The Man Who Is The Branch

Zech 6:12-13
Speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

The man whose name is the Branch is none other than Christ. Christ is going to build the Church through humanity. This is not only speaking of Jesus but also of the Body of Christ. The Church will be built through Christ in mankind. The priesthood works through humanity who is filled with Christ. Jesus and the church are one new man on the earth. We have applied all of these kinds of prophetic teachings to Jesus, which is all well and good, but prophetically, this is speaking also to the church today.

Let’s look at Isaiah 4:2: “In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” Here it says, the Branch of the Lord. Now, let’s look at Isaiah 11:l. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Now, we just read in Isaiah 4:2 that it was a Branch of the Lord, and here we are reading that it’s a stem of Jesse, and a branch out of Jesse. So, what is it? Is it a Branch out of the Lord, or is it a Branch out of Jesse? It is both; the Branch refers to the incarnation. The Branch of the Lord represents the image and the glory of God. And the rod out of Jesse represents authority and Kingship which was given to man.

Jesus was both human and divine. He was both a Rod, and a Branch of the Lord, and He was a Branch of David, speaking of the incarnation. Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

The divine nature of God mingled and blended with humanity. That’s who Jesus was. Now, it’s as the Branch, the divine mingled with humanity that He will build the Temple of the Lord. It takes both divinity and humanity.

John 15:1-2 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

We have heard from the time we were regenerated that Jesus was both divine and human. He was fully God and fully man. Colossians tells us that in Him, in this man Jesus, was the fullness of God, the fullness of the Godhead, it says, dwelt bodily in this man Jesus. And then in Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the little baby was the mighty God. The little baby contained the mighty God who created the universe, who flung the stars into existence, and created the spirit in man. That little baby contained nothing less than the mighty God, the creator of the universe. It is by this Branch of the Lord, both humanity and divinity mingled together, that will build the Temple of the Lord.

We have been taught that Jesus was a divine being but we have not been taught that we are the same. We are humanity mingled with divinity. The scripture tells us “As He is SO ARE WE in this world. Can you imagine what the Body of Christ would do if this revelation was unveiled to us? We are Christ on this earth building the glorious church and revealing Christ on the earth. We bear His image and carry his authority to take dominion over the earth and establish the kingdom.

We know that Adam was given authority in the very beginning, to be a proper Priest is to bear the image, and the glory, and carry the divine authority. In John 15 you will find that the Branch became the Vine. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” Jesus the Branch became a vine. The Body became the Branch.

John 15:1-2 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

The Vine and the Branch are one in substance and life. God looks at us as a corporate man on the earth all constituted with the life and nature of the Vine.

John 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The key to understanding these verses in John 15 is to understand your true identity. To abide in him is to quiet the natural mind and focus your attention on the truth of your being. You are not just human beings who because of sin are separated from God. You are a son of God created in the image and given dominion to walk as Christ on the earth. Without Christ in us we could do nothing to establish the kingdom on the earth. Even Jesus said “I of mine own self can do nothing, it is my Father working in me that does the works.”

John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

I was taught as a young Christian that this verse meant that if you did not bear fruit that you would be cast into an eternal burning hell to suffer forever. For years carnally minded men have taught such untruth to the Lord’s people. Our God is a consuming fire and he does not torture anyone. All this means is that if you do not cast aside your carnality and your religious divisive thinking that you will experience the fire, not as a punishment but as a purification. The fire of God within you will consume everything in your being that is not of Him. Jesus said we will all be salted with fire. Mark 9:49 “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”

If we deny the false sense of our human life that we feel is separated from God we will then know and find our true life in Christ. You are not separated from God you are one with God. We are branches of the true vine, until we understand that, until we somehow by the grace and the mercy of God have our eyes unveiled to see that what we are holding on to of our carnal self is what needs to fall into the ground and die.

 

 

 

Revelation 22: "And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

He showed me a pure river of water of life, and that word life is the word "zoe", which means, the pure river that flows is the life of God. This river flows from the throne, showing that it's God's life flowing with authority. From the throne flows the pure river of water of life that issues in the priesthood. You remember Jesus said "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, for out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters representing the Spirit of God that shall flow out of your innermost being.

The throne of God is not outside of you. The throne is a spiritual realm that is within you. The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians that we have been raised up together and seated together with Christ in the heavenly places. We now operate from the heavenly realm and not the earthly carnal realm. As we learn to speak from this heavenly realm the earth will be subdued and the kingdom established on the earth. At the present time the powers of darkness are beginning to shake and fall with the appearing of Christ within His people.

The only thing that will build the church is the divine life in humanity. Nothing else will work. Nothing. No amount of programs and committees, and no amount of teaching people in an outward way to do outward things, nothing that has the stench of carnal religious work or reasoning's will build the Church. The only thing that will build the church is when we receive that divine flow of the spirit within. That will produce the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-control. It’s only by the divine life flowing out of us that will build the church, the city of God.

When we turn our hearts to the spirit within, this divine flow of the pure water of life begins to flow. It is by the flowing of this river of life within that we are transformed from one degree of glory to another. Jesus said if you believe in me, out of your innermost being will flow the living water. So when we open to God, the divine flow of His life begins to flows out of us. It is only that pure flowing of His Spirit that builds the church. When you minister to someone, if what is flowing out of you is the character of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit that has been grown within you, that is what builds the church. Human nature can't love enough. Human nature cannot love the unlovely. Human nature cannot love those who will not, or cannot conform to certain patterns and rituals, and regulations. Many precious people have been hurt by the church because of rejection of their lifestyles or many other things. It is the love of Christ through us that will restore them to fellowship. It is the love of God that will reach out and touch the hearts of those who have been rejected by religion.

So many of God’s people are still trying to contact God by reaching outside of themselves, trying to touch God with the mind. We even sing songs like “Reach out and touch the Lord as He goes by.” There is certainly nothing wrong with singing songs like this but we must realize God is not just outside of us, but is the very substance of our being. There comes a time when instead of reaching out to touch a God that is so abstract we begin to release the divine life from the depths of our being. This brings change to us and to those around us.

If you've been born again, deep within your spirit there is a flowing river. In that river is the tree of life that brings healing wherever it flows. Jesus said, "I am the Life". The Tree of Life simply represents God as food to man. Jesus said, John 6:35
“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” John 6:57 “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”

Flowing from the throne of God is a pure river, which is the Spirit of God that has flowed from the throne of God into our very being. And that's why Jesus said, "He that really believes in me," not intellectually, not one who just believes that Jesus is and he lived, not one who just believes that Jesus died on a cross, but he who truly believes in, adheres to, trusts, relies on me, from that one, out of his innermost being will flow living waters. As we learn how to release that which is already within us, that river is a flow that is continually flowing from the throne of God through the spirit, into the church of God, and flowing out as a fountain. It is a pure river of life; it's the pure Spirit of God that's mingled with humanity, and that is for the healing of the nation’s

We are the saviors from Mt. Zion to bring God's kingdom to earth.
Obad 21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

The New Jerusalem is already being established on the earth, but it is in the spirit.  Jesus said "The kingdom is already within you". Revelation 21:1-2 21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The new heaven and earth coming down represents the spiritual dimension. The Holy City is the Body of Christ who has been renewed in the spirit of their minds and is beginning to reign from the heavens instead of the earth. We are no longer earth bound by the carnal religious mind. e are shaking ourselves from the dust of the earth and beginning to shine with the glory of the Lord. I know there will come a day when these truths will fully be manifested, and we'll walk in the light and the full glory of the New Jerusalem. However now is the day to begin to walk in it because the light and the glory of the New Jerusalem is already locked up on the inside of God's people and needs to be released.  That's why we have to have the breaking of the outer man. When Christ begins to rise in us we then effortlessly put aside selfish ambitions and selfish motives and begin to serve and love on another. We must not look down on those who do not yet understand what we see. We must be the ones who minister to those who don't understand.  We must always bear the burdens of the weak.

There is a divine flow today from the throne. When we open to that flow within us it is a continual flow of divine life. It is only by the divine life flowing out of us that will build the church and bring forth the New Jerusalem into manifestation. This flow coming from the throne can be received moment by moment, and this flow of life then begins to transform us and produce the fruit of the Spirit.

There is very little known today in most places of worship about the transformation of the inner man. Most just teach moral behavior. They try and teach you how to be a Christian by being good. Good human works and behavior cannot build the church. Only those who have the character of Christ in them can edify and build the church. May we all seek the source of all life to increase the flow of divine life in us that we may be more effective in our life and ministry as a priest of the most high.

Some of you will remember the song we used to sing.

I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors and sets the captives free
I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.

I sang that song many years ago and at that time I remember thinking “Where is it?” It was a beautiful song and I loved singing it, but for me it was just wishful thinking. We sang many songs that were true but I never experienced any of them except maybe for fleeting moments. That is because at that time the Lord had not revealed to me my true Identity. I still thought I was a sinner and I was trying the best I could to do better not realizing I was living from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Today the Body of Christ is beginning to experience these wonderful truths. We do have a river of life in us and it is causing the lame to walk and the blind to see. For years I was blind to the real truth of the gospel and I was lame and could not walk in the reality of the kingdom. S

Several years ago as a young Christian I was no good to anyone. It was all I could do to get up and go to work because I was so depressed over my inability to be what I thought a good Christian should be. I would go to church and hear about how sinful the world was and come away condemned over my condition. Then one day like the Apostle Paul the Lord began to reveal the truth of Christ in me as a reality, and my life began to change. It took a few years to have revealed to me what I understand now. I was so steeped in religion. After years of struggle and all the time learning the power of forgiveness and the magnitude of Calvary’s victory I woke on July 11, 1982 and was a new person in Christ. Many habits and things just disappeared from my life and I never since then have had to struggle and strive to be a Christian. It has been a continual transformation since, and each year I experience more of the reality of Christ in me. Don't misunderstand me, I still have a long way to go. :)

Once we as individuals begin to experience the flow of life from our inner being when we come together, there will be a river of life flowing from each, and the Church meeting turns from a religious meeting to a glorious, magnificent, expression of the life of God. No more do we need a senior pastor who does all the preaching and teaching. Each member of the Body flows together as Kings and Priests of God. When I was a pastor in 1986 I taught these things to our church and after about 2 years we had a glorious functioning body of believers. I could go in the meeting and sit in the back row and never say a word and the body would function and the meeting would be glorious. The Lord gave us a foretaste of what the Church as a whole would become. Today there are small groups all over who are functioning as the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!!!

When the Lord begins to flow out of us individually when we come together, the church is not a regulated service, but it is a flowing out of the divine life of God. We need no programs, no committees, no fundraisers, no offerings, and all the other religious trappings we have come to believe we need to keep the church functioning. Each member is a living, vibrating, pulsating, magnificent expression of Christ.

One of the biggest obstacles in the Christian system is Offerings and the passing of the plates and the appeals for money to keep the ministry going. We have been in ministry many years and have shipped multiple thousands of books tapes and Cd’s to over 70 countries of the world and have never asked for an offering of any kind. I heard in the spirit many years ago that the Babylonian system of religion was buying and selling and the kingdom was giving and receiving. I know ministries who support their ministry by selling their material and I do not judge them for that. Their hearts are good and they are only doing what they know to do.

It is only by bearing the image and living in the divine flow that we will be a joyful people. We turn our thoughts of lack, sickness or any negativity to knowing we have the divine source of all that is within us and if we let it flow and turn our thoughts to Love Light and Life we will begin to experience the abundant life that Jesus talked about. If we are in ministry and we center our thoughts on the lack of finances or on how to raise finances, we are in a state of unbelief not knowing that the source flows from within our divine consciousness. Praying for finances is really a lack of faith in believing that God supplies your need. I know this is hard for some to accept but if you try it you will like it. Instead of focusing on our need let us focus on the source of life that is within us. When we center our thoughts on lack or our need we actually stop the divine flow of life.

This is why Jesus said resist not evil. What you resist persists because what you resist you give power to. He also said Matt 6:25 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
By what Jesus said you can see that praying for food and thinking about lack is really unbelief. Let us meditate on these things until our eyes be opened to the truth and reality of our true being. There is a great change taking place in 2012 and the Body of Christ all over the world is beginning to wake up to the reality of what they have believed but never experienced. This is a year of change and release. Let us be glad and rejoice for our deliverance has come.

The Scriptures tell us that the man Jesus was the fullness of God in expression. If we want to know our true nature and being we just need to meditate on the life of Jesus and realize we also are the fullness of God in expression. In our humanity we may not be perfect but our true being is. We must stop trying to adjust our human nature and just begin to live from our true nature which is love.

Eph 1:22-23 And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout 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]. AMP

When our consciousness is raised and we begin to see the truth of our being we then begin to live the life of love expressed. This year of 2012 is the beginning of a greater awakening to that life that we all are. We are God in manifestation. This truth will change the world and bring the kingdom into manifestation. I am so excited to see this taking place all over the world. We have said for years that we are the body of Christ and NOW the reality of that is dawning within us. Can the body be any less divine than the head? We are one body and one voice on the earth. The voice of God is as the sounding of many waters in the book of Revelation. We each have a well of living water flowing from our being. When we speak as the song says “All heaven stands to listen.” What we speak is so important as it creates our destiny. If we believe the word we will speak the word and as we speak what God says we will experience that which we speak. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. For to long we have spoken defeat and failure not realizing our words lock us in a prison of unbelief. By the words we speak we can unlock the prison of our carnal mind and begin to live as love expressed.

By us living consciously in the presence of God and releasing the flow of life we will build up the Body of Christ and set the captives free. What a wonderful life we now have when we make the decision to live this life of love. Loving God and loving one another is the true pathway to an abundant life.

Col 2:8-10 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

The scripture above describes what has happened to most of us. Mainly through the tradition of men we have been deceived away from the reality of Christ. Christ is God’s man on the earth and we are complete in Christ which is the true nature of our being.

Traditions of men tell us that we were born sinners and therefore are separated from God. The truth of you is the same as the truth of Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Our mother had a child but we are the son given. Our source is the same as Jesus. We came from the heavenly realms as did he. We were born into this physical world losing the reality of our true being not knowing where we came from. Being complete in Christ means that we are Christ on this earth and as we live out from our spirit God lives in humanity and expresses Love, Light and Life which is the substance and source of all life. As Life, Light and Love begin to be expressed in us all carnality and darkness flee from us.

2 Thess 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: The brightness of His coming is what shall destroy the man of sin which is our carnal nature sitting in the temple of God which we are.

It is NOW the day and the time for us to believe and seek God for the unveiling of our minds to the truth. We have the mind of Christ. We are the Body of Christ, the Church of the living God. The Church is only that which comes out of what God has put within you. It has nothing to do with our carnal religious thinking. We are already complete in Christ but will never be complete by religious thinking and practices. The only reason we don't come into the experiential walk and knowledge of these things, is because we listen to the mind-traffic that goes through the mind rather than the Spirit of God that flows in the deepest part of our being.

The truth and reality of God's Word is not revealed to the mind, it's revealed to the spirit, and from there it will flow into the mind and renew the mind. That is why the scriptures say to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. If you can dare believe the riches of God's life, if you can just dare to believe it, it will begin to flow into your mind. In Christ also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a spiritual circumcision performed by Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh, the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts and raised you up and seated you with Christ in heavenly places.

Most of us were taught that we needed to deal with sin in our lives. The more you try to deal with it the stronger it becomes, because you are putting yourself under the law. One who is trying to perfect themselves has not had a full revelation of the magnitude of Calvary’s victory. The Apostle Paul said many years ago 1 Cor 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. The more you struggle with sin the stronger it will get. We need to stop living by the law and just be grateful that sin has been dealt with and we are not under the law but under grace.

 Rom 7:14-24 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

I lived in Romans chapter 7 for many years until I finally understood the truth. If we are struggling with sin it is like a branch on a tree. If you cut a branch off it will just grow back. You cannot just keep trying to cut off the branches of sin and expect to ever win the battle. We must lay the ax to the root of the tree. I finally understood that to lay the ax to the root was to repent, change my way of thinking and realize that regardless of my experience my old man is dead. I believed a lie instead of the truth. I am a new man in Christ and all old things have passed away.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. I had a hard time with this verse until I realized I was a spiritual being and my spirit and the Holy Spirit is one spirit. It is impossible for my spirit to sin when I am awakened or regenerated to the truth of my being. In my carnal nature I will always experience sin and separation but now my life is hid in Christ and now I am learning to function from my spirit and not my flesh.

Everybody that's ever been quickened and touched by God has had a circumcision of heart, and on the inside they are different.  There may not be any change in the outward character at all, but you know something's happened on the inside of you.  God works from the inside out and religion tries to work from the outside in by trying to get you to clean your life up.

You see, unless the Spirit of God comes alive in us, we'll either be legal or we'll be loose.  You have those Christians who have so much grace that you can do anything you want to do, and on the other hand you have those that are so legal that you can't do anything without condemnation.  The spirit working in your life will bring the proper balance to our lives. We must get into the heart throb and into the Spirit of God. If we have habits and problems in our lives we overcome by the spirit in us and not by striving in the flesh.

I will never forget when I first had the revelation of the Blood of Jesus that destroys sin consciousness. For years all I could think about is how bad I was and my inability to overcome my sin. Then one day I read this in Hebrews.10:1-2 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Heb 10:11-14 Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

As I was meditating on these verses I wondered how Blood could cleanse us of sin because I certainly was not experiencing a consciousness without sin. As I pondered this another scripture came to my mind, Rom 5:8-10 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Then I saw the truth of the magnitude of Calvary’s victory. We are not delivered from sin consciousness by what we do or don’t do. We are SAVED BY HIS LIFE. The resurrected, transcended, magnificent life of Christ in us is our deliverance from sin and a sin consciousness. Sometimes I intercede with tears that the eyes of the religious blind would be opened to see the rich inheritance they have within them. Religion will always tell you what you have to do instead of telling you what He has done for you.

Almost all of us in the beginning of our walk with God try to come to God to get something from Him, but our conscience condemns us, the law condemns us, and we so easily fall under condemnation.

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The blood will cleanse our conscience and enable us to enter boldly into the presence of God. The life is in the blood and the life of Christ in us will absolutely destroy sin consciousness. As long as we're always depending on our conduct, we will never make it, because it's not our conduct, it's His life and His ability, and His power coming alive on the inside of us that causes us to begin to walk and fulfill the covenant according to the New Testament.

Heb 10:16-17 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. This is God working in us from the inside out. We can turn to the spirit within us moment by moment and begin to consciously live in the presence of God acknowledging Him in all of our ways. May the spirit of Christ within us keep our hearts and minds centered in Him for there is great deliverance coming to those who abide in the truth of their being.

If we cannot receive by faith our total forgiveness our conscience will always feel condemned. We must be renewed in the spirit of our mind and begin to believe the truth of God rather than our experience. If our experience does not line up with the truth our experience is wrong not the truth. The scripture says that “the blood of Jesus speaks of better things that that of Able. The blood of Jesus cries out through all eternity “NOT GUILTY.” You are not guilty even though you may feel you are. The scriptures clearly reveal that Jesus took our judgment and as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions.
Hebrews gives us a very clear definition of faith. This is the Amplified version.
Heb 11:1 1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Faith is being able to accept as fact what is not yet real to my senses. We may still have habits and things in our life that we feel is not pleasing to God. Sometimes we may sin willfully and disobey what we feel God wants us to do. Sometimes it feels impossible that God would be saying not guilty when we feel so guilty. That is when we can accept as fact that the blood is saying not guilty regardless of how we feel. For those who feel trapped and unable to better themselves this is how to come out of bondage. Accept as fact the truth of God’s word regardless of what seems real to our senses. I began to see this in the early 70’s and I began to receive forgiveness every day and believe what God says rather than how I felt.

Once this is our experience of living by faith, then spiritual things begin to be real in our experience. Christ Then comes alive in our being and we begin to grow in faith and the abundant life. Rom 4:5. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Most Christians do not believe this verse but it plainly says that God justifies the ungodly. Heb 10:15-17 And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said, This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding), He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more. AMP

The scriptures say that He will NOT remember our sins and yet the first thing I used to do is go to God every day in my prayer time and begin to confess all my sin. I spent more time confessing my sin than anything else. Once I understood the magnitude of Calvary’s victory, instead of always confessing the same sins day after day I began to praise him and give thanks for my forgiveness knowing that He was not looking at my failures but He was looking past my condition and seeing Christ in me.

Every day, we can enter into His presence, if we can only believe what this word is telling us. We have full freedom and confidence to enter in by the power and virtue that's in the blood of Jesus, by this fresh, new and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain, veil, of the Holy of Holies that is through His flesh. Since we have such a great and wonderful and noble Priest who rules over the house of God, let us all come forward and draw near with true honest and sincere hearts.

That's what we need to get into the presence of God; faith in the blood of Jesus, knowing that the penalty and the price has been paid, and them come to Him with true, honest and sincere hearts. We do not have to try and hide our failures; we just simply come to Him with a true and an honest heart, and know that we are forgiven.

God will receive us every day of our life just exactly the way we are when we come to Him with an honest heart. "Let us all come forward and draw near with true honest and sincere hearts in unqualified assurance.” We come to Him with assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith that is by leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence. If we do that, we will be set free. We must rely on, cling to, adhere to, and believe in the goodness of God, and perceive as a fact that what's not yet real to our senses .

Zech 6:12-13 And say to him, Thus says the Lord of hosts: [You, Joshua] behold (look at, keep in sight, watch) the Man [the Messiah] whose name is the Branch, for He shall grow up in His place and He shall build the [true] temple of the Lord. [Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8.]

13 Yes, [you are building a temple of the Lord, but] it is He Who shall build the [true] temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the honor and glory [as of the only begotten of the Father] and shall sit and rule upon His throne. And He shall be a Priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between the two [offices — Priest and King]. [John 1:14; 17:5; Heb 2:9.] AMP

Zechariah is saying there is One coming, and this One that's coming, He will build the true tabernacle of the Lord.  Now we all know intellectually, the tabernacle of the Lord today is the saints, the church of the Most High God.  We also know that Ephesians tells us that the church is the fullness of Him who fills everything everywhere with Himself.  That's the true church. The Church is a group of people, whether they be small or whether they be large, who are built together in spirit, and they have become a habitation of God. They have laid down their own personal wants and likes.  They've laid down their own desires.  They've laid down their own ambitions. They have come together for the purpose that God may fill them to the fullness of His glory that they may corporately be an expression of His life upon the earth, that they might be a habitation of God in the spirit. 

We might ask what happened? It has been two thousand years since Jesus came and we still don't see the church being the habitation, the dwelling place and the expression of God. Some say the Church is just spiritual and not visible and does not come with any observation. However we all know by now that Jesus is the pattern son and that we all are sons. To say that the Church is simply an invisible spiritual kingdom is only partly true. We are to pray that the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. It is true that the work was finished but the finished work is to be walked out and be manifested to the world. Jesus gave all power and authority to the Church not just a few members but all of us. We are the fullness of God to be expressed as Jesus was 2000 years ago.

Jesus tells us how the Church will be built. Matt 16:15-18 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not Revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. J

Jesus said to Peter, “Flesh and blood hasn’t revealed this to you, but my Father has revealed to you the truth of my being. I am not just Jesus of Nazareth but I am Christ the son of God.  Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.”  Well the Catholics think He meant Peter was the rock on which the Church was to be built. What Jesus said is, “Upon this rock” - what rock? - THE REVELATION OF CHRIST IN A MAN. 

When Jesus said that, He was not specifically just referring to Himself, Jesus of Nazareth, because you can have a revelation that He was and is the Son of God, and that may not help you build the Church.  However if you understand what He said, the church is built on is the revelation of Christ in humanity, in a man.  This is the revelation that will build the true tabernacle.

This is what Paul meant in Corinthians.  He said, “You know, at one time we knew Christ after the flesh.  We knew Him as the man of Galilee.  But henceforth we know Him no more.”  And he said, “From henceforth, we do not know any man after the flesh.”  That is one of our biggest problems we see each other according to the flesh. We see homosexuals, we see lesbians, we see prostitutes, we see thieves, we see good people and we see bad people; we see people according to the flesh.  Paul said, “Henceforth, know we no man after the flesh.” 

We must get past our very own flesh and realize that the same Christ who walked the shores of Galilee, the same Christ that raised the dead and opened the eyes of the blind is now a many membered body.  That is what He meant when He told His disciples, “I must go away, because if I don’t go away, the comforter won’t come.  But when He comes, He will teach you all things.”  Well who do we rely on today to teach us?  Most of us rely on men, or pastors or our leaders or our teachers.  We rely on them to teach us.  You know what?  Until we get past that, they are not going to be able to help you a whole lot, because what a pastor, evangelist, prophet, teacher, apostle – whatever you are looking to; until you yourself have a revelation of Christ in you, and the anointing that abides and teaches you of all things, you won’t be able to hear the pastor.  But once that anointing begins to move and stir in you, then when you hear your pastor speak, it will confirm what God is beginning to reveal to you, and show to you.  For years now, I’ve been saying there is no man alive, and never has been a man alive, who can teach you how to live in the kingdom of God.  That is what we have been trying to do.  And it is the same thing as if you take a seed of corn and try to teach it how to grow. The seed of corn has everything that a seed needs to fully produce a corn-kingdom.  We don’t have to teach that seed how to grow do we?  Yet that is what we’ve been doing to Christians.  People who have the seed, the life, the nature, the character of God in them, sitting in our churches, and we try to teach them how to be like God.  It’s the same thing as trying to teach a grain of  corn how to grow into an ear of corn.

J. Preston Eby From the Candlestick to the Throne # 124

 (Quote)  In this hour the glory of the Lord is filling HIS TEMPLE!  In sons there is coming expression of the true ministry of priesthood before God and unto God.  God is raising up within His chosen ones an establishment of worship in the Spirit and by the Spirit.  Men have done all sorts of things and called it worship!  Rituals, ceremonies, liturgies, singing, lifting up the hands, loud praises, shouting, and dancing have all been accepted as worship unto the Lord.  I do not mean to say that those things are not of God.  But God is doing a new thing!  The command has gone forth, “Rise, and measure the altar!”  God would have us examine all our religious concepts of worship, lay the plum-line upon them, take the reed like unto a rod and assess the very essence of them, and learn by the Spirit what true worship is!  No longer shall it be contingent upon a gathering of people, no longer shall it be an outward show, a response to the command of men to stand, sing, raise the hands, clap, dance, speak in tongues, and praise the Lord, but it shall be worship that springs and flows from the inner sanctum of our inner son, ignited and energized by the fire of God upon the altars of our own hearts.  It shall never draw attention to the worshipper, or to worship itself, or be dictated by man, for if man must coax and coach and manipulate then it is not true worship, not in the spirit  and not by the spirit.  Oh, yes, there is a worship that glorifies the Lord in the heavenly places of the Spirit.  How our hearts yearn for this!  Many have found themselves cut off and devoid of everything they once thought was worship, and this has led to some questionings about what their spiritual status is, but fear not, my beloved.  What you thought was worship probably was not true worship at all; do not lust after the leeks and garlic of Egypt!  They are pleasant and taste good, but they are the food of the house of bondage.  The Lord is cutting off all former realms, everything we thought to be worship, and leaving us void that we might finally recognize by the “measure of the altar” the true worship that is born of the very spirit of sonship!  All the former heavens we have dwelt in are rolling up as a scroll, and we are even now being ushered  into a new heaven with a brand new atmosphere of HIS presence and glory.  Aren’t you glad!    

 And just what is God’s purpose?  “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests.”    Notice the connection between “kingdom” and “priests.”  Since kingship was virtually the only type of government or state known in the ancient world, “kingdom” could well be translated today as a “government” or “state.”  A GOVERNMENT OF PRIESTS!  A PRIESTLY STATE!  A HOLY NATION OF PRIESTS!  God offered to Israel this glory of being a “kingdom of priests.”  ALL the tribes were to be priests.  Because of their failure to believe God and enter the land at Kadesh-barnea and because they made and worshipped a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s law, only one tribe was chosen to be a priestly tribe — and that not on behalf of the world, but on behalf of the unbelieving, rebellious people of Israel!  God’s purpose remains, however, to have an entire nation of priests in the fullness of what priesthood means.  Israel collectively was to be a royal and priestly race, a dynasty of kings and priests, each member uniting in himself the attributes of king and priest.  Every man a king!  Every man a priest!  Every man as a Melchizedek!  A kingdom of priests!

            The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) states that they were to be “a priesthood of kings.”  It was intended to be the way of life, the office, the nature, the ministry of all Israel, not just a selected few.  Israel’s would be a priestly way of life, with priestly dignity, priestly power and authority, priestly holiness and priestly character.  God’s kingdom people were to be a priesthood set at the crossroads of the world to minister to all tribes and nations the things of God.  They would become the holy people, the mediating and blessing nation for all the other nations.  Ah, beloved, there is a realm of living and ministry that goes beyond just being a Christian, or attending church meetings, or going through the motions of so many religious activities.  God has always wanted a kingdom of priests!  Priests and kings — just like Jesus!  One of the chief reasons for the weakness and immaturity of the popular church is the mistaken idea that the saint’s blessing here and happiness in heaven is the main object of God’s grace.  A fatal error!  God’s aim is far holier and far higher.  He chooses out of the nations a people, inworks into them all the triumph of HIS REDEMPTION, all the victory and power of HIS LIFE, that they in turn shall carry out His redemptive purposes on behalf of the whole creation.  A Royal Priesthood!  Ah, that is God’s aim, His purpose of the ages.

God has always wanted a priesthood.  The priesthood is foundational to the outworking of His redemption and central to His plan of the ages.  Oh, beloved, come, let us now open our hearts wide to Him!  Come, and as we gaze upon this glorious ministry and its life-flow to all the families of the earth, let us yield ourselves unto God that He may work His wondrous work in our lives, bringing us into such union with Jesus, the High Priest of our profession, that we become in nature and power His ROYAL PRIESTHOOD in the earth!  The manifestation of the sons of God, for which all creation is in travail, is nothing more nor less than the full manifestation of God’s fully developed and empowered body of KING-PRIESTS AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK!  You may feel  very weak, insufficient, unworthy, and helpless in the light of such a high calling, my beloved;  but those apprehended to this ministry are still in the process of preparation.  That is precisely why the call  goes forth in this hour, “Rise, and measure the temple…and them that worship therein!”  Does it bother you, this being measured?  It is necessary that the Lord reveal to our hearts just how we measure up to the nature of priesthood, and just where we lack in that gracious spirit.  There must be an inspection!  Do we have a priestly heart?  Do we have a compassionate heart?  Do we have a merciful heart?  Do we yearn to be a vessel for His purpose more than life itself?  Are we willing to be dealt with, chastened, corrected, purged, purified, changed, and transformed?  Do we welcome the man with the measuring rod? (end quote.) J. Preston Eby.

Zechariah tells us that the Church will be built it through the office of the priest and the king. It won't be built through teaching and preaching and the gifts of the Spirit, however these are necessary. The fivefold ministry Gifts are for the edifying of the Body so that they can do the work of the ministry. The Amplified version of gives us a very clear explanation of the fivefold ministry.

Eph 4:11-13 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church),
13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. AMP

You can see by these verses that the ministers were not to build ministries for themselves. Their main function was to equip the saints, to edify them so that the saints then do the work of the ministry to build the Church. It is apparent that most pastors’ today do not know how to build up the saints so that they can minister. Most people can set in a church all their lives and still not feel like they can minister. What people need most from their pastors and teachers is to be told the truth about their true identity. They need to be told the truth that they are not sinners they are righteous and holy before the Lord. They need to know that if they will begin to change the way they think about themselves and focus on the Christ within they will begin to become aware of the beauty that is within them.

Too many pastors and leaders still focus more on the condition of the saints and see them according to the flesh and try to get them to change their conduct. They go by the letter of the law instead of the spirit. The scriptures keep many Christians in bondage who do not follow the spirit in the law of love one another as I have loved you. We should never try to control another. We can give them advice and tell them how we feel but it is not right to try and force them to do what we think is right or expel them from our mist because they still sin. If we expelled everyone that sinned we would all be cast out. Instead of focusing on someones sin we should focus on the Christ within them and minister to them. I often tell people who come to me wanting deliverance from sin, “No matter what you are doing it does not change who you are. You are a son or daughter of God and that will never change. If you continue to focus on your sin you will most likely not be delivered, however if you focus on the truth of your being and meditate on lovely things you will begin to see a change.

The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The church will be built through the office of the priest and the king. If it could have been built by man's effort, we would have had the glorious church a long time ago. We've had men who have given their very lives in the work of the Lord. Yet the church has not yet been built up to be the manifestation, the habitation, the dwelling place of God. The only thing that is going to save us from our religious concepts and our carnality is to become saturated and permeated, so filled with the spirit of God in a renewed mind that we become not self-conscious but God Conscious.

It is through the priestly office that the church will be built. The first priest according to the Melchizedek order was Melchizedek who came to Abraham after the slaughter of the kings and brought to Abraham the bread and the wine.  In Zechariah, it says Jesus will build the church through the office of the priest and the king.  The very message of salvation is first of all that Jesus comes to you with the bread and the wine.  Jesus comes to you, not as your judge, not as one who would criticize, but He comes to you as one bringing to you the true bread and the wine.  The bread is simply our spiritual food.

John 6:32-35 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

To have our spirit fed and to be renewed in the spirit of our mind we must eat the Bread which came down from heaven. Of course we know Jesus taught in allegories and parables. The Bread which came down from heaven was the Living Word. The Word became Flesh. To eat the bread is to assimilate and feast on the living word. The living word is within all of us as we all came from the heavenly realms and was made flesh. We also can give life to the world when we awake to our true identity and realize we also can speak words that give life. Jesus told his disciples, “The words that I speak are spirit and they are life.” The words that we speak that flow from our spirit also give life to those who can hear them.

John 6:56-57 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

We all desire to live by Jesus. However we cannot live by him by worshiping him or serving him in a religious way. Christianity has worshiped him for 2000 years but not many live by him. To live by him we must eat and drink him. To eat him is to feast on the living bread and to drink him is to learn to enjoy the Christ within. The cup of wine in communion represents the Blood and wine is for enjoyment. Melchizedek always brings the bread and wine. The Melchizedek priest never comes to condemn but to give you life more abundantly. We may not have the strength to overcome some our bad habit patterns but we can all practice feasting on the living word and enjoy the Christ within. This will in time take care of the carnality within us.

We can all receive Him as the Bread of Life which gives to us His abundant life enabling us to begin to live according to His life and become a habitation of God in the spirit. The only way we will ever become a habitation of God, the only way we will ever put down the habits of the flesh, the only way we will ever, satisfy the heart of God is to learn how to assimilate into our being the Bread of Life.  This is what Jesus meant when he said thing like, I am the Way, truth and life.” He was not talking about his flesh man. He said “I of mine own self can do nothing.” It was the Christ within him that was the way and we all have Christ within us.

There’s only one way that we as a believer will ever become filled to overflowing with God, and it won't be by teaching, it won't be by preaching, and it won't be by the Gifts of the Spirit. The scripture says "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."  Zechariah said, Jesus will come, and He will build the church, but He'll do it as a priest and a king.  He first has to fill you.  Let me say it this way:  You first have to receive Him as the Bread, and begin to enjoy Him in your daily life.  You begin to have Him fill you, and you receive Him as your Bread and begin to enjoy Him as your life supply.  He will then become your king.  Religion will always get it backwards, religion will always say "He must become your king for Him to receive you".  But if you will receive Him, and learn to feed on Him in your daily life, and experience Him as your Bread and your Wine, your food and your enjoyment, He will then become your King.

Let us be glad and rejoice for we are surly beginning to awake in his likeness.

The only way that the church will become a habitation of God in spirit and be built up a spiritual house, is that we need in our daily life to assimilate the Bread of Life into our being. To meditate on these things will renew your mind so that you begin to put on the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ and as our minds are renewed we begin to operate from that mind.
The Word became flesh. The Word which is the expression of God, the light of God, the glory of God, took on human flesh and tabernacled among us. Christ is not the last name of Jesus. The Christ that followed them in the Old Testament was not Jesus but The Christ. In Isaiah 9:6 A child named Jesus was born of Mary but the Christ, the son was given. Jesus knew his true identity was Christ and that he could not do anything of himself, his human identity. In Galatians Christ is called the seed.

This Christ seed is in all of us and as this seed begins to awaken and function in us we then begin to live as Jesus did while he was on earth. No amount of teaching, or spiritual Gifts will ever make you a habitation of God in the spirit. Many of God’s people are fooled into thinking that because a leader has spiritual gifts he is spiritual and they follow them. Many people are deceived when they begin operating in the spiritual realm with spiritual Gifts thinking that that makes them somewhat mature in the things of God. You may operate in the realm of the gifts and still be carnal. I am certainly not against spiritual gifts but if the gifts are operating in our life that is a wonderful thing but we must not settle for just having spiritual gifts. If one is truly spiritual the gifts will flow from them but they will operate in such a way as to not bring attention to themselves. This is why Jesus when he healed someone often told them to tell no one.

When we become a habitation of the Spirit of God, when spirit so saturates and permeates our mind with the life light and love, our carnality will just fall away. When we receive the Living Word and enjoy the spirit in our daily lives we will grow up into him in all things. This is not a quick fix but you will be transformed from one degree of glory to another day by day.

The Apostle Paul says, there's nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither life nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, things to come, height or depth, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. So do you think your habits, do you think your failures can separate you from God? They can only if we are in unbelief. If we believe that our habit separates us from the presence of God, then how could we enter in? But if we realize that He came as the Bread and the Wine, and He is always available. Today, He's not just waiting for us as the prodigal to leave the pigpen. He will come to the pigpen and bring you the Bread and the Wine. He'll feed you, and He'll nourish you, and oh, you'll come out of the sin, and you'll come out of the bondage because you'll find out there's nothing you can do that will cause God to turn away from you. If you are in sin, you need the Bread and the Wine. We need to experience Him coming to us when we feel so broken and outcast. When we feel like God could never receive me, He wants to come to us and bring to us the Bread and the Wine that we might feast at His table. Thank God for the Melchizedek Priest

There is only one way that we will ever live by the life of God. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. He was not talking about his humanity as the man Jesus, but as the Christ.

The only way you can live this wonderful life of God in humanity is to eat the bread of life. That is the only way to an abundant life in spirit. Ministering as a Melchizedek priest is also the only way to build the people of God. As Melchizedek you minister from your spirit to the spirit of the saints.

You can draw the crowds by just being a good teacher or by being one who operates in the gifts of the spirit. If you are a gifted pastor or teacher and you begin to have notable miracles in your ministry you will definitely draw the crowds, but unless you operate as a Melchizedek priest you will not build the people of God. It is a wonderful thing to have the miracles among us but if that is all we have the house of God will not be built. There are mega churches all over the world with people who are never taught their true nature and identity. They are never brought to an understanding of being God’s Christ on the earth. The only way that the church will become a habitation of God in the Spirit and be built up a spiritual house, is that we must learn how to assimilate the Bread of Life into our being.

The thing that we need is life in the spirit. We tend to think if we stop this and stop that, and don't do this and don't do that, then God will fill us up. It doesn't work that way. If we take the time to enjoy God He will fill us up, and then we will live by his life. Religion will teach you backwards, religion will have you striving in the flesh, trying to be like God, and that's the carnal mind which is the enemy of God. Again Jesus said "Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live by (through, because of) the Father, even so whoever continues to feed on Me - who takes Me for his food and is nourished by Me - shall (in his turn) live through and because of Me." So Jesus comes to us as the priest, as the bread for our nourishment, and the wine representing our enjoyment. Wine is simply a type of the real satisfaction and enjoyment.

No enjoyment can compare to the joy of the living spirit within us. The church has never come to the place to realize that the spirit can be our enjoyment. If we receive Him as the bread and the wine, we will grow up into Him. There will be such a love develop on the inside of us that then He will become our King. He must first become our Bread and Wine before He will ever become our King. For Him to be really King over us, He must first become our love. He must become our Bread and our Wine. There's no sin in the world, there's no habit and there's no hang-up that you have that will keep Jesus from bringing to you the Bread and the Wine. You can come to Him with every habit and every hang-up and just enjoy him and appreciate Him and He will become your life in reality.
Ps 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

God's not angry with His people and He will not as some teach, throw you in a torture chamber and burn you forever if you do not accept or obey Him. How could anyone believe that Christ left the glory and was born Jesus of Nazareth and suffered the shame of the cross, took on human flesh and became the pattern son to show us the truth of our identity and then loose most of His creation to an eternal torture chamber. He took all of the old creation into death and raised us up and seated us in heavenly places Ephesians 2:6

There is NOTHING you can do to change your identity. You are a son or daughter and you will always be. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. There is no habit, no failure, and no sin that can separate you from God. If you believe what some preachers say that your sin separates you from the presence of God, then how could you enter in? We must realize that He came as the Bread and the Wine, and He is always available. Today, He's not just waiting for you as the prodigal to leave the pigpen and come to him. He will come to the pigpen and bring to you the Bread and the Wine. And if you'll allow Him, He'll feed you, and He'll nourish you, and oh, you'll come out of the sin, and you'll come out of the bondage because you'll find out there's nothing you can do that will cause God to turn away from you. We have not had the proper concept of God. God is not angry at anyone; he just wants to reveal His unconditional love to all of creation.

My prayer is “Father reveal to your people the goodness of your heart! Father, unveil the eyes of those who are in sin and rebellion. Open the eyes of the blind that they might see the goodness of God. Lord, that they might come to you and experience you as the Living Bread and Wine.”

Everyone needs to experience Him coming to them when there so down and feel like an outcast. When they feel "God could never receive me", He wants to come to them and bring to them the Bread and the Wine, that they might feast at His table. When He was on earth, He went and ate with the publicans and the sinners. Do you think now that He's died and paid the price for the penalty of sin, that He's now turning His back on those who are in sin? No, He wants them to turn and begin enjoy his forgiveness and feed upon Him. 

People get so caught up in trying to be good after they're saved. The church expects babies to be grown up men. The church will take little babies that have just been regenerated and kick them out of the cradle and tell them to walk. Instead of ministering to them the Bread and the Wine, they criticize them, and tell them "well now that you're saved, you can't do that anymore. You can't do this, and you can't do that". All I know is” We need to feed them with the Bread and the Wine. You feed that little baby, instead of giving it rules and regulations and they will grow spiritually. That's what Christ wants for the church. 

If you're just born again, and you have things in your life that you cannot overcome, God is not angry with you. He wants to minister to you. He wants you to daily come to him and forget about your failures, and forget about the hang-ups that are in your life, and do as the Word says: Look away unto Him, and learn to feed on Him and partake of Him as the Bread and the Wine. You will then begin to mature in His life. And then all of your enemies will scatter. That's what is meant by "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered". If God never arises within our consciousness, our enemies will never be scattered. 
Ps 68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: 

According to Ephesians 4:12 who builds the church?   "His intention - (In other words God's intention by giving to you the apostle, the prophet, the pastor, the evangelist and teacher, His intention for doing that was "for the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints, (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church), That it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God; that we might arrive at really mature manhood  the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection". 

Some may say "impossible", then throw the Bible away.  The church is to be the full expression of Him  Who fills everything, everywhere with Himself, the church as Colossians says "is full of the God-Head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we are complete in Him" the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and the completeness found in Him.  Now that's what the church is to be built up to.  The church is to be built up so that it becomes the perfect and complete expression of the fullness of God.

 That's why I say, it doesn't happen through teaching, it doesn't happen through preaching, all of these things are helps.  It doesn't happen by the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor and the teacher.  The church will only be built up when we as individual believers begin to accept our priestly and our kingly office, and begin to feed on the Bread of Life and allow Him to grow up on the inside of us, and then we'll build the church.

The scriptures tell the saints how to build the church.  Yet today, you go to most churches and there's no building.  There are no saints building up one another.  Most come for the "pastor" to build them up.  Remember we are still acting like we are under the old order of the Aaronic priesthood.  We're still looking for Aaron to go into the presence of God for us.  We're still looking for the high priest to do the work.  When we all become the proper priests and kings when the church comes together we’ll partake of the Bread and the Wine, and we'll be the authority to put to death the deed of darkness. 

You can take a born again believer and teach him all you want to about their authority in Christ, and they don't have any as long as "self" is ruling on the throne of their hearts.  The only authority we have is in the priestly office and that is one who has been spirit filled and saturated with the God of the universe.

If we were Spirit Filled, we would be the New Testament Priesthood, and we would be the expression of God on the earth.  We wouldn’t express our own ideas.  We wouldn’t express our own concepts, and our own theological discourses.  We wouldn’t argue over doctrines and opinions and differences.  But we’d come together and just flow in the Spirit of God.  We would flow in praise and adoration.  We’d flow in the love of God.  To be Spirit Filled means that you’re filled, and you are controlled, and you’re motivated by the Spirit of God.  On the day of Pentecost, they didn’t just speak in tongues, but they were filled, they were constituted, they were the first beginnings of the New Testament Priesthood. 

Peter says, “You are living stones”.  Each one of us is a stone to be built up into a spiritual house.  If we become a rolling stone every time we get offended we will never be built up together.  “Love never is self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account to evil done to it”.  This is love.  If we have the love of God developed in us, then when someone despitefully uses us or mistreat us, we pay no attention to a suffered wrong.  This is God’s heartthrob. He loved the world so much and the world had become exceedingly rebellious.  When Christ came on the earth, His own people did not recognize the one to whom they had been praying.  He was rejected by His own people.  Yet He paid no attention to that suffered wrong.  He was willing to go to the cross and die.  That is the kind of love He is developing in us. He’s calling us into this kind of a love.

 It’s so easy when we start of coming out of bondage, and we begin to experience the freedom in the Spirit, and God begins to reveal to us some hidden truths, it’s so easy for us to become critical of others, especially someone who you’re good to that does you wrong.  But “love pays no attention to a suffered wrong.  It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but it rejoices when right ant truth prevail.  Love bears up under anything and everything that comes is ever ready to believe the best of every person.”  Do we believe the best of every person?  Or do we always focus on what’s wrong with them?  The natural man, the flesh man, the carnal man, even though he’s a Christian, he will always zero in and center on someone’s shortcomings, weaknesses and habits.  Yet the love of God is always willing to believe the best of every person.

If we are walking in the reality of the kingdom we will always believe the very best of everyone.  If we can’t see something with our eyes that appears to be good in another, we know the truth of their being and that is what we will focus on.  Love’s “hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything without weakening.  Love never fails, never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.”  That’s what God is bringing us into, because it’s His heart that has to beat in this Temple.  The heart of God must be brought forth within us so that this love can be displayed to the world.

1 Peter 2:5 5 [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God's] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. [Ex 19:5,6.] Amplified Translation

The priesthood builds the church through prophesy. The Apostle Paul says, “We are able ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills but the spirit gives life.” The proper way to build the church is through prophesy. When I speak of prophesy I do not mean to stand and foretell the future or to say “Thus saith the Lord.

1 Cor 14:1 1 EAGERLY PURSUE and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching)1 Cor 14:3 the one who prophesies [who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching] speaks to men for their upbuilding and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation. 

The gift that best builds the church is to speak from your spirit that which reveals the divine will and purpose of God and to speak those things you have learned from the spirit. David said in Psalm 45 "My heart is inditing (bubbling over) a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 

To me the greatest gift would be to speak of those things I have received from the Christ within. Apostle Paul also said, 2 Cor 3:3 You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [Ex 24:12; 31:18; 32:15,16; Jer 31:33.] 

As we spend time in fellowship and gratefulness to God, when we come together we will speak of the experiences we have while in fellowship and our words are spirit and life that will write on the hearts of those who hear us. This will definitely build the Body of Christ.

We have had the concept that only the prophet’s prophecy, but every believer has the spirit of prophecy. Not every believer is a prophet, but every believer can prophecy. The word “prophecy” means to simply to interpret the divine Will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching. So Paul says here: “Earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments, but especially that you may prophecy – that is, interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching. This is the way that the church of Jesus Christ will be built up. As long as we all come together and sit in the pew, or sit in chairs, and only listen to a teacher or a preacher, or a prophet, the church will never be built up. The church will be built up when we as individual believers begin to prophecy to one another. Now that doesn’t mean that you start giving people personal directions, that’s not the kind of prophecy I’m talking about. It doesn’t mean, “Thus saith the Lord brother. To prophecy in this context, simply means to speak forth something from the Spirit of God that dwells within you. It’s to “tell forth” the mysteries of God. It’s to reveal and to speak according to the divine will and interpretation that you personally receive from God. 

So “earnestly desire to be spiritual, but rather that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands or catches his meaning because in the Holy Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding. But on the other hand, the one who prophecies, who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching, speaks to men for their up-building and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation.” Top of Form

 

Ephesians 4 says that the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher were for the equipping of the saints that they would do the work of the ministry that they, the church, would do the building up of the Body of Christ.  The one who prophecies, who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching speaks to men for their up-building and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation.

 Now, our function as priests is to build one another up.  Our function as a priest is to be able to go into the presence of God, and to bear one another’s burdens, to intercede for the weak, to intercede for those in bondage, but then to come away and minister to them the Word of the Lord.  To be able to prophesy simply means to be able to speak forth and release the things of God that He gives to you in His presence. 

David was a man who learned how to stay in the Lord’s presence, become filled with the divine will and interpretation of that will, and then when he spoke, he spoke of those things which he had made in fellowship with the King.  David knew how to prophesy.  Our job is to build one another up.  You can never build me up unless you know how to come to me and feed me with the Bread and the Wine.  You can’t fill me with psychology.  You can’t help me with psychology.  Oh, you might readjust my moral character somewhat, but you cannot possibly help me just by giving me all the facts.  The only way you can possibly help me is to bring me something that you received touching the King. 

1 Cor 14:2-4For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding]. 3 But [on the other hand], the one who prophesies [who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching] speaks to men for their upbuilding and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation.  4 He who speaks in a [strange] tongue edifies and improves himself, but he who prophesies [interpreting the divine will and purpose and teaching with inspiration] edifies and improves the church and promotes growth [in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, and happiness].  AMP

We will never be able to build up others until we are first edified.  The word “edified” means to be built up.  He who speaks in a strange tongue edifies, or builds up and improves himself.  So this is telling you how the church is built up:  The church is built up by divine inspired preaching and teaching not just by the pastor but by every member.   This builds the church, and promotes growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness and happiness.  “Now I wish that you all might speak in unknown tongues, but more especially I want you to prophesy.”  Listen, he’s saying it’s more important for you to prophesy, than it is to speak in tongues.  To be inspired to preach and interpret the divine will and purpose, because he who prophesies, who is inspired to preach and teach is more useful and more important than he who speaks in unknown tongues unless he should interpret what he says so that the church may be edified.

If the whole church assembles and all of you speak in unknown tongues, and the ungifted and uninitiated or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are demented?  But if all prophesy – giving inspired testimony and interpreting the divine will and purpose – and an unbeliever or untaught outsider comes in, he is told of his sin and reproved and convicted and convinced (not by one man. but) by all, and his defects and needs are examined, estimated, determined, and he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are laid bare; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is among you in very truth. 

What then, brethren, is the right course?”  In other words:  what shall we do?  What is the right course when we come together?  What shall we do?  “Each one has a hymn, a teaching, a disclosure of special knowledge or information, an utterance in a strange tongue or an interpretation of it.  But let everything be constructive and edifying and for the good of all.”  In verse 31 he says:  “For in this way you can give testimony – prophesying and thus interpreting the divine will and purpose – one by one.”  The King James says, “That you all may prophesy, one by one”.  And that’s how we build the church. 

How wonderful it is when you enter a gathering of believers and everyone is given the liberty to come together and begin to prophesy, not foretell the future, but to speak and to give testimony of what they have made while touching the King.  It is one thing to come into a church or an assembly and hear a good teacher.  But can you imagine if you came into a church and you hear everyone releasing the inspired revelations of God?  Paul said, "You can all prophesy, one by one."  That is the way that the New Testament church is to be built up.  Now, this does not mean that we meet together and we have a “free for all”.  It doesn’t say that you get together and everyone just has something to say.  That’s not what the Apostle Paul is talking about.  He is saying that every one of us may prophesy.  Every one of us may learn how to speak forth from our spirit, and release the spirit of God when we speak, that will edify and build up the body of believers where we fellowship. 

What this does is it puts the responsibility for the life of the church where it belongs, on us the believers.  Because one man will never ever do the work that God wants to do in the church.  We have just as much responsibility to get into the Lord’s presence every day of our life, and to seek Him for divine revelation and interpretation as our pastor or preacher.  Every individual has the privilege to get into the presence of God every day and seek God: Then when we come together, some may have a psalm,  (Oh I was in the Lord’s presence today, and he gave me this song.)  We have always looked to the five-fold ministry.  We’ve always thought, “Well, that’s the worship leader’s job.” 

The only way for the church to be built is for us to be built individually.  We must be built up individually in our individual time, in the presence of the Lord.  And then when we meet together, we will be able to minister to one another.  We can learn in our speaking to release our spirit and speak NOT from our carnal religious mind, but from our spirit.  When you speak from your spirit, you’re releasing words of spirit and life.  When we get into His presence we have revealed to us the divine Will and intents and purposes of God.  And then when we come together, we can by practical experience and application can learn to speak from our spirit.  With our speaking we can be conscious of God flowing from our inner being.  This is a function of a New Testament Priest.

I have shared a lot lately on how to build the Church that God desires by all the members functioning in spirit so that it is not just one person that does all the sharing. 

I feel I should share a little more on “let everything be done decently and in order.” I have been in many conferences where they have had an open mike so everyone could share and it was a disaster most of the time. You always have those who think they are spiritual and cannot wait to tell you of their knowledge. I have seen folks almost fight to get the microphone or sometimes when ask for a short testimony they would talk for an hour. This is not what I mean when I share about Body ministry. 

I want to say again that Body ministry is when the saints come together and share what they have received in worship or meditation or perhaps what they have received from the pastor’s message. If we come to a meeting just to share some intellectual knowledge that will not build the saints. It is what we share from our contact with spirit that will build. If we just share knowledge it mostly comes from our carnal religious mind.

If you are a leader in a group then the saints must be ministered to and given the opportunity to share what they have received from your sharing. That is one way to begin to have a functioning Body. Also when you are done sharing let the saints ask questions about your message. Many times when I share with a new group I have had two hour sessions with the saints asking questions. I cannot always answer all the questions adequately but I sometimes am surprised at what I am able to answer. 

There are basically two types of meetings in a Church. There are training meetings where only the leaders will speak and the time is given just for instruction and teaching for the equipping of the saints. This is the time to share things like helping them to realize that they have an anointing and it will teach them even if they have no one else. Leaders are very important in a Church if they DO NOT try and control the saints. The saints are to be ministered to and not controlled. 

When you are having a church meeting and not a training meeting is where all the saints can minister, the leaders and the saints. Please do not take this is a legal way. I am only sharing what I have learned while being a leader is a church setting. After I was a leader for about two years I could go in the church meeting and sit in the back row and if I never said a word the saints would flow in worship and testimony. They really did not need me to function. We had people that would come from miles away to be in our mist to feel such an anointing of the spirit. Nothing can compare to a body of believers who can flow in the spirit. 
To be continued

The Apostle Paul says, “Take heed how you build”.  The only way you can build the church of God is with gold, silver and precious stones.

 1 Cor 3:11-15  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Paul says there is only one foundation we can build on and that is Jesus Christ. This does not mean we build the church on the man Jesus who lived two thousand years ago. What is meant by this is the church is built by the revelation of Christ in a man. Jesus was the pattern son who knew he was the Christ on the earth. We build the church with this pattern. We do not minister to the carnal minds of believers teaching the human to be godly. We minister to the Christ in man bypassing the carnal reasoning’s. The Apostle Paul did not minister to the natural man but the spiritual man, the New Creation man.

 “Gold” is divinity, “silver” is the redemptive plan of God, and “precious stones” is the transformation. This is the way we are to minister.  Precious stones come out of transformation.  Unless we are a vessel that has been filled with the gold and minister God’s redemption, (silver) and become transformed to some degree in His likeness, we will never be able to properly build the church.

Paul says everything that we have done for God will be tested by fire. (Gods Divine Presence) no matter how big our ministry has been. We may have pastured a church of 5,000 people, but if we were not a priest, and were not a carrier of the divine presence of God, our work will be burnt up. Wood hay and stubble just represents man’s carnal religious mind trying to build the church by carnal means and methods.  The Ark was made with wood overlaid with gold, which simple means humanity and divinity mingled together.  The Ark was a type of the New Testament priest.  The wood, the human vessel, overlaid with gold. To work for God we must become a mingling of God and man, the human and the divine must become one for the proper work of God to be raised up.  Glory to God!  This is the answer  for the church to become a priest.  We cannot be a proper husband or wife, we cannot be a proper pastor, and we cannot be a proper father or mother until we first become a priest. Always remember this is God’s work not mans. It is God working in us both the willing and the doing of His good pleasure.

If we will contact God every day and touch the Lord in our spirit eventually we all will all begin to put on the mind of Christ and become a corporate, holy people, a royal priesthood. We will be the divine Kings operating in God’s authority.  Can you imagine anybody coming into a meeting where all of the saints are filled with the Spirit and the glory of God?  Can you imagine anyone coming in and not being delivered?  I have seen hard line heroin addicts set free in praise and worship.  I’ve seen all kinds of deliverances take place.  I’ve seen all kinds of healings take place with no one individual laying hands on people.  That’s what God wants to raise up today, because the glory will go to God.  You see, God wants to share with us His glory, but not to spotlight the individual, but to spotlight His Body.  God wants the world to see the many facets of His character and His ministry.  Every one of us is a special gem, every one of us is special and every one of us, as we seek God will come out of His presence with a different facet of His personality.  God is limitless and exhaustless. When we come together we will be as Peter wrote. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation; God’s own purchased special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  That’s the New Testament priesthood.  That’s the functioning Body of Christ, that not one man, and not two men, not the preacher and the song leader, but the corporate body is a chosen race, a dedicated nation, God’s own purchased and special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds, and display the virtues and perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  May Christ come forth in us quickly.

The purpose of the Priesthood teaching is so that not only will we be able to sing about being a priest and a king, but we’ll walk in the reality of being a priest.  You’ll remember that in the very beginning of the priesthood series, I said that a priest is first and foremost one who contacts God.  You do not gain the priesthood by working for God unless it is God directing you in what you are doing. If working for God was the answer God would have had His desire fulfilled many, many years ago.  Works is not the answer.  The answer is for us in our daily life to learn how to contact God:  Every time that we touch God in our spirit, something of His divine essence is transmitted into our being.

I often use the example of electricity.  Electricity is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, and it is not possible for you to touch electricity without it being transmitted into you.  You can be consumed and burnt up by electricity if you touch a bare wire. It does not matter if you are bad or good if you touch it electricity will get into you.

  Just the same as that electricity can be transmitted into you, so can God.  If you have never experienced the reality of God you have not been regenerated. If you cannot say, “I know that I know that I at least one time I entered into the presence and reality of God” You don’t really know Him. Many folks how a lot about Him but do not know the reality of His life coming alive in them.  When you experience  being quickened on the inside and you are hungry for God, then you begin seek Him for more of His life in you.

Everyone has to have that quickening on the inside.  Something on the inside of you no longer desires no longer desires to do some of the things we have done in the past.  You may be in sin, you may have habits and hang-ups, but there is something on the inside of you that desires Godliness.  That’s what it means to be born from above.  When you’re born from above, the Spirit of God quickens and comes on the inside of you, and from that moment you begin to have, maybe not from your mind, but deep down in your being you begin to have that desire for God.  And when you learn how to contact God, and stay in His presence and touch Him in reality every day of your life, you can have the experience that you had when you were born again.  I’ve heard many people say, “Oh, if I could only go back to that experience.”  My brother use to say, “If only I could go back to that experience I had when I was first born again.  Oh, it was so wonderful.  It was like everything that I was changed.”  He was an alcoholic, yet one touch from God absolutely set him free.  And because we wandered around in religion, almost all of us, we’ve lost that freshness, not even realizing that we could live a life of being able to touch God in reality, because the people in religion would tell us, “Oh, you’re excited now, but you’ll be normal in time.  There will come a time when you will settle down.”  They use to tell everybody at church, “Oh those guys, they’ll settle down in time.”  And we did.  We settled down.  We lost the enthusiasm, and we lost the excitement.  And you know what?  When you lose the excitement and you lose the enthusiasm for God, what do you do?  You start trying to fill yourself with something else, even though you are a Christian.  You start going back and getting into worldly things, and worldly entertainments.  Contacting and touching God in your spirit the Christ in you will begin to arise and set you free.

THIS IS WHERE JOAN LOFSTRAND HAS READ TO.

Man was created to be the very dwelling place of God. Since we are God’s dwelling place, when we become aware or conscious of this we can then fulfill our destiny by Christ within arising within us.  However to build the proper church and the proper city we must begin to speak what we know to be the truth. Praying to a God somewhere up in a faraway place will not help you all that much. When we pray the religious way we are basically saying God has something that we want and is not releasing it to us. We think by praying to him or fasting and other religious acts we can get him to do what we are asking. When someone is sick our concept is that God can heal them but he isn’t doing it so we must pray and perhaps He will do so. This is what for years I have called a “Santa Clause God.” If we are good he will bless us and perhaps answer our prayers, but ya better watch out, ya better not pout or he may not gift you with your request.

 

What is the truth of our being? We are sons and daughters of God with the authority to first of all change our lives and then begin to reach out and change the world. We can do that by changing our thoughts and our speaking. “Death and Life are in the power of our tongue.” I have experienced great changes in my life through changing my thoughts and my speaking. Many believe this but will not do it. We must have divine help to be able to get out of our carnal minds and begin to put on the mind of Christ. I still have a long way to go but I am finding change taking place as I continue to exercise my spiritual nature.

 

2012 is a year of great awakening. People all over the world are beginning to awake out of the Adam dream of just being a human being. There are many great changes beginning to take place to bring us to a golden age of the sons and daughters of God beginning to function in their divine inheritance. This is not a quick fix but those who are willing to change and accept their divine nature are beginning to experience the quickening of their spiritual nature that will change the world.

 

I have noticed a great increase of visitors on my website this year. For example I had over 5000 visitors from Beijing China last month. People are so open now to come out of all the religious lies we have been told about God. They are hungry to throw off the bondage of religion and enter the good land of their spiritual nature.

 

When we begin to speak as God speaks is when change begins to take place in our lives. When we speak as god speaks it is hard on our flesh. When you are surrounded by negativity and natural feelings it is hard to speak what you know to be the truth. Eventually as we exercise our spirit to speak truth our flesh begins to fall away and an anointing begins to arise within us. We then understand the scripture that says, “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered.” Our enemies are disobedience, habits, and all the things that insolate us from God flowing through us freely. To speak truth will break down all of those insulators.  Our spirit and our creative ability are connected to our mouth. What we believe in our heart and speak with our mouth will create our experience.  Our spirit becomes strengthened through the exercise of our tongue and by the renewing of our mind. The Apostle says “Put on the mind of Christ.” As we do that through practice and application we begin to manifest as a son or daughter of God.

We think that if we could quit doing all the bad things we would be OK, but it’s when God arises that our enemies are scattered.  Our enemies will never be scattered until God begins to arise in us. The battle is the Lord’s and as the spirit comes forth within you the battles will be won and the enemies scattered. The first battle was won by the priests.  Remember after   they crossed the Jordan it was the priests who went ahead and blew the trumpet.  It was those who were the carrier of the Lord’s presence that defeated the enemies.  As we begin to be a carrier of the presences of the Lord, our enemies will be defeated, not by effort, but by the priestly anointing.  By the Spirit of God arising within us, every enemy that we have will be scattered.

The Old Testament priestly offerings were a type of Christ. There was a sin offering, a peace offering a meal offering and a burnt offering. The priests were the ones who handled all of the offerings. And every offering is a type of Christ. The very first one was the Trespass Offering. The Trespass Offering relates to sins. I cannot find any limit on the Trespass Offering. I cannot find any place where Jesus said you reach a point your Christian life where the forgiveness of your sins can no longer be applicable. When we get a hold of the riches of what God has prepared for us and see not doctrinally, but in reality, we will be set free. 

Heb 10:10-14 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

Jesus was the last trespass offering. There never again needs to be any kind of offering for sin. If we could get all Christians to see this we would be a joyous People. We have been perfected forever by this one offering. Heb 10:16-18 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. This is the true gospel. It is not about what we do for God but what he has done for us. We have been forgiven once for all and are already perfected forever. This is one reason why we must put on the mind of Christ. When we are using the carnal mind we will always focus on the carnal man that is still imperfect. The carnal man will never be perfected, but our true nature has always been perfect. We must be renewed in the spirit of our mind.

The Trespass Offering is there for us to use. No matter how many times you blow it and miss God the Trespass Offering is there. Jesus was and is our Trespass Offering. 1John says, “My little children, I would that you sin not, but if you do, we have an advocate with the Father”. He said, “I’d rather you didn’t do it. You shouldn’t do it. but listen, if you do miss God, remember one thing: You have an advocate with the Father”. And His Blood washes away every stain, every sin, every time. I cannot find any place in the Word of God where a believer can sin so much that the blood no longer avails. If you don’t understand the generosity and the forgiveness of God, you will never grow up and come out of sin and failure. You must realize the Trespass Offering is available to you. And every time if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 
To be continued
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In the Old Testament the trespass offering forgave their sin but the sin offering covered their nature that wanted to sin. It is wonderful to be forgiven, but no matter how many times we are forgiven we will not be happy until that nature that wants to sin is replaced by the revealing of Christ within us.

Paul gave us an example of that by Romans Chapter Rom 7:14-25 “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

This is what we experience if we have been regenerated but still living by the carnal religious mind. The more you try to live for God the more the law of sin and death pulls you down. However there is a life in us (our spiritual nature) that has never touched sin and has never sinned. That life knows no bounds or limitations. The trespass offering and the sin offering covered everything we did and everything we were. There are some who have taken this message of the sin and trespass offering and think they have a license to sin and can do anything they want. Whenever we have an attitude that wants to sin and stay in bondage to the flesh just proves that we have never truly been regenerated. We will always sow what we reap. Most of us miss the mark everyday but we have confidence in our spiritual nature that will eventually overtake our carnal desires.

When we have a heart that is looking for a way out of our carnality, then we must begin to believe that the Trespass Offering and the Sin Offering was enough to pay the price for us missing God.  Sin is simply missing God.  I don’t care what it is.  The meaning of sin is simply, “to miss the mark”.  And whenever you miss the mark the Trespass Offering is already applied. “Your sins and iniquities are remembered no more.”

There truly is a peace that passes all human understanding. We not only experience this truth but we become this truth. We are the true peace makers. I wrote an article some time ago on “What is a Peacemaker.” You can find the writing here.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/gary-sigler/kingdom-of-god-22/183417775035163

After the Peace Offering we experience the Meal Offering.  The Meal Offering is also called the Food Offering.  And that’s simply to partake of Jesus as our food!  Jesus must become our daily bread.  When I pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” I don’t think of the physical food.   The most important thing in the all the world is to receive Jesus as our daily manna, to receive Him as our Meal Offering.  All of the offerings are a picture of Christ. You will always be what you receive into you.  So Jesus must become our Meal Offering – our Food.   And we receive daily into us that which will sustain and cause the Spirit of God to rise up within us.. 

 

The mixture of grace and law has to stop.  It can’t be rules and regulations; it’s a matter of life.  God wants purity because purity produces power.  And the power of God produces praise.    To become a carrier of His presence you must begin to experience Jesus as your Meal Offering – as your Food.  He Himself said, “I am the Bread of Life.  I am come that you might receive Me and live by My Life.”  Yet, the physical food is a type and a picture of the spiritual food.  And we all know, to be pure and to be healthy, that we must eat the right kinds of food.  And the same thing is true in the spirit.  We must, as priests of God, begin to receive into our being Spiritual food.  When you get a taste of making Jesus your Bread of Life, it will far surpass any desires that you ever had for the flesh.  The greatest ecstasy in all the world is to have the peace of God in the midst of any circumstance.  This is a process and I understand that.  We must begin to make quality decisions on what we allow to come into us.  Because what ever you receive in your eye-gates, your ear-gates, and that’s what they are, they are gates.  What ever you receive into you, will become. 

 

We now come to the Burnt offering. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

In the Old Testament the burnt offering was put on the alter and the fire would consume it. As we present our bodies to the Lord the fire (spirit) within begins to purge and cleanse our minds so that they are renewed and begin to put on the mind of Christ.

As our minds are renewed we then experience becoming a kingdom of Priests. As such we serve Christ to the peoples of the world. As carriers of the presence of the Lord we only minister life and blessing to those we meet regardless of their condition or lifestyle. When we only minister life to those who do not know the truth we see great change taking place in them. No amount of just teaching people will help them rise above the circumstances of this physical realm. We can only help people if we are able to speak life to them and help them see their true nature and being is Love, Light and Life.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. God has the very best for us because of having unconditional love for us all. As Christ is formed in us we also then begin to have unconditional love for all of creation.

 

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