The Work is Done, and Jesus is Still Working in Our Lives

This may seem like a contradiction to some, but I can make this make sense.

Yes, Jesus has Finished the Work. He put aside all our sins, and He gave us His righteousness. We have become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21), meaning that our nature, our identity is new, defined by His righteousness, not our wretchedness.

We no longer have to do "our part" to make sure that Jesus does His Part.

But here's the part that I did not understand for the longest time: Jesus is alive, and He is working for us!

Jesus is not some figment of our imaginations who comes and goes if we feel bad, think bad, or even do something bad.

He is alive, and Hes serves us ever still!

"[Jesus] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (Hebrews 7:16-17)

Jesus is not seated at the right hand of our Daddy God doing nothing:

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8:34)

He is also working in us and through us:

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

Why have I struggled with this, and what has been changing in my mind? How has Daddy God been transforming me from glory to glory via His Holy Spirit, as I behold His Son in the Scriptures?

I am really starting to understand now that all the upsets in my mind, the assaults and fears that have plagued me and demanded my attention, they are not only from me, but all these fears and tumults are answered by the Cross!

That's what Paul is writing about when he tells the Corinthians:

"4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:4-6)

It's not my job to bring those thoughts into captivity. God brings those thoughts into captivity, and He does so through the obedience of Christ, that is what His Son accomplished at the Cross!

The weapons of our warfare are indeed mighty, and yet for the longest time I had believed that bad thoughts, bad fears, upsets in my mind or feelings, all of that was my job to do something about. Today, I understand that all of those premonitions are nothing but mind control from the AA Cult. Furthermore, I know that Jesus is ALIVE, that He is providing for me in all my work and my walk. I am not trying to live this life on my own. It's about seeing Jesus by faith, with the eyes of my heart further and further enlightened (Ephesians 1:17-18). It's not about looking at myself. It's not about trying to figure things out in my head. It's not about trying to seek God's presence through my feelings or some kind of rational discernment. He was already made present to me the moment that I believed in His Son, and I accepted His sacrifice on the Cross.

What has been happening since then? I have had to unlearn so much of the garbage, the mistakes, the distortions, the outright wrong-believing of my parents. Many of us have to go through this, and there is no reason for me to feel bitter about it. Christ Jesus makes all things better:

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." (Revelation 21:5)

The Finished Work, and Rest for Our Minds

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

This is really amazing, and this is really something that is leaving my mind reeling.

It's hard for me to explain, but I am going to do the best that I can with my writing.

I have been all too alive in my head. For the longest, longest time I treated every tremor, every thought, every rumor in my mind as something that I had to respond to. Why was I so concerned about what was going on in my mind?

I was convinced that I had to keep my mind free in order to hear God talking to me. For so long, I had treated God as someone who lives in my head. I was not walking by faith, but walking by feelings, and walking by the reason of my mind, based on only on what I can see, touch, taste, sense, etc.

All of that is wrong. All wrong! 

I have written in previous posts that I was so obsessed with keeping my mind and thoughts in order. I was so busy living in my head, thinking that I had to figure out life in my head first to get anywhere.

I did not realize how alive, how pertinent, how present Jesus is in my life, regardless of whatever is going in my flesh, my feelings, or the facts before me.

For too, too long I was attaching the truth to what I was thinking, rather than getting my thinking in line with the truth.

Finally, I have a greater understanding of this great promise from Paul to the Corinthians:

"4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God. It's not based on our efforts, but His work! I don't have to conjure up Daddy God to be present in my life. He is already here working in me, and working around all of us!

What is starting to become real to me now, though, the bigger revelation than ever before, is that much of the noise--no, all the noise--that is warfare against my mind. It was never me to begin with! The weapons of our warfare are indeed mighty through God, because Jesus, His obedience to God the Father, vanquished sin, and Satan, and the grave. He has paid for everything. There is no need to do extra, to think different, to correct my mind or to answer every fear, doubt, and question that rises up.

The Cross of Jesus Christ puts the answer to every challenge, interrogation, fear, or wonder. I understand what it means to walk by faith now. It's not about making stuff up in our minds. It's not about hyping up our feelings. Nor is walking by faith some leap into absurdity. We take as true and unshaking that God is with us, that Jesus Christ accomplished what He said He did at the Cross, and that to this day He is seated at the right hand of His Father--and our Father--ministering, interceding on our behalf.

The revelations that have also been pouring in for me for the last two weeks have included recognizing that Jesus, who is alive, the Holy Spirit who is moving are always providing for me and providing everything. I am not supposed to worry about anything.

And I am not supposed to worry about worrying about anything, either.

I have fought the fight in my head for so long, being distracted with all the sentiments that I was going through. Now, I know and believe in Daddy God's love for me, and I understand that I am not supposed to worry or fight off bad thoughts or worried thoughts, either.

The Cross, the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, has paid for all of it! AMEN!

Yet Another Reason to Hate Alcoholics Anonymous

On this theme, I am beating a dead horse, but then again, I find that too many Christians are riding a similar dead horse, so once again this horse needs to be whipped so that people stop riding it in the first place.

I do not want to believe in my conception of God. I do not want to believe in anyone else's conception of God.

And yet, too many people are coming to God and interacting with our loving Father via the conceptions of preachers, pastors, and teachers. We need to consult God's Word to see who God is.

Alcoholics Anonymous teaches people to use their own conception of God in order to break free of alcohol addiction. I cannot begin to tell you how vile, petty, dangerous, and destructive that nonsensical idea is.

If we can conceive of God, He would no longer be God. I cannot begin to understand how any divine or supernatural intelligence could have brought this world, the entire universe into being, yet even then such a conception does not begin to help us really understand who God is.

We know who He is based on His Word.

And throughout His Word, we read:

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 136:1)

The LORD is good.

His mercy (His grace) endures forever!

Most people do not know this, or they do not believe this about God. They simply do not know or believe.

Yet John shared the following:

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

There is no way anyone of us could have figured this out or come up with this on our own. No way.

It takes revelation, because our reason cannot begin to grasp this amazing truth about our loving Heavenly Father.

Consider also how great this love is for us!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

There is no way that I could ever understand a loving God sending His own Son to die for me.

Paul expounds on this massive revelation:

"6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

Sure, one man might die for a good person, or even a great person. But the notion that God Himself would send His Beloved Son to die for all of mankind, you and me, when were still red-blooded rebels against God, alienated from His life and love for us (Ephesians 2:12), that is something that we cannot begin to understand.

For that reason, Paul prayed this prayer, and urged us to pray the same in turn:

"17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Alcoholics Anonymous tells people to settle for whatever conception of God they can come up with. Most people end up coming up with some abusive conception of God based on how their parents treated them, or based on the stuffy, legalistic rationale that most pastors and preachers push on their congregation.

I want to know Him and see Him in His gracious fullness. I do not want to be stuck, sand-bagged with the crappy ideas of what someone else thinks God is like. If we go with our own conception of God, we are stuck living in our heads, trying to make sense of everything. 

That's what happened to me, because that is what I was taught for so long.

No, I do not want to believe in my or anyone else's conception of God. I want to believe and receive the truth conception of the living, loving SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!

This is the Savior we need to believe in:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)

If that is the only work, then we need to know Him, not ourselves. We cannot know Jesus through our own efforts. We need to see Him and receive Him through His Word!

"25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:25-27)

Jesus taught of Himself. He didn't talk about having a great marriage. He didn't talk about getting rich, or dying trying. He didn't talk about how to have a healthy family or a great career or calling.

He taught of Himself, and we are not going to Himself except through the Word of God.

It's all about Jesus, not ourselves. He is our focus, for He is our life (Colossians 3:4).

Consider Peter's last words in the New Testament as a testimony to what we should all be focusing on:

"18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3:18)

There's an "Amen" at the end of that prayer! Let's make Jesus our focus, since He is so focused on us. He is good, and His grace endures forever!

No Need to Think So Hard

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people," (Ephesians 1:18, NIV)

This journey of the being enlightened has been a real blast. It's just amazing!

I really see Jesus, far more than I could have ever imagined. This is a new life, a new opportunity.

When I walk out and about, it really does seem that everything is lighting up! I can see everything so much better! It's really amazing.

Pastor Prince preached about the Year of Hazon Vision in 2021. When Year 2022 rolled around, however, I was not finished with the eyes of my heart being enlighted. I wanted to see more, and I want to see more of Him. Yes!

I am a Revelation Addict now, and I am not ashamed to admit it. I don't need no Twelve Step program to break free of this "addiction," either.

For the longest time, I lived my life by thinking through everything. I really believed that life would not go on in my life if I was not thinking through everything. This may sound crazy, but remember that I grew up in a hard-core, Twelve-Step household, in which everything was based on the cult of Alcoholics Anonymous.

God is real. God is good. He is working in us and around us. We do not have to force the issue. We do not have to strive or cogitate on our own to make God real in our lives.

We only need to ask God to enlighten the eyes of our hearts, so that we see more of Him!

God is thinking about us. We don't have to strive in our own minds to think about Him, to keep Him active and alive in our lives. This is a simple revelation, perhaps so simple that it would insult most people's intelligence, but for the longest time I lived as though His live, His presence, His love for me was all conditioned on what I was thinking, feeling, or even doing. It has taken me a long time to realize how alive, how powerful, how independent Daddy God is in my life, and that Christ Jesus lives in me by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's one thing to know about it, to hear about it. It's quite another when you start to realize how alive He is in our daily lives, caring for us every day, in every way. I really do see Him at work in my life. I understand what it means to walk by faith, not by sight. I understand also that God is not trying to play hard-to-get or hide-and-seek with us. Because of our limited sight and ability, because we are creation and not creator, it takes time for us to understand and receive revelation based on spiritual revelation, not through mental cogitation or physical discernment.

Not Just Great Faith, but a GREAT SAVIOR

Too much preaching in the United States tells about having great faith.

But many people do not know that we have a living Savior watching out for us NOW.

I love many of the teachings released by Pastor Jerry Savelle, for example, and also from Pastor Kenneth Copeland and others.

However, too many of them are just focusing on "The Word, The Word, The Word," without connecting with the truth that the Word is a PERSON!

We don't read the Bible to get knowledge. We read the Bible so that we can meet JESUS!

I need to know that I have a living Savior watching out for me.

I need to know that this living Savior is living through me and caring for me.

In fact, we all need to know about this glorious promise established for us in the New Covenant:

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" (Hebrews 8:10)

He is a God to us!

We need to understand that we don't bring God alive in our lives through our confession.

Our confession is all about gaining a greater awareness of who He is all that He is doing.

We need the Word of God so that we can understand the loving God of the Word!

We don't need great faith to believe in a great Savior. We need to know that we have a Great Savior who cares for us, and that revelation builds our faith!

More Revelations About His Perfect Peace

I realized more and more that I kept treating Jesus too small. I put him in my head, when the truth is that he is outside of our heads and holding everything together.

Perfect peace is about us leaning into Him. 

I kept thinking that I had to make sure that I was thinking about Him, to ensure that He would take care of me. I had too small an understanding of my Heavenly Father.

Over the past two months, I have received a larger and larger revelation of how big He is. Thank you, Daddy God, for being so patient with me as you reveal more of yourself to me.

I see now to what extent You are taking care of me. I realize that I have been still depending too much on myself. I was too busy thinking that I had to do "my part" in order for you to do your part. How wrong I was!

 I kept thinking that I had to do everything myself because you were not on the job, or that it made me irresponsible. Bulk. Keep in enlightening the eyes of my heart!

It all makes perfect sense to me. We have to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten the eyes of our hearts, because all the thinking, all the reasoning, all the internal mental discernment is not enough, cannot make it possible for us to see how big our loving, Heavenly Father really is. We simply cannot understand how great his efforts are to help us if we do not read His Word and take as truth the testimonies that He is on our side.

All this time, I was so busy thinking that I had to "do something" in order to see God and to be able to depend on him. I need to depend Him on everything. I need to depend on Him even when I think that I do not need to depend on Him on something.

Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me. AMEN!

A Good Saying

Now matter how bad you feel, Jesus is always real.

AMEN!