniquet around righteousness, around perfection and holiness in body and soul as well as spirit, eventually choking off the Blood and the Blessing which would open the way to the manifested promises of God.
Moreover, the devil couldn’t care less about our spirits. He knows that we know we are going to heaven when we die. It’s our minds, our thoughts, our will, our emotions, and our flesh he is interested in; that’s where he does the damage, hoping we all fall for his trick of getting us to feel we have to do something good to gain God’s acceptance, His righteousness, to make it up to Him for letting Him down. And we do fall for the devil’s trick, and most of the time we are not aware of doing so, not in the least; in fact most of the time we do not think it is the devil behind it but ourselves; that’s how clever he is. Of course the devil is rubbing his hands with glee knowing he has accomplished what he wanted. And he knows what will come next: we will try to nullify those innocuous ‘sins’ by doing things that will gratify God: go to church twice on Sunday instead of once; give an extra twenty bucks in the offering; offer to do some work for the pastor for free; become an usher, anything as long as it makes us ‘feel’ good, feel better about ourselves, feel spiritual, and as said, please God; after all doing these things is positive and right, and should be commended.
However, using our good acts to pacify and please God (even if we are not aware of doing so) will never work to give us the righteousness of God in Jesus. Why not? Because righteousness is a free gift and only free, and only given and accepted by faith. Working to gain God’s nod of approval boils down to saying we do not measure up. But right living is not righteousness; righteousness leads to right living.
Sadly, we all fall for the devil’s deceptions. That is until we choose to use our faith and accept we are the righteousness of God in Jesus, that it is a free gift, and this means we are perfect and holy in soul and body as well as our spirits. When we start seeing how God sees us, as perfect and holy, then there is a dramatic effect on our relationships, health, finances – everything. Want proof? Here it is in Matthew 6/33:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.â€Â
But why do we still sin then?
Our sin nature is like a bad toothache. We go to the dentist (Christ), and the Dentist extracts the tooth; He takes the sin nature, the Adamic Curse, out of us by the root; there is nothing left of it; it is gone forever. However, as we know after we have had a tooth extracted, we still feel pain for a time. But the pain is not from the tooth. The pain is merely a symptom of the toothache that will fade over time. And this is what happens to our sin becase Christ is right there to help us. It may take a lifetime but it gets easier and easier to recognize and resist the devil’s temptations.
Romans 7/24-25 says: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!â€Â
Finally, I pray now Heavenly Father that everyone reading this message receives the full revelation of Your righteousness in them through Jesus by faith.
