I hope you will come check it out!

God Bless!

Rich

The “human” container was specifically designed by God to be His perfect Dwelling Place!

“For it is God which worketh IN you both to will and to do (work) of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

It is pleasing to God for Him to dwell IN us, His chosen temple, the place where His Spirit does all of the work!  “Taking each thought captive” and “taking no thought for tomorrow” are evidence of the wonder of who He created us to be and our only True purpose! (II Corinthians 10:5, Mathew 6:34)

We are NOT schizophrenic!

We do not have two minds!

We just need to listen to our brother James:

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is “double-minded” and unstable in all they do.(James 1:6-8)

By believing the “two mind” lie, the only thing the believer can look forward to is a life of total instability, spiritual and otherwise!

We cannot think His thoughts and our own thoughts!  It is an impossibility!  We were not designed to “see” more than One, any more than we can “serve” more than One!

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be “Single“, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil (seeing more than God), thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is IN thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Mathew 6:22-24)

This passage is NOT about serving money, as much as it is about seeing and serving more than One!  This is Jesus reminding us of WHO we are, and HOW and WHY we were created!

Now take a look at the next passage of scripture in Mathew:

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? (Mathew 6:25)

The reason why we no longer have to walk in anxiety concerning our life, is because we are NOW completely finished trying to figure out what it is we are doing, or should be doing!  We have His Mind, the same Mind that was  filled only with His Father’s thoughts!

After His 40 day trek into the wilderness, Satan came before Jesus, tempting Him to think His own thoughts, and do His own works, but He refused!

“I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing IN Me; (John 14:30)

You have Nothing IN Me!

And the reason?  Because He was filled with His Father!  In the exact same way we are NOW filled with His dear Son!

We have His Mind and only His Mind!

And because we are “Single” minded, we no longer need to struggle or strive in trying to figure out how to live the Christian life!  There is only One who can live the Christian Life, Christ Himself!

Only God Only Now is the One able to live our His own life through us, His chosen temples, branches, and vessels!

By faith we simply step into the flow NOW already prepared for the people of God, His marvelous Rest!  And because we have His Mind, we are able to enter into His Rest!  Even though we may not know or believe this to be true, it is His thoughts alone that now make up our life!

Jesus Himself never had even one independent thought concerning His own self preservation!  So if it is God who is working IN us, then what are we to do we do while He works?

We simply Rest IN His finished work!  He works and we Rest!

And if you want further evidence, just take a look at our modern day stress filled lives.  It is documented fact that around 90 percent of the hospital beds are filled because of stress, or could we say for those who refuse to enter into this already prepared Rest!

He has appointed another day calling it “Today!”  Today if you hear His voice (because you have His Mind) do not harden your hearts…(toward the truth of who you are IN Him and who He is IN you!) (Hebrews 4:7)

“The steadfast of (His Single) Mind You will keep IN perfect peace, because he trusts IN You.(Isaiah 26:3)

TIME!  We speak about it so frequently, but at the same TIME, don’t realize how often the word TIME crosses our lips!

Is it possible for His ever expanding Eternal Kingdom to exist in a belief system that has it’s focus on this thing we call TIME?

God is just waiting to “stretch out” in anyone who is ready to leave this land of appearances, with all of it’s limitations, and step into eternity IN Him!  But before that can happen, we have to see this place called TIME as the arch enemy of ALL we desire IN Him as the Eternal One who lives IN us!

Now a man named Lazarus was sick.  He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  When He heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where he was for two more days.

“Lord, the one you love is sick!”  (John 11:3)

And He stayed where He was for two more days?

“Lord, “Martha said to Jesus, “if you would have been here, my brother would not have died!

That’s right Martha, but aren’t you the same one who was stressing about the TIME needed for all of the preparation to be done?   All the while your sister Mary chose the greater part, to take her appointed Resting place at the feet of Eternity!

After three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers. When His parents saw Him, they were astonished.  His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”  “Why were you searching for me?”  “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  But they did not understand what He was saying to them. (Luke 2:46-50)

It was when I was concerned about being late for an important meeting where God interrupted my thoughts of being late.  I kept repeating one word in the conversation I was having with myself.  And then I heard His still small voice simply say, I Am that I AM!  This was all I needed to pull me…Out of TIME and into the reality of where I truly live!  IN Him IN Eternity!

We are so concerned with this word TIME that often TIME it is the subject of our conversation.  TIME for this, not enough TIME for this, right on TIME, losing TIME…and this same scenario plays out in every one of our lives in some way similar to this.   And it seems to be all of the TIME!

We wonder why stress is killing us and why most diseases, psychological, and emotional problems are like a plague in this day and age, and even in the church?

Even though we have been given free access to Him as citizens of His Kingdom,  it seems like we choose instead to subject ourselves to this thing called TIME! And our modern day version of American Christianity looks very similar to our everyday lives, as most of what we call ministry is focused on events IN TIME!

TIME is earthly, Eternity is Spiritual!  TIME is pressure, Eternity is Rest!  TIME is stressing, Eternity is Resting!  And God would have it that some “must” enter into His Rest! (Hebrews 4:6)

I am learning, in the same way that the new wine cannot be contained by old wine skins, neither can the eternal One who lives IN us be contained IN TIME.  We need to know we CANNOT serve and worship both TIME and eternity!  We will either love one and hate the other, or cling to the one and despise the other! (Mathew 6:24)

These two are at enmity with one another!   That which is born of the flesh is flesh , and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit!

Jesus had a conversation with one of the top spiritual leaders in Jerusalem, this is a revised version of how their discussion may have went:

“Nicodemus, you must be born again!”  Huh?  “Jesus, what are you talking about?”  How can I enter back into my mothers womb a second TIME?  No Nicodemus, you were born of blood and water, a natural birth, but NOW you need to step out of TIME and be born of The Spirit! IN My Kingdom there is no TIME, in My Kingdom you are translated from this limited domain of darkness into The Kingdom of the Eternal!  Nicodemus, you MUST be Born again! (John 3:1-21)

His earthly response caused Jesus to reply; “Nicodemus, here you are a great teacher of the Law in Israel, but you cannot even discern the elementary things of Life IN the Spirit!” (John 3:19)

TIME is the enemy of the Cross!   And at the same TIME, it is also the schoolmaster that opens us up to the truth of Eternity!  There is no TIME IN Him, for He has moved completely “Out of TIME!”

And unless we lose this consciousness of a God who is constrained by TIME, we will not be able to see Him as the Eternal One who has made TIME His footstool!

Where O death is thy sting? (I Corinthians 15:55)

The only “sting” death holds for us is still seeing life as having a beginning and an end!  TIME is what gives death it’s sting!  Nothing else!  For if there was not a beginning or end to death, it wouldn’t be called death, it would be called Eternity!

Fear is the same way. “Fear has to do with torment!”  Why?  Because all fear is rooted and grounded IN TIME!  TIME and space,  it is all a part of the limited life!  How can we, who have the unlimited and eternal Alpha and Omega living IN us, continue to hold on to the very thing the trials and testing’s are meant to set us free from?  It is for freedom (from TIME) He set us free! True Freedom can only be eternal!  And we can’t mix the eternal with TIME any more than we can mix oil and water, or the unlimited new wine with the limitations of the old wineskin!

Jesus deliberately stayed away from Lazarus for two days, because TIME had to have it’s full work, it had to come to it’s end!  When Eternity finally spoke, TIME had no other choice than to “give up” Lazarus!  And in that moment his life as a citizen of TIME came to an abrupt end!  The only reason for Jesus seeming delay, was to show Mary, Martha, and Lazarus himself that TIME also had nothing IN Him!

In the same way, The Eternal One IN us has the POWER to call the things that are not as though they are, because all the limiting constraints of TIME have NOW vanished like a vapor, into the “I AM” of who we are IN Him!

We need to see the only way we can walk in knowing eternity as our only life, is to once and for all see Time as the arch enemy of ALL THINGS eternal!

Listen to the following response of this 12 year old boy to his parents:  “Why were you searching for me?”   “Didn’t you know I had to be IN my Father’s house?”

Why would you think for one minute you could find me any where else?   Don’t you know who…I AM?  IN Him is the only place I dwell!  It’s also there where I only do what I see my Father doing.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”   No, IN all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.   For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future (TIME), nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is IN Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-29)

If we still believe in a life apart from Him, we have no other choice than to walk separated from Him!  TIME has been swallowed up in Eternity!  The law of sin and death which operates in the kingdom of TIME has been swallowed up by the Law of the Spirit of Life IN Christ Jesus!  And we are to no longer conformed to this world and it’s belief in TIME, but we are instead, transformed by the renewing of our mind!  And…we have the Mind of Christ! (I Corinthians 2:16)

Who has woe, who has strife, those who sample bowls of MIXED Wine! (Proverbs 23:29-30)

There is a stark difference between the New Wine and the mixed counterfeit!  Eternity and TIME do not mix!

We cannot serve TIME and eternity, it’s either one or the other!  Why else would the people in the Bible have faced all of the trials?

Joseph was put away and forgotten for 13 years!  Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert!  Abraham was waiting for the promise for 25 years!  David running from Saul for 10 plus years! The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied for 70 years to a people who would not listen!  And who knows how long Job’s trial lasted!  And the list goes on and on!

God always uses TIME as the schoolmaster in order to open us up to True Eternity!  True Eternity is NOW, not in some far off place called heaven.  We are as eternal as we will ever be right here and right NOW!

How about you…and me?  How long have we been saying to God…”How long, O Lord?”   Well Now we have our answer!

As long as we still dwell in the land of how long, how far, when, what, where, why, or how, we will get everything that a life limited by TIME is waiting to hand us!  But Now by His doing we are IN Christ Jesus!  And this is not of ourselves! (I Corinthians 1:30)

We have left TIME forever to become citizens of the New Country, wherein dwells the Eternal City, the city whose Builder and Maker is God! (Hebrews 11:10)

God has to let TIME have it’s perfect work IN us to bring us to the place where we finally say “enough!”  And the deeper we go IN Him, the more TIME is going to rear it’s ugly head!  It will always be trying to cause us to turn to the right or left to serve and worship it!

We have been released from the law, and included in that release was the new Freedom we have found IN Christ alone!  TIME is no longer our master, but our servant!

This is worked out practically is by simply abiding IN Him and seeing Him only IN all things!  IN His Rest, TIME has no power or authority!

The second we step back into TIME, the law of TIME, (also known as the law of sin and death) is there to welcome us in all of it’s forms and expressions!

Eternity is the only place Christ Lives, and apart from seeing Eternity NOW, we cannot see Him at all!

“But I trust IN you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”  My TIMES are IN your hands.” (Psalm 31:14)

Because the Life we live IN the “Now” is a life that moves us completely…Out of TIME!

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be SINGLE, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be EVIL, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!   No man can serve TWO masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God AND…  In this case it’s God AND mammon.(Mathew 6:22-24)

Wikepedia defines mammon in the following way:  During the

Middle Ages, Mammon was commonly personified as the demon of avarice, richness and injustice.

These are the things you are to teach and insist on.  If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions  and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.  But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money (Mammon) is a root of all kinds of EVIL. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s. (I Timothy 6:2-10)

But this passage in Mathew is not so much about who or what it is we are serving in addition to Christ, as it is about our seeing more than God in every situation and circumstance of life.  Jesus used mammon in this example because it’s one of the major strongholds of humanity.

Take another look at the story of the Rich Young Ruler! (Luke 18:18-30)

No man can serve two masters!  As far as Jesus is concerned the word TWO here is synonymous with the word EVIL!  Want proof?  Then why doesn’t He say “if your eye is “double” in Mathew 6:22.  He instead uses the word “evil!.”

So what is it He is really saying here?

He is saying the human being was specifically designed by God to see as He sees, with a “Single Eye” of faith.  A Single Eye towards Christ alone as our life.

When we see more than God in any situation, we see in division, and as we know, a house (we are that house) divided against itself cannot stand!

The “not-so-good-news” of the counterfeit message which Paul speaks of, comes to us saying, YES, you can continue to serve God AND, just keep it up, it’s OK!  And as we do we find what Paul found, that this other Jesus comes complete with another Spirit, all the while proclaiming a Different Gospel. (II Corinthians 11:4)

A Different Gospel that looks and sounds surprisingly like the REAL Gospel of Grace alone IN Christ alone!

But with a twist!

This other Spirit doesn’t lead us into all Truth, but a false version of truth!  And when we believe the lie long enough, it becomes truth to us!  Which is why it’s so hard to receive the message of TRUTH, once we are finally confronted with it!

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.(II Corinthians 11:4)

The Different Gospel, being the popular held belief of a mixed message of  Grace plus law, a false message of a God who lives separated from His body and demands we do something for Him in order to receive something from Him!

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”  even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for…Darkness is as Light to you.

Did you see it!  No distinction with God between light and darkness!  Remember what Jesus said in Mathew, if the light that is in you is darkness, than how great is that darkness?  This is the exact opposite of HOW He sees!  He sees darkness and calls it Light!  He sees ONLY God IN all things!

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s One and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were EVIL! (John 3:18-19)

This is not talking about less than perfect “Christian” behavior.  In fact, if we continue with the thought that Evil is defined by seeing more than God than this makes perfect sense.  Light has come into the world, blazing Light!  So radiant is the Light that there is no shadow or turning!  But men, who love something other than the Light, namely darkness, are defined here as having Evil deeds!

These Evil deeds can only be one thing if this passage is going to make sense.  Which is the the exact same thing Jesus was saying iit is n Mathew 6!

No one can serve TWO…masters.  But we see people serving more than two masters every day, don’t we?

Than what does He means?

If that Light IN you is darkness, than how great is that darkness! (Mathew 6:24)

Here is the Amplified version of the same verse!

But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light IN you [your conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness! (Mathew 6:24)

This verse defines Evil in the way Jesus meant it to be defined, not according to our outward behavior, but something that goes much deeper!

Our Identity!

We are Light, but if we believe the darkness (sin consciousness)is in reality who we are, then we now have no other choice than to see ourselves as a mixture of Light and dark (good and evil) and the real definition of Evil!

At the heart of Jesus is the desire for a unified body, everyone having all things in common with no need!  This can only happen when we SEE Christ alone as our Life!  And when we believe what He and others throughout scripture say about true Evil!

Evil entered into existence when humanity looked for something in addition to God!  It is no different today!

So when we believe in a divided Christ and a separated Gospel, it just reinforces what happened to us (our spiritual forefathers) in the Garden!

In seeing Only God Only Now…we are walking (in the Light) as we were created, seeing God as the author and finisher of everything, and as the One who will never leave or forsake us, and the One who desires we see as He sees!

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the EVIL  one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.  “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;  that they may all be One; even as You, Father, are IN Me and I IN You, that they also may be IN us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be One, just as We are One;  I IN them and You IN Me, that they may be perfected IN unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:14-24)

Now we know the truth, and it’s that same truth that sets us free!  The truth that God created us IN His image, and when He sees us He sees His Son!  He sees only One!

By Grace we have been made partakers of this new life IN Christ, and when we see the evil in the world, we no longer define it according to the world’s definition of Evil!

Evil is NOW rightly defined as seeing more than Him in ALL things!

WHO we are and HOW we see!

The message of the Cross is meant to cut through all of the vanity (things that hold no eternal value) of life and bring these two to the forefront!  Our identity is NOT in what we do, if it is, then what kind of foundation is that to build on?

And it sure isn’t in how most today view God!  The trials and testing’s we try so hard to avoid are necessary if we are ever going to see the hidden mystery revealed!  We have a natural tendency to see and believe life through eyes of separation and division!

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be SINGLE, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be EVIL (double), thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mathew 6:22-23)

The daily Cross causes the things that really matter in life to appear!  To be revealed!

And unless we SEE God Only God Now, we will never KNOW God Only God Now!

“I perceive that you have been with Jesus!”

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

For those who know WHO they are IN Christ it goes even deeper!  “I perceive that Jesus lives IN you!”

And our perception of our being IN Christ is the only basis of our true identity, who He is and who we are IN Him!

“All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” (Philippians 3:15-16)

My friends, this is the KEY to our Life IN Christ!  It’s not about “pressing in harder” in our own strength, as so many believe today.  It‘s just realizing He has already brought you to the exact place where you need to be! And  “if on some point“ just like the one that is before you right NOW, you think differently (than Him), He promises to take all of the responsibility of bringing the needed clarity, without any striving on your part!   All you are required to do is to REST IN Him! (Hebrews 3:7-4:11)

And it’s here, in this REST OF GOD where we simply allow Him to do ALL of the work IN and through us.  We enter into His Rest, so we can enter into the Rest (remainder) of what He has for us!

For it is God (and Him only) who is at work IN you, both to will (initiate the work) and to (perform the) work for His good pleasure.(Philippians 2:13)

So who is it doing the work?  It’s not us, Praise His Name!

This sounds TOO EASY so we have a very hard time believing that it’s true!

But the TRUTH I have found throughout the last 30 years;

I Rest IN Him and He works IN me! If I am working (striving, worrying, fearing, and stressing) than He will Rest!  That is of course, until I am totally and completely worn out! This is the secret; We are His branch, temple, and vessel, and that’s exactly how Jesus describes us, and these things in themselves apart from God CAN DO NOTHING!

The Temple is the place where God dwells, and you are that Temple! The branch is ALWAYS resting in the Vine, as the fruit producing sap is channeled through it. You are that branch! And the vessel has no say on what it contains, it simply rests wherever it’s placed, knowing the Father will fill it with Himself!  You are that vessel!

We were specifically designed by God, just as the temple, branch, and vessel were designed for their purposes!  Our purpose is to Rest IN His unconditional love, while He takes up our cause, whatever it might be!

Anything else is dysfunctional Christianity in it’s highest form!

So…without any condemnation or striving in your mind, realize the above verses in Philippians are for you right NOW!

ALL IS WELL!  Cease striving and know that I AM (is) God! (Psalm 46:10)

He will supply ALL of our needs according to His riches IN Christ! (Philippians 4:19)

And my friends, that is the key!  His riches IN Christ!

Do you still hold to a belief in a separated God?  Do you still see A God “up in heaven” or in the coming next event?  Do you still see the Word of God as being contained only in a book?

NO! The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory of the only begotten Son, full of Grace and Truth!(John 1:14)

The Word IS Christ!  And it’s that WORD, the True and Living Word, He is the One who lives IN us by His Spirit, willing and working of His good pleasure! (Philippians 2:13)

“Now what I am commanding you today is NOT too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It (He) is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it (Him) and proclaim it (Him) to us so we may obey it(Him)?”  Nor is it (He) beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it (Him) and proclaim it (Him) to us so we may obey it (Him)?”  No, the (Living) Word is very near you; it (He) is IN your mouth and IN your heart so you may obey it (Him).”(Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

Or do you in this moment, NOW see this truth, which is who and whose you are IN Him?  It is of God you are IN Christ!  So the need you see is also IN Him!  And this is why we can count it ALL Joy!  Because it’s ALL IN Him, the need, the time spent waiting, and the answer!

The message of the Cross has a manifold purpose.  It’s not only about Jesus death and resurrection, but ours as well.  His Life IN us springs from death!  Just as planting a seed in the ground is the beginning of the life of the plant or the fruit, so is it when the Christian comes to the place where he sees himself planted!  Planted IN Death!

Death is never enjoyable, and it is most often looked at as something that is final.  Something (or someone) dies and that signifies its end.

The Cross was what the Roman’s of Jesus day used to kill the most heinous and despicable of criminals.  It was used to show the people the power and authority of Roman rule.  By crucifying someone, they were saying in effect, “If you do the same as this person did you will end up in the same place.”

So isn’t it utterly amazing that God would take something that represents the most horrifying and feared thing known to that culture and use it for His own “eternal” purposes?

When believers are introduced to the Cross, it is first as the implement used in the death of Jesus Christ.  They learn that Jesus died on the Cross for their sins, and to save them from a Christ-less eternity, otherwise known as hell. 

This is a wonderful thing, a miracle of the highest magnitude!  That God clothed in flesh would come in the form of a baby, endure life as a man, fulfill the written law, and then offer Himself as the sacrifice for all of mankind, past, present, and future. 

When we learn this, we are completely awe struck, and filled with praise and thanksgiving toward God.

The next thing the believer learns is the personal aspect of the Cross.  He learns the Cross was not only meant for Jesus death, but his as well.  It’s here where he observes his fellow believers, those who have been around awhile, and are somewhat mature in his eyes.  He hears them saying things like, “You must die to yourself!  You must take up your cross daily and crucify your flesh.  You must strive to be “like” Jesus!”

So he sets out to do just that!

I mean, these are the people he looks up to with respect, the leaders in the church who are telling him this is the right thing to do!   So then it must be the right thing to do, right?

For months or possibly even years he lives his life like this, always trying to be like Jesus, always focusing on his behavior, and living his life under a microscope of Grace mixed with law.  He tries as hard as he knows to crucify his flesh and to be like Jesus.  He does what the pastor tells him, and he gets “involved” in Christian work!  He ministers to the needy and the poor.  He is a good husband, a good dad, and a wonderful provider.  He truly loves God with everything in him, but there is still a void in his life he just can’t fill, even with all of his “Christian doing” FOR God!

So he goes to get help.  Through his counsel he concludes he must not be doing enough or trying hard enough.  So he pulls himself up by his boot straps and tries even harder…to crucify the flesh!  He prays more, he reads his Bible more, and he is at church every time the doors are open!

But somehow he feels there has to be more.  He feels this way because along the way he has read some books, he has seen some powerful testimonies, and in comparing their lives to his, he always comes up short and completely frustrated in his walk with Christ!

He is finally ready for the life changing POWER of the LIFE SIDE of the Cross! 

He is finally ready to see the dual purpose of the Cross, not only the death, which he has tried to accomplish in his own strength by crucifying himself over and over again!  Sound familiar?

He is completely worn out, and has real thoughts of walking away from God, or at the very minimum, leaving his church!  He has tried and failed so many times he has nothing left!  He is completely spent in every way!

So what does he do next?  He gives up!  He says, “Lord, if you don’t do this it is never going to get done!”  “I can’t do this one more day!” 

And it’s right here where God meets him!  It’s right here where God begins to unfold the LIFE SIDE of the Cross!  He knows He has been crucified with Christ, but he has no idea how to live “like” Jesus!  He doesn’t know how to resurrect himself!

The following is an excerpt from Watchman Nee’s book, The Normal Christian Life:

“We would like to have death and resurrection put together within one hour of each other. We cannot face the thought that God will keep us aside for so long a time; we cannot bear to wait. And I cannot tell you how long He will take, but in principle I think it is quite safe to say this, that there will be a definite period when He will keep you there. It will seem as though nothing is happening; everything you valued is slipping from your grasp. There confronts you a blank wall with no door in it. Seemingly everyone else is being blessed and used, while you yourself have been passed by and are losing out. Lie quiet. All is in darkness, but it is only for a night. It must indeed be a full night, but that is all. Afterwards you will find that everything is given back to you in glorious resurrection; and nothing can measure the difference between what was before and what now is!”

God only resurrects that which is completely dead! 

If there is any “human doing” left, He lovingly lets us come to the place of absolute exhaustion, and this is a GOOD thing!  This is the GOOD NEWS!  It’s here where we begin to learn the true meaning of verses like Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:1-2, Hebrews, 4:6, and Colossians 3:1-3!  It’s here, where we have been trying and failing, and still looking to find some kind of Life in the performance based “Different Gospel!”  The not-so-good-news which Paul speaks of in his second letter to the Corinthian believers! (II Corinthians 11:4)

So just like this guy who has lived his life trying to please God, we NOW realize in all of our trying and doing For God, there is only One who could ever live the Christian life!  We have finally discovered the True purpose of the Cross is to see ourselves as God sees us, already raised up and seated with Christ as brand new creations IN Him! (II Corinthians 5:17)

We have stepped from death (dying to self, crucifying the flesh, and trying to be like Jesus) to Life because we now see the true purpose behind the scriptures, the same verses in the Bible which for so long brought only condemnation!

This is…The LIFE Side! 

This is the place of KNOWING He causes ALL things to work together for Good! (Romans 8:28)  This is the place of learning the only purpose for the believer is to contain the One who we now see as our LIFE!

This is the journey most of us have taken.  Oh, there may be some added twists and turns, but this is pretty much the way it happens for those who NOW see themselves complete IN Christ!

It is here where we NOW live, on the LIFE SIDE of the Cross!  It is here where we see Him alive IN us, and understand…

AS he is so are we…in this world! (I John 4:17)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

This wonderful true story starts out with the covenant made between David and Jonathan. Jonathan was Saul’s son, and David and Jonathan were the closest of friends, so close in fact, they made a covenant of love with each other.

Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. (I Samuel 18:3)

Now I am not anywhere close to being a theologian, but my understanding of covenant is it being a solemn agreement between two partners. If you think of the covenant we call marriage, you will understand what I am trying to convey.

The covenant David made with Jonathan was no light agreement. In fact, it is really quite amazing, when you take a closer look as to what their covenant consisted of!

In the covenant ceremony the two parties would take an animal and cut it into four pieces. Each covenant partner would then take their turn walking through the pieces of the broken animal. They would walk in the form of a figure eight (If you take the number 8 and lay it on it‘s side it is the symbol for infinity, or eternity). While they were walking through the broken pieces they would also recite the terms of the covenant. They would recite the covenant blessings, curses, benefits, and liabilities. And in doing this, they were making an eternal agreement with one another that if they ever broke covenant, they would be as the animal pieces they were walking through. This is why you sometimes read the phrase in the Bible, “lest ye be torn to pieces.” It literally means “if you ever break this eternal covenant, let this same thing happen to you as what happened to this animal!”

One of the most amazing things that happens in covenant is the exchange made between the covenant partners! The core of the covenant is when the partners agree to a life exchange. Which means all of the assets, debts, and liabilities of one now become the others, and vice versa.

David and Jonathan agreed to exchange their lives in the covenant they made with one another. Which meant, all of David’s assets, debts, and liabilities became Jonathan’s and all of Jonathan’ assets, debts, and liabilities became David’s. This is very important, as we will see how this covenant they made with each other affects us today.

A strange twist in the story of Jonathan and David was Jonathan’s father, King Saul. King Saul, who was also Jonathan’s father, was jealous of the anointing that David had been given by God. In fact, he was so jealous of David that he hunted him for several years. He finally became so “far gone” with jealousy and rage towards David that he consulted a witch for advice on how to deal with the issues of his life! This is the danger of a hardened heart, the absolute worst thing that can happen to a human is a hard heart, a heart that no longer hears the voice of the Spirit!

Jonathan and Saul fought and died in the same battle. David remembered the covenant he made with Jonathan, and since Jonathan had died, all of what was once his now became David’s. Everything including Jonathan’s remaining family.

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “there is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” (II Samuel 9:1-4)

Mephibosheth was the name of Jonathan’s son, and  the following provides just a snapshot of Mephibosheth’s life;

Hiding from David in Lo Debar, lame in both feet, unable to provide for himself, and begging for his food! He had concluded that David had killed both his father and his grandfather, and he was next!

Most people live their lives with the same kind of perception toward God as Mephibosheth had towards David. That is, God being a kind of cruel taskmaster, a taskmaster who loves His creation, but just doesn’t like all of it, especially some of the people He created. A God who stands shaking His head at times over our un-Christian behavior, just a little disgusted with us, and questioning why He made us in the first place. A God many see as having to do something FOR, in order for us to receive something FROM!

This perception of God is a product of the Different Gospel, the horrible news of the mixed message of Grace and law Paul talks about in his second letter to the Corinthian believers! This divided message of serving two or more is also what Jesus spoke of in His discourse in Mathew.

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be SINGLE, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be EVIL, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve TWO masters: for either he will hate the One (Christ), and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other (Christ). Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Mathew 6:22-24)

Or can we serve God AND…anything else! To have a vital and living relationship with a REAL God means Him having our whole heart! This is why many today live estranged from God, because they keep trying (serving) to please God by doing For God!

When our eye is double we see double, meaning we see more than One.

Mephbosheth had such a wrong perception of David, that when he approached him the first thing he said was, “what is it you want with a DEAD DOG like me?” He had already considered himself dead because HE KNEW David was out to kill him!

But one thing Mephibosheth didn’t know, was years before he was even alive, his father, Jonathan made a covenant of love with David, a covenant which would change the entire course of his life!

In this beautiful picture of God’s Grace, David represents the Father, who came looking for the descendants of the covenant (Mephibosheth) on the basis of the death of the Son of the Covenant, Jonathan. Jonathan represents Christ, who by his death initiated the search for Mephibosheth and the rest of those who were included in the covenant between Jonathan and David. And Mephibosheth represents humanity, humanity who before any knowledge of the Covenant of Love, simply existed, begging for some kind of spiritual life, while calling (spiritual) barrenness and desolation their home! And the perception that Mephibosheth had of of David in being a “Dead Dog” is the same way many still see God today! I am not talking about those outside of the Covenant of Love, but those who like us, and like we used to be, are the Covenant Sons (and daughters) of His unconditional love!

And the Great Exchange?

This is where we all see ourselves as being lMephibosheth, unable to walk this walk we call Christianity!  It’s also where we discover we are unable to jump through all of the religious hoops, the hoops we somehow (falsely) believe make us acceptable to God! And we think the same way as Mephibosheth, because we have been fed the message of Grace plus! Grace plus our “dead dog” works of trying and failing as we attempt to have some type of relationship with a God we believe most of the time doesn’t even like us!

This is also where the Great Exchange takes place!  The place where, just like Jonathan and David, we also exchange all of our assets, debts, and liabilities with Christ!

But guess what, since He doesn’t have any liabililities, all we receive are His assets.  In the same way, we don’t have any assets, so all he receives is our liabilities!  We receive His Life!  In the New Covenant of Love we learn the great exchange was that He died our death so we could live His Life!

As I stated earlier, when Mephibosheth heard David was looking for him, he concluded he was already a dead man. But God used the whole situation of living in Lo Debar to bring Him to the absolute end of his resources, and to the place of his own figurative death!

In his mind he was finished, “What do you want with me David? You are King! Why would you bother looking for a “DEAD DOG” like me, other than to kill me? Look at me, I live in barrenness (Lo Debar) and I can’t even walk or take care of myself!

This wonderful picture of David is in reality a picture of Christ! God knew if we continued in our own way we would destroy ourselves!  He also knew we could never walk out our Christianity unless He Himself walked it out IN and through us! Because there is only One who can live the Christian life, Christ Himself! And He does just that, as we simply contain Him, the wonderful purpose for which we were created!

And this hellish teaching, the perception mephibosheth had of david, is exactly the perception many in the church believe today.  Sadly, this has also become standard teaching throughout many of our churches today!

Many don’t know the…Truth! Oh, they know their Bibles, they just don’t know the Person of the Bible!

Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” (II Samuel 9:7-8)

Mephibosheth didn’t hear a word of anything David just said to him! Like many in the church today, who are so caught up in the gospel of “trying and failing”, Mephibosheth was convinced that David wasn’t listening, and really wanted nothing to do with him, except to kill him!

And we, being IN Christ have so much more today than Mephibosheth could have ever dreamed of having!

Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.) Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet. (II Samuel 9:9-12)

Because it’s the One, the Same One who Mephibosheth knew, who in this moment, NOW lives IN us as our Life!  And like Mephibosheth, invites us by His wonderful Grace, to daily dine at His table as one of His son’s!  So we can see like Mephibosheth, we have been given everything pertaining to Life and godliness! (II Peter 1:3)

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels! (II Corinthians 4:7) 

We have the revelation Mephiobosheth didn’t have alive IN us! The King not only lives with us and feeds us at His table of daily Rest and Peace! But He is the One who lives IN us and as us! He is the One who is both willing and doing of His good pleasure! (Philippians 2:13)

A “Dead Dog?” At one time maybe, but not anymore!

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Yield as:

To give up possession of on claim or demand: to give up (as one’s breath) and so die – to surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another – hand over possession of – to surrender or submit (oneself) to another – to give (oneself) up to an inclination, temptation, or habit – to relinquish one’s possession of (as a position of advantage or point of superiority)

I have a love/hate relationship with this word Yield, and to tell you the truth (being real not religious) so does all of humanity!

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-4)

The previous passage in Genesis is one good reason why humanity as a whole has such a problem with the word, Yield.  Humanity (Adam and Eve) were deceived into believing the lie of “doing to become” and humanity has taken it to the “Nth” degree, to where it is now considered normal Christianity to hold to a philosophy of “doing to become.”

The crafty one said to pure and untainted innocence, “If you do, you will be…LIKE the Most High God, knowing Good AND…Evil!”

And herein is the problem!  This is why all of humanity finds it so difficult to Yield to God!

We love Him and want nothing more than to Know with certainty that He loves us, but for some reason we always feel estranged from Him.  Many, or should I just be honest and say most believers, most DO NOT have a close intimate relationship with their loving Heavenly Father, and in fact a huge number (I was one of them) think God is just a little bit disappointed with them!

Malcolm Smith, who by the way is someone every believer needs to hear, told a story one time on a cassette tape that was given to me back in the early to mid 90’s.  At a time when I was struggling with identity issues (I still do from time to time when I fail to see myself as Yielded) of who I was, and who He was IN me.

I cut my teeth on Andrew Murray, and during my 19 year marriage from hell (with the exception of my 5 beautiful kids) I wore the cover off of his wonderful devotional, “Waiting On God.”

I also tore into anything that was based on Galatians 2:20, meaning Norman Grubb, Watchman Nee, Roy Hession, Charles Solomon, and so many more!

So I am listening to Malcolm tell this story, and forgive me if I don’t get it perfect, but it goes something like this:

You are sitting at home one evening and there is a knock on the door.  You open the door and it’s Jesus, standing there looking back at you.  You say, “Jesus, come on in….

Malcolm goes on to ask, “What is it you think He would look like standing there, what would be His expression?”  “What will He will want from you, and why on earth would he just show up at your door unannounced?”

Most people start rattling off a list of things they would do FOR Him, and how they would pour out their hearts and start confessing their sin, etc., ad nauseum!

Malcolm said something like the following, and it was this following statement which was foundational in how I believe today!

“When the door opened, most believers think He would be looking at them with kind of a half smile, but just a little disgust.  Then they would invite Him in.  At that point most people would start thinking of what it is they have done to displease Him, and He wouldn’t say much, just look at them with that look of disappointment.  Next, most people think He would have a list of things they needed to do to “shape up” and fly right, and then Malcolm goes on to describe this cruel and heartless picture of this visitation of Christ!

Malcolm then tells you the TRUTH!

When you opened the door He would be there with a huge smile on His face because He has missed you, and is so happy to be able to see you.  He would then sit down close to you, put His arm around you and let you sense His unconditional, and no strings attached love for you!  He wouldn’t have any agenda, as He would just be happy to hang out!  He would ask you, what would you like to do?  And there wouldn’t be any mention of sin or sins, and if you tried to go that direction, he would lovingly stop you from doing so!  Then after a while, He would kindly excuse Himself, but not before expressing His love to you in a very tangible way.  And when you shut the door there would not be any condemnation, only a wonderful feeling of being loved for who you are!

That changed my whole perspective of who God is!  From being a cruel taskmaster, to the loving Father I know He is today!  Oh, I still take a “spin” now and then, and forget who I am, and so do you if you’re honest…and not religious!

I said all of this because that perspective is a product of our spiritual ancestors yielding to the wrong god!  And it was there that man became a slave to the illusion of being independent of God.  Satan, who is the deceiver, said to them, you will be LIKE God, he didn’t say they would be Him!  And knowing GOOD and EVIL opened the door for an existence in duality, division, and separation!  The good and evil are now the two masters most believers serve, apart from knowing Christ as their Life!  WWJD is a lie!  Who cares what Jesus would do, we couldn’t do it anyway!  We were not designed to do FOR God, we were designed for Him to “will and to do” through us! (Philippians 2:13)

There is only One who is able to live the Christian Life, and guess what it’s not me…or you?  Christ Himself is the only One who is able to live His own life IN and through us!

So NOW IN Christ we have been redeemed, bought back, paid for in full, and with the precious blood of His Son!

Therefore, if anyone is IN Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the NEW is here! (II Corinthians 5:17)

Linda and my relationship was founded on this word “Yield!”  We met online 7 years ago this month, and the thing that solidified our relationship is when we both typed, at the exact same time, “Yield, Yield, Yield!”

That did it for me, and the rest is history!

She is also the one who also says, “when you see the word “therefore”, you need to ask yourself, “why for is that therefore there for?”

Therefore…because of our knowing we are loved without condition and our further knowing we are no longer under the tutelage of the evil one, who is the author of separation and division within the believer, we NOW Know we are a NEW creation IN Christ!  And in our “NEW” newness, we NOW also know nothing, created or otherwise can separate us from the love of God which is IN Christ Jesus, the place where we now abide and call our home!

And so NOW we can YIELD only to the One who is our Life!  Yielding becomes the key word for us, we are not doers of anything, we are relinquisher’s of everything!  This is the only true FREEDOM!

Yield is the word!  And when we know we can do nothing but Yield, we then position ourselves for the YIELD (of the harvest) which comes through…what else?

Yielding, of course!