THINK LARGE

We need to think large, bigger, higher, and deeper, than we’ve ever even hoped to. That means we need to exercise the new way of thinking, “for we have the mind of Christ”. We have received through the grace of God within Christ all (and all means all) that we need in order to fulfill our individual mandates, our callings. First however, we must let go of past reasoning and thinking as the world thinks and reasons in order to come to know that His presence goes with us.

            Let me give you a for instance. When Jesus was told that His mother and brothers were outside and wanting to speak with Him, His response was not as the world thinks for He said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to His disciples He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."

            And in another place Jesus defines further His mind, complete within unconditional love for the brotherhood, for He says if you sheltered, fed, gave a drink, visited when sick, came to those imprisoned, even the least of these (humans) you did it to (for) Me. He came in the form of a human (the Word made flesh) to reveal the heart of God toward those whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image and likeness of His son.

            Being now joined through baptism into oneness we now no longer know men after the flesh but out of the Spirit which is Christ (the Lord is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Lord). And that my friend is “thinking large”.

I AM - FINISHED

I am truly saddened today by all this bickering about whether we do or not out of “our own free will”. Before He presented Himself in this realm as the last Adam he was a “human” in the “flesh” and in all ways was even as we, “human”. However, different than other humans who had at that time only been given the “law of Moses”, Yeshua “in the fullness of time” came out of the union of flesh and the seed of Holy Spirit (the Word made flesh and ‘unless a seed falls to the ground and dies…’).

In addition to the spirit within Him, at the appointed time, The Holy Spirit came upon Him and never left Him. To this Spirit He yielded His soul for His Father caused Him “to will and to do out of the Father’s good favor”. And further, although being in form (within) as God, he lived as a man (human) and suffered even as we suffer, in the flesh. But ever yielding His soul to the mind of the Spirit He never missed (sinned against) God the Father but acknowledged Him in all His thinking, speaking and doing becoming as it were the exact expression in word and deed of His Father in order that the Father be glorified through His “humanness”, the manifested effect being that He was a prophetic walking out of who we (in the fulness of time) would each be later in but no longer of the time line.

The new covenant was “cut” on the cross and humanity as frail as it was died and was buried. The new covenant for each of us was implemented when the Last Adam came back on Pentecost (as the Spirit of the Creator hovered over the formless and wasted land, darkness being over the face of the deep) to bring all of the family of God into the house of God’s abode as sons and daughters upon whom the Spirit of the covenant was poured out-even upon all flesh. We are now and forever the adopted, the covenant children of God.

We are now called, i.e. named, the sons of light; and “if your whole being be light you will be totally illumined”. We were immersed into light during our baptism into the Name as well as into the Way into the Truth within the Eternal God Life.

If we NOW be one body with Eternal Life then where is the will or where is the choosing? From the head who NOW is Christ, comes the will and we then the body perform that which is willed by the head (for without Me you can nothing) .

Out of God you are NOW within Christ Jesus (the free gift) and what God has joined together (the true baptism) no man can separate. That means, “It is finished!”

ASK, LOOK AND LISTEN

As you walk the path chosen for you today keep the eyes of your soul now-joined with the spirit upon the light that is within the path. Each step taken into the light will be a step foreordained for you and will be steps of peace and joy in the spirit. The soul not fully submitted to the spirit will sometimes not be in peace to move.

                Peace is not necessarily the absence of conflict. But in Him, within the sphere that is Christ, the soul will find its rest even when moving from place to place.

                He is the one who keeps your spirit whole, entire, lacking in no good thing. It is the exercise of your will to now-join with the spirit. "He who joins himself with the Lord is one spirit with Him." This tells us that when we now-join with Him that we then "know the way" and we shall then walk with Him.

                It is with the heart, the innermost man of the spirit that we believe. When we move toward Him in our seeking, He moves toward us. As our mind is stayed upon Him our mind of the soul is now-joined to the mind of the Spirit which is the mind of Christ.

                Looking unto Jesus not merely our forerunner but also the author and completer of our faith for the good work that was started by Elohim Jesus has finished for all time; that is that the whole world be reconciled to Elohim by and through the Son Jesus  Christ. Therefore look not to the things that appear but to the completed work which nullified the things that were. Looking to Jesus who is our eternal life, who is our Way to the Father (Elohim) and the Truth that is established as the new heaven and the new earth.

                No longer citizens of the world but now of the household of faith we proclaim that the plan of God from the beginning had as its focus that all that was made and would remain would be made through the Son. And in order to bring all into submission to Him we have been freely given faith to believe that who He says we are we now in this age truly are. Not having to wait any longer on the time line but all who receive Him as their eternal life do in fact have eternal life now within Him and His authority to give Life.

                By observation of things made we can see that nothing that was made was made mature but little by little a man gains much and so it is with the life given us that it grows from within until we have served our time in the time line. You are not of the world but merely in it for a time in order to be light to the world. It is continually so for us who believe that "in the fullness of time God sends His Son".

                Have no fear for the love of the Father has chosen to give you the kingdom and its mysteries that were hidden in Christ. Why continue to ask for what is already given?  The urgency of the times calls to us to take that which has freely been given-Christ in you the hope of glory!

                The true gift has been given to all but it must be opened in order to avail oneself of its contents.      " Ask and it shall be opened"!

WITHIN HIM

Intently look upon the cross. Ask the Lord to fix your gaze upon Jesus on that cross and make real to you that the old man of sin that enslaved you was on that cross in Christ. Not just some sins, but all and for all time. Even as the Hebrew children gazed upon the serpent on the stake in the wilderness and were healed now understand that Elohim put all the nature of sin filled flesh upon Jesus and we all  were healed once and for all and delivered into eternal life within Christ.

                In the book of Isaiah we read and we so often repeat that prophetic word, "...and by His stripes we were healed". Mark quoted Jesus in chapter eleven of his book, "Have God (Elohim) faith". That faith, the very faith of Elohim which is given as a free gift by and through the Spirit, is now resident in your spirit because "out of God (Elohim) you are in Christ" and if you are in Him you are within that which now is and is forever.

                Restoration is available to all of all that has been taken through the great deception that says we can be our own god. When Adam and Eve believed that they could be their own god they in effect chose to separate themselves from God. There is continually before us two choices, our way which leads to separation from God's way or the Way - Christ.

                Paul said that above anything else he wanted to know Christ to the end that he (Paul) might be resurrected out of the death that is the flesh while still in it. How then can one know Christ like that? First and foremost as with everything else we must come to believe that our life is His to do with as He has planned from before the foundation of the world and go to Him without ceasing (commonly called prater) in order to "see" and "do" the plan.

                Jesus said without Him we can do nothing, which for me means outside of His plan for me I can accomplish nothing that is everlasting. My destiny is sealed in Him and therefore I must go to Him for everything I need or desire.

                When it was revealed to you that Christ was in you, you realized that you were one with Him, who is your real life. Now you must go(humbling self),  to Him (who is your real life) to spend time (which is not actually spent) in order to know completely what you have been given. You then will come to know that your trust within His being will be rewarded with a permanence you have not yet experienced.  

                Now faith  means that we in order to "see" and "do" have to have (possess) God (Elohim) faith and the only way to possess it is to take it for it has been freely given to us in Christ, who is our now life and all that pertains to now life. It is now that, within Him indeed we live and move and have our being within Him.

THE FOREVER THING

Many "believers" have been taught and therefore truly believe and say they will "go to heaven when I die", and while true, is only a small bit of the Truth. This belief has led them to struggles while on earth between light and darkness never finding their true self within Christ.           

                In Genesis Chapter 1 we learn that in beginnings Elohim created the heavens and the earth and what He created was beautiful and He also said upon His completion of it that it was very beautiful. But there came a separation through deception ("for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"-Matthew 26:41) and so "in the fullness of time Elohim sent His Son" (Galatians 4:4) to die to the flesh "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10).

                God's favor, His grace, has been given to us freely and it is His Son, Christ Jesus, who lives within us and within whom we live and have our being (Acts 17:28). Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, "we are His (God's) workmanship (creation) created within Christ Jesus that God (Elohim the creator) had prepared from before the foundation of the earth that we should walk (the Way) within them."    

                Before dying however Jesus had to first submit His entire being unto Elohim (His Father). He had to suffer first in His soul before suffering in the flesh. He had to be willing to give up His entire will to the will of His Father and only then would the sacrifice of the flesh be an acceptable sacrifice. (Luke 22:42-44)

                In truly receiving Christ it is as much about willingly dying as it is about living, for unless we receive both Jesus' death to the flesh and His soul as our own and the new life given within Him through His resurrection we will continue to be at times separated and at others united with Him in a state of what I have termed the "wilderness of the soul". Having been freed from the slavish obedience to the flesh and yet unwilling, whether through ignorance or self-will, to enter the fullness of the spirit wherein is the "land of promise".

                We must come to the revelation that although we who believe are in the world we are not of it. That goes equally as well by saying although we are in the flesh we are not of it. "For out of Him (Elohim) are you within Christ." It is a forever thing.  We must agree with Him 24/7 and walk in Him (the Spirit) to experience the fullness that He has given. And that is a forever thing too.

I HAVE LOVED YOU

Today, I heard the Lord say, “Curtis, it’s really more simple than you have made it”. I heard myself saying in response, “What’s more simple?”  As I contemplate His statement my mind is going in a dozen different directions.

                Then I am reminded of an event about ten years ago. I had gone to a prison with some friends to minister. About ten of us were singled out to minister at one of the units, which is called lockdown or solitary. As I remember there were three wings and each had about 22 individual cells about 6’ x 10’. In the back of the cell was a small window which allowed the sun in but did not offer much of a view other than walls of the other wings.

                We broke up into teams of 3, 3, and 4 and went to the door to the wing assigned. The guards told us to not get close to the door of the cells but stand close to the outer wall because these inmates were known to urinate on visitors or worse and would most certainly scream obscenities at us. It was very loud because the whole unit was mostly steel and concrete and the inmates were very loud.

                As soon as the doors to the units were opened (all three at once), a hush came across the whole unit. My team of three then split up taking about six cells each (all were not occupied). I only remember what happened at one particular cell.

                The inmate was standing on something and leaning against the wall in the rear of the cell looking out the small window. He did not turn around immediately or acknowledged my presence in any way. Suddenly I was impressed to stretch out my arms as if on a cross. He turned and came to the front door of bars and I began to speak something I had never said before.

                I said, “He died for you and removed every hindrance in order that you would be free to make a decision to believe and follow Him or to deny Him. It makes no difference which decision you make He will back it up for all eternity but know this, if you decide not to believe He is who He says He is and follow Him you will for all of eternity be separated from true love, peace, joy, happiness, kindness and gentleness and will experience for all eternity only the opposite.”

                He then said to me, “You don’t sound like any preacher I ever heard.” I responded with, “I am not a preacher, just someone who brings good news. I hope you will reflect on these things.” The guards called for us to come out of the wings because our time was up.

                When we reached the guards’ desk one of them said, “Who are you people? It has never been this quiet in here.” We told them that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit and we were men who simply believed and then led several of them to Jesus because they too could sense the anointing which was extremely thick and peace was over the entire unit.

                The thing that impressed me today is Jeremiah 31:3 – “…I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore have drawn you with loving kindness.” If that drawing is rejected and the love with it, the only thing that remains is the awful prospect of the agony of the soul’s separation of all that is good, acceptable and perfect and the eternal reminder of, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

                So you see it is not what we do but the grace we acknowledge moment to moment and the receiving of the free gift of eternal life which is found within Jesus Christ. Now isn’t that simple enough?

HOLY LOVE QUEST

Suddenly it came, the thought that we are constant, those of us who believe; in two places at once, in but not of the world, citizens of heaven and residents of earth. Although it be true that Elohim is everywhere, present always at once and is our eternal home, it is He who surrounds us and we therefore walk the hallowed halls continually but much of the time scarcely even being aware or taking note.

We quickly espouse Holy Truths and yet fear them not. Those Truths surround us, permeate our true being, our essence and yet we remain desirous of things that soon will become vapor, gone with the using or abusing or simply abandoned for “the new thing”.

We ARE compassed about by the residents of heaven, a great cloud of witnesses of whom we read about, laud their exploits and sacrifices and yet we pay their Creator and Lord little mind much of the time, ever learning but having no true knowledge of the intimacy which was theirs and brought them to their place in history.

His Holy Presence is ever about. His Holy Love readied to invade a hungry soul at the asking, to bring and sustain with all that eternity contains.

The Apostle is correct to exhort us to not think more highly of ourselves. Really, how can it be that we would even think equality with Him? He made us and the things that “even the Gentiles eagerly seek”.

All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for what end? His end, purposed before the foundation of the world that we be found in Him and in His presence to, without ceasing even as the branch receives of the Vine, be nurtured of His Holy Love which bears the fruit which when taken freely by the hungry continues the propagation processes of Love’s essence. Oh, that sweet nectar that comes from the womb of Eternal Life which is forever birthing the more of Holy Love’s infinite manifestations.

That Holy Love which will continue on in its quest to conquer all not of its essence and to conform to the likeness and image of itself by and through the Word which is near, in our mouth and in our hearts. Oh for a thousand tongues that I might sing of His Holy Love which can change a heart in the twinkling of an eye.

TIME TO FIGHT

I am not much of a fighter, never have been. I hate pain. But I hear the Lord saying, “Will you fight for love? Will you wrestle with anything to obtain and hold onto love? Will you come to the place in your soul where you are so dissatisfied with it that you know the only way through is to devote your whole being to the cause of love? It is My cause, you know.”

I was watching a singer rehearse for a performance last night and the coach said, “You are too cerebral. Let go. The moment you start to judge how your performance is doing in your head as you are singing you’ve lost it.” Wow. That is so true.

The moment we start thinking rather than yielding to that which is within we lose it. In sports it’s called choking. You hear all the time, “He had it, but he choked.” I’ve done that more times than I care to remember.

To yield or not to yield that is the question. How do we let go? Let go of fear. Fear of failure. Fear of making a fool of yourself. Fear of losing friends. Fear of being judged. It is only perfect love that casts out fear.

If you are a believer, as I suspect you are, you must come to know that you were borne by of perfect love to be placed into and become one with perfect love. Reckon that old man of the flesh, of the world, dead in Christ. The old man can’t live in there anyway because he was dead the moment he entered this world, totally separated from Life.

But love came and love conquered the death you were in and made you alive in Him just as it was predestined and now you are being made aware of who you really were always and forever meant to be. More than a conqueror!

Sure it’s going to be a series of battles but each one belongs to the Lord of love and that love, that unconditional from above love that never, no never can fail. So enter the fray.

Yep, love came one day. He came to stay. He said, “I ain’t going away”. So get over your old self, say goodbye to it once and for all and embrace the new completed in love you and love somebody!