Lesson 9 In His Image

     When new revelation is brought to the Church of Christ, we have a way of repeating the Israelite's response when Jesus came to them with a new truth.  They preferred holding onto the truth they held instead of receiving the truth of the new covenant that Jesus was bringing.
     Everything that is written by the Holy Spirit is truth.  As He enlightens the scriptures, He reveals more and more truth.  This is revelation knowledge.  The more the Holy Spirit reveals to us, the more we can see Jesus in everything.  He doesn't take away the truth that we have, but He reveals more truth and adds to it.
     The single truth that we all started with was that Jesus would take away our sin and we could be born again (or we could be converted).  The truth never changes.  The Holy Spirit begins building on this truth and reveals things that we never knew about the new birth.  It doesn't change the truth, but it opens up more and more truth.
     Being made in God's Image and Likeness is a truth from the very first chapter in His Word to us.  Somehow, we've been afraid to realize this truth, thinking we were being prideful and arrogant.  It wasn't our idea to be made in His Image and Likeness, but it was God's idea to begin with.
     It's not arrogant to say we were made in His Image, it's stating the truth because we were made in His Image.  When Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amplified) that, "He came that we could have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance till it overflows," He wasn't doing it to keep us humble, but to set us free.  It's a gift of God's grace for us to be made in His Image and not something to be hidden, but to be revealed to the world.
     John 1:4 (Amplified) says, "In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men."  In Matthew 5:14-16 (Amplified) Jesus said, "You are the light of the world, A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but put it on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praise worthy, noble and good deeds and recognize and honor your Father Who is in heaven."
     The Light He gave to us is to be the Light in darkness of the world.  Jesus spoke about the overflow we are to impart to the world in John 10:10 (Amplified).  He said the world is supposed to see the Light and that by their seeing it, they will know we're from and of God.  It's not a matter of honoring us, but honoring God to say we're made in His Image.  This is the Image revealed to us and the Likeness we are made from.  We aren't to pull back from these truths.
      We've taught to reflexively pull away from anything deemed prideful or haughty.  Having pride in my Heavenly Father isn't the same thing.  I am not ashamed to be called God's Son, nor am I ashamed to reveal His Life in me to others.  Being bold about my Jesus, isn't the same thing as being arrogant about myself.  We were born again in order to bear witness of this Light and this Life.
     We are all called to learn more about our Father.  The more I know about Him, the easier it is for me to walk upright before Him.  Many Christians go through their entire walk with God without ever discovering what His will was for their life.  It's not difficult to know His will when you know His Person.  We are called to bring spiritual and physical life to dead people.  Those still in the world are loved by God and it's our job to bring Light and Life to them.
     God didn't only call us to minister to one another, but to the entire world.  He didn't tell the world to come to the Church and hear the gospel.  He commanded us to go into the entire world and preach the Gospel.  We go (and should go) on mission trips to Mexico and other nations, but we shouldn't forget those we work with and those we live next to or with.
     People everywhere are looking for Life.  They try finding various ways to escape the pain, futility and the mundane of everyday life.  We have the very Life of God ready to overflow into them if we will simply offer them Life (and not the other religious things we attach to it).
     We've invented so many standards for people to follow, that they cannot do it.  We need to simply give them Life and God will direct their steps as they grow in Him.  Afterall, we are His family and He will teach us how to speak, conduct ourselves and walk uprightly before Him.  
    

Lesson 8 In His Image

     Jesus stated in John 10:10 (Amplified) that changes everything we may have thought about eternal life and the Life of God within us, saying, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
    We received the life of God (Spirit Life), the God kind of life when we received Jesus as our Lord.  We've mostly looked at this as being for the future and going to heaven when we die.  Jesus said that, "We were to have this life and have it in abundance, till it overflows."
     The Gospels show us how Jesus ministered this abundance life to those who were broken.  The overflow of life from Jesus even raised the dead to life.  The overflow of life from Jesus was more life than the disease of leprosy could remain in contact with and the life drove out the disease.  This abundant life restored the diseased flesh back to normal.
     The life emanated from Jesus was more than death could withstand.  There was such an overflow of life coming from Jesus, all death that had come upon man, couldn't withstand.   Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the life giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and life."  In John 1:1-4 (Amplified) we read that Jesus and the Word are One and the same.  Verse 4 says, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
     In Luke 4:4 (Amplified), Jesus spoke to satan in the wilderness saying, "It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone, but by every Word and expression of God."  Bread or natural food can sustain a limited life in the natural body, but the quality of even that life is limited.  We strive to eat correctly and exercise to keep our bodies fit, but Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified) that, "The flesh conveys no benefit whatever."
     Even those who try obtaining a "higher quality of life," fail to do so.  Even as Christians, we fall prey to many sicknesses and disease.  Simply eating correctly cannot restore the Life that our natural bodies need to have and enjoy life.  Even though we've been born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, we still fall prey to many things satan uses to "steal, kill and destroy."
     Proverbs 4:20-27 (Amplified) reads, "My Son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."  Verses 24-27 say, "Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you. Let your eyes look right on (with fixed purpose), and let your gaze be straight before you; consider well the path of your feet; and let all your ways be established and ordered aright. Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil."
     The Holy Spirit spoke in Proverbs 3:1-8 (Amplified) about the Word of Life saying, "Length of days and years of life (worth living) and tranquility ( inward and outward and continuing through old age till death) these shall they (His Words) add to you."  Verse 8 says, "His Word will be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones."
       I believe that if we would spend more time in God's Word (the true Word), then we, through Jesus, would have the quality of life overflowing into our natural bodies to walk in divine health.  By feeding on God's Word (through the Holy Spirit), we can and should have enough overflowing to heal and minister to those around us by this abundant life we received through Jesus.
     Many of us read God's Word in the carnal mind or the flesh and don't receive anything from it.  Remember, John 10:10 tells us that, "The flesh conveys no benefit whatever."  As long as we allow the Holy Spirit to give Life to the Word, it will continually give Life to us.  We haven't fed on the Life of the Word of God, even though we've received Jesus as our Lord.  The quality of our lives here on earth can be greatly improved by feeding our new spirit man on Spirit food, the Word.
     We don't receive life after we go to heaven, but Life, God's life in us, will completely swallow up death at our resurrection, according to 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified) which says that this dying body will be completely filled with the Life of the Word of the Living God.  If life can "swallow up death" in this natural body, then it can also minister health and healing to it while I remain on earth.
     When Jesus spoke the Words of Life or laid hands on the sick, we saw the overflow of the Word of Life in Him, heal and break the bonds of death over them.  If we were to feed on His Word like Jesus fed on His Word, then the same Word that gave us life, will also give life to others.
     We have excelled at speaking the Word of Life to the spiritually dead man (the unsaved),and believed it gave life.  Why then, haven't we pursued this life and fed on the Word until it brought health and healing to the natural body?  A newborn has life, but not the quality of life that will come from learning and taking in good nutrition.  The newborn will never have anymore life than he has, but the quality of that life can mature.
     When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we received God's very Life instantly!  We will never have anymore life than what we received at that time, it is the Zoe, "The God kind of Life."  Paul wrote about this in Hebrews 5:12-14 (Amplified) saying, "For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you will actually need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles of God's Word; You have come to need milk, not solid food. For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought and action) for he is a mere infant (not able to talk yet)."  Verse 14 goes on, "But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law."
     Paul never said that they don't have Life, but that the Life never grew into the"abundant, joyful and overflowing" Life that it should produce.  He compared it with the life in a baby to the life in an adult.  Both have life, but the measure or quality of that life is supposed to grow to overflowing life into the people around them as well as the believer it resides in.  This Life reflects His Image.

Lesson 7 In His Image

     The life of God is the Word of God.  1Peter 1:23-25 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerate (born again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is immortal by the everliving and lasting Word of God."  Verse 24 goes on, "For all flesh (mankind) is like grass, and all its glory (honor) like (the) flower of grass, the grass withers and the flowers drop off."  Verse 25 says, "But the Word of the Lord (divine instruction, the gospel) endures forever. And this Word is the good news which was preached to you."
     John 6:63 (Amplified) says, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the life giver); the flesh conveys no benefits whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
     Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amplified) that, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."  John 1"1-4 (Amplified) says, "In the beginning (before all time) was the Word (Christ) and the Word was with God; and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was LIFE, and the Life was the light of men."
     We learn from Proverbs 4:20-22 (Amplified) that says, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart; for they are LIFE to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."
     Jesus minister the Word of God to the people and those who heard it in their hearts, received healing and deliverance from the very life His Words contained.  The Life that came from the Word of God, needed to be delivered from the Holy Spirit Who was now indwelling the Lord Jesus after His baptism in the Jordan River.  When Jesus rose up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. Now we have the "Spirit and the Word" combined in us, according to John 6:63 (Amplified).   
     For so many years, we simply received the Bible from a religious viewpoint.  Without the Holy Spirit, it was words to reign in and keep the flesh in line.  2Corinthians 3:6 (Amplified) says, "(It is He) Who has qualified us (making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient) as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant (of salvation through Christ), not (ministers) of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code (of the law) kills, but the (Holy) Spirit makes alive."
      When we tried reading a Spiritual Word with an unrenewed spirit, we always put the people back into bondage and Law.  We tried keeping the people in line by ministering fear and dread for compliance failure.  We knew very little about grace or the Holy Spirit.  And, we mostly failed to minister abundant life and health, but death and misery to those we called Christians.
     When we minister Life by His Word, like our Father does, we set at liberty those who were lost and all who are bound.  The abundant Life that Jesus gave us, was overtaken by fear and Law.  We've failed to see that the Life of God is in the Word of God.  This is where we have life until it overflows.  It's not that we have life through the new birth, but do we extend that Life into the maturity so that it overflows into the lives of others?
     When we lay hands on other people, we're to impart Life into them, to the point of overcoming whatever sickness that holds them.  If we only have enough Life (the Word) to sustain us, then how cane we have it overflow life into others?  We don't just read the Word because it's a religious things to do, but because it is Life.
     We find people in the flesh who exercise and eat properly in order to improve the quality of life within them.  Others around them have life, but not to the full until it overflows.  We all have the same amount of muscles in our body, but some people have exercise and developed their muscle mass.  I truly believe that this is true of Christian people as well.
     When you received Jesus, you received life everlasting.  1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow into (completed) salvation."  The more Word you take int by the Holy Spirit, the more Life you will have to overflow to others.  A car with a strong battery can only jump life into so many other vehicles, without a strong alternator.  We need to continually bring more and more Life into our own spirit by the Word of God.
     Men and women who live "long and strong," are people who feed life into themselves by "meditating on the Word day and night."  People who feed on God's Word seem to have fewer sicknesses (if any), fewer problems and always have enough leftover Life to feed those around them.  As Christians, we've delegated the spending time in the Word and feeding others, to the pastors.  It's true that pastors are supposed to study the Word in order to feed the sheep, but this doesn't take away the sheep's ability to eat for themselves.  Many of the Christians I know, use a Promise box or a daily devotional to feed on.  This is certainly better than nothing, but if we fed our natural bodies the way we feed our spiritual bodies, then we wouldn't need to worry about obesity today.

Lesson 6 In His Image

     We have been born again into the Image and Likeness of our Heavenly Father according to John 17:22 (Amplified) which says, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as You and I are One."  Jesus goes onto to say in Verse 23, that this would be intended for the whole Church or the Body of Christ."  Thus, it says, "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that they world may know and (definitely) recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them (even) as You loved Me."
     This new birth was to once again bring us back to the state we were in with God before the fall of Adam.  We are now in His Image and Likeness and have the very life of God within us.  This eternal life is the very life and presence of God in His family living in us again.
     Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amplified) that, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."  The "overflow" is what I was referring to, in the previous blog, when speaking about healing the sick and doing miracles.  When Jesus, Paul, Peter or any of the other disciples laid hands on the sick or maimed, the "overflow" of life departed from them came unto those who had death or partial death (sickness or disease) and flooded their spirit and body bringing wholeness.
     Jesus said that this Life "Is the Father in Me Who does the works."  Romans 8:2 (Amplified) says, "For the law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the law of our new being) has freed me from the law of sin and death." This "law of Life" has restored us to being once again like our Father.  When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus' garment, He felt the "power" or "virtue" flow out from Him.  This "power" or "virtue" is the very life of God within Him.  That life overcame disease and healed the woman's body.
      We've seen healing and miracles as coming only when God chooses to do so.  The truth is, that God has now entered into the realm of death and its reign, to give Life again by His presence.  His very presence brings healing and wholeness just by His overwhelming presence of Life.
     When we, as Christians, lay hands on the sick, we are simply to release God's life into their body.  His life is greater than any sickness or disease living in their body.  This is the God kind of life.  In Him there is not sickness or disease, but only life.  Jesus said this life was to be,
In abundance and overflowing."
     Life flowed from Jesus everywhere He went, healing the sick and setting at liberty the things all who were oppressed by the devil.  Acts 10:38 (Amplified) says, "God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the (Holy) Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by (the power) the devil, for God was with Him."
     We understand that Jesus was, and is, the Messiah. We understand that we are not the Messiah.  And, we understand that Jesus came to restore us back to the Image and Likeness of our Father and that the very life He had, He has given to us.  We have now been anointed and consecrated by God with the same Holy Spirit to do the same works Jesus did in His earth walk.  John 14:12 (Amplified) says, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to My Father."
     The "greater thing" that Jesus spoke about is getting someone born again.  Jesus couldn't given the fullness of life in His earth walk, until after His death and resurrection.  It took Jesus' dying to give us life, but now that life has come, we can bring life to men who were spiritually dead men, by speaking God's Word.   Men could only be born again after Jesus' death and resurrection.  Now that we have this Life within us, we can bring sons into glory.
     The very Life we speak about when presenting Jesus to others, is the same Life we impart when laying hands on them.  It's the very nature of who we are now and the nature of the On e we represent in the "Gospel of His grace."  Healing is the impartation of Life into a body or spirit, that restores wholeness to the individual we're ministering to.

Lesson 5 In His Image

     As children of God, we're made in His Image and Likeness.  Genesis 1:27 tells us we were made in spirit, just like He is Spirit.  In Genesis 2:7, God formed a physical body for His spirit man to abide in and to be able to contact the things in the natural world He had created for him.  The part of us that was created in God's Image is the spirit that lives within this flesh and blood body.
     Paul made mention of our true body and our flesh and blood body, referring to our natural body as the house we (our spirit) lives in, in 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified) saying, "For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)-not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we should be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
     We've walked so long in the natural body (the clothing of the spirit), that we have begun thinking that's who we really are.  The real you is the one who lives in this "house" of flesh.  We say in the natural world, "Let's go to Jim's house."  The house isn't me, but it's the place I reside.  In order to see me, you must enter into my house.  God has chosen to "enter into our house" and abide in our spirit.  1Corinthians 6:19 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a gift) from God? You are not your own."
     We sometimes forget that it is our new born again spirit that has been born again into God's very Image and Likeness.  This isn't some religious ritual we attend, but a complete rebirth back into His Image.  Through our faith and grace through Jesus, we've been restored back into what our Father had in His heart when He first decided to make His children in "His Image and Likeness."
     We still see ourselves as "forgiven sinners" and not as what the Father has caused us to be, which is sons and daughters of the Most High God.  And, because we've not fully realized what the new birth was all about, we still are waiting to become what He has already made us to be.  The only thing left to be done, is to receive our new body, our eternal body in heaven.  This natural body will die one day (unless the rapture comes first), but you will not die.  You've already received eternal life in your spirit and are already in His Image.
     Jesus said as much in John 4:24 (Amplified) saying, "God is a Spirit (a spiritual being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth (reality)."  In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the life giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truth) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life."  Jesus also spoke about the Spirit in John 10:30 (Amplified) saying, "I and the Father are One."  Jesus said that "God is a Spirit" and then He said that "He and the Father are One."  Jesus was saying that it was not the Man they saw Who performed the miracles.
     Jesus said that, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work."  We just read in 1Corinthians 6:19 that it is the Holy Spirit (God) Who lives in us and has made our body a sanctuary and dwelling place.  So, it's not us who has to do the "works," but He Who lives in us.  As born again believers, we are now made again in His Image and Likeness.  We possess spiritual abilities that we've never learned to walk or live in.  Mostly, though, we still live for and in the flesh more than the spirit.
     Our spirit has now been made one with God like He desired in the beginning.  1John 4:17 (Amplified) says, "In this (union and communion with Him) love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him) because as He is so are we in this world."   How is He?
     He is a Spirit Who has put off His house of flesh and has put on His new house made of the heavenlies, according to 2Corinthians 5:4 which tells us that "Jesus' Body was swallowed up by life after the resurrection."  Jesus is a Spirit Being living in a glorified body that is Lord over death, hell and the grave.  Jesus cannot and will not ever die again.  Although we don't have our new body that is made in the heavenlies, we do have a spirit body made by God in His Image and Likeness.  The body you now have will either die and be glorified in time to come, or won't die, but be changed in the "Twinkling of an eye" at the gathering up of the Church.
     1Thessalonians 4:15-18 (Amplified) tells us, "For this we declare to you by the Lord's (Own) Word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede (into His presence) or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep (in Him in death)."  Verses 16&17 go on, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God, and those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first, Then we, the living ones who remain (on the earth) shall simultaneously be caught up along with (the resurrected dead) in the clouds to meat the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord."  Verse 18 says, "Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words."
     All of God's children, through faith in Christ Jesus, will have a glorified body like our Jesus has now.  Jesus received His glorified body in the resurrection and we (the Church, the Body of Christ) receive ours at the resurrection of the body when the last trumpet of God sounds and the Church is raptured.  Even now, before we receive our new glorified body, we are made (in the spirit) into His Image and Likeness again.
     We have again, in this new being, the attributes and character of the One Who begot us with His Own seed according to  1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) which says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is immortal by the everliving and lasting Word of God."  These attributes don't live in your body, but in your spirit which is in His Image and Likeness.  The "super" has overtaken our "natural" and we now have the supernatural ability of our Father. 
     We've never really been taught to rely on our spirit, but only to try controlling the flesh by willpower and law.  If we would only learn to rely on the ability of our born again spirit and the Holy Spirit Who lives in us, then we would find that our walk with God would be so much easier and much more exciting.
     Through our new spirit, we have the ability to speak words of "Life" to spiritually dead men.  We can lay hands of life and healing upon those who need it and restore life and health to them.  We have access to the Father anywhere and anytime through Jesus.  We can stand in our Father's presence, just like Jesus does, because it's His righteousness that we stand in.  We can now have the boldness that we are born again "As He is, so are we, in this world."
     Do we dare believe that God's Word is true and we are actually in His Image and Likeness?  Or, do we remain unsure of what His Word says and remain just "Forgiven sinners?"  Are we sons or still servants?  lost or found?  dead in trespass and sin or alive again unto God through Christ Jesus?

Lesson 4 In His Image

     It seems like Christians are fearful of equating our identify as being the same as our Lord.  Somehow, we've felt it was bragging or being disrespectful if we identified ourselves as being in His Image.
      Religion has taught us that we are only objects of God's pity, instead of our being His precious children.  If my children felt about our father-children relationship the way we do about our relationship with the Father, then I would be concerned and saddened;.  If we truly are made in His Image and Likeness, then we are of a royal class.
     If this is true (and it is), then we have many "hidden" qualities we've never bothered to develop.  Several years ago we received some teaching in the Church that was mostly ignored.  It gained the saying of "Name it and claim" and "Blab it and grab it."  It was taught in the right spirit for the most part, and received in the wrong spirit.  Some went about trying to "confess" great wealth and new cars, while other began to "Call things that are, as though they are not."
     Our Father said that Abraham, "Called things that are not, as though they were."  When God spoke into the darkness, He didn't comment on the darkness, but spoke light int its place.  Throughout every prophecy God gave, He was speaking of things that had not yet come to pass.
     Almost without exception, all the things here now didn't exist until God spoke.  John 1:1-3 (Amplified) says, "In the beginning (before all time) was the Word (Christ) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being."
     It seems logical that if our Father spoke things into being, then we should at least follow His example and speak the same things He did, and we would have far better results in our lives.  God has declared that we are now in right standing with Him, but I rarely hear about "being righteous" from other Christians.  Mostly, they say the opposite of that.
     If we would begin speaking about ourselves, the way God speaks about us, then it would make a huge difference about how we conduct our affairs.  Jesus was very careful about the way He spoke and the Words He spoke.  Even when satan came to tempt Him in the wilderness, Jesus spoke only the Words of His Father.  The answer He gave satan was the power of God's Own Word.
     God's Word repeatedly illustrates how we  are to speak and what we're to speak.  God's Word tells us to "Put His Word in our hearts and our mouths."  Proverbs 22:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to My knowledge; For it will be pleasant to you if you keep them in your mind (believing them) your lips will be accustomed to (confessing) them."
     I believe that God isn't simply talking about us memorizing the scriptures, but how we should allow the scriptures to come "alive" within us.  Proverbs 15:4 (Amplified) says, "A gentle tongue (with its healing power) is a tree of life, but willful contrariness in it breaks down the spirit."  This is repeated in the new covenant, too.  James 3:2-6 (Amplified) says, "For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things, And if anyone does not offend in speech (never says the wrong things), he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature. We set bits in the horses mouths to make them obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about likewise, look at the ships; though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines."  Verses 5-6 go on, "Even so the tongue is a little member and it can boast of great things. See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze! And the tongue is a fire (the tongue is a) world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating a depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of mans nature) being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna)."
     James goes on to say, in this same chapter, that "Blessing and cursing should not come forth from the same mouth."  He also writes about the "wisdom" that comes from above and the "wisdom" of the world.  The wisdom from above is God's Word.  The wisdom of the world is, "It doesn't matter what we say."
     Even in today's world, we now have what they call "political speech" or being politically correct.  I've found that to be politically correct means I cannot be Biblically correct too.  In order to say what the world says, I cannot say what my God says.  We're so afraid of offending the world that we not longer care about offending our Heavenly Father.  There's something wrong with this picture.
     We're to be "careful" about using the Name of Jesus, but we can speak the names of other gods.  We can no longer call "sin," "sin."  We are instructed to be tolerant of all things.  Our freedom of speech was intended to make us free to proclaim our God, anytime and anywhere.  But, in today's politically correct world, we cannot say His Name in public.  If you feel that what we say doesn't make a difference in the world, then why would the world try to curtail our words?
     The things we say about ourselves, in our own personal lives, presents an opportunity for the Word to bring to pass what God said it would.  We can speak God's Word over our lives or we can speak other things over our lives.  We have both the ability and authority to say whatever we choose.  Even our salvation is based on what we believe and what we say, according to Romans 10:9.  This indicates a continual confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives.  Thus, it say, "For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks our freely his faith) and confirms (his) salvation."
     Some people will speak hurtful things even into their own lives and suffer with the results of their words in their soul.  Even though they might be born again, they can lock themselves in a prison of guilt and fear by continually speaking those things into their lives.  And, although none of these things are true in the life of a believer, the consequences can still be the same.  What did James say about, "Setting on fire the whole cycle of life with our tongues?"
    
    
    

Lesson 3 In His Image

     We were formed and birthed into the very Likeness and Image of our Heavenly Father.  We were made to have dominion and authority over all the things of this earth.  We learn from Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) that, "When God had made man in His Image, He gave them authority and dominion over everything."
     We all understand, or at least have probably heard, how Adam fell and how the authority God gave him was transferred, by fault, into satan's hands.  Jesus came to "Seek and to save that which was lost," according to Luke 1:10 (Amplified).  We've always taken this scripture means "saving" mankind, but the truth is that Jesus came to restore all things.  Not only were God's children lost, but the work and all of God's creation was taken into captivity as the result of Adam's fall.  Luke 4:5-7 (Amplified) says, "Then the devil took Him (Jesus) up to the high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time (in the twinkling of an eye)."  Verses 6-7 says, "And he said to Him, To you I will give all this power and authority and all their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, pre-eminence, dignity, and grace) for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will. Therefore if you will do homage to and worship me (just once), it shall all be Yours."
     All the authority and the dominion that God gave Adam in the Garden of Eden, along with everything God had given to His children, was transferred to satan.  Jesus came to "seek and save that which was lost," including everything, man and creature.  We've been restored, by the new birth, back into His Image and Likeness.
     We've only walked in a very limited facet of this Image and Likeness.  And, we've mostly believed we'll only be in His Image when we get to heaven.  This isn't what Jesus did or what He came to do.  It's true that we're forgiven and made in right standing with our Father, but that doesn't mean these things are only for when we get to heaven.  We are to take back that which satan stole through deception in the Garden of Eden.
     As God's children, we have the attributes and character of our Heavenly Father.  Since we are made in His Image and Likeness, we are to be like His children.  We were created to rule over the works of His hands and to have His authority rule through us in the sonship rights.
     There are many things involved with our earth walk.  The things we watched our Lord Jesus do, were things given by our Father to His entire family.  We weren't to get born again in the spirit only to go to heaven, but to bring more heaven to this earth.
     The Lord has revealed so much to today's last days Church that were discarded or passed over by the religious teachers of previous days.  If we're now made into His Image and Likeness, then there are things we need to know about our heritage.  We can trace our earthly heritage and lineage today via the computer.  We can learn where and who we came from fairly quickly and easily, today.
     We need to find out who we are in our Spiritual heritage.  Everything God is, He has placed in us through the new birth.  We are of His flesh and Blood creation.  I've long heard and studied about how my Father acts and does.  Jesus told us that, "When we see Him, we see the Father."  So, everything I see Jesus say and do reflects my blood and heritage from the Father.
     Did you ever notice how when the Father created all things, it was through His spoken Word?  Did you ever notice how Jesus used the very same MO in His earthly walk?  Jesus spoke to the storm, He spoke to the dead, He spoke to unclean spirits, He spoke to trees and to blind eyes and no matter what He spoke, He got results just like His Father.
     John 3:34 (Amplified) says, "For since He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own message)."  God doesn't give Jesus His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but God gives His Spirit boundlessly.  God could trust what Jesus said and could back it all up with His Own power because it was His Own Word.  The Holy Spirit could bring to pass everything Jesus said, just like He had done in the beginning.  He never needed to screen Jesus' Words because He had the full assurance that what was said was God truth.
     Many Christians have a problem with the teaching of "you have what you say" and call it "blab it and grab it."  Some have taken that teaching out of context and some have dismissed it completely.  Both are wrong.  Read the Book of James (especially chapter 3) to find some very interesting things about the "words of our mouths."  Speaking God's Word is one of "Great attributes" found in the very Image of our Father for our new lives.
     Jesus was always conscience of what He said and how He said it.  Our Father, Who was the One Who walked in and through Jesus, held the same power in His Words when He said, "Light be."
     I believe that once we, as being in God's Image and Likeness, begin speaking His Word, instead of just saying things without understand the power of the spoken Word, will begin seeing results in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Can you imagine what would happen if God were to release the power of the spoken Word in the Church like He did with Jesus?
     Jesus spoke many times throughout the four Gospels, about what we should say.  Mark 11:21 (Amplified) says Jesus spoke to a fig tree that had no fruit and "Peter brought it to the attention of Jesus, and all those present, that the fig tree had withered and died."  Jesus commented on what happened to Peter saying in Verse 23, "Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him."
     Some might say that Jesus wasn't speaking about a literal mountain, but He was speaking allegorically.  Was it a literal fig tree that died or was it an allegorical one?  Have we simply denied the power of words in the mouth of God's people?  Or, is it that our words do have power, but not selection.  Could it be that if we spoke God's Own Words, like Jesus did, then we could have the results that Jesus did?
     It's true that the characteristics of my earthly father have come through me and into my personality.  Why wouldn't the characteristics of my Heavenly Father do the same?  Were my earthly father's genes more prolific than God's?  Have we overlooked the genes of our Heavenly Father and limited His life in and through us?
    
    
     
     

Lesson 2 In His Image

     Christians have viewed themselves for so long as being the same as before they're being saved and still being in their natural bodies, rather than being born again into God's Image and Spirit.  The old saying about being in the "Spitting Image" of someone, came from the term "Spirit and Image" of our Father.
     Jesus is not only our Savior and Lord, but He's what our Father intended His family to be when He formed us.  First, we're made in is Image and Spirit and then, a body was formed for us to abide and be able to live in this natural world God created.  We were spirit beings living in a natural body and we were meant to be in total contact with our Father.  Our spirit was to have authority over our flesh and over everything else.
      Although in a flesh and Blood body, Jesus was in complete control of His carnal being.  He wasn't only to be our Savior and Lord, but He was our example of how to live in this natural realm after being born again.  Our new, living spirit was to be connected once again to our Father.  We are now to be "led of the Spirit" and not of the flesh.
     We have struggled, fought and failed to keep the flesh under control.  We haven't worked as hard though, to listen to and allow the Holy Spirit within our spirit, to have dominion.  We continually strive to stay right before God instead of believing we have already been made right through Jesus.  And, of course, the accuser of the brethren (satan) is always reminding us of our failures and we fail to put faith in the "Firstborn of the brethren" for our success.
     Romans 10:2 (Amplified) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age) (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God; even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
     We haven't spent nearly enough time "renewing" our minds by the Word of our new birth.  We were made in His Image and Likeness.  We have our Father's DNA and only He only knows how to succeed and not to fail.  If we dared believe what has happened to us once becoming born again, then we'd learn to walk more in victory.  Jesus is Who we were all to be like, and not as Savior, but as sons.  There is, and only can be, One Savior of the world and His Name is Jesus.  But, as "sons" of God, we're to walk like Him, talk like Him and be led by Him.
      God still talks to His children like He always has.  Jesus knew to keep His mind on the things of God rather than the things of the world.  If we watch Jesus' earthly walk, then we will see how He met every situation with the Word.  Jesus never tried "reasoning" things out or copy what others did.  He only did what the Father said for Him to do.
     Can you even imagine what would happen to this world if we began doing only what the Father said to do?  We would hear the voice of the Shepherd telling where to go and who to minister to.  He would lead us to the needy and then would meet those needs.  We get caught up in doing what we think God wants us to do instead of doing what He really wants.  We seem to think that just getting born again is the fullest extent of our earthly walk and our main goal should be just "holding on until we get to heaven."
     Jesus called us to be "the light of the world."  We are to "set at liberty those who are bound and set the captives free."  Jesus said in John 17:18 (Amplified) that, "Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world."  In John 17:20 (Amplified) He said, "Neither for the alone do I pray (it is not for their sakes only that I make this request), but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching."
     As we read this scripture, we must realize this is a prayer Jesus prayed for us, just before He went to the cross.  If there was ever a Man to have His prayer answered, then it would be Jesus.  So, you know that God granted this prayer on our behalf.  Everything we need to walk this prayer out, was answered at Jesus' resurrection and at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  The amount of power the Holy Spirit has in our lives directly correlates to the amount of listening to the Father we do.
     The Father will never tell His family to do something that would be wrong or sinful.  Everything the Holy Spirit says, is what the will of our Father wants done.  We are born again and made new and all things are made new.  We're now made again in the very Image and Likeness of our Father.  His "supernatural" Spirit abides in us and with us like He did with Jesus, Peter, Paul, John and anyone else who was born again.  The Holy Spirit is the character and person of God Himself.
     Sometimes, we act like or think that we only have a small, limited portion of the Spirit.  He didn't come "divided into small portions," like we've believed.  He came in the "Fullness" of the Spirit.  We, though, have chosen to believe that some people have more of the Spirit than others.  This isn't so.  The difference is that some listen more to the Spirit than others.  God is searching for those who "Have ears to hear" what the Spirit is saying.
     The problem isn't that God has failed to do what's needed to deliver us, but that we haven't received our deliverance.  If we are actually made in His Image and Likeness, then how are we not empowered by the same Spirit He breathed into Adam and Jesus?  Is there a difference in His children?  Are we not all of one Spirit and Life?
     It's not sacrilegious to believe that we are like our Heavenly Father.  Everything bears seed after itself and produces after kind.  If we are born again of His Seed, then we are as He is, a Spirit.
     

     

Lesson 1 In His Image

     In Genesis 1L26-28 (Amplified), "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image, after Our Likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."  Verse 27 goes on, "So God created man (the species of man) in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."  Verse 28 says, "And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it (using all its vast resources in the service of God and man) have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth."
    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 (or heavenly beings), and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet."
     We have doubted for millenniums and have struggled in our hearts concerning the veracity of these two scriptures.  This doubt has kept us struggling over who we really are and about what our role in life is.  On one hand, we try to be humble and act like we're not significant in God's sight and on the other hand, we confess that, "He is our very own Father."
     We cannot seem to approach a place of faith where we simply walk in what God caused and made us to be.  We try being humble and speak of ourselves as being worthless, all the while we try communing with a Holy God.  It has hindered our ability to pray and perform in the supernatural form of who we truly are.  We can confess that Jesus saved and cleansed us and still confess that we're sinners abiding below what the new birth has returned us to.
     Declaring we are in His Image and Likeness while still declaring we're sinner and contaminated, is wrong.  We've mostly, walked in raw emotion and carnality and not in the Spirit in our walk with Him.  If we've been born again, then we've been birthed into the very Kind of Being that God is.
    We continue to identify more with the old "house of flesh" we were rather than with the person who live in it.  My house is where I live, but my house isn't me.  2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified) says, "For while we are still in this tent (body), we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighted down, depressed, oppressed) not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
    Notice how it's our earthly body (our clothing of the spirit) that is groaning and being depressed and not the spirit that lives in it.  We are born again into God's Very Own Image.  We are like our Father.  No matter how you might look at it, this is true.  Everything on this planet is just the same.  When a woman becomes pregnant, she never wonders what she will bear.  She might wonder if she's having a boy or girl, but she doesn't wonder if it's a human being.
     Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified) tells us, "And God said, Let the earth put forth (tender) vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit who's seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth."  Verse 12 says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it."
     We recognize how this truth has prevailed over the earth since it was created.  Apple seeds bear apples, peach seeds bear peaches, horses bear horses, dogs bear dogs, people bear people and Spirits bear spirits.  If we are born again by the seed of God, then we bear His Likeness and Image just like everything else He created.
     1Peter 1:23 (Amplified)says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is immortal by the Everliving and Lasting Word of God."  If everything bears fruit according to its original seed (and it does), then we're like the Seed Who gave us life.  The real you is the one who lives in this mortal body.  Just as the seed reproduces in itself, so does the Seed of God bring forth in His Likeness and Image and that is people (spirits) just like Him.

Lesson 6 The Marriage Covenant

     The wife glorifies her husband in her way of living.  The husband glorifies Jesus in his way of living.  Jesus glorifies the Father by His way of living in and through us.  Now, we can better understand what Jesus said in John 17:21-22 (Amplified) saying, "That they all may be one, (just) as You, Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me."  Verse 22 says, "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 marriage covenant is the reflection of our Heavenly Father in every aspect of our lives.  And, the marriage covenant is to be even more so in the home and family.  A great injustice has been done in Christian marriages because of wrong teachings in the churches.  For many years, women were viewed as inferior in some way to men and because of this, prayer and power have been hindered in Christian homes and marriages.
     Matthew 18:19 (Amplified) says,"Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever (anything and everything) that they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven."  There should be no two people on the planet, who are more in agreement than a husband and wife, who have become one.
       Satan injected the "Wives submit" as a block to try and tear down the power of prayer in the marriage covenant.  He made it look like the wife was somehow less than her husband.  Matthew 18:19 says that we are to agree in prayer, but if you believe your wife is less than you or beneath you, then you can only agree to that degree.  If you think you represent 100% authority in prayer and your wife is only 50%, then you can only agree to her place and authority.  Your power of prayer is cut in half because of lack of knowledge in the Word.
     1Peter 3:17 (Amplified) says, "In the same way you married men should love considerately with (your wives), with an intelligent recognition (of the marriage relation) honoring the woman as (physically) the weaker, but (realizing that you) are joint heirs of the grace (God's unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off (otherwise, you cannot pray effectively)."
     Wives stay with their husbands because of the love and protection and provision that he portrays for his wife.  She responds to his love, in love and her life is held together with him as one person.  She shares the same name, the same authority and the same privileges as her husband by the use and power of his name.  The husband delights in giving things to his wife in order to reveal his love for her.  Everything he does is now for her.
     I'm a country boy and it doesn't take a lot to make me happy.  I could probably live in my truck on a river bank and never care about much of anything else.  My wife, however, would not be happy with that.  If it weren't for women, then society probably wouldn't be as advanced as it is today.  The house I built was for her and the furnishings in it are for her.  Almost all the comforts we enjoy were for her (except for the Western channel).
     Everything Jesus did was for His Bride, the Church.  He left all of the comforts and riches of heaven to bring them to His Bride, the Church.  There are still cultures today that view women as being less than the man.  Even in the Church, we've adopted this mentality.  Some of the women of the world resisted Christianity for this very reason.
     Jesus provided liberty for all women that raised them up, not to the level of a good man, but as one with the Father and Himself.  Because of a lack of understanding, we've ushered in the equal rights movement and equal pay movement along with other things women think restores them to what Jesus had already given them.
     I've always thought it was shameful to bring women to the same level as men.  When I was a boy being raised down home, we were always taught that women held a higher place than we were.  We were raised to respect and honor women, but this somehow got lost in making them equal to men.  Our good ole boy mentality believed that to "make them equal," meant bringing them down from where we had always placed them...in a higher place of respect and dignity.

Thank You for all your prayers

     Thank you for being so patient with my sporadic blogging as of late.  My brother is home from the hospital.  Thank you for all the prayers.

                                                                      Jim

Lesson 5 The Marriage Covenant

     We should all read Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified), especially Verses31-32 which say, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
     When the marriage covenant is made according to the Word, it is the closest covenant the earth has to describe Jesus and His Body, the Church.  Ephesians 5:25 (Amplified) says, "Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her."  When a man takes a wife in the Christian marriage covenant, he is no longer working for or fulfilling his own desires and longings, but he is now earning, building, creating and striving for everything in his life to lavish upon his wife.
     Everything Jesus did was for us.  The sin He bore was to free us.  The home He left was to prepare a place for us.  The curse He bore was for us.  The stripes He took was for our healing.  Even the authority He delegated to the Church was only for us.  The destruction or the destroying of the works of the devil was for us.  Nothing Jesus did was actually for Himself.  He was never under the curse or sickness or sin or the power of the devil, until He did it for us.
      In the same token, the husband has now gives everything for his wife.  Ephesians 5:24 (Amplified) says, "As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands."  This scripture isn't one to be defined in any way we choose or according to what we believe, but according to our covenant with Jesus.
     There are some who take this to mean that a woman would be "afraid" to do anything on her own, away from her husband, and to live in fear of him.  The Church is to be subject to the Lord because of His great love for her.  The Church doesn't stay and be subject to Christ because of their fear of retribution, but out of love for His goodness.  My wife hasn't stayed with me for fifty-three years because she's afraid to leave, but because she desires to stay.
     I don't have to threaten my wife with sickness or discipline if she wants to leave, she stays with me because she loves me.  Many in today's Church believe that we have no free will or voice in where we go or what we do, but that isn't true.  We have a will of our own that we choose to surrender (by choice) to His will.  We have become "one" with Christ just like my wife has become one with me.  We've obviously two separate persons.  She's prettier than I am and she wears clothes that would look very strange on me, but we are one in every other respect.
     She has taken my name and has forsaken her own.  She has absolute authority to my bank account, my care, my home and my children.  Everything I have is made subject unto her by the taking of my name.  We're now called the same name.  She has power of attorney to whatever is mine, by the use of my name.  She isn't in me in the fact that we're in the same skin, but we are still one (although separate).
     You and I are not Jesus as far as being the Lord, but the things that are His are now ours.  We have become "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus," according to Romans 8:17.  Romans 6:5 (Amplified) says, "For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, We shall also be (one with Him in sharing) His resurrection (by a new life lived for God)."
     Ephesians 5:23 (Amplified)  says, "For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church, Himself the Savior of (His) Body."  There are many who believe this scripture says that wives are to be under submission to their husbands, but this isn't what the scripture says if you look in the Concordance.  1Corinthians 11:3 (Amplified) says, "But I want you to know and realize that Christ is the head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
     What Paul was saying in the above scripture is, "Pattern yourselves after me (follow my example) as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)."  Jesus said the same thing about the Father in John 12:45 (Amplified) saying, "And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me."  The word "head" is best described as "reflection."  The wife is the reflection of her husband and her husband is the reflection of Christ and Christ is the reflection of the Father.
     This in no way denotes that the wife is inferior in any way to her husband or that Christ is in any way inferior to the Father.  Christ and the Father are One in every respect.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see the Father."  Paul said that, "When you see me, you have seen the On Who sent me."  The husband says, "When you see me, you see my wife."  The wife is the reflection of her husband and brings glory to her husband, to those around them, by her modest and loving person.
    

Lesson 4 The Marriage Covenant

     The vows exchanged in a marriage covenant are sacred vows that include our Father in heaven.  Sometimes, we don't realize the importance of these vows.  There is always a third Person involved in the marriage covenant between two Christian peoples.  Only God can cause the "Two to become one flesh."  Any Justice of the Peace, Minister or other entities can marry two people according to the law of the land, but only God can perform the miracle of oneness.
    Eve was taken from Adam's very person.  This was God's plan for marriage from the very beginning. The Bible says that, "The life is in the blood" and virginity supplies the blood in the marriage covenant.  The relationship between Christ and the Church is the example for a husband and a wife.  Jesus shed His Blood and gave His life for us on the cross.  We are called the "Bride of Christ" because of His Blood and our life is in His Blood.
     There are many things in our covenant with the Lord that we simply don't understand.  grace has given us courage for our lack of understanding, but we are to grow in our knowledge of His great grace according to 2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) which says, "Grace and peace will be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord."  We will see what grace has provided as we seek knowledge of Him.  There are some things in our covenant that are overlooked and made to seem like they no longer make a difference.
     God, Who made the blood covenant between a man and his wife, can and has restored the integrity of the shed blood in Christian marriages.  God can restore the power of this sacred vow by His Own power, even if a woman has been married before.  When we believe God in this blood covenant, we have the opportunity to enter into the new covenant of life in all respects.  2Corinthians 5:17-21 says, "Behold, old things have passed away, and all things are made new."  This includes the power of the blood in marriage.
     We have forgotten the truths that old traditions hold in the wedding ceremonies.  There is a truth held in the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold of their home, for example.  In the old days, they sprinkled a lamb's blood on the doorposts and the threshold of the house.  No one walked in the blood, but they stepped over it.  There are many things done under the old covenant marriage that had to do with the blood.
     The precious Blood of Jesus has taken on the Life of the Blood in our new covenant.  Jesus' Blood has cleansed us from our old dead self and given us new life.  New life has been given in Jesus' Blood and is the very life of God Himself which will not only cleanse us, but will bring all things new.
     We learned from Joel in a previous lesson, that God declared He, "Will restore that which the canter worm and the palmer worm had destroyed."  In the newness of life, God can and will restore even the shed blood of virginity that was "wasted" in our foolish past outside of marriage.  The vow of life is now made by the perfect Blood of Jesus and contains not only His life, but ours too.
     So many people "fall out of love" by allowing their marriage to be a joining only of their flesh and soul.  The commitment of life comes only in the Spirit.  This love has been "Shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit," according to Romans 5:5.  We have the opportunity to reset our lives and this time we can "get it right." 
     Under the old covenant, we had "Two or more witnesses" who could actually determine whether a man lived or died.  The two witnesses in a Christian marriage hold the responsibility before God to declare life in that marriage.  They counseled, prayed for and ministered life in that marriage.  God heard their intercession and honored it by His Blood.
     Being married in the Lord is more than just having a church wedding.  Even in a Christian's life, there are consequences in simply doing things on our own and away from God.  Although the sin is forgiven, it can still hold some consequences in the flesh.  We can avoid many things plaguing the Christian's life on earth by observing the power in the Blood of our Lamb.
    It doesn't matter how hard we pray and seek God, if we plant corn, then only corn will grow.  We may have desired green beans, but if we don't plant green beans, then we won't get them.  Even if we do things in not knowing, the principle still works the same way.  If you can't tell the difference between corn and green bean seeds, then for goodness sake, ask someone. 
     Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded, and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked, by mere pretensions, or professions, or by His precepts being set aside) (He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God).  For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap."  Verse 8 says, "For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."
     As Christians, we many times reap the things of the flesh and it's not because God is testing or punishing us, but because we've sown it to our own destruction.  Grace has covered the sin, but the seed is still what it was and is producing in our lives.  We carry out our traditions without knowing the truth of what we do.  We've even lost the truth of the life, health, protection and power of our Lamb in communion.  When Jesus said to, "Do this in remembrance of Me," He meant we're to remember what His sacrifice has done and not to forget the power of the Blood.

Lesson 3 The Marriage Covenant

     My wife and I ministered to a young Christian woman who was seeing an ungodly man.  Despite our caution and counsel, she pursued the relationship.  She eventually yielded to his pressuring and had sex with him, which resulted in pregnancy.  Upon learning out about the pregnancy, the man directed her to abort the child.  She refused and had the baby and the relationship continued for a long time.
     The ungodly man remained unfaithful to her and was seeing many other women.  He also fell into drug and alcohol use.  This young woman was faithful to him and still "in love with" him, despite these things.  So, I sought God about this and He instructed me to "sever the tie" of the blood that was shed on her behalf in this relationship.
     Without anyone knowing about what was being done, her mother and father went before God and petitioned Him to "sever the blood tie" and "release her from that tie."  Within two days, she sent the man away.  It was like he never had a hold on her and she was free of this tie that bound them.  She never even knew about her parent's prayer, but God did.
     Since God was the One Who had placed that "bond," He had the power to break or replace that bond.  God can restore the blood tie all in the Blood of Jesus for Christian couples.  However, we need to know about it in order to pray properly.  We sometimes think that when we get saved, everything is completed.  It is as far as the sin is concerned, but sometimes the consequence of sin remains.  If someone contracted Aids from sin, for instance, then God can forgive the sin causing that disease.  But, the consequence still leads to death in the body.
     God tells us in Joel 2:25 that, "I will restore what the locust and cancer worm has destroyed."  I believe this means much more than crops of grain, but includes everything that was destroyed.  I know that God can restore the power of the blood tie that was meant for marriage, as well as restore everything else (see the lessons on the Law of the Kinsman Redeemer).  We haven't allowed ourselves to put faith in everything that grace has come to do in our lives.
     The blood covenant that God placed in our lives, has been one of the most powerful weapon satan has used against us.  Because we didn't know or understand it, we walked in the consequence of the misuse of it instead of the power of it.  There is much we still need to learn as we continue our walk with God on this side of glory.
     Many will see this as foolishness, but to those the enemy has held captive by this, it will be a great day of deliverance.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:18-19 (Amplified), "Truly I tell you, Whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already in heaven."
     This blood tie is already "proper and lawful in heaven" and you can use the power of the Name and covenant with Jesus to declare it proper and lawful here on earth.  God can, and will, restore that which the enemy has tried to destroy.  We must know what is "lawful and proper" on earth in order to have faith in the restoration of our own blood covenant with one another in heaven.
     Remember, that the life is in the blood.  It doesn't matter whether it was the temporal blood life of bulls and goats or the eternal Blood of the Lord Himself or the blood of the covenant with each other in marriage.  The life is still in the blood.  Redemption has come and the power of it goes far beyond what we have previously believed.
     The blood covenant was God's way of binding and uniting man and God.  It was also His way of uniting man and woman.  If you come before the Lord in earnest and seek His counsel on this subject, then He will reveal the power of His idea of the marriage covenant to you.
     God doesn't tell us everything He knows, but only that which we ask Him in our time of prayer and fellowship.  Most of us have probably never sought God's wisdom about this subject.  I went before God on behalf of another because I didn't know the truth on this subject.  God revealed things to me concerning the blood covenant, but I'm sure there is must more to be learned about this.
     This is something we can teach our young people that will arm them with understanding about premarital sex.  We can prepare them with insight and wisdom to help them know the power of this blood covenant and will hold their marriages together under nearly anything that comes at them.
     This blood covenant between a man and his wife, is second only to the Blood covenant between God and man.  This is the second most power covenant in all of creation.  We missed the power of the covenant altogether, because we failed to understand virginity as God intended.  Even in today's Christian circles, virginity is looked down upon as being "old fashioned."
     It's not that the sin of premarital sex isn't forgiven, but the blood is shed for all the wrong purposes and the life it is as wasted in the life it poured out.  It's like the blood of goats and bulls being shed outside the altar in the old covenant.  Even though the life is in the blood, it was wasted when it poured out on the ground.  It had no purpose and there was no faith in that blood.
     So much precious blood has been shed on the altar of carnality and has been wasted with no power of life in it for marriage.  There are some women for whom virginity is just a cumbersome thing that doctors needed to remove for convenience.  Lack of understanding has made the Word of God of no effect.  God made this covenant and He will perform it in our lives.
      

Lesson 2 The Marriage Covenant

    Throughout the years, my wife and I have ministered to many couples having problems in their relationship.  Most of them had premarital sex, either before being saved or after.  Many were married to an unsaved partner.  Many of the women we counseled were already married when they got saved.  Some were living with men who were abusive and/or unfaithful in that relationship.
     Some of the women who were in abusive relationships had a history of being battered.  The question most of their friends and family asked them was, "Why don't you leave him?"  You might wonder what could hold this relationship together under these circumstances.  In many cases we found that this was the man with whom they had sex with first.
     There is something in their bond that defied common sense and it must be something more than just natural things.  As I began seeking the Lord about this, He began revealing to me that it was the power of the blood covenant.  I was ignorant of and unaware of the power of the blood that occurred between a a husband and wife.  There is a spiritual bond and tie in the blood relationship that eluded the world and the Church.
     God's Word instructed that both the man and woman were to be virgins at the time of their marriage.  The shedding of blood and the life of the man (in his seed) were to be exchanged on the wedding night that would activate a life long covenant.  This bond was so strong on the woman's behalf, that it would go way beyond that natural degree of comfort or care.
     The blood covenant bond was so strong that is exceeded what most would call, "common sense."  One would think that a woman who was being beaten and abused would simply leave, but she doesn't.  Some women were shamed and neglected by their spouses and didn't leave.  God began revealing the power of the blood in the marriage covenant to me.  He showed me how it was greater than what we had previously thought.
     Most of us in the Church, viewed premarital sex as simply a sin to be avoided.  Most people believed it was especially sinful for the woman and didn't judge it in the same way for men.  God set forth the way of marriage to be a covenant and not just a license.
     For many years we knew there was something that tied a woman to her "first love, but we didn't recognize what that tie was.  Many virgin women who have sex with a man for the first time, still felt a tie to their first love.  Whether or not the experience was a good one, there was a tie that couldn't be explained.
     This was a spiritual tie that couldn't be explained by the natural mind.  If one of them was saved and the other was not, there was always something missing in their relationship.  The two could satisfy their flesh and even their soul (their emotional part), but something in that relationship made them feel like something was being withheld from them.  There was a distance that seemed to trouble their union.  It was wrong and they both felt it.
     The marriage covenant is a spiritual thing and not simply a physical one.  It doesn't matter how hard the two tried, the "life" of the relationship wasn't present.  If one of the two was born again and their partner wasn't, then the spirit or life of the relationship wasn't present.  Life couldn't be put into the relationship without the Spirit of life.
     This is the reason why many would go from person to person seeking fulfillment and not being able to satisfy what was wrong with them.  Their satisfaction in the relationship was fleeting and short lasted.  There was a "hold" from their first sexual partner that wouldn't last beyond that first partner.
     There are Christians today, who still have a spiritual tie to someone other than their spouse.  If we're sincere in our walk with God and we love Him, then we hold that dissatisfaction in check, but it still exists in many couples.
     God can restore this tie to the marriage covenant if we know how and what to pray for.  It's more than just asking forgiveness for premarital sex.  It's restoring the life of the blood back to the relationship.  Life and death share nothing in common.  The spiritually live person who is married to the spiritually dead person are only joined in body and soul and not in the spirit or life.
     This "disconnect" is something felt in the relationship, even if it's not discussed or recognized.  At least one third of the person is being withheld from the other and it's something always present in that relationship.  We've never really given this much thought and assumed that since it was forgiven when we got saved, then everything was alright.
     The sin of premarital sex was forgiven, along with all our other sins.  It's not a matter of forgiveness, but of restoration of the "tie" in the blood.  Leviticus 17 tells us that, "The life is in the blood," speaking about the spirit life. 
     We've probably all heard someone say, "We just fell out of love for some reason."  Or, "I still love him/her, but I'm not in love with them."  The blood tie was there to hold a married couple together through anything that could arise in the marriage covenant.
     If a tie could hold a woman to someone who abused her, was unfaithful to her or was unsaved and ungodly, what would it do for someone who loved God and walked in love with her?  The blood covenant was meant to cement the relationship with the "blood" of her life that was given in the relationship of marriage.
    

Lesson 1 The Marriage Covenant

     The years have convinced me that we Christians have undergone so many bad experiences because we do not understand our covenant with God.  Many events happen in our lives from simple lack of understanding.  Most of the things I've learned from God, I learned because I was in a troubled place and needed wisdom.
     James 1:5 (Amplified) says that, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him."   We've ceased seeking God's wisdom for many things and have relied on the quid pro quo answers of religion.
     I've wondered about the marriage covenant and the real power it holds.  I understood the scriptures generally associated with this covenant, but I failed to see results in new covenant that I should have seen.  Many things in our covenant with God, through Jesus, don't seem to be like the Word declares they should be.  I'm not the sharpest kid on the block, by any means, but I know one thing for sure.  If something isn't working in my life the way the Word of God says it should, then I'm the one who missed it and not God.  So, instead of simply trying to assuage my pride and ego, I need to find out why things aren't working.
     Our marriage covenant with God is one of those misunderstood things.  Paul gives a discourse on the marriage covenant and the way we should respond to one another in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified).  In Verse 32 he says something that changed everything (if we will read it correctly), saying, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
     The scriptures tell us that our life and relationship is in His Blood.  Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)."  The scriptures also tell us that it was the Blood of Jesus that gave us new life with His Own life.  Romans 5:9-10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's Blood, how much more (certain is it that) we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God."  Verse 10 goes on, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son; it is much more (certain), now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion) through His (resurrection) life."
     Our life is in Jesus' Blood and His Blood has given us the life of God, which was poured out against death that held dominion over us.  The Life is in the Blood.  We understand (to a certain degree) that God would use the innocent life in the blood of a lamb and would extend that life to give us life (to a limited extent).  The blood would have to be renewed continually because it was only animal blood and wasn't enough to stave off the death that came through Adam. 
     God said in Genesis 2:24 (Amplified), "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  Paul reaffirms this in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified) with a discourse on the husband and wife relationship, saying in Verse 32, "This mystery is very great; but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."  We have become one flesh (or Body of Christ) by His Blood.  His very life is now our life, by His Blood.
     We preach abstinence to our young women in church, but we do so from a purely "sinful" viewpoint.  This isn't wrong, it's only incomplete.  There is a far greater meaning and power in remaining a virgin, other than we teach about.  The marriage covenant is a blood covenant and is consummated by the shedding of the blood on the wedding night.  This makes the two become one by the Life in the blood.  This blood covenant made between a man and his wife is second only to the Blood covenant between us and God.
     In Genesis 2:24, Jesus left His father to become man and was made One with His bride, the Church.  His Blood has made us One with Him for all of eternity.  His life is our life for forever and forever.  The two have now become one flesh by the power of the shed Blood.
     There is more than a sex act that occurs between a man and his bride on their wedding night.  There is an exchange of life that will hold a marriage through anything.  

Lesson 10 Faith and Grace

     The message of, "May grace and peace be with you through the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus" opens nearly every Epistle in the New Testament.  It's especially interesting to note how "peace" is always of.
     My experience with most Christians throughout the years is that they are not at peace with themselves and therefore, they're not at peace in their relationship with the Father.  Guilt and condemnation seem to be constantly part of our lives and as a result, we're always expecting "the other shoe to fall."  We're always awaiting God's punishment (of some sort) for some mistake we've made.
     It seems so difficult to walk in God's perfect grace.  We have always known that we're imperfect and yet, we've tried to walk upright before God.  We were always conscious of our imperfections and that is the problem.  A perfect God rendered a perfect grace.  And, this perfect grace was always greater than our imperfections.
     Grace provided the perfection of our sacrifice and not for our own righteousness.  We were made righteous with His righteousness and not our own.  Grace provided such a great righteousness that it would cover our mistakes.  No one could do this on their own.  It had to be Jesus' right standing and not our own.
     We must walk in this peace with God and we must put faith in His grace.  We must stop depending on our own works.  We still should perform good works, but not in order to obtain our right standing with God.  Our own works could never keep us in righteousness or right standing with God.
     Peace can never be a constant part of our relationship with a Holy God if we don't put faith in His grace.  God hasn't changed His stance on righteousness, but He did change us into righteousness through Jesus.  Now, we can stand upright before Him like nothing ever happened in our lives or in the Garden of Eden.  Jesus did that for us on the cross and His raising from the dead.
  Through Jesus, grace has provided everything needed to make us and keep us in right standing with the Father.  We, though, have been more conscious of our failures rather than in His success.  2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passion and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise, and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
     The "knowledge of God and Jesus" is something every believer must seek out for themselves.  The more you learn from Him, the more your faith will receive the "peace" between you and the Father.  With inspiration from the Holy Spirit, 2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) tells us, "For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."  It is "By and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue) and not by our own works.  It's not by our obedience, perfection or striving, but by His Own divine power."
     We walk with our Father like we're "walking on eggshells."  We're so careful, believing that every small mistake will remove years of our relationship with Him.  Don't get me wrong, I do believe that we should do our best to walk as best we can, but we shouldn't depend on our own walk to determine His grace.  It seems like we're always walking in one ditch or the other.  We act like grace doesn't cover our mistakes and then on the other hand we act like we can do as we please (sin and walk in all unrighteousness) and grace will not see it.  Both are wrong. 
     As we learn and grow in the things of God, grace covers every mistake we make and as we mature in the things of God, grace will keep us from committing our precious mistakes.  I still make mistakes and blunders in my walk with the Father, but they are thing in which I'm learning to walk in.  I've outgrown the dumb things I used to walk in.  If we continued walking around with our favorite blankies like we did as babies, then others would believe there's something wrong with us. 
     We've outgrown our need for blankies, but now we depend on something else in it's place.  We do the same in our Christian walk as well.  When we first were saved, we still did things of the world like we'd always done.  As we grow in our faith, we learn to walk above the flesh in many areas, but do so gradually.  There are areas of our life that we still haven't turned loose of and we're haunted by past failures.  This is mostly because we don't understand His grace.
     The same grace that fostered the first part of our Christian will continue to take us through the last part too.  The song "Amazing Grace" says that, "It was grace that brought me this far and grace will lead me home."  We will never arrive at a point in our Christian walk where we won't need His "Amazing Grace." 
     We must learn to put faith in His grace and not in ourselves.  Only God's grace can cover our feeble attempts to walk totally upright in His presence.  We must learn to walk in His righteousness and stop depending on our own.