Hope is dreaming of perfection and fulfillment and faith is walking in the time of imperfection and lack as if it is the time of perfection and fulfillment.
Hope is dreaming of perfection and fulfillment and faith is walking in the time of imperfection and lack as if it is the time of perfection and fulfillment.
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Hope is dreaming of perfection and fulfillment and faith is walking in the time of imperfection and lack as if it is the time of perfection and fulfillment.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:13, emphasis added).
When Jesus was on earth He lived His life in
heaven. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven (John 3:13, emphasis added). To understand life in the Spirit you must understand your triune nature. If you have a deep understanding of how your triune nature is operating in the dispensation of imperfection you can live your life in the realm of heaven (spirit). Spiritual revelation and discernment joined with faith creates skillfulness in all dimensions of godliness. Mental knowledge puffs up.
Let me explain it through an example. Many years
ago I was a highly qualified university lecturer and Head of Department at a prominent university in my city. There was an older person among my staff with only a masters-degree but he had years of practical experience as a practitioner. Some outstanding universities and professional institutes in the country considered me an expert on certain aspects of my subject. Suffering from academic arrogance I thought nobody could teach me anything. In my heart I was looking down on this old man because I considered him less skillful than me. Then I had a dream that I must redo all my academic qualifications, which I have obtained from academic universities, at a university of technology and this old man would be my tutor. In this dream the Holy Spirit told me that to know something on a mental level is not the same as to acquire the skill. Theory only becomes useful when you can successfully apply it in organizational systems.
It is erroneous to assume that when you acquired
certain knowledge that you are also skillful in that field. For example, to study books on intercession does not make you an intercessor. It just gives you an overview of how some authors practice and experience intercession and prayer. To become an intercessor and prayer warrior you need to exercise intercession and prayer until you are skillful in it. The skill must be developed with the Holy Spirit as your tutor until you walk competent and faithfully in it. Prayer and intercession is an inseparable part of an intimate relationship with the Lord. Prayer will become a major activity in the evil days ahead of the Church. When you exercise prayer and intercession long enough and you have become faithful in it you have gained firsthand experience of how to intercede and pray effectively and purposefully. As an intercessor you will experience a certain level of fulfillment. I am emphasizing “a certain level” because though you may be skillful in intercession and prayer you will always grow in it providing you remain faithful in practicing it. After you have obtained the skill and then neglect it you will not lose the skill but you will become clumsy in its application just like any other skill you have neglected. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come (1 Timothy 4:7-8, emphasis added).
Jesus was the greatest teacher ever. His greatest
teachings were demonstrations of how He lived His life in oneness with the Father as an example for others to follow. To teach man he had to become like man that man could become like Him. He had to empty Himself of His divine glory and He took on the form of a bondservant and came to the earth in the form of fallen man. God is Spirit, so, Jesus had to put on a body of flesh to house His Spirit and have a soul in His blood to become like man. So, Christ became like man, having a spirit, soul and a body. Though He came in the form of fallen man He was sinless, the Lamb of God without blemish.
Adam in his innocence was perfect. His spirit, soul
and body was alive to God, meaning that he could observe God with his spirit, soul and body. He lived in the Garden of Eden where heaven and earth was one realm. God is one and His kingdom is one because there is no division in Him. When the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven to the earth, the earth (natural) will be married to heaven (spirit) in oneness again. Because Adam was created a living soul he related to God, Eve and the rest of creation mainly from impulses from his soul. It was not improper because his soul was filled with the light of God’s perfection.
When Adam sinned he divided the universe into the
spirit realm and the physical and psychic spheres of the natural realm. Because Adam became enmity against God, God divorced Himself from Adam and choose His abode to be in heaven, which is the realm of Spirit. Just like the Father forsook Christ on account of our sin he has forsaken Adam on account of his own transgression. Two is the number of division, which denotes there is a second. The Lord would not share his glorious dwelling with fallen man, which is dead to Him and separated from His person. God condemned Adam and creation under his domain to live in the lower realms of the natural, namely, the physical and psychic realms. Adam had also division in himself; therefore, he occupied the physical realm with his body and lived in the psychic (soulish) realm with His soul. Adam was no longer aware of God’s presence because He lived in a different realm (kingdom) as God. With time, because of division, as a result of sin, the earth was divided into the many kingdoms of men. Sin and death brought division because it came as a result of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of knowledge is death as it is a source of knowledge independent from Christ. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge [tree of knowledge], and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love [tree of life], I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).
When Adam sinned he lived in the physical realm
with his body and psychic realm with his soul, the sphere of the natural. He was not capable of living in the Spirit, because Christ, which is the only access to God, has not yet paved the way. Adam searched out knowledge through observation of his five bodily senses and then he was interpreting the data through his intellect and emotions to make sense out of life. This was futility because it was knowledge obtained independently from God, which is death. Consequently, unredeemed man, with every consecutive generation, wandered further away from God. The only hope man had, was to wait for the day of Christ.
So, Christ, Son of God, humbled Himself to
become Son of Man (likeness of sinful Adam) that he could demonstrate to those in Him how they as imperfect human beings should walk in a broken universe as sons of God. Jesus, like man, had a spirit, a soul and a body. What was the difference between Him and man? Firstly, Christ was alive to the Father in his, spirit, soul and body; though in the form of fallen man he was perfect, without sin. Unredeemed man is dead to God in his spirit, soul and body; the epitome of death as a result of sin. Redeemed man is only alive to God in his spirit because of righteousness. He is dead in his body to God because of sin. His soul, which is in his blood, is enmity against God (Romans 8:10, 7). Secondly, Christ is a quickening spirit meaning that He related to God and to all of creation primarily from His Spirit. Although He was perfect in His Spirit, soul and body yet He was not moved by the observation of His bodily senses or His heart’s feelings or anticipation of a gut-feel or according to a conclusion of His intellect. …I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him (John 8:28b-29, emphasis added). He lived His life on earth responding from His Spirit but He could have responded from His soul or bodily impulses also because He was perfect in all respect, He could not err, yet He emptied Himself of that privilege that He may show man the way of life. In other words, He lived not by bread alone but responded to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus demonstrated to man when He was tempted by the devil how to defeat him by responding with the word of God. Christ was not just quoting Scripture; it came from His deepest innermost Spirit because He is the Word of God that became flesh. Because the Word was flesh He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. The moment the Word of God (Christ) became flesh the Law and Prophets started to come into fulfillment.
Unredeemed man is of the seed of the first Adam
who was a living soul. This means that he responds to his immediate environment primarily from the desires of his corrupted heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). He is moved by the feelings of his emotions and by the reasoning of his confused understanding of the universe. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). Unredeemed man is moved by his imperfect nature that is in enmity with God (Romans 8:7). That is why wicked man is busy to destroy the earth by perverting the truth because of his perpetual isolation from God.
When a man turns to Christ the veil of the flesh is
taken away (2 Corinthians 3:16). Redeemed man is in Christ and therefore has excess to God and he can see the kingdom of God. Redeemed man, through faith, can live in the Spirit while being alive in his body. Christ is the starting point of redeemed man’s journey of faith in the Spirit and Christ is also man’s completeness. Christ is the alpha and omega, beginning and the end of man’s faith and every step in-between. For to me, to live is Christ… (Philippians 1:21a). For man to do the will of God and to accomplish his purpose on earth, the word of God and man’s heart must be united in faith. To the degree the word of God in man becomes flesh, to that same degree the purpose of God for his life will start to come into fulfillment.
Thirdly, Christ is the Creator, Maintainer and
Redeemer of creation and man is part of Christ’s creation while regenerated man is part of the redeemed of the Lord. It was fitting for the Creator and Maintainer of all things to become Redeemer of His own creation. Christ reconciled fallen man to God in Himself. Life must be viewed in the light of God’s eternal purpose to bring forth many sons (nothing to do with gender) to glory. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory… (Hebrews 2:10a, emphasis added).
Christ, the Son of God, became Son of Man that the
sons of man could become sons of God. In Christ you are predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son that you may learn to live according to the Spirit and not the dictates of your flesh. When you came to Christ only your spirit was quickened to God because when you were joined to Him your spirit became one with His Spirit and you share in His righteousness. Though you are in Christ, your body is still mortal and subject to corruption and your soul is still enmity against God. Although Christ has completed His work on the cross the universe is still divided into the spirit and natural realms. The work of Christ is complete but not the restoration process of the New Covenant. Christ will not be crucified again. When He said, “It is finished,” it was finished.
If Christ has completed His work on the cross why
are you not totally alive to God and why do all of creation still groans and labor with birth pangs to be delivered from the bondage of corruption? God is not a magician but He is a restorer of His creation. If Christ was a magician all things, good and evil, would have been clothed with perfection when He died and was raised from the dead. Imperfection would have been instantly swallowed up of perfection. All men of all timeframes, including the seed of Cain, would have been saved. Then the New Covenant in Christ’s blood would not have been of faith. This means He would have restored the universe without our faith. That is possible but how does He restore our relationship with Him without involving our faith. Without faith we would have been made robots, which is not God’s image and likeness. A relationship comes from two sides, leaving us with choices to choose between life and death. God will not restore creation that was under Adam’s domain and was ruined by him without involving the sons of man. Without faith it is impossible to please God. He is using our faith, hope and love to restore all things of which our relationship with Him surpasses in glory all other things put together. He will not restore anything apart from our relationship with Him. The manifestation of His kingdom can only come about as the body of Christ reaches into it through faith. When the Son of Man comes shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 8:18b). Why does God want to restore all things using the faith, hope and love of His sons? The New Covenant in the blood of Christ is a covenant of faith, believing God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. The New Covenant is also a relationship with the Father where His sons are not to be engaged in the works of the Law but in the works of faith, labor of love and patience of hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Man can only relate to God through faith, hope and love. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13, emphasis added). Faith, hope and love are the three components of a divine relationship, which are also the three doorways in the spirit where God dwells. The will of the Father does not consist of do and don’ts (the Law) but it is a relationship between God and His sons that is based on faith, hope and love, which emphasizes God’s mercy and grace and his sons’ obedience.
Because believers are imperfect, God does not
require works of perfection but works of faith. While you are imperfect it is impossible to present to God perfection, therefore, God is only looking for works of faith. Works of faith are not done out of spontaneity of perfection but they are choices where you substitute your will for God’s will.
Faith and hope exist in the realm of
imperfection. Hope points to the future but faith is always in the present. Hope is dreaming of perfection and fulfillment and faith is walking in the time of imperfection and lack as if it is the time of perfection and fulfillment. The past is history of good and bad times. You cannot change it but you can learn from it and repent from your mistakes. Love is perfection. Because you are imperfect even the love that your are presently manifested is of faith, and not of perfection, in hope that you will attain to resurrection life in your body and to perfect love in your soul. As long as you are an imperfect mortal in a broken world it is impossible to offer God any measure of perfection. To offer God some measure of human perfection is legalistic hypocrisy because of ignorance as it is not possible to produce perfect works in the dispensation of imperfection; it is an illusion, self-deception. God is not asking for perfection from you but faith. …when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8b). Because of imperfection you can please God only by faith, which is a shadow of perfection to come.
Perfection will only come when the Spirit of Him
that raised Jesus from the dead will quicken your mortal body; that is to put on immortality in your body and to be made perfect in your soul. When perfection is coming, then God will do away with imperfection. Perfection is total fulfillment. When perfection has come prophecies will fail, tongues will cease and knowledge will vanish away, which is necessary for God to paint visions of hope (the prophetic). Faith (restoration) will cease to exist for lack will become total fulfillment. Hope and faith, which is in part, will be swallowed up of unfailing love (perfection), which is complete fulfillment. Prophets (visions of hope) and kings (restoration through faith) will become priests (ministry of unfailing love).
In the dispensation of imperfection there abide
faith, hope and love (presented in faith with the hope of perfection) but the greatest is love.
Redeemed man’s journey in the spirit starts with
visions of hope. For example, Enoch must have learned firsthand from Adam about his relationship with God in the garden. When Adam died at the age of 930 years Enoch was more than 300 years old (Genesis 5). Adam’s words and account of his live gave Enoch visions of hope and he believed there was a life with God on earth for him to experience. Enoch yearned so much for the Father-son relationship Adam had with God that he discovered faith and he believed God for the relationship that Adam lost in the garden. He must have meditated much on the words of Adam and he was changed in the spirit of His mind. He walked (conversed) with God and God revealed to him life in the Spirit. He walked so close with God that he began to experience the joy and strength that man knew before the fall. Life became so great in him that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead quickened his mortal body that God took him bodily into heaven so that he did not see death and could not be found among the sons of men. Before God took him he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Enoch proved that without faith it is impossible to please (reveal) God and through faith you can attain bodily to resurrection life (Hebrews 11:5-6). In the last days there will be a generation that will know God as Father and they will walk with Him like Enoch and Elijah did (Jude 14).
The things of the Spirit can only be observed
through the senses of your redeemed human spirit. Your five bodily senses cannot observe the things of the spirit because it lives in a different dimension, the natural realm. Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain in a vision with the eyes and ears of their spirit because man’s bodily senses are limited to observance in the physical realm. Man’s five bodily senses cannot observe in the spirit and psychic realms. The experience was probably so real for them that they thought they witnessed it with their eyes and ears of flesh. However, Jesus told them it was only a vision. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead” (Matthew 17:9, emphasis added). Experiences can sometimes be so real that the natural and spiritual surroundings seem to blend into the one world of Christ and often you thought you have observed these things with the eyes of your flesh. The physical objects you do observe with your physical senses but the spiritual objects with your spiritual senses. However, the senses of the physical and spirit is synchronized that the experienced seems to appear in one realm.
I can illustrate this through a short example that I
normally use. One day we sat at the kitchen table and we shared the gospel of Jesus’ saving grace with a stranger. This man started to pretend he knew God. I looked at my refrigerator and saw a vision of an African Green parrot in a cage on top of the refrigerator. When the parrot saw me it flees away with a distinct noise through the bars of the cage and hid behind the refrigerator. The experience was so real that the natural and spiritual surroundings were synchronized into the one world of Christ. I got up to look for the parrot behind the refrigerator. Obviously, it was not there. In the vision I discerned that the man was in bondage (the cage) and that he was just repeating what he heard from others (like a parrot) from his mind (color green). The Holy Spirit showed me he was pretending.
Elisha was a seer prophet. There was a time when
the king of Syria was warring against Israel. All his plans were thwarted because Elijah warned the king of Israel constantly against the ambushes of the Syrians. Elisha lived in the spirit and he could tell the king of Israel the words that the king of Syria spoke in his bedroom (2 Kings 6:8-23). When the king of Syria surrounded the city to search out Elisha, Elisha’s servant was fearful and asked his master what they will do. Elisha prayed to God to open the eyes of the young man that he could see what he was seeing. … Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha (2 Kings 6:17b-18). Elisha lived in another dimension as mere man.
The spirit realm is not subjected to natural laws.
Jesus calmed storms, multiplied food, walk on the water, sent Peter to catch a fish to find money in its mouth for their taxes, raised the dead, heal the sick, etc. You live in the spirit realm through faith. The secret is to view the universe the way God sees it in His Son and live your life that way. Changes start in the mind and are fulfilled when you live your vision. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:13, emphasis added).
In the spirit realm is no time or space. God is
omnipresent meaning He is present in all places in all time frames, which is the past, present and future. As we will be like Christ and live where He lives will we be omnipresent? I do not know but I hope so.