God’s 4 Signs to Moses: The Staff That Turned into a Serpent
The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand… – Exodus 4:2-4
Oh Father, our heavenly Father, wash us in the blood of Your Son again today. Let us come to you with a clean conscious. Wash us in the Water of your Word. Open the eyes of our hearts to see Christ, receive Christ, and enjoy Christ. In Jesus’ Name, which is above all names, Amen!
In Egypt, Moses had the highest education and was skilled in speech (Acts 7:22). When the Lord came to give Moses the revelation that He would free the Israelites, Moses tried to achieve the Lord’s will in his own strength and ended up killing an Egyptian. Trying in his own strength, just led to death.
The Lord took Moses through 40 years of death in the wilderness. Moses was a broken man when the Lord appeared to him again. Moses could no longer speak well (Exodus 4:10) and he needed a staff for walking.
We all have many staffs that we rely on. Every earthly thing that you rely on for your daily living is a staff. Your career is a staff. Your education is a staff. Your news is a staff. Your hobby is a staff. Your caffeine is a staff. Your sweets are a staff. Your family is a staff. Your car is a staff. Your intellect is a staff. Your emotions are a staff. Your television is a staff. Your video games are a staff. Your internet is a staff.
There is no Life in these staffs. These staffs are dead wood. When Moses threw his staff down it became a serpent. Not only is your staff dead, but it is also a serpent.
Whatever you rely on, other than the Lord, becomes a serpent.
Your staffs must be thrown down and put to death. Only then, by the Lord’s command, can you grasp the serpent by the tail, and lift the staff up in resurrection.
Don’t abandon your family. Don’t set up a law in your heart on what you may eat or drink. But turn to the Lord, beholding Him and giving Him your ear. Give everything that you rely on to Him and let Him give you back what you need in resurrection.
In resurrection, you are no longer reliant upon the staff, you are reliant on God alone.
Father, we cast our staffs down before you. Open our eyes to see the things that your enemy uses to usurp your rightful throne in our hearts. You provide everything we need as we seek Your Kingdom and Your Righteousness first. Let us grasp the enemy by the tail in Your Resurrection Life, that we may be overcomers in Your Victory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
1
If I’d know Christ’s risen power.
I must ever love the Cross;
Life from death alone arises;
There’s no gain except by loss.Chorus
If no death, no life,
If no death, no life;
Life from death alone arises;
If no death, no life.2
If I’d have Christ formed within me,
I must breathe my final breath,
Live within the Cross’s shadow,
Put my soul-life e’er to death.3
If God thru th’ Eternal Spirit
Nail me ever with the Lord;
Only then as death is working
Will His life thru me be poured.
Desiring Meat From Egypt
The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of mIeat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Exodus 16:2-3 NASB
The Lord frees us from Egypt at the time of our salvation. This is the objective Reality. But, the Lord must experientially remove Egypt from our hearts.
The Lord has judged Egypt, which is a type of the world. The Lord sent 10 plagues to show His People what the true state of the world is. Don’t you know that the Lord could have finished off Egypt with but a word? But no, we need the lesson. We need to see the world how the Lord does. The Lord was very patient in teaching the Israelites, and so He is with us. Today, we can see the fruit of sin the world is bearing. There are bombings, shootings, kidnappings, rapes, climate change, disasters and more. This is the natural fruit of the world, under the enemy’s rule, enslaved to sin.
Yet, we still desire the things of this world. We want to be entertained, fulfilled, and successful. We want to find satisfaction in this world. This is just what the Israelites wanted. So many called ones of God want the meat of Egypt today.
I hope the Lord has blocked your way in finding satisfaction from the world. This is great evidence of His care for you. The world is just salt water, which will dehydrate you. The Lord is the fresh Living Water, always new and abundant. He is so available. The Water is flowing, open your mouth and drink!
The Spirit and the Bride say “Come”! (Revelation 22:17)
The dissatisfaction with the world makes a Way for us to find Satisfaction; the hunger and the thirst open the heavens for the Heavenly Manna.
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 6:32-35 NASB
We need to embrace a holy boredom. If you are bored or worn out, don’t go seeking the things of the world for help. Don’t go down to Egypt. Turn to the Lord and offer your boredom to Him. Embrace your boredom as a time to enjoy the Lord. The Lord wants to be our Entertainment. The Lord wants to be our Satisfaction. The Lord wants to be our Enjoyment. God has given us Christ, in the Spirit, to meet all our needs. He is our Life and Life-supply. He is superabundant and always more than we need.
Take Christ as Everything by faith. He is even our Faith. If you need this Satisfaction, turn away from the things of the world and turn to the Lord, within you. Confess your dissatisfaction. Declare to the Father that Christ is your Satisfaction! Whether you feel like it or not, take Him by Faith. It is His responsibility to bring you into the experience of Christ as the Good Land, Christ to meet our every need.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalms 34:8 NASB
Oh dear Father, wash us a anew in the blood of Jesus and wash us in the water of Your Word. Thank you for cleansing us of our sins and all the worldly dirt. There is no satisfaction in this world. The more we drink, the more thirsty we get. You are the real Food and Water. We eat You and drink You now by Faith. Thank you God for becoming edible, in Christ. We eat You and become constituted with You, to be one with You for Your move and expression on earth. In Jesus’ holy Name, Amen!
1
Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne;
Eat! The tree of life with fruits abundant, richly grown;
Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for
Here there is no night!
Do come, oh, do come,
Says Spirit and the Bride:
Do come, oh, do come,
Let him that heareth, cry.
Do come, oh, do come,
Let him who thirsts and will
Take freely the water of life!2
Christ, our river, Christ, our water, springing from within;
Christ, our tree, and Christ, the fruits, to be enjoyed therein,
Christ, our day, and Christ, our light, and Christ, our morningstar:
Christ, our everything!3
We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat;
“O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet!
We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ.
What a Christ have we!4
Now we have a home so bright that outshines the sun,
Where the brothers all unite and truly are one.
Jesus gets us all together, Him we now display
In the local church.
God’s 4 Signs to Moses: The Burning Bush
Dear Body of Christ, we can learn a lot about this Life, that we have gained in Christ, from the Scriptures. The Old Testament is like a living painting, while the New Testament is like the description below the painting. What the New Testament says in plain words, the Old Testament says in detailed color.
With that in mind, I want to take a look at the signs that the Lord gave to Moses, when he was called. The 4 signs are the burning bush, the rod that turned into a serpent, the leprous hand, and the Nile’s water turning to blood. These signs were lessons, not only to Moses, but also to us.
Let’s start with the burning bush.
The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” – Exodus 2 NASB
This bush symbolizes us. In the original language, this is not only a bush, but a thorny bush. The thorns grew out of the earth as a result of Man’s fall (Genesis 3:18). Thus, this thorny bush symbolizes fallen humanity. But the thorny bush is able to contain the fire without being consumed. This is the divine Fire, God Himself.
Don’t be stumbled because it states the angel of the Lord here. This angel of the Lord is Christ. Paul was so bold to say the the rock, which followed the Israelites in the wilderness, was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Is Christ only our Follower, and not also our Leader? Surely, if Christ is the rock who followed the Israelites, He is also the angel of the Lord who led them.
Praise the Lord! Even though we are thorn bushes, we can be the Lord’s vessels. By nature, we just prick and hurt each other. But thanks to the Lord Jesus, we can be one with God. Not only are we one with God, but we are also one with each other. We all have the same Fire. This is a corporate thorny bush carrying the divine Fire. This is God’s Assembly, His House, the New Jerusalem!
At the end of Moses’ life, he even recalls this sweet sign: “And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush” (Deuteronomy 33:16).
Our dear Father, cleanse us anew in the blood of Jesus. Thank you for cleansing us of our sins and making us white as snow. We are dead in Christ, resurrected, ascended, and seated at your right hand. Thank you for clothing us with Christ as our Righteousness. Thank you for abiding in us as the divine Fire. May we abide in You always. You have made us one with You and one with each other. Lead us to experience this oneness, that the world may know that Jesus is Lord. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
1
In the wilderness for God!
Just a common bush aflame!
Thus may I be, blessed Lord,
For the glory of Thy Name.2
Just a common bush to be,
Something in which God can dwell,
Something thru which God can speak,
Something thru which God can tell.3
All His yearning over men,
All His purposes of love,
Flaming with no light of earth,
But with glory from above:4
God Himself within the bush,
Nothing seen but just the flame;
Make me that, just that, O God,
For the glory of Thy Name.
The Passover Lamb for Leaving the World
Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover. (Exodus 12:11)
Dear called ones of God, I am concerned that some of you have not yet made it to the wilderness, let alone the Good Land, and still remain as slaves in Egypt, living under Pharoah’s harsh rule. You have indeed put your faith in Jesus, and have taken Him as your Passover Lamb, but you forgot that He is Food for the journey. The Israelites were to be dressed and ready for travel when they ate. There was a rush to get them out of Egypt. The Passover Lamb was to be their Energy to leave Egypt.
We have a journey to embark on.
Sure you may have been taken out of Egypt objectively, but you need the subjective experience. Never be satisfied with just an objective head knowledge. God desires for us to experience and enjoy Christ. If you have not been separated from the world, then do it now. There is not time to waste. Give your stomach, your career, your news, your sports, your hobbies, your video games, your television, and your family over to the Lord.
Whatever has a hold on your heart, give it to the Lord. Quit trying to find your satisfaction in Egypt. This is terrible. Find your satisfaction in Christ. God has provided Christ to be everything for us.
Confess to the Lord that you cannot free yourself and that He must free you; and He has indeed freed you. It’s for freedom that you have been set free. Christ is our Freedom. Take Christ as your Freedom by faith.
Your enjoyment of the world is limiting your experience of Christ. He is a Chair for you to rest in, but you have cluttered your path to Rest.
Turn away from the world and set your eyes on Christ, beholding Him by faith. It’s in this Way that we are able to eat Him.
Don’t make this into a law of something you need to achieve for God to please Him. He is only pleased with Christ. But offer to God your experience of Christ. If you cannot enjoy Christ in an activity, then it is not profitable. Stop judging according to what is good and evil, and start judging according to what is of Life, what is of Christ. Give God the firstfruits of your time. He deserves the richest portions, the fat of our offerings.
If you have believed into Christ, you have been set free from the world. The Lord has crushed the enemy’s head. Sin no longer has any power over you. Now walk accordingly.
Our dear heavenly Father, we have been crucified in Christ. Our old man has been put to death and we are a new creation in Christ. Wash us anew in the blood of Jesus. Wash our feet of all the worldly dirt. Renew our hearts for You and for your Kingdom. Lord Jesus, You are our Bridegroom. Let us only have eyes for You. We love you Lord! Be our First Love now and forever. Let us love You with the Love you have poured into us. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
1We are the Hebrews! Praise the Lord!
We’re from the other side.
Throughout our hist’ry we have passed
Through rivers deep and wide. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
He has brought
All us river-crossing Hebrews
To the land, to build up
The temple of our God.2Old Noah’s age was so corrupt,
In deep depravity;
So Noah passed across the flood—
That separating sea. Praise the Lord! He has brought
From the old
To a new recovered region
Where he built in this land
An altar for his God.3Then Abraham was called apart,
For Godto take a stand;
So through the river he was led
Into a new, good land. Step by step he was led
From Chaldee
Through the river into Canaan,
That good land, there to be
The servant of his God.4The Israelites in bondage were
To Pharaoh’s choking hand.
The God of Hebrews made a way
For them to leave that land. Through the sea, they all passed;
Egypt fell,
Hallelujah! In the good land
They built up God’s own house
To satisfy His heart.5Then wand’ring through the wilderness,
The land they could not find;
Till through the Jordan they did pass
To leave themselves behind. Praise the Lord! In the land
They built up
God’s own temple. Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord! There they dwelt,
His people and their God.6But then religion conquered all,
So John the Baptist came
And buried all beneath that flood.
The Jews were not the same. Buried all! Buried all!
Buried all!
Underneath the Jordan River
Buried all to become
The Hebrews passing through.7Now in the church life, we have left
The world, religion too;
Now we’re the river-crossing ones,
Enjoying Christ so new! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
We have passed
From the oldness, Hallelujah,
Into Christ—one new man.
And now we’re one with Him!8O Lord, You’ve taken us across
The fiery sea of glass,
With all the worldly things beneath;
Across the sea we’ve passed. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Now we stand
As the Hebrews, Hallelujah,
On the sea! Praise the Lord!
We’ve passed through everything!
He Who Eats My Flesh and Drinks My Blood
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me , he also shall alive because of Me. [John 6:54-57]
I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples. [John 15:5-8]
Taste and see that the Lord is good; [Psalms 34:8]
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. [John 6:63]
But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” [Matthew 4:4]
Dear saints, I want to emphasize how important eating and drinking is. If we don’t eat and drink, we will grow weak and die. If someone eats once a day, surely he won’t have enough strength. Such a person will be weak and sickly.
Many want to abide in the Lord and bear fruit for the Lord. But few care for eating and drinking the Lord. We need to be the ones who eat and drink Christ many times each day. If we are always eating a drinking Christ, we will live because of Him; we will abide in Him and He will abide in us; and we will bear much fruit.
In order to eat something, that thing must die to enter into us. Then that food is metabolized. Our body is filled and saturated by the food we eat. We even become what we eat, because our body becomes saturated with it’s nutrients. If you just eat fish every day, you will smell like fish. Everyone will know you eat fish, because you will have a fishy aroma.
So it is with Christ. But, how do we eat Christ? Eating Christ is related to the Spirit and to the Word. The Word is the Food itself and the Spirit is the Life. No one goes to the store and says, “I don’t want the vegetable, I just want the life in it”. The Word is for us to take in the Life.
Yet, there is the danger that the Word could just be dead letters to us. If we just take it in with our mind, then there’s no spiritual Food. The only way to eat spiritual Food is with our spirits. We must turn our mind, will, and emotions to the Spirit, who is mingled with our spirits, for the proper eating.
This was shown clearly in Jesus words to the Pharisees:
You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. [John 5:39-40]
We shouldn’t forget that Christ is the Life within the Word. Actually, Christ is both the Word and the Life. The Word is Christ spoken forth for the transmission of Christ as Life.
Don’t think that this Food is just the Scriptures. We must also speak forth Christ to one another. We must feed each other with our experience of Christ. Ministering Christ to one another is the shepherding way.
He said to him, Feed My lambs…He said to him, Shepherd My sheep…Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. [John 21:15-17]
And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, [Ephesians 4:11-12]
Notice here that Paul says, “some as apostles”, “some as prophets”, and “some as evangelists”. But, shepherds and teachers are linked together. There is a link between shepherding, feeding, and teaching. If we are to take the shepherding way, we must be ones who are able to feed the lambs and the sheep, by teaching the Word, both as Milk and as Meat, according to their need.
Our Lord is the Good Shepherd, who nourishes and cherishes us. Our shepherding, must be the expression of our Lord.
The matter of eating Christ is absolutely central to the Scriptures and vital to our organic Life in Christ. The Scriptures begin with eating and ends with eating and drinking. Christ is the Tree of Life for God’s growth and the River of Life for God’s flow.
It would be good if every time you ate and drank, you would remember Christ as your real Food and Drink
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, [Ephesians 3:16]
I hope you all will take this to heart, eating and drinking Christ, and nourishing and cherishing one another. Then you all will be strengthened into your inner Man.
1
God gave His Son to man to be
The tree of life so rich and free,
That every man may taste and see
That God is good for food.
Yes, God is good for food!
Yes, God is good for food!
We’ve tasted and we testify
That God is good for food!
2
We eat this feast and take God in,
And as we eat we live by Him,
For all the elements within
This feast are God Himself.
Yes, Jesus is our feast!
Yes, Jesus is our feast!
We eat this feast and live by Him,
For Jesus is our feast!
3
Christ Jesus is the food we eat;
He is our bread, He is our meat;
He is our life-supply complete;
We daily eat of Him.
We daily eat of Him,
We daily eat of Him.
He is our life-supply complete;
We daily eat of Him.
4
This feast is so enjoyable;
To men it’s so available,
For God said whosoever will
May come and freely eat.
Yes, come and freely eat;
Yes, come and freely eat.
For God said whosoever will
May come and freely eat.
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
The condition of your heart is so important for the Lord’s purpose.
The proper heart for the growth of Life
And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.
God’s Eternal Purpose is to head up all things in Christ and He is accomplishing His Purpose through His Economy, which is to dispense Himself into all the saints to be our Life and Life-Supply.
God’s Economy is what we see in Matthew 13. The Lord is dispensing Himself as the Seed into our hearts. He is uniting Himself with us in eternal Oneness.
In Matthew 13, the Lord gives a picture of the growth in Life concerning four heart conditions. These heart conditions are symbolized by the soils.
We see a few pictures in this parable: the Sower, the Seed(the Word), and the Life.
The Lord is the Sower.
The Lord is the Seed.
The Lord is the Word.
The Lord is the Life.
The Lord is everything for us. When we believe into the Lord, He comes into us as a small Seed. But, this Seed isn’t lacking anything. Within the Seed is the entire Tree. This Seed becomes One with the soil of our hearts. The Lord Spirit is mingled with our spirit in Oneness.
With the proper soil, water, and light this Seed will grow up to be the overcoming inner Man in us. You must understand that what grows forth from the Seed planted into our hearts is not just God, but also Man. The Plant that grows is God with us. It is God and us as One New Man. This Seed is planted in our spirit and will grow to fill and saturate our mind, will, and emotions.
I do think that we all have the experience of each of the different types of soils in Jesus’ parable. I encourage you to go read that parable now.
The Hard Soil
A hard heart is of no use to God. It gives Him no room to enter or grow.
The Rocky Soil
The rocky heart is somewhat hard and somewhat soft. It gives the Lord room to enter and grow, but the growth is too shallow.
The Thorny Soil
The thorny heart is a soft heart, but the thorns take away the nutrients for its growth.
The good soil
The good heart is gives the Lord plenty of room to growth. It receives His Living Water and His Shining Light. Root dig deeply down to strengthen the inner man. The Plant grows upward growing from glory to glory, until the ultimate expression is revealed: the glorious flower. Right now you may not look so beautiful outwardly, but if you have the proper heart for the Lord, someday you will be a glorious shining flower, displaying the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will express the fullness of God!
The proper heart for the flow of Life.
The Tree of Life grows in the River of Life. The Tree of Life is for growth of God’s Life and the River of Life is for the flow of God’s Life.
In Genesis 26, we have a picture of Isaac with his tent in Beersheba, where Abraham had planted a tamarisk tree. The Lord appears to Isaac and Isaac builds an altar and digs a well. We need to set our tents(our dwelling) in the Lord’s constant appearing by the tamarisk tree(a picture of the Tree of Life), building an altar and digging a well. The altar symbolizes the application of the cross and the well symbolizes our enjoyment of the flowing resurrection Life.
None of us have the proper heart by nature. So for God’s flow, we need to learn to be altar-builders and well-diggers.
Hidden deep beneath layers and layers of hardened dust, there is fresh Water. Every morning we must wake up and dig through our natural man to enjoy the flowing Life deep within our spirit. I just wake up in my flesh every morning. I don’t want to turn to the Lord. I don’t want to get up. I don’t want to work.
I do think that many of you have the same experience. So we must build an altar, leaving our old man there. And we must dig a well to keep our hearts soft and tender for the Lord’s flow. With such a soft heart, the Lord will be a fountain springing up within us to eternal Life. We will have the freshness of His flowing Life. He will even overflow out of us and water those around us.
But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
Keep turning your hearts to the Lord by Faith, dear ones. With a pure heart, a heart that’s single for the Lord, you are free to behold the Lord within you. The more time you spend beholding the Lord within you, the more you will shine. You will be transformed into the Lord’s image, expressing His glory more and more. How gloriously blessed are the pure in heart!
I Press on Toward the Goal for the Prize
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12 NASB
There are many aspects to and pictures of the Prize, the consummation of which is the New Jerusalem. But I want to focus on the Good Land.
Beginning with Abraham, God called out a People to take possession of the Good Land. The Good Land is a type of Christ as Everything for us. The Good Land is the All-Inclusive Christ.
Today, this Good Land is in our spirit.
Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’ Deuteronomy 1:38-40 ESV
The first generation in the wilderness is a picture of the old man, who couldn’t overcome the flesh and experience all that Christ is for us. But second generation is a picture of the New Man. It’s the New Man, having no knowledge of good or evil, who can take possession of the Good Land.
Adam, the first Man, ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But in Christ, the second Man, Adam has been terminated. All that is of Adam has died in the wilderness.
So the Israelites pass through the Jordan, a figure of our baptism, death, and resurrection in Christ. It’s the Ark, a type of Christ, that leads the Way. Then the Israelites are commanded to circumcise themselves.
We are the real Hebrews, which means river-crossers. We are the ones circumcised in our hearts.
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, Deuteronomy 12:29 ESV
Not only were the Israelites to cut off their flesh in circumcision, but they were to cut off the people in the Good Land. All of the Canaanites are a type of the flesh and the kings are a type of the evil powers that govern our flesh.
Even though, objectively, we have been crucified with Christ, we must apply His finished work by the Spirit, who is the very effectiveness of His death and resurrection. This is the picture that we have of the circumcision and the cutting off of the people’s from the Good Land.
If we are to take full possession of the Good Land, we must have practical daily experience of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Spirit.
In Joshua, we have some pictures to give us practical help in overcoming and taking Christ as Everything for us.
By Faith.
Jericho, with its high walls, is a great big picture of the flesh. The Israelites didn’t need to struggle against Jericho. They walked around it by Faith. They walked with the Ark, as a type of Christ. They blew the Ram’s Horn, a type of announcing the Gospel of Christ as the fighting power. See Overcoming Jericho.
Being right before the Lord.
After Jericho, the Israelites attacked Ai. They spied out Ai and saw that the enemies were few there, and didn’t even send all the people to fight. But, they didn’t contact God and they kept something from Jericho against God’s command. So, Israel was defeated because it wasn’t right with God.
We don’t need more introspection, but we do need to go before the Lord and allow Him to illuminate our being. We are His House and He desires to keep His House clean. Don’t take a flashlight(introspection) to look for dirt, but turn to the light switch(the Spirit) to shine. He will show you everywhere that you are not right before the Lord. Wait on Him. Don’t rush ahead. Stay in the shining of the Lord. This Life within us is the Light of men. We are men, so His Life is our Light to shine in us. Stay in the cleansing flow of His River of Life. We walk in this world it’s too easy to get dirty. Our feet are always in contact with the world. This is the reason that Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. He is the Spirit washing our dirty feet in an inward way today.
Not being deceived by the flesh.
Next is the picture of the Gibeonites. Unlike Ai, the Gibeonites did not come to fight against Israel, but came to deceive it. The Gibeonites pretended to be poor travelers from far away and convinced Israel to make a covenant with them.
In regards to your flesh, you may say that this aspect or that feature is not so bad. You consider it to be useful for the Lord. Perhaps you are naturally a great speaker. Once you used your speaking for yourself, now you will use it for the Lord. Whether your natural speaking is for yourself or for the Lord it doesn’t matter. What matters is the source. The source of your speaking is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Only if your strong speaking is crucified, can it be useful to the Lord in resurrection. Then God will be the Source of your speaking. Then whether you speak clearly or with stuttering, God’s Life will flow through your speaking because He is your Source.
If you embrace your natural strengths, you are just like Israel. You forget your Husband and go ahead to make a covenant with your flesh. We must always wait on our Husband. The River of Life flows from the Throne, the Lord’s Headship. Only when we are living practically under our Husband’s Headship, will we enjoy the Flow of His Life.
Not taking your own choice.
The Lord desired to give the Good Land to the tribes of Israel. But, two and a half tribes didn’t want to cross the Jordan. They wanted the land before the Jordan, because it was good for their livestock. God gave them their choice and because of their choice, they would be the first tribes attacked by invaders and they wouldn’t have the protection of the Jordan.
You must not take your own choice, dear children. You must wait on the Lord. You must drop your opinions. You must be One with God’s People. As long as there is no sin or idol, be One with God’s People. If the saints are loud, be loud with them. If the saints are quiet, be quiet with them. Drop the ordinances in your heart that cause enmity between you and the Body. Water baptism by immersion or sprinkling? In a pool or in a lake? Drop your opinion in such matters. Who cares if you are right? The Oneness of the Body is far more important. We must march as One together with the Lord.
Not giving up and settling for less than God’s desire.
If you go on reading the Scriptures, you will find that the Israelites never fully cut off their enemies. They became content with the little that they had gained and gave up the fighting. Thus, they suffered. They succumbed to idolatry, to sin, and to invasions by the enemy.
I do think that many of you are defeated and accept that defeat as “this is just the way it is”. You are just waiting for Jesus to return to make everything better. But that isn’t God’s Economy. There is a reason Jesus calls for Overcomers. There is a reason Jesus warns of unfaithful servants, of virgins without Oil. God’s Economy to fulfill His Eternal Purpose is to dispense Himself into us to be our Life and Life-supply, so that He saturates us and constitutes our entire being, starting with our spirit and working His way out to our mind, will, emotions, and someday to our resurrected Body. This is why we eat His flesh and drink His blood. You are what you eat. So keep eating God in Christ. It’s the eating that gives us Strength for working and for fighting.
You must not accept defeat. We fight by turning to the Lord and continually receiving Christ and all that He is for us by Faith. Are your tired? Christ is your Energy. Are you hungry? Christ is your great Feast. The same Power that resurrected and ascended a Man to be seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God, is now in us. This same Power is flowing towards us who believe!
All of the difficulties, the trials, the drynesses, are for our growth. If we will persevere in pursuing the Lord and enjoying Him day-by-day we will grow. It’s through the dry times that the roots of the trees dig deeper searching for Water. Dig deeper into our Lord. He is perfecting us. Keep turning to Him, loving Him, enjoying Him, all the time, and you won’t be disappointed. You will have the growth in Life and when the Lord appears in glory, so will you. What has been wrought in you in secret, will be manifested outwardly in great glory.
I Have Been Crucified With Christ
In God’s eyes, there have only been two Men in all of history: Adam and Christ. When Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we all ate. When Adam was poisoned by the Serpent, we were all poisoned. When Adam died, we all died. This is because we were in Adam.
If you don’t understand, let me give you an example. You were in your grandfather before you were born. If your grandfather died, then you would have died and would never have been born.
So, from our natural birth we have been dead, little vipers, spreading the Serpent’s poison. We were like zombies walking around consumed with the hunger of our flesh. Zombies eat brains and the cause of our condition is eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Zombies are governed by the lust of their flesh and just spread death wherever they go. When Adam ate from that Tree of Death, he became governed by his flesh.
God created man uniquely as body, soul, and spirit. This was so that man could be the invisible God’s physical expression. Man was created in such a way that He could be One with God. But man wasn’t created with the divine Life and the divine Nature. If Adam had eaten of the Tree of Life, God would have entered into Him to be His Life. God, who is Spirit would have entered into Adam’s spirit.
The human spirit was meant to be the dominant part of our being. But we were seduced by the Serpent and became spiritually dead. The flesh became the dominant part of our being to the point that God just called us flesh. Whether your natural self is good or bad, it doesn’t matter so much. Your natural source is a dead man, Adam.
So God came and was born as the Seed of the Woman. Jesus was not born of a man, but of a woman. Jesus lived as a perfect Man. Whenever the enemy came and called Him “Son of God”, Jesus replied “Son of Man”. He indeed is the Son of God, but He came to be the perfect Son of Man. He had the fine humanity expressing divinity. He lived a perfect human life, was crucified, died, resurrected, ascended, and seated at the hand of God. He remains a God Man in His ascension and will forever be a God Man. And you also, if you have believed into Christ, were in Him as He lived a perfect human life, died, resurrected, ascended, and seated at the right hand of God.
In Christ, who you were according to your natural birth is dead in God’s eyes. Christ is your Second Birth. Christ is your Life. Christ is your Nature. Christ is your New Man.
Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, became a Life-giving Spirit to enter into us. So that the Spirit, who is mingled with our spirit, is not just the Spirit of God, but also the Spirit of the Man Jesus. The application and the effectiveness of Jesus’ perfect humanity, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His sitting down at the right of God…it’s all in this Spirit…and this Spirit is in us!
But don’t think that the flesh is completely gone yet. God is still bringing us forward into the experience of the Reality of Jesus’ finished work. It still remains with us because it is profitable for us. It drives us to pursue God and rely on Him. It is the manure, the compost, that drives our growth. Without the compost, plants can grow, but not so swiftly. The dead and decaying compost enriches their growth in Life.
But don’t walk by the flesh, walk by the Spirit. Adam is no longer your source, Christ is your Source. You have a new Father. You have been born of God! You are a son of God, sharing in the Sonship.
Disown your old self, the person you are by natural birth. That person, good or bad, was crucified in Christ. You have a New Man, which is Christ Himself. He was been born into you as the Seed. Within a seed, there is the entire tree. In the same way Christ enters into us in a small way, but this is the entire Christ, lacking nothing.
Whether you succeed or fail, you must disown that old man. Declare that that person is not you. He is dead and buried. You are in Christ. It is good to declare, dear saints. Declare words of Faith out loud or in secret. Turn off the radio on your way to work and turn your heart to the Lord Spirit within you, and declare who you are in Christ. Declare all that He is for you and all that He has done for you. Declare your Love for Him. Declare that you have no Love of your own, but God in Christ is your Love and you are returning His Love back to Him.
This is some practical help to bring you into the experience of Christ as your death and Christ as your Resurrection Life. Don’t be dismayed if you take by Faith that your old man is dead and then you find yourself even more in the flesh. This is the enemy’s scheme. The enemy would cut off your Faith quickly. The enemy wants to cut off your Hope in Christ. But you must press on! You are not able, but Christ is. He is your Power. The same Power that raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God is in you. This Power is towards us who believe. It is more powerful than any nuclear bomb.
Keep turning to your spirit, enjoying and experiencing Christ, and your inner man will be strengthened.
Overcoming Jericho
I hope that you will learn more from this post, than just about Jericho. I hope that you will see how to read the Old Testament, not just as a dead historical book, but as a Map to see and experience Christ.
Jericho is a picture of the flesh, with its high walls, separating us from the Lord.
There are two aspects in the story of Jericho. There is the march outside and Rehab within.
We can’t emphasize enough that the battle is the Lord’s. But we do have a part in it. Let’s take a look at the Lord’s People in the battle.
Israel marched quietly around the city with the Ark. The Ark was God being carried by Man and this was a type of Christ. This march around the City, was for exalting Christ.
The march was an orderly and corporate one, meaning that we must walk together, but not in a chaotic or loose way. We are walking together as the Body with our eyes set on the Lord.
We may be the armed men, marching with our Lord, but the Lord doesn’t want anything of our natural strength. The march was a quiet one, because we must quiet ourselves. This is the quieting of our souls: our mind, will, and emotions. These must be quieted, so we can follow the Joshua within us: the Spirit.
The priests would blow the rams’ horns, as the armed men marched silently. Did you know that Jesus is the Ram of God? He came as the Lamb of God to be a sacrifice. He laid down His horns, because the horns represent the fighting power. But, in His resurrection and ascension, He has His horns again. The horns were blown, representing the proclamation of the Gospel. This Gospel is the fighting power of our Lord.
Don’t be deceived, dear ones, the Gospel is not just for the unbelievers, but for the believers as well. We need to proclaim the Gospel to ourselves and to each other, everyday. We need to keep hearing the Reality of Christ. We must Hear Him as the Word and received Him day-by-day, as our Food, our Life-supply. Otherwise, we will be distracted and overcome by the world.
Israel walked around 7 times, because 7 consists of 3 and 4. 3 is the number of the Triune God and 4 is the number of the creature, because it is 3 + something added. Remember, God worked for 6 days and Man’s first day was a day of Rest. Around this city of Jericho, God and Man walked in Oneness.
Can you see the picture yet?
We must quiet our natural selves and walk together with God in Oneness, exalting Christ and proclaiming all that He is and all that He has done.
But, there is more.
We can’t forget about Rahab. Rahab was a harlot who lived in Jericho. She was altogether one with Jericho. Don’t you know that we are all Rahabs? We were the ones fully in our flesh. We were the harlots, or unfaithful ones, giving ourselves to the world.
We know that God has condemned sin in the flesh and the fallen flesh must be fully consumed, as shown in the burnt offering. But, thanks to God, in Christ, we are not consumed. We have the blood!
Rahab recognized the beautiful feet of the messengers, and believed in the Lord. Just as the Israelites put the blood on the doorpost in Egypt, Rahab tied the scarlet thread in the window. Because of Rahab’s faith, she is counted in the genealogy of Jesus. May we all be ones who have a part in bringing forth Christ!
Dear saints, as Rahab, within the flesh, there is nothing we need(or can) do…but rely on Christ’s finish work. As the members of the New Man, no longer governed by the flesh, we do have a part as the coworkers of the Lord
He is bringing us into the experience of all that He has already done. He is making the objective work of Christ, subjective in us. Praise the Lord, we are in Christ!
The Anointed One Became the Anointing
So also it is written, “The first man , Adam, became a living soul .” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB]
The last Adam is not a reference to God, but to a Man.
Jesus Christ, or Jesus the Anointed, became the Life-giving Spirit in His ascension. In His ascension, He remains as both God and Man.
This isn’t to say that Jesus isn’t seated in the heavenlies. But this Christ is so wonderful that He is at the right hand of God and He is in us.
“Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister as priests to Me. You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. [Exodus 30:23-31 NASB]
The anointing oil isn’t just the Spirit of God that we see in Genesis 1, but it is God, who has gone through a process. In the oil, signifying the Spirit of God, there are spices added. The spices signify the death and resurrection of Jesus and the effectiveness of that death and resurrection. Jesus Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. This Spirit is Christ in us.
This Spirit within us is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Man. If you have believed into Christ Jesus, your spirit is One with Him.
Oh Lord how sweet You are as the Spirit within us. How all-inclusive you are for us. You are fully God and fully Man for us.
Even more, Jesus said that He and the Father are One. He said that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Do you realize that that means that we are in the Father and the Father is in us? Although God is Father, Spirit, and Son, these Members are distinct, but never separate.
We are in God and God is in us!
Dear holy ones of God, you already have this Anointing. Have you experienced Him? Have you taken Him as your Anointing by Faith? He is sufficient for you.
Enjoying and experiencing Christ doesn’t require a special feeling. It’s taking Him as everything that you need. Are you unloving? Take Christ as your Love. Are you impatient? Take Christ as your Patience.
Let’s enjoy this Anointing together; He is our Oneness and He is our Life.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing-life forever. [Psalms 133:1-3 NASB]
A Pure Virgin to Christ
A brother, David Bolton, invited me to join in with him and another sister, Preeti Rachel Rajkumar, to share Christ together through writing a blog post. I hope you enjoy Christ through each of our portions!
A collaborative post by Peter Ski, Preeti Rachel Rajkumar, and David Bolton
for “The WORD in 3D” initiative.
~ ~ ~
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Peter says:
Have you lost the simplicity and purity in Christ? Has your relationship with Christ become complex? Can you quiet yourself and enjoy Christ within you? Can you just turn your heart to Him and love Him, with the Love that He has showered you with?
Us with the Lord is simplicity. Us with the Lord is purity.
But there are so many things that bring in complexity. You may…
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Putting the Flesh to Death
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” [Gen 3:15 NASB]
When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came near and put their feet on their necks. Joshua then said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.” So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening. [Jos 10:24-26 NASB]
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us–for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”– [Gal 3:13 NASB]
Beloved saints, there is so much in the above verses. I just want to touch on a little of Christ in these scriptures.
We know that the Seed in Genesis refers to Jesus Christ. In Christ, our flesh has been crucified and the serpent has been crucified. But Joshua is about our experience of taking Christ as our Good Land, God’s provision for our every need. In Joshua there are peoples that represent the fallen flesh and their king’s represent the serpentine powers that dominate our flesh.
In Joshua, we see Joshua(Spirit) leading us and calling us to put to death the flesh(Canaanites) and the powers(Kings). We are to join with Him in overcoming the enemy and putting him under our feet.
We don’t do this by following outward laws and rules and regulations. We follow a Lord within us! We follow the Law of the Spirit of Life. He is leading us inwardly to overcome our flesh. This is the application of all that He accomplished on the cross. What was objective to us, is becoming experiential as we follow our Lord inwardly.
As we turn to the Lord and enjoy Him, we are experiencing Him and His shining is overcoming all of the darkness within us. But, we must turn away from all of the distractions that draw our flesh, that entice our minds and emotions; we must turn to the spiritual Life within us. As we do this we our gaining Him and He is gaining us, for our mutual enjoyment.
Turning Your Heart to the Lord
“But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” [2Cr 3:15-18 NASB]
Day-by-day, moment-by-moment, we must turn our hearts to the Lord. This is God’s Way to save us, to transform us, to unite us with Himself in perfect Oneness.
To turn to the Lord is to set your mind on your spirit, which is united with God’s Spirit. Your spirit is the Holy of Holies; it’s the mount of transfiguration.
When you turn your mind to your spirit, it’s like sitting down in a chair. Before, you were walking in the world, but now you have overcome the obstacles that satan has put in the way of this Chair. With your will, you have turned your mind to the spirit, and you may have some enjoyment in your emotions. This is your place of Rest. Don’t be so caught up in the things of this world, that you fail to enter into His Rest.
As we turn our hearts to the Lord, we are taking Him in; we are eating Him for His enjoyment and our enjoyment.
Turning to the Lord is the purpose of reading the scriptures, singing hymns, and listening to preaching. But even in your work you can turn to your spirit and enjoy Christ as the Life-giving Spirit, within you.
Encourage one another to turn away from the worldly things, to the Spirit.
How to Read the Bible
photo credit: Ella’s Dad via photopin cc
You may have noticed there has been a name change on this blog. So, on the new focus of Enjoying Christ, today’s post is on enjoying Christ through the Scriptures.
There are many ways that people read the Bible, but I want to share the best way that I have found. Your experience may differ :).
The most important thing is that you turn to the Lord Spirit in your spirit, when you read. It will only puff up your old man if you are reading with just your mind. I find it helpful to reject my own thoughts, silencing my inner self, and let the Lord know that I’m not here to gain more knowledge. I’m here to know Him…to experience Him…to enjoy Him…to gain Him.
When you are a new believer, it’s good to read a lot. It’s milk to the new believer and a child needs a lot of milk. By reading a lot, you may miss the details of the Painting, but you are able to see the entire Picture. The Old Testament is a living Picture of Christ and the New Testament is the explanation beneath the Picture.
As you grow, you need meat. You need to eat more slowly and chew more thoroughly. You should “chew the cud”. You may read the same chapter over and over again for a week. You may spend a month on a particular phrase. Read a chapter. Read a verse. Read a phrase. Read a word.It doesn’t matter so much, how much you read, because knowledge isn’t your goal. The intention of the Scriptures is to turn your heart to the Lord. The Scriptures become a springboard to enjoying Christ for our Father’s enjoyment.
Let me give you an example with Leviticus 14. Here is how I might read it with the Lord
“Then the LORD spoke(Lord you are the God who speaks) to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing (I am just a dirty leper that needs to be cleansed). Now he shall be brought to the priest (You are my Priest, Jesus, and I am here before you), and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp (Thank you for going outside the camp to heal me!). Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper,” (I am in Christ and in your eyes I am clean and you have the true sight) [Lev 14:1-3 NASB]
After reading this with prayer, I may not have a need to read anymore, because I am in my spirit. Now, is the time to be quiet and just enjoy Him, inhaling Him and exhaling myself.
Oh Lord Jesus, how sweet You are.
Distractions that Hinder the Overcomers
And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:23 NASB
There are so many distractions from Christ available for us today. These distractions come in the form of social media, news, tv shows, video games, hobbies, politics, and so much more.
This isn’t a post about whether these things are good or bad. These things fill up our minds and prevent us from turning to our spirit.
You may spend your day off playing video games and watching tv, but when you go to pray, it’s very difficult to turn to your spirit. Instead of being filled with God, you have become filled with so many other things.
With a day of video games, you may have difficulty enjoying Christ, in a deep way, for a week. Every time you attempt to deny your soul life, and turn inwardly, your mind runs wild. All of a sudden, your mind is back on the video game. You reject those thoughts, silencing yourself before the Lord, and suddenly your mind is on your favorite tv show.
After drinking so much salt water, you have been dying of thirst, and are so parched, that you can only take sips of the Living Water. The more time that you give to so many occupying things, the more difficult it is to enter into the kingdom of heaven, which is within you.
Don’t let things occupy you. You must reign over the things by Christ, rather than allowing the things to control you.
Jesus Cleansing the Temple
Perhaps, you are reading this post because you are concerned how Jesus uncharacteristically made a whip and drove the merchants out of the temple. If that is the case, I want you to see this story in new light. You are missing much in the gospels if you just read them plainly. The gospels are story books. This is one of the pictures from those story books.
We can’t take this picture and apply whatever interpretation that we desire. But, we must turn to our spirit and interpret this according to all of the scriptures.
I don’t want to just tell you what this is a picture of, I want you to see a whole new way of reading the scriptures! So Let’s take a look at the main features of this picture.
We have Christ in the temple, full of zeal for His Father’s house, driving out merchants.
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We are the Temple of God. This is a picture of Christ within us, as the Spirit, zealously cleansing us.
But, who are the merchants? Canaanites mean merchants. Jesus driving out the merchants out of the temple, is the same as the Israelites driving the Canaanites out of the good land.
So, what is our God so zealous to cleanse us of? The flesh.
And the LORD said, My Spirit will not strive with man forever, for he indeed is flesh; so his days will be cone hundred twenty years.
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Dear saints, your Old Man has been crucified in Christ and you are no longer a slave to the flesh. You must crucify the flesh by the finished work of Christ. The very Spirit within you is the Reality and Effectiveness of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The flesh is crucified by your Faith in this One within you. Everything that is not Spirit, is flesh.
Hallelujah! As much as we hate this flesh, our Lord hates it so much more and He is filled with zeal to cleanse His House. Deny your old self, pick up the cross, and follow our Lord, who is within you.
Life in the Tabernacle
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God gave the Law to the Israelites, but He dealt with them according to the Tabernacle. If He dealt with them according to the Law, they should have died. But, He dealt with them according to the Tabernacle, so that there would be atonement for their sins. Paul even points out that the Law was just something temporary. It was never God’s desire to give us the Law. But, God did desire to Tabernacle among us. There is so much depth to the Tabernacle. Every detail described from Ex 25-31 is a revelation, but that could take an entire book .
Mainly it reveals God’s desire to dwell on earth among His People. John reveals to us that Jesus tabernacled among us. The Tabernacle is a shadow of Jesus. It’s not just a picture of Jesus, but also of us.
The Tabernacle is a picture of the New Creation. At the front of the Tabernacle was the altar, which represented the cross. The cross is the way in the New Creation.
The Outer Court is the body. It’s visible to all. The Holy Place is the soul, or mind, will, and emotions. It’s not visible to all. Only a select few can gain access to a person’s soul. The Most Holy Place is the spirit, where God dwells. It’s where we enjoy God and our senses are useless there. We must enter into our Holy of Holies to worship in Spirit and Reality.
The soul is the person, the connection between spirit and body. This was also displayed in the Garden of Eden, where we are set before the Tree of Life(spirit) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil(flesh). We are always eating from one of these Trees. Every time we turn to our spirit, we are enjoying Christ, the true Vine Tree of Life. We have even been grafted onto this Tree of Life and made a part of Him, as His branches, living by His Life Sap and producing His Fruit.
Since the veil was torn, in the flesh of Jesus, we may now turn to the Lord Spirit in our spirits and be transformed into the same Image as Him, who is the Image of the invisible God, from glory to glory.
Deny Your “Self”
I’m not qualified to teach this, but I will share what I have experienced. To deny the soul-life is to deny you mind, will, and emotions.
Rather than coming to God to pray will so many thoughts and desires, we first must come to Him with our soul quiet. We must quiet ourselves and just focus ourselves on God within us. When our mind wants to follow rabbit trails and think about other things, it must be pulled back to the place of rest in the spirit. When we are so worried and anxious about things, we must turn to God within us and rest. We can certainly pray about things and people, but we must first quiet our souls, so that our prayers will be that of our spirit. The more we turn to the spirit, the more natural it will be as the spirit gains dominance over our soul.
These are times of sowing in the spirit, so that we may reap in the spirit. Another analogy is that we are eating the healthy food, God. When we eat, we are taking the life of something else into us and assimilating that life.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Overcoming
Today, while I was praying for a brother, I felt the urge to pray for that brother to overcome what he is going through. So I prayed:
Let my brother be an overcomer.
But, I felt within that, this was not the right prayer. So, I prayed:
Make my brother an overcomer.
Still, I had no peace about what I prayed. So, I prayed a third time:
My brother is already an Overcomer, in Christ.
And I had the peace and a smile came to my face.
For a more thorough dealing on overcoming, read The Overcoming Life by Watchman Nee.
How to Overcome Temptation
I thought that some of you might find some encouragement in this today. We all suffer from a multitude of temptations and many have not found the Way to overcome.
It’s been my experience that the majority of saints don’t believe this encouragement from our brother, Peter, who saw, heard, and touched our Lord:
…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation…
In this short part of his sentence, Peter shares with us the way to overcome: by faith in our Lord. Not just faith in the Lord, who is far away in a place called heaven, overseeing our lives. But, faith in the Lord who indwells us. Faith in the Lord who is united with us at the very core of our being; who became the Life-giving Spirit to unite Himself with our spirit in eternal oneness.
Christ in us is our Hope of Glory; our Hope of just expressing Christ and nothing of ourselves.
Don’t be discouraged if immediately after reading this, you sin. The enemy will do everything that he can to keep you from walking by faith. Even in the midst of falling into temptation, you can turn to the Lord by faith, and say “I can’t rescue myself from temptation, but I know that You are my Rescuer”. You may fail a thousand times, but don’t lose faith in Christ as the Way. Christ is the unique Overcomer, and He will overcome within us.
Even if you need faith, you can turn to Him and receive Christ as your Faith. In Christ, we can enjoy His unsearchable riches, which He is dispensing into us by His superabundant Spirit. We just keep receiving Him into our souls by faith.
Enjoying Christ 