John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Much of our understanding of God's Promises and Word, has come from a natural, carnal way of thinking and a worldly view. Many believe that God's Promises are "only for when we go to Heaven, when we die." The Truth though is, when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, He released the Spirit of God, allowing Him to come into our earthly lives. Through the Holy Spirit's coming, came the Spiritual Blessings and all the Kingdom life, for us to live here on earth.
We've been filled with God Himself and all of His Blessings are now available to us, in order for us to bring His will and favor to pass on this earth. The warfare we're involved in here, isn't so much on our behalf. We're fighting on behalf of the world and to set the captives free. We've spent too much time focusing on our own selves and life, instead of doing what we've been anointed to do. Jesus never spent much time focusing on His Own life, but He used His life and time on behalf of others.
Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified), "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents), but against the despotisms, against the powers, against (the master spirits who are) the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere." We have yet to understand that God's Promises have already been granted to us, for our own Christian walk and for the destruction of the oppression the enemy has placed on others. When we understand this, then we can appropriate them by faith, and use them in our lives.
We've been deceived, just like Eve was in the Garden of Eden. She was deceived into believing that God was holding out on her. The serpent convinced Eve that if she ate of the tree God forbid her to eat from, then she would become like God. The Truth is though, that Eve was already like God and made in His Image and Likeness. The serpent (the devil) tells today's Church that, "If you do your best, then you'll be like God when you get to Heaven." 1John 3:2 (Amplified) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed, made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall, as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."
The above scripture tells us that our physical body will be changed into a glorified body. Our spirit man will remain the same, because that is the part of us that is like the Father. The natural man (our physical bodies) will be as Jesus is now, in His place with the Father. During His earthly ministry, Jesus and the Father were One. His Spirit and God's Spirit were so entwined, that they were One and we're the same way.
Jesus still had a Body, after He rose from the dead, but He could walk through the walls. Jesus simply ascended into Heaven, in a Body that was glorified and His Spirit was the same. Everything Jesus did, He did for us. All the power and authority Jesus had on this earth, He now has bequeathed (delegated, imparted) to us. The part of you that is like Him, is your new creation spirit man that was made in God's Image and Likeness.
When God is revealed to all the world in all His power and Glory, He will do it through His Body, which is the Church. God was always God, but when He revealed Himself to the world, He did so through a Man, Who was Jesus Christ. We are now the Body of Christ and He will show Himself once again through man, so that the world may believe. The Spiritual Blessing that came upon us through Jesus, is the same Spiritual Blessing that was on Jesus. This is the Promise that God made to and through Abraham, to the Seed. This wasn't the natural seed of Abraham, but the Spiritual Seed, Who is Jesus.
The Blessing of the Holy Spirit has already come to those who will believe and accept it in our lives today. This is no longer just a "Promise," but it's a fact and Truth, to those who are born-again. When we were born from above, we became like Jesus and the Promise was already fulfilled in you. The fulfillment of further Promises is yet to come when Jesus returns, but for now, we've been born of that Promise of the Holy Spirit.
One of the Promises that is yet to come, can be found in 1John 3:2 (Amplified), where we will be transfigured into the glorified body, like Jesus is. The only thing that is unlike Jesus now for us, is our natural body and a completely renewed mind. We still think like natural men and women, we still speak as natural men and women and we still conduct our lives as such. We believe that God is God, but we continue acting like He's only in Heaven, instead of living inside us, just like He was in Jesus. We must renew our minds, in order to think God's thoughts and follow after His Holy Spirit, Who is living inside us now. God never thinks or asks, "What if this doesn't work?"
We read in Isaiah 55:8-11 (Amplified), "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, without producing any effect (useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
We've been reluctant to "return God's Word unto Him," even accepting the accomplishment of being made righteous in Christ Jesus. We feel like it's walking in humility, but it is really speaking against His purpose and His will. If God says that we've "been made the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus," then who are we to disagree? God's Word has brought us into right standing or righteousness with Him and it has accomplished what it was sent forth to do. We are righteous in God's eyes, because of Jesus and not because of ourselves. This is Grace fulfilled and God's Own Promise, so we must not down-play what He has done. We must accept it and praise Him and walk upright before Him in it.
We won't become righteous, when we get to Heaven. If you're not righteous, then you won't get there. This righteousness is given, so we can have God's Promises fulfilled on this earth. It's only those who are in right standing with Him, who have the privilege of being restored into the right to stand before Him. This is truly what righteousness means. Through Jesus, we've been given the right to come into His Presence as pure, holy, righteous and children of God. We've been restored and redeemed back into a place like Adam was before his fall and as Jesus was in His ministry. Through Jesus, we now have the right to come boldly before God's Throne of Grace.
Don't waste this fulfilled Promise, thinking it's only for when we leave this earth. Use this Spiritual Blessing in order to walk with Him in complete fellowship and son-ship rights, while you're on this earth. If this was only about going to Heaven, then God would have simply taken us to Heaven when we became born-again. Through us, we're to bring God to earth and then He'll receive us into Heaven, when our earthly time has been well used.
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