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 even favor upon favor and 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."
We've been learning about the Glory that has been given to us, as children of the Father. Jesus prayed in John 17:22 (Amplified), "I have given to them the Glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One." The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in 2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amplified), "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continued to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transformed into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another; For this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."
The Glory we've received is the Glory of Jesus and is increased from one degree of splendor to another, when we see ourselves as through the mirror of God's Word and understand we've been made into His Own Image. The mind of the flesh and the religious mind, will count this as boasting and being prideful, but it's not; it is Truth. If we say it's not true, then we're really boasting against God's Word, according to 2Corinthians 4:4 (Amplified), where Paul writes, "For the god of this world has blinded the unbeliever's minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
Christians have languished for years, believing we're still just "old sinners," when the Truth is we've been crowned with the same crown that both the First and Last Adam was crowned with. Psalm 8:4-6 (Amplified) says, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of earth born man that You care for him? Yet you have made him but a little lower than God (Heavenly beings); and You have crowned him with Glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet."
You were recreated in Jesus' Image and Likeness, when you received Him as your Lord and Savior. We are new creations and a new species that earth has never seen before. We were crowned with His Glory and given a place of honor, once more in God's Presence. We're part of His family in Glory and honor, like we never were under the Curse of Sin and Death. We've been made to be righteous, in right standing and been given the right to stand in God's Presence again, in Christ Jesus. The Glory we've been given is nothing short of God's Holy Spirit living in us again. This the Glory that was given to Jesus and which He gave to us.
The god of this world has blinded the unbelievers to the Light of this Glory. The unbelievers don't simply include those who aren't saved yet, but it includes those who share salvation. It seems strange that Christians can't believe the Truth of God's Word, but it happens too frequently, in today's Church. This is the enemy's greatest weapon against the Church. He's blinded the minds of those under the Law, to the teaching and preaching of Jesus Himself. If it worked against the people who lived at Jesus' time, then why would satan change tactics now? Light is the remedy against darkness and the entrance of God's Word, brings Light, according to Psalm 119:130 (Amplified) which says, "The entrance and unfolding of Your Words give Light; their unfolding gives understanding, discernment and comprehension to the simple."
"The Parable of the Sower" tells us about a man who had a hardened soil or pathway, where much traffic walked and the soil was hard packed. Jesus says in Mark 4:15 (Amplified), "So when they hear, satan comes at once, and by force takes away the Message that is sown in them." These people heard the Word, but it didn't enter into the soil of the hearts and was stolen from the hard soil of their hearts. The entrance of the Word brings Light, when it enters the heart. The enemy has kept us in religion, instead of Truth. Our hearts have become hard packed soil, because of the teachings of man, instead of God. We've been told that we're "still only sinners, saved by Grace," for years and have feared and not dared to believe anything other than this. We've been taught that to do so, would be "prideful and boastful" or "God resists the proud." We thought we were being humble, but we were being foolish instead.
We must have ears to hear and eyes to see, for the entrance of the Word to bring Light into our hearts. The enemy has prepared many pitfalls for our earthly walk and only the Holy Spirit and God's Word can illuminate our paths. David wrote in Psalm 119:105 (Amplified), "Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path." The seed must first enter into the soil, in order to receive a harvest. If the seed falls on hard packed soil and doesn't penetrate, then it's stolen by the enemy.
God's Word is incorruptible Seed and will produce every time it's sown into the soil of our spirit. Jesus said in Mark 4:15 (Amplified), "Satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message that was sown in them." Satan only needs to take away the Seed of God's Word, to stop understanding and Revelation from our lives. Jesus said that satan "will do this by force." When you sow God's Word of healing in the Church, then satan will come immediately to steal that Word. What force could stop the Seed of healing? Symptoms of sickness will come upon you, trying to prove that "healing's not for everyone" and "healing's not for today."
We still see our physical body as being more "real," than the spiritual body, because we're moved more by the senses than God's Word. The real you, is the new creation person who was born in you, by the Holy Spirit. He is the who is now to rule in our lives. The physical body is to be the earthly house we live in, while here on earth.
The New Testament believers didn't have their physical bodies, stop the progress of the new man or woman. Acts 5:15-16 (Amplified) tells us, "So that they even kept carrying out the sick into the streets and placing them on couches and sleeping pads, in the hope that at least as Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. And the people gathered also from the towns and hamlets around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those troubled with fowl spirits, and they were all cured."
Peter walked in the Spirit and the Glory that was in and on him, was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit worked from within his physical body and transmitted that Power of the Glory, through Peter's shadow. There was a man named, "Phillip," who wasn't contained by his physical body in Acts 8:38-40 (Amplified) when he was translated in the Spirit. Thus, we read, "And he [a eunuch who was traveling nearby in a chariot] ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Phillip and the Eunuch went down into the water, and Phillip baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly caught away Phillip and the Eunuch saw him no more, and he went away rejoicing. But Phillip was found at Azozus, and passing on he preached the Good News (the Gospel) to all the towns until he reached Caesarea."
Phillip was instantly translated in his physical body, by the Spirit. We've allowed our physical bodies to rule over our spirit, instead of our spirits ruling our physical bodies. This is the Glory that Jesus had and gave to us, when He prayed in John 17:22 (Amplified), saying, "I have given to them the Glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One." Listen to what Jesus said about this Glory and Honor, "That they (those who would believe), may be one even as We are One." The Glory and honor was God and Jesus being One and He is giving us this Glory and honor, so we too can become one, like the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are One in Heaven and earth. We became one with them by our new creation birth, just like Jesus prayed. This same Glory and honor He had, is now ours, through Him.
Paul writes about this Glory in 2Corinthians 3:18-19 (Amplified) saying, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled faces, because we continued to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit."
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