The Lord IS Word Sent of Beauty

A walk to the mailbox today revealed more junk mail.

Then I looked up to see glorious breaks of blue and light in the windy cloud cover, and I thought, the Lord is always sending us word of His beauty.

And then I thought-heard Him say, "I AM."

The Voice

The Voice
...is beauty, is light, is eternal life.
Speak into us all that You are.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:45, 46 NKJV)

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:8-10 NKJV)

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (II Corinthians 12:2-4 NKJV)

Notice the emphasis on His unique, powerful, life-giving voiceprint?

Open Revelation of Christ, God with Us

And without controversy [by common confession] great is the mystery of godliness [the good worship]: 

God was manifested [revealed] in the flesh, 

Justified [exhibited to be righteous, innocent, just as He ought to be] in the Spirit, 

Seen by angels, 

Preached [published, openly proclaimed] among the Gentiles (the ethnos or ethnicities), 

Believed on in the world [the universe], 

Received up in glory. (I Timothy 3:16 NKJV)

*Note from this verse how the truth of Christ, God the Son, has been very open and public. Also, every verb in this verse (with the exception of "is") is in the passive voice. God allowed Himself to go through all these transitions (on our behalf), and He intends His reality to be openly published.

Within Me is a Life-Source Beyond My Own

Christ is my Life-Source now. I am no longer my own source of life.

"For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:19-21 NKJV)

Pray for the Spreading of the Unchained Word of Christ

Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 NASB)

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:8-10 NASB)

Knowing God, Dwelling Securely Connected to the Father, through Faith in Jesus Christ

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies…” (Ephesians 1:17-20)

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them.’ But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).’ But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:3-9)

Knowing God's will is part of knowing Him, but knowing God is so much bigger than just knowing His will (Bob Hoekstra, Counseling God’s Way). This is why we can rest in not always having all the answers we desire of God. Obedience to God is not trying to be good enough to make Him happy with us. That is the old covenant, the old way, and we can never be good enough to match His perfect righteousness. The primary obedience God is looking for is the obedience to the call to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, the God-Man. He has always been God. He became a Man, related to our mortal weakness, and now will always remain the God-Man in power and invincibility in His Father’s house, which is now our Father’s house. Furthermore, through faith in Christ, God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

The word is near you, even in your heart and in your mouth. It is not about sending someone to go retrieve God’s word or will from heaven or across many oceans for us to hear it and do it where we are. Christ prayed the Father would sanctify believers by His word which is Truth (John 17:17-19). God’s Word, specifically the Person and works of Christ Jesus, sets us apart, keeps us, and protects us. The word of faith, the word of Christ, is a shield so close that it is around your heart and your mouth. You don’t have to wait around for Christ to come to your rescue or to reveal something of God’s mysterious will to you. You don’t have to wait for Christ to come down from heaven. He already has. You don’t have to wait for Christ to be risen from the dead. He already is. Confessing Jesus as Lord involves acknowledging that Jesus is the Lord that came down from heaven. Believing in the heart involves believing that Christ came back from the dead, ascended back to the Father and sent His Spirit into all believers. He’s already here with you! He is the word right there with you, there in your heart and in your mouth. He is closer than the next thing you’re going to say or the next thing you’re going to feel. Take a deep breath. He is closer to you than your breath!

God has loved you all HIS life (Jeremiah 31:3). He has no beginning and no end. Think of it. Before He created you, He knew you and loved you! More than that, before forever began He had you in mind for a special place in Himself. When He was thinking of you, He wasn't just considering all the choices you would make or the time and place you would be born into. He knew you intimately, as He intended to create you, with the view that He would fit you uniquely into a special, carefully selected, personal place in relation to some aspect of His Infinite Self. This is the white stone Christ has promised to the overcomers with the special, secret name written on it that God and you alone will know (Revelation 2:17). It’s a special connection into the Father for you and you alone (John 14:1-6)! He had you in Him in mind. You will arrive there one day and wonderfully discover that the Father has for you a unique, customized place in Himself that will fit you perfectly. He will affirm  that He created you with this connection to His Eternal Person in mind.

Every believer in God through faith in Jesus Christ has a special connection to the Father, one with Him in a unique, individualized way. It is this special, unique, individualized connection that makes all believers one with each other. Our oneness with the Father creates oneness with each other. If only we could always see each other in the church this way as we pass each other by.

Greater Works than the Father Working Through the Lord Jesus?

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:10-14 NKJV)

How could anyone ever even come close to comparing to the Son of God in all His wondrous works? He healed the sick and crippled, gave sight to the blind, took authority over demons to cast out man's most ancient foes while all mankind had been helpless and powerless against them, raised the dead, forgave sins, and resurrected Himself to never die again, destroying the power and fear of death for all believers. He alone said truly that He always did and said everything He heard and saw the Father do and say. He was sinless and was the only One whom the Father from heaven declared to be well-pleasing and well-loved. And the apostle John said that there were many more works that Christ did that were not documented, and that even all the books of all the libraries probably couldn't contain them all.

Some have proposed that Christ was speaking here of the works of many Christians as being greater than the works of one Christ, emphasizing quantity over quality. However, it seems rather that the works Christ spoke of would be greater according to a different and superior classification. He said the believers' works would be greater based on the reality of His return ascension to the Father. Working from heaven the resurrection life and power into our personal experiences is greater than even Christ's own perfect, prophetic, pre-Pentecost works which included being crucified and bodily-resurrected, ascending to the Father, and becoming received by each believer in order to indwell (inspire) each believer as the fullness of the God-Man from the throne of the Father and Son through the Spirit. The greater work of the believer involves God's desire for the ascended, immortal God-Man, the Lord Christ Jesus, to be working resurrection from heaven through His Spirit within the deepest parts of mortal vessels and rippling outward to the uttermost parts of the earth.

God's Loss

God feels the greatest loss over the lost ones, as evidenced by the greater joy He feels when they are saved in Christ.

“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:10-14 NKJV)

Promise-Fulfillment Progression in Christ Diagram

Promise-Fulfillment Progression in Christ

Words and promises carry meaning, function, purpose, mobility, transport, impetus, cohesion, tranquillity, platform, substance, light, and life.

A promise, stronger than a word, connects two points: the first-mentioning of the promise and the future moment of its fulfillment, all the way across the ever-advancing present.

God never breaks His word. Even more so, He never breaks His promises. They pull me through the times between the two points, even during times of confusion and futility when it seems like God has cast me off or isn't here with me like He once was.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 NKJV)

Springtime Fuzzy Seed Flurry

A flurry of fuzzy seed floated past our windows this fine 75-degree day. Maybe it was cattail seed. It looked like it was snowing on a humid, springtime sunny day.

Check it out. Jesus symbolized the Holy Spirit by wind (John 3), and throughout the Bible the seed represents the Word of God. The Spirit disperses the Word of Christ that it might bear fruit in various places. Also, the carried Word draws our attention to the otherwise invisible Spirit. 

Cool.

The Word of Christ Within, Internal Bridge to Heaven

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ...(Ephesians 1:3 NET)

To say that God is "blessed" is to acknowledge that He alone is inherently well-spoken of and worthy of praise. To say that He has "blessed" us is to say that He has spoken well of us or given us divine commendation. Wonderfully, the Lord's speech has creative and effectual power. He vibrantly acts through speech. Remember what happened when He said, "Let there be light." Blessing us with every spiritual blessing, He has acted with divine favor in the deepest part of our innermost being.

Where is the locus, or focal point of these blessings? Indeed, it is Christ in the heavenly realms. But Ephesians 1:3 also says the blessings are "spiritual" or pertaining to the spirit. What and where is the human spirit and what is its relationship to the Spirit of God? Jesus tells us the human spirit is our innermost being, an it is the abode of His Holy Spirit from whom God's eternal, uncreated life flows. Furthermore, the spirit is different than the soul. It is deeper and uniquely capable of connection to God:

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39 NASB)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63 NKJV)

But the natural (or soul-ish) 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. (I Corinthians 2:14 NKJV)

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 NKJV)

The human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of the resurrected Christ is the gateway to the heavenly realms for every believer. The kingdom of heaven is within you! In light of this reality, the following prayer was offered up for believers:

...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:17-21 NKJV)

It is through God's Spirit united with our spirit that God touches and enlightens our soul and body, from the inside out, in knowing Him.