Knowing God Lesson 7

     Too many children of God don't know they have access to God's Throne Room of Grace and can receive Grace and mercy at their time of need, like Heb.4:16 says.  Many don't know we have the privilege of accessing the Presence of our Heavenly Father, in order to fellowship, receive Revelation and gain understanding from Him. 

     Rom.5:2-5(Amp) says, "Through Him, Jesus, we also have our access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor) in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God. Moreover, let us also be full of joy now, let us exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character, approved faith and tried integrity and character of this sort produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's Love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us."

     Understanding the things happening in today's world requires faith in God's Word.  We must hold fast to the Truth of God's Word.  It's paramount that we stay in fellowship and have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, so we can hear and recognize His Voice.  We must know that when hardships and troubles come before us, that it's the enemy and not our Father who is bringing them.  James writes about being "double-minded," in James1:8(Amp), saying, "For being as he is a man of two-minds, hesitating, dubious, irresolute; he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels and decides."  If we are double-minded, then we won't be able to know who our enemy is and Whom our help comes from.

     Many Christians believe that when troubles arise in their lives, that "God is testing them," instead of knowing the enemy is testing their faith and trying to cause them to give up their walk with God.  If we don't know who is the cause of our troubles, then we are "double-minded and unstable and unreliable in everything we think, feel and decide."  We must know the Father for ourselves, not just relying on the teachings and opinions of others.  We must spend time in God's Word and in His Presence.

     Most believers can quote Rom.10:17(Amp), but don't hold it in their hearts.  Thus, Paul writes, "So faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the Message that came from the lips of Christ, the Messiah Himself."  One can't have faith to come into intimate fellowship and understanding with God, if he/she has never heard it preached.  If we don't know God has invited us to be in His Presence at any time, then how can we know Him as "Father," and not just God.

     Our Father is the Almighty God and he has Blessed us and made us His family, through the Life, death and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus.  Surely, God would never deny our fellowship with Him after going to such lengths to return us to Himself.  We need to spend quality time with Him in prayer, conversation, and fellowship.  We have this open invitation to Him, through Jesus.

     It's marvelous to know we're going to Heaven when we die, but it's even greater to know Him while we're here on earth.  If we're double-minded, then we'll be uncertain we can know Him.  Faith comes by hearing, so our faith will be strongest in what we choose to hear.  It matters whether we choose to hear the Truth of God's Word or the world's lies, because that's where we will put our faith.  

     Go with me into God's Word concerning the "trials and tests" that come upon us in this world.  Choose what you're hearing for your life, here in this world.  Let's stop being double-minded and know where to stand in faith.  Is.54:13-15(Amp) says, "All your spiritual children shall be disciples taught by the Lord and obedient to His will; and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children. You shall establish yourself in righteousness (in conformity with God's will and order), you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is not from Me, Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you." 

     Notice the above scriptures says that "You are to be the one who establishes yourself in His Righteousness."  This comes only be hearing and accepting the Word God speaks.  We choose whether we will listen to God's Holy Spirit and receive His Gift of Righteousness in faith or put our faith in what others say.  God has set forth an open door before us, according to Is.1:18-19(Amp), which says, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land."

     Not long after being saved, the Lord called me to move to New York from Illinois.  I left my home, my mom and siblings, my job and my roots, trusting that God will take care of my family and me.  I gave up everything I knew, in order to obey His request.  Nothing seemed to work for me and I was certainly not "eating the good of the land."  I brought my frustration to the Lord and in my own justification, quoted the above scripture.

     God's response to me was very simple.  He said, "If you are willing and obedient, then you will eat the good of the land."  He showed me how I had been obedient, but my will was against Him.  He showed me how I was continually murmuring and complaining about the move, while looking back to my former home.  God had looked at my heart and found me to be unwilling to be obedient to Him.  I was like those in the Wilderness, whose continual complaints grieved and limited God.  I have remained where God called me, through fellowship and an intimate relationship with Him.  I've weathered many storms by faith in my relationship with Him, choosing not to be double-minded in His Wisdom and guidance.  I choose to hear from God and not the world.

Knowing God Lesson 6

    Just before entering the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said in John17:3(Amp), "And this is eternal Life: it means to know, perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the Only True and Real God."

     Although Heaven and being in a place of God's Glory for all eternity are part of the Blessing, Knowing and walking with God on this side of Heaven in the intimacy of His great Love and Wisdom, are of great importance.  Many have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but still don't "know" Him and the Father Who sent Him.

     Paul writes in Phil3:10(Amp), "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him; perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and move clearly, and that I might in the same way come to know the Power outflowing from His Resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His Likeness even to His death in hope; That if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral Resurrection that it lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body."

     Many saved children of God only have a secondhand acquaintance with the Father.  We've been taught and heard many things that if we truly "knew" Him, then we would never believe.  Religion, with its carnal thinking and understanding, have only distorted the real natural and character of our Heavenly Father.  

     The only "natural" Image of our Father, is the Man, Christ Jesus.  Even after seeing Him in the flesh and as a Man, we're still unsure and view the Father as being an altogether different and separate Being.  We still can't distinguish the differences between the old and new covenant Father.  God dealt with the persons of the old covenant, who were spiritually dead, in a different way that He does with those of us who are Alive in Christ.  If we can't do this, then we will be hindered in knowing Him.  If we think our Father puts sickness and trials on His children, then we don't really know Him.  We know Who He really is, when we spend time in conversation and fellowship with Him.  We must sit at His table, hear and learn from Him. in order to overcome the misconceptions we have of Him.

     We can't really know anyone, unless we have spent time with that person.  If we don't know the Father, then our prayers aren't based in faith, because we don't know if He will answer them.  When we know Him and learn what His will is for us, then we will pray in confidence.  1John5:14-15(Amp) says, "And this is the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in Him; we are sure that if we ask anything, make any request according to His will, in agreement with His Own Place, He listens to and hears us. And if since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him."

     This is a prayer of faith and not the "shoot the moon" kind of praying full of uncertainty it will come to pass.  Gal.5:6(Amp) says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."  When we know Him, we know the Love He has for us, which gives us confidence in Him."  1John4:16(Amp) says, "And we know, understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience, and believe, adhere to and put faith in and rely on the Love God cherishes for us. God is Love, and those who continue and dwell in love, dwells and continues in God; and God dwells and continues in Him."  

     Knowing God is  knowing His Love.  Most of us see God's Love through the natural love we have for one another.  Man's love is fragile and can be lost by an unkind action or wrongdoing against us.  God's Love is based on His Own Nature and Character.  God's Love "never failed."  We will know the Father and the Fullness of His Love, by spending time with Him in personal fellowship and intimacy.  God's children must talk with Him and ask questions of Him, while listening to Him and learning from Him. 

      If we don't ask questions, then we won't get the answer.  If we don't His will, then we won't be confident that He answers our prayers.  Jesus said, "My sheep know My Voice."  This comes by personally spending time and fellowshiping in His Presence.  God' Word, Jesus, is God's will and we can learnt to know God watching Jesus in the natural and seeing Him in the Word.

     We must not rely on the opinion someone else has about God's Word and will.  We must spend time in His Word and Presence for ourselves.  Is God the One Who puts sickness, tries and tests us, in order to teach us something?  Or, is He the One Who put all that on Jesus for us, so He could deal with us by His Spirit and Word?  Jesus came to do the Father's will.  Did He ever make someone sick, put hardship on someone or tell someone that their sickness "came from God?"  Did Jesus ever put the Curse of the Law on the people?  No, Jesus said He came to preach the Blessing, healing and liberty from the Law and the Curse, quoting Isaiah 61 in Luke 4.  Gal.3 tells us that "He bore the Curse of the Law, so the Blessing could come upon us."  2Tim.3:16 tells us that, "God now directs, corrects, convicts, and teaches us by His Word." 

     We must learn to know Him, so we can walk in the Fullness of His Love, in unbroken fellowship with Him, even while we're here in this world.  Jesus said in John17:3(Amp), "And this is Eternal Life; it means to know, perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the only True and Real God."  It's up to every individual to know Him.  He wants to know us. 

    

Knowing God Lesson 5

      Jesus said in John4:23-24(Amp), "A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true, genuine worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."

     Jesus tells us in John6:63(Amp), "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."

     Gen.1:27(Amp) says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."  Gen.2:7(Amp) says, "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Breath or Spirit of Life, and man became a living being."

     Notice that man was in the Image and Likeness of God, before his body was formed from the earth.  Our bodies aren't made in the Image and Likeness of God, our new creation spirit is.  Jesus was Spirit, before He was flesh.  Jesus said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father," referring to the works the Father did through Him and not to the way He looked in His Human Form.

     All of mankind is spirit, made in the Image of God, but Adam's transgression caused us to be separated from God.  Jesus said in John10:10(Amp), "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 (the the full, till it overflows)."  Jesus was speaking to people who were alive in their flesh, but were dead in spirit.

     When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree in the Garden, they died and were separated from God Who is Life, in their spirit.  They were still made in God's Image and Likeness as spirit beings, but their spirits were no longer united with the Holy Spirit and the Father.  Remember, Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh profits nothings."

     Jesus is the Firstborn and is the Head of His Body, the Church, according to Col.1:18(Amp) which says, "He also is the Head of His Body (the Church); seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the Chief Place (stand First and be preeminent)."  Jesus wasn't the first person raised from physical death, but Spiritual death.  Jesus Himself raised many from physical death during His earthly ministry, so He wasn't the Firstborn from physical death, but Spiritual death.  Jesus was separated from His Own Father on the cross, like Adam was.  Jesus took our place and bore our punishment.  He was judged as a man and was pronounced "not guilty," by the Judge of all creation.  Jesus was raised for our justification and through Him, we can now be made alive again, to and through God the Father.

     Adam was created a spirit, in the Image of God.  Adam was an individual spirit, but through Jesus, the new creation people have been made to be "one Spirit with God," according to Col.2:9-10(Amp) which says, "For in Him (Jesus) the whole fullness of Deity (the God-Head) continues to dwell in bodily form, giving complete expression to the Divine nature. And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of Life, in Christ you too are filled with the God-Head (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and reach full Spiritual stature, and He is the Head of all rule and authority of every angelic principality and power."

     1Cor.6:17,19(Amp) says, "But the person that is united with Christ the Lord, becomes one spirit with Him. 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."

     1Cor.15:44(Amp) says, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a Super-natural, a spiritual body, As surely as there is a natural body (physical body), there is also a spiritual body."  We're born-again, new creation persons who have already received a new spiritual body which has become the very natural and Presence of God.  God's children will receive a new body from the natural body, when it's raised at Jesus' Return.  1John3:2(Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children, it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifest, we shall as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."

     The physical bodies are a house that our spirits live in while we're still on earth.  God says it's already "the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Ark of the Covenant and God's home on earth.

Knowing God Lesson 4

      John8:19(Amp) says, "Then they said to [Jesus], Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me; If you knew Me, you would know My Father also."

     Many of God's children still debate the "mystery" of creation and Eden, saying they are "Parables."  They question why God made mankind and gave him dominion over all this earth.  Some wonder why there were two trees in the Garden and who was in control of them and why?  And, how did the serpent get into the Garden of Eden?

     If you don't know God, then you don't know the mystery of these questions or know the answers to them.  Did God intend for Adam to fail or did Love give Adam free will to choose for himself?  Let's remember that Jesus was and still is, the Word of God and that He was crucified before the foundation of the world.

     When God put forth His Word over Adam and this earth, it was irreplaceable and "forever settled."  When God spoke His Word, there was no other choice but to "watch over it to perform it."  The Word was made flesh, which was crucified and fulfilled in Jesus.  God's Promise of His Word was made to man and it still stands today, just like when He spoke it.  

     God's Word, Jesus, is still in place like it was in the beginning, whether or not we know or believe it.  Heb.1:5,6(Amp) says, "For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are My Son, today I have begotten You, established You in an official Sonship relation, with Kingly dignity? AND AGAIN, I will be to Him a Father and He will be to Me a Son?"

     Verse 6 goes on, "Moreover, when He brings the Firstborn Son AGAIN into the habitable world, He says, Let all the angels of God worship Him."  It was God's Word that brought His Son to begin with and it was His Word that fulfilled itself when God said, "Today I have begotten You."  The "again" is the fulfilling of God's Word when He said, "Let Us make man in Our Image and Likeness," that created him.  

     God didn't crucify Jesus before creation and before making mankind.  His Word created mankind and it was His Word that maintained itself through Jesus, the "Word made flesh," which cannot fail and is exalted even above His Name.  Psalm138:2(Amp) says, "I will worship toward Your Holy Temple and praise Your Name for Your Loving Kindness and for Your Truth and faithfulness: for You have exalted above all else Your Name and Your Word and You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name."  If His Name is not good and proven, then His Name wouldn't hold honor either.

     When God made mankind and put forth His Word which created him, then God's Word was on the line to perform what He had spoken about mankind and His Word, Jesus, which brought forth mankind into being and was crucified in order to uphold what the Father spoke and was exalted even above His Name.  Mankind would need to be in the true Nature of God, in order to be in His Image and Likeness.  God gave mankind a will, so he/she could make decisions and be sons and daughters, not servants.  God didn't make puppets who would be obedient to the one who pulled the strings.  God made sons and daughters who would walk with Him out of love, honor and respect.  God made mankind to be His family and not servants.  

     Adam had free will to choose for himself, just like we do today.  We're free will agents, who make the decision to walk with God as sons and daughters.  Through Jesus, we decide to accept God's offer or deny it.  God's Word has given us this right.  The serpent in the Garden wasn't a tool God used to test Adam and Eve.  Adam failed to use the authority God gave him, to guard and protect the Garden.  Adam. instead, allowed the serpent to enter.  

     1Cor.3:9(Amp) says, "For we are fellow workmen, joint promoters, laborers together with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under construction, you are God's building."  Like it was with the First Adam, through Jesus, we've been placed back into what the Father did in the beginning.  We have dominion restored through Jesus.  We have the same job that Adam had and are to guard, tend and keep the garden like Adam was to do.

     Prov.4:23(Amp) says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life."  The serpent is still loose and uses the same weapons against God's children.  We must guard the Garden God has chosen.  Matt.18:19(Amp) says that what we "bind or loose, is what God will bind or loose."  Our job is to guard and protect our garden, and not allow the serpent to enter.  Even today, we find there is a Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God never told Adam and Eve they couldn't partake of the Tree of Life in the center of the Garden, but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Adam and Eve had the choice and we have the same choice today.  Jesus is the Word and Spirit, and the Tree of Life.  The Tree of Good and Evil is still here too, as is the same serpent.

     Rom.8:6(Amp) tells us, "Now the mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit is death, death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the Mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and soul peace both now and forever."  Both Trees are still present today, so we must guard our hearts and choose to eat from the Tree of Life that God offers.

     Gal.6:7-8(Amp) 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 only that is what he will reap."

Knowing God Lesson 3

     Most Christians have some understanding of Jesus did on the cross, when He took our place.  However, we've lost sight of what Jesus did for us in His Resurrection.  Jesus became what we were, so we could become what He is.

     Jesus was separated from the Father, so we could be united with Him again.  Jesus took our failures and spiritual death, in order to give us Life and unite us with the Father.  God made us to be the Righteousness of God, in Christ Jesus.  The most awesome thing that came through Jesus and His Sacrifice, is that He made it possible for be where the Father created us to be, before the transgression in the Garden.

     The Father fashioned us to be His family and to always be in His Presence.  The first Adam fell under the lies and deception of safe, when he accepted the lie satan offered him.  Jesus went into the same place of temptation, but never yielded to it.  He did what Adam should have done, which is use God's Word as His defense against sin.

     We have that same defense that Jesus used, against the trials and temptations of satan.  Eph.6:17(Amp) says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the Sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God."  We must use Spiritual weapons, in order to do warfare in the Spirit realm.  We'll lose every battle that satan brings, if we try to defeat him by carnal weapons.  The first thing a person does in boot camp, is to learn how to use the weapon issued to them.  

     We must know God's Word, in order to use it as a weapon against the enemy and that comes by knowing and trusting the weapons issued to us.  Many believers aren't familiar with the Word, which leaves them defenseless against the enemy's strategies.  We must know God's Word, so we know whether God is putting sickness on us or the enemy is trying to steal, kill and destroy us, so that we can confidently use the Word as a Spiritual weapon against the sickness.

     When we're double-minded about our Heavenly Father and His Word, then we can become prey for the enemy.  We learn the what the weapons of God are and how to use them in 2Cor.10:3-5(Amp).  This scripture tells us that if we don't know the Father for ourselves, then we can be swayed and conform to what others say.  Thus, Paul writes, "For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (weapons of the flesh and blood), but they are might before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. In as much as we refute the arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God, and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

     Many theories, arguments and reasonings have been taught and passed down through generations, but simply because they're generational, doesn't mean they're true.  Man's reasonings and theories have no power to overcome the enemy, because they are carnal weapons.  God's Church is in a place of doubt and unbelief in God's Word, because we haven't learned God's Word.

     We don't know whether God is our problem or if He's our Answer.  We don't know if God uses trials and sickness to teach us or if He has provided the way to overcome through His Word.  We don't know whether God uses His Word to lead and correct us or if He use the things of the world and flesh to do so.  Some think that God uses satan to fulfill His Plan of Redemption, instead of doing this by Himself.  Why would God even think about using satan to teach or correct His Own children?  Why would God use the very thing that Jesus bore on the cross to redeem us, in order to teach us?

     We somehow still see ourselves as old covenant people, who God deals with by the flesh instead of by the spirit.  We need to be trained by the Word and Spirit.  We must believe in God's Promises and believe what His Word says about who we are now in Christ Jesus.

     Is God still our Healer or does He use sickness to teach us?  Is Jesus still our Redeemer or are we still under the Curse of the Law?  Are we still walking under the Law or did Jesus fulfill all the Law and the prophets, like He said?  We know God through His Word and through Jesus, according to Heb.1:3(Amp), which says, "He (Jesus) is the Sole Expression of the Glory of God (the Light-Being and Outraying or Radiance of the Divine): and He (Jesus) is the Perfect Imprint and Very Image of God's Nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His Mighty Word of Power. When He, by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sin and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the Right Hand of the Divine Majesty on High."

     We know God the Father, by knowing Jesus.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father.  Jesus didn't mean that He "looked" like God, but that everything Jesus did was God doing the work.  If Jesus didn't put or use sickness on people, then God doesn't do it either.  If Jesus didn't hold back mercy, truth or Blessing, then God doesn't do it either.  Jesus taught His disciples about their being cleansed, in order to bear fruit like He did, in John15:3(Amp), saying, "You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the Word which I have given you (the teachings I have discussed with you)."  

     If we wish to be cleansed and pruned, in order to bear more and better fruit, then we must let God's Word and the Holy Spirit to do the job.  We've already been judged and acquitted by Jesus' Blood, so we mustn't look for trails or sickness to do so.  Jesus told us to look to the Word to cleanse and prune us.  Jesus is the Word become flesh, Who is our Source.  Jesus is the Exact Likeness of God.  If Jesus didn't do it, then God doesn't do it either.  We must know Him." 

Knowing God Lesson 2

     Jesus said in John10:10(Amp), "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)."

    How did the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, come to the place where we don't know the difference between the Lord and the thief?  We have the individual responsibility to know the Father and nothing can take the place of having a relationship with Him.  To know the Father secondhand by someone else's opinion, can't reveal Him firsthand.  I'm not saying that we should ignore what is taught or said, but we must meditate on His Word and seek Him for ourselves, so we can know the Truth.

     1John2:19-20(Amp) says, "They went out from our number, but they did not really belong to us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they withdrew that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by (you hold a sacred appointment from, you have given and unction from the Holy Spirit), and you know the Truth, or you know all things."

     The Holy Spirit speaks through John again in 1John4:1(Amp), saying, "Try the spirits, whether they be of God."  Thus, he writes, "Beloved, Do not put faith in every spirit, but prove, test the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. By this you may know, perceive and recognize the Spirit of God; every spirit which acknowledges and confesses the fact that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) actually has become Man (has come in the flesh) is of God (has God as it's source)."

     Many Christians sadly, don't spend as much time in His Presence like we should. but simply take everything that is preached or taught as being the Gospel (the Good News).  We've been taught that God will sometimes put sickness on us, will take a loved one or hold back His Blessing, in order to correct or teach us something.  If this was true, then we wouldn't have needed a new covenant and a new creation.  God had to deal with those under the Law by their flesh, because they were still carnal men/women and dead to Him.

     Under the New Covenant, by which Jesus is our covenant, God deals with us through His Word and by the Holy Spirit in our spirits.  In order to receive and operate in this Spiritual family, we must know and hear God for ourselves, so we don't yield to every wind of doctrine.  James1:6(Amp) says, "Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting), For the one who waves (hesitates, doubts), is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind."  James goes on to explain why a double-minded person cannot receive anything from God,  in the next Verse.  John doesn't say that the answer wouldn't be give, by it would be lost in the person of two-minds or one who is carnal minded, because the carnal mind overrides the mind of the spirit.

     It's true that trials and tests will come to the believer, but they're not by our Father, the Holy Spirit or Jesus.  We must determine who is the thief and Who is our Lord, because they're definitely not one in the same.  We still live in a fallen world, where "the god of this world" tries to "blind the minds of unbelievers," according to 2Cor.4:4.  Someone can be born-again, while not believing what the Word says.  Different denominations teach that certain things have "passed away" or these things were "only for the Early Church."  These are born-again children of God, but they haven't taken the time to study and know the Truth for themselves.

    We must listen to teachings or preaching by our natural ears only, but must seek God's Word whether or not whether we're hearing the True Gospel of Christ.  If we don't know the Father firsthand and for ourselves, then we won't know whether we're hearing someone's else's opinion or God's Truth.  I asked the congregation if anyone "knew the President."  The entire congregation answered, "No."  I asked if anyone they knew, "knew the President" and of course, the answer was "No."  Everything we knew about the President, was based on the news media or personal opinion.  Sadly, this is how many of God's people know the Father.

     Every child of God is granted the privilege of knowing our Heavenly Father firsthand.  This privilege was granted to us by the Power of the Blood of the Perfect Lamb of God.  No child of God has any advantage over another, but we must press into His Throne Room of Grace, not just to seek His Hands, but His Heart.  Prayer might be the greatest privilege ever given to mankind in this New Covenant.  Mankind could never been able to come face to Face with the Creator Himself and address Him as "Father," before Jesus came, died, rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven, where He is seated at God's Right Hand.

     Knowing Him in the Power of His Resurrection, is knowing Him in all of His Risen Glory and Love.  Knowing what He has done by His act of Love, is above all we can ever hope and knowing Him intimately in Spirit and Truth.

    

Knowing God Lesson 1

      John8:19(Amp) says, "Then they said to [Jesus], Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered; You know My Father as little as you know Me, if you knew Me, you would know My Father also."

     Many in the Body of Christ today, have different understandings about our Heavenly Father.  Some still see Him as He operated among those under the Law and the old covenant, while others see Him as ignoring His Word and doing whatever He wants to do, because He is God.  Some see Him as using hard circumstance, trials and sickness, to teach and correct His new covenant family.  Some see Him as being the One Who is responsible for all the chaos, sickness, disease, trials and heartache we see around us.

     God's Church should be asking the same question the disciples did in the above scripture.  We should be saying, "Show us the Father."  It's difficult to walk in God's will and Grace, when we don't know what His will is and what His Grace mean for our lives.  The Father reveals Himself through Jesus.  Jesus says on multiple occasions, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father."  How can we say we know Jesus, yet still believe that the Father is the Author of the sickness, trials and heartache among His family?  Many religious teachings have caused God's children to be double-minded and uncertain about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  If we don't know Him, His purpose and will in our lives, then we will no longer trust in His Word.

     How can we believe that God is our Healer, if we think He's the One Who put sickness on us, in order the teach or correct us?  Jesus made a profound statement in John6:63(Amp), where He 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 (Truths), that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."

     We seem to forget that we're now born-again by the Spirit and our Heavenly Father deals with us, by and through the Spirit.  Jesus said that, "The Words I speak to you are Spirit and Life."  How does a Spirit Father teach, correct, discipline and train up a spirit child?  2Tim.3:16-17(Amp) says, "Every scripture is God-breathed, given by His Inspiration, and profitable for instruction, reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."

     God teaches us how to know and walk in His will and purpose, by His Word and Spirit.  We blame God for so many of the bad things in our lives on God.  This is nothing more than giving satan and unbelief free reign in our lives.  This is because we haven't known our Father and His Heart.  It must hurts God's Heart to hear His Own children, the ones He gave Jesus for, "God is the problem and not the answer."  We've allowed the world and enemy to determine the Person of God to us, instead of God's Word and His Spirit.  We still see Him from the old covenant, instead of the new covenant we've been born-again into.

     In James1:22-23, James, by the Holy Spirit, writes about those who look into the Perfect Law of Liberty, the Word of God, and see who God has made them to be, but then go away from it and forget who they really are.  This is what so many new creation people of God have done.  We see in God's Word, that we are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus and sons and daughter of the Most High God."  We see that we are no longer sinners, but righteous and holy in His sight.  We see that we have access to God anytime and that we've been redeemed from the Curse and are now under the Blessing.  We can see ourselves in the Mirror of the Perfect Law of Liberty, the Word of God, then put down our Bibles and forget what we look like in God's eyes.

     Jesus didn't leave us like we were before being born-again by the Word of God.  He created us in His Own Likeness and Image.  We see what God has done on our behalf, but we're afraid to believe it, because we don't want to appear proud or self-righteous.  We're not made righteous by our own efforts, but we're made to be righteous through Jesus.  When we refuse to believe what Jesus has actually done for us, then we're like those in the Wilderness who refused to enter the Promised Land.  The Holy Spirit cautions us in Heb.3:12(Amp), to "Abstain from the heart of unbelief, like those in the Wilderness, because this limited God in their lives."  This same unbelief will limit what God is able to do for and through us today. 

Seeing The Father Lesson 4

     John14:8-9(Amp) tells us, "Phillip said to [Jesus], Lord show us the Father (cause us to see the Father), that is all we ask, then we will be satisfied. Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Phillip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?"

     Along with the other disciples, Phillip could physically Jesus, walk with Him, speak with Him and know Him as a Man Who performed miracles, but he couldn't see or know the True Identity of the Spirit and the Father, because he couldn't see into or by the Spirit.  In John6:63(Amp) Jesus says, "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."

     Today, can we really know Jesus and the Father better than those who walked with Jesus then?  The answer is, "Yes."  Many of us feel that we could believe and have more faith in our lives, if we could have physically walked with Jesus.  The disciples walked with Jesus only in the sense realm and by the carnal, natural senses.  They were only "with Him."  We are now made to be one Spirit with Christ and living in Him.  Wishing to see Jesus in order to believe, means we're only knowing Him by our natural senses and seeing Him only like the disciples did, by the flesh and carnal realm.

     Paul writes about coming to know Jesus more intimately and deeply, by the Power of the Out-flowing of His Resurrection and by the Spirit, in Phil.3:10(Amp), saying, "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him), perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the Power out-flowing from His Resurrection which it exerts over believers that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His Likeness, even to His death, in the hope That if possible I may attain to the Spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body."

     Through our new creation person and in the spirit, we can actually know Jesus better and more intimately than those who walked with Him, while He was living in His flesh and blood Body.  We have the privilege of living with and in Him, by our new creation person in the spirit.  God's Word is Spirit and Life and Light in our lives.  It tells us that God's Word and Jesus are the Same Person.  The Father and Son speak to us by the Holy Spirit, not to the carnal persons Jesus spoke to then, but directly One on one, in person and into our new creation spirit.

     For some reason, when we speak to God's Church about the Super-natural, they only see the dark side of it.  We've been born of a Super-natural realm, by a Super-natural Father Who is Spirit.  We're born into the Super-natural, by a Super-natural Word or Seed.  The realm of the dark side of what we call "super-natural," can only be explained by the same carnal realm that satan continues trying to rule.  Things the enemy tries bringing upon mankind by his realm of darkness, is manifested by what we can see, feel, hear, smell or taste.  It deals with the carnal man and woman, by his/her senses.

     We see things move, hear things that go bump in the night, we feel things that give us goosebumps, we smell sulfur and are touched by the taste of fear.  It is all manifest in the natural realm and not the spiritual.  Think about the stories told about the dark side of this life, like haunted houses.  They know it's haunted, because they have seen or heard strange things.  Some swear they smell dark spirits.  Satan functions in the natural realm and once he brings us to be fearful, he can begin moving deeper into the realm of our flesh and soul.  He enters into our emotions and mental abilities, until we become captive in these natural bodies.  

     Our Heavenly Father deals with our spirit, which is now alive in Him and is able to discern Truth from lies.  He is capable of touching our flesh by the Power of the Holy Spirit, like those in the Upper Room, like the sound of the mighty win and flames upon their heads.  He doesn't do these things, in order to show off.  Those in the Upper Room were born-again and went forth in the Spirit to lay hands on the sick and preach the Gospel, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in their spirit.

     If the Church today was simply led by signs and wonders like those under the first covenant, then it wouldn't produce more.  How long did those in the Wilderness remember the signs that led them out of Egyptian bondage, before they didn't "mix it with faith," moving by the flesh instead of the spirit?  Their lack of faith resulted in their never entering the Promised Land.  If we will only believe by seeing signs, then we could be led by signs from the enemy, as well as from on High.  We have a better way to know Jesus, by His Spirit and His Word, than those who walked with Him in His flesh.  We can know Him spirit to Spirit, because we've been made God's children in His Own Image and Likeness, after His Seed Who is Jesus, the Word.

         

Seeing the Father Lesson 3

     So few of today's Christians know Jesus as He really is.  Jesus' disciples only knew Him after the flesh and not the Spirit, before His death and Resurrection.  They could only know Him as a Man, by their five senses.  After His Resurrection, they could truly know Him as He is.  Jesus' flesh was a veil that covered His Spirit and prevented them from seeing Him as He truly was, until after His Resurrection.

     From the beginning, Jesus was and still is, the Word of God.  Gen.1 says that until God spoke the Word, nothing "became."  John1:1-3,14(Amp) 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."  Verse14 continues, saying, "And the Word, Christ, became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled, fixed His tent of flesh and lived awhile among us; and we actually saw His Glory, His Honor, His Majesty, such Glory as an only begotten Son receives from His Father, full of Grace, favor, Loving Kindness and Truth."

     We don't read about Paul meeting Jesus, until his encounter on the Road to Damascus.  Acts9:3-6(Amp) tells us that, "Saul, had an encounter with Jesus that changed his entire life and mission in life."  This encounter wasn't just a physical one, but one by the Light and Spirit of Jesus Himself.  Paul wrote about this experience in 2Cor.12;3-5, where he met Jesus in the "third heaven."  Paul wrote to the Church, about the Revelation he received from Jesus Himself.  Peter referred to Paul's letters in 2Peter3:15-16(Amp), saying, "And consider the long suffering of our Lord (His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world), is salvation (that which is conducive to the soul's safety), even as our beloved Paul also wrote to you according to the Spiritual insight given him Speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in those Epistles of Paul that are difficult to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own utter destruction, just as they distort and misinterpret the rest of the scriptures."

     Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia in Gal.1:11-12(Amp), saying, "For I want you to know brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me is not man's gospel (a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard) For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a Divine Revelation given by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."

     Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth in 2Cor.5:18(Amp), saying, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view, in terms of natural standards of value. No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now, we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."  This is a radical statement to make, unless Paul knew Jesus now in His Spirit, more than as a Man.  Most of us still see Jesus more after the four Gospels and as a Man, than we do after the Spirit.  We fail to see the total fulfillment of our salvation and the Glory of the Gospel of Christ, by doing this.

     Peter had trouble receiving the messages Paul preached, because they were so different from what they knew of Jesus.  They only knew Jesus by the flesh, knowing the flesh was still under the Law and was confined to one place at a time.  Through Jesus' Resurrection and the Holy Spirit, we can be in this world having Revelation knowledge, along with the Power and Authority in and by Jesus' Name.

     The twelve disciples could only deal with Jesus in the flesh, by what they could see, hear, feel, taste and smell.  Paul knew Him only in the Spirit.  Jesus asked Peter in Matt.16:16(Amp), "Who do you think I am and Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  Peter went onto deny Christ in Matt.26:72(Amp), which says, "And again he denied it and disowned Him with an oath, saying, I do not know the Man."  Peter still only knew Jesus by the five senses.

     We mostly refer to the four Gospels, when thinking about Jesus' Words, when Paul's Epistles are also His Words now in the fullness of Who Jesus is now, instead of before the cross.  Before the cross, Jesus spoke to people who were under the Law and not born-again yet.  He couldn't disclose the fullness of God's Plan, lest satan should hear and try stopping the Plan.  Jesus spoke in Parables and "Hidden Truths."  They followed Jesus only in the five senses and couldn't see Him beyond the veil of His flesh.  Jesus repeatedly said, "It is the Father in me that does the work."  They couldn't see into His Spirit and His True Identity, but we can now do this.  

Seeing the Father Lesson 2

    Jesus says in John14:7,17(Amp), "If you had known Me (had learned to recognize Me), you would also have know My Father. From now on you know Him and have seen Him."  Jesus goes on to speak about the Holy Spirit, Who was working in and through Him, in Verse 17, saying, "The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you constantly and will be in you."

     How can we know and see the Father?  Only by God's Word and His Spirit.  John5:19(Amp) tells us, "So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His Own Accord): but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way in His turn."

     So when we have seen Jesus, are we are seeing the Father?  Yes, but not the flesh and blood Man, but the Spirit Who is living and giving Life to the flesh and blood Man.  Like Jesus' disciples, we have trouble seeing the Father, because we still see a flesh and blood Man, instead of the Spirit of the Father.  John4:24(Amp) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  Jesus prayed in John17:17(Amp), "Sanctify them, purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy by the Truth, YOUR WORD IS TRUTH."

     To worship in the Spirit and Truth, is to know the Father, in and by the Spirit and by His Word.  Gen.1:26(Amp) reads, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image (after Our Own Likeness)."  Jesus said that we are created new and made in the Image of our Father.  It's not our flesh that was made new, but the Spirit that makes us able to "see" the Father.

     Everything that Jesus did as a flesh and blood Man, was done by the Father Who was in Him.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you have see the Father."  Jesus wasn't saying that when we see His flesh and blood body, but by the works of the Father within Him.  We still ourselves and others, more by the flesh and blood, instead of by the Father within us.  When we do this, we limit ourselves from seeing and doing the work of the Holy Spirit, Who is the True Life and Image of the Father in us, just like He was in Jesus.

     "What do you see when I say Jesus?"  Do you see the letters that spell the Name J E S U S?  Do you see the Man from Galilee, Who walked on the water?  Do you see the Man dying on the cross?  Or, do you see beyond the veil of the flesh and the grave, into the Spirit of the Risen Christ?  Do you see Him now through the Revelation that He gave the Apostle Paul in letters written to God's people in His Word, which is Truth? 

     God doesn't look like flesh, but is a Spirit.  What color is a spirit?  What sex is a spirit?  Is it short or tall?  Is it something we can see or is it made in God's Image and Likeness?  A spirit is a Spirit being of God Himself now living in us that we must see by His Word and by the Revelation through His Word.  When the people looked at Jesus, they could only focus on His humanity, instead of seeing the Father by the works.

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "That now we have such knowledge of Jesus, that we know Him no longer after the flesh."  Does this contradict what we think or believe about Him?  Through this Revelation from the Holy Spirit, Paul is simply saying that "We now, by the Holy Spirit and the Word, can have a better relationship with Jesus than His disciples had when He was on earthly and in His flesh.  We can know the Father in the Power of Jesus' Resurrection.  We can come into His Presence and into His Throne Room of Grace, without anything to hinder us, because we've been made righteous by the Spirit and have been created and made "One Spirit in the Lord."

     We still live in flesh and blood bodies, but now the spirits living in our bodies have been created new, after the Image and Likeness of our Father God.  The only way to understand this, is by the Spirit and Truth, by Revelation through God's Word.  The Father is looking for people who will worship Him, not by man-made religion and tradition.  The Father created us new, made us His sons and daughters who know Him by His Spirit and His Word.  We are to know the Father Spirit-by-spirit, as His Own Redeemed and Blood bought children, who have come home to Him by conquest and Love.

     Do we then not see Jesus?  Of course we stills see Him, but not just as a Man, but after the Father Who moved through Him and did the miracles, signs and wonders.  The Father did these through a man, Who was totally subject to the Spirit, according to John3:34(Amp), which says, "For He Whom God has sent speaks only God's Word; God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit.."  It was God in Him by His Spirit. 

Seeing the Father Lesson 1

     In John4:23-24(Amp) Jesus says, "A time will come, however is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."

     The Father is seeking people who worship in Spirit and Truth, but how do we do so?  Jesus went on in John6:45-6(Amp), saying, "It is written in the Book of the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God (have Him in Person for their Teacher). Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to Me. Which does not imply that anyone has ever seen Him except He Who was with the Father Who comes from God; He Alone has seen the Father."

     We're born-again and know we're born of the Spirit, but we still haven't seen the Father with our natural eyes or senses.  It would be awesome if we could have actually walked with and seen Jesus, like His disciples did.  We read in John14:8-9(Amp), "Phillip said to [Jesus], Lord, show us the Father (cause us to see the Father)-that is all that we ask; then we will be satisfied. Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time and do you not recognize and know Me yet Phillip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How then can you say, show us the Father?"

     The disciples saw Jesus wrapped in flesh, as a Man, but couldn't see beyond the flesh into the Spirit.  God is Spirit.  Would we have been able to recognize Him and the Father in Him?  Do we still seek to see and believe by what we feel and after the things in the physical world, instead of the Truth of God's Word?  After His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples, where we read about His encounter with Thomas in John20:28-29(Amp), which says, "Thomas, answered Him. My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, Thomas, do you now believe (trust, have faith)? Blessed and happy and to be envied are those who have never seen Me and yet have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied) on Me."

     How do those of us who have never seen Jesus, trust and rely on the Father?  We do so by seeking Him, by and through the Word and Spirit, according to Jesus' teaching in John6:63(Amp).  Thus, He says, "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."

     Most of us would love to touch Him, see Him and hear Jesus speak to us, like the people did during His earthly ministry, but God's Word says that we have a better relationship with Him now, than those people did.  How can this be?  We are now new creation spirits, by the new birth.  God is a Spirit and we are spirit. God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

     Jesus is "the Word made flesh," but the flesh only covered the Spirit of God's Word.  Everything Jesus did, He did by the Spirit within Him, Who is none other than God Himself.  John3:34(Amp) tells us, "For since He Whom God sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own Message). God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit."

     Jesus repeatedly said, "It is not Me but the Father in Me that does the work."  We keep seeing Him by His flesh, but it was the unseen Spirit within Him, Who did all the works.  The people couldn't see the Spirit, but only His flesh, so they couldn't recognize the Father when seeing Jesus.  We doubt God's Word of healing and/or deliverance today, because we want to "see" before we can believe.  Jesus said that, "The Words I speak to you are Spirit and Truth (reality)."  Do we believe the Spirit and Truth or do we still need to see God with our natural eyes?  The One Whom God sent (Jesus) only spoke God's Word, so God gave Him the Spirit without measure, according to John3:34.

     The Holy Spirit wrote through Paul in 2Cor.5:16-17(Amp), "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, Even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint (as a Man), yet now we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     As the new creation family of God, we don't see Him as the Man from Nazareth, or the Man on Calvary's cross or as the Man in the tomb, but by the Word and the Spirit.  We see Him as the Resurrected Lord of All creation and exalted High Above the heavens and earth.  We see Him by the Word, which is Spirit and by Truth, which is His Word.  We have a better relationship than the flesh and carnal mind could ever have.  He lives in us and we live in Him.  We have become one Spirit with the Lord Himself.  We must learn to see God by His Word and by faith in His Truth.  If we wait until see Him in our flesh, then we're exhibiting unbelief and lack of faith in God's Word.

Lesson 1 The New You in Him

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether). The old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     1John3:2(Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed, made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."

     1Peter1:23(Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."

     John4:24(Amp) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  Jesus goes on in John6:63(Amp) saying, "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."

     Col.2:9-10(Amp) says, "For in Him the whole Fullness of Deity (the God-Head) continues to dwell in bodily form giving complete expression of the Divine nature, And you are in Him made full and having come to fullness of Life in Christ, you too are filled with the God Head (Father-Son and Holy Spirit) and reach full Spiritual stature. And He is the Head of all rule and authority of every angelic principality and power."

     These are just a few scriptures that reveal who we've become now, by being born of the Seed of God.  The Law of Genesis is given in Gen.1:11-12(Amp) which says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind upon the earth. The earth brought forth vegetables; plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to it's kind; and God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable), and He approved it."

     This Law is still true today and everything bears after kind, by the seed.  Corn seed only brings forth corn, the seed of a horse always brings a horse, acorns will only produce Oak trees, monkeys only bring forth monkeys and the species of man, will only bring forth mankind.  God's Word is Seed and that Seed will only bring forth after Kind.  The above scripture tells us that, "God is Spirit."  God's Seed will only bring forth spirit people, who are made in His Image and after His Kind.  The new you is your spirit.  God deals with His children now, by our spirit.

     Many of us have put off the idea of actually being made whole, for when we go to Heaven, but the Truth is that we've been born into the Kingdom now.  We still see ourselves more after the flesh and the world's way of seeing and knowing ourselves, rather than after the birth rights we have in Christ Jesus.  We still believe God deals with us, like He did those under the Law, by the flesh and in natural terms.  Those under the Law weren't born-again by the Seed to produce after Kind.  They were born by the seed of Adam, who was dead in trespass and sin.  We've been born from death unto Life, by the Super-natural Seed of God's Word, Jesus.  God is now our Father and deals with, guides and corrects us through our spirit, by His Word and not the flesh.

     Things arise in our natural bodies that bring trials and even death, but many of them are self-inflicted, because we don't know who or what we really are and how we're to walk with God in the Spirit and His Word.  We've been brought up in religion, so we don't know how to walk in reality.  We still see ourselves as being unworthy and sinners, instead of seeing ourselves as God has made and birthed us to be in Christ Jesus.

     We've believed that the things Jesus has done for us, are for when we get to Heaven, instead of walking by the Spirit while we're here now.  We're born of and by the Super-natural Seed of God, produced through a Super-natural Father, and produced after Kind by God's Word, Jesus.  Luke1:14(Amp) says, "And the Word (Seed) Christ became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed) His tent of flesh, lives awhile among us, and we actually saw His Glory, His Honor, His Majesty, such Glory as an Only Begotten Son receives from His father, full of Grace, favor, Loving Kindness and Truth."

     Jesus, the Word was made flesh, in order to identify with earthly man and to die in our place.  Adam brought death to mankind and Jesus was to die for mankind, in order to restore us back to God.  He gave us Life once more, through and in our spirit.  This is the new you.  Man was responsible for sin and death, so a Man Who was without sin needed to die as a Sacrifice, to restore us back to God.  Jesus has become the Seed, according to Gal.3:16(Amp), which says, "Now the Promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (offspring, His Heirs), He God, does not say, and to seeds, (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, and to your Seed (Descendant, Your Heir), obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ (the Messiah)."  We've been born from and are joint heirs with Christ Jesus, the Messiah.

    

Developing the New Creation Lesson 97

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."  There are many things involved in developing the new creation God has made, some of which we never think about, but make a big difference.  There have been many teachings about watching what we say, but some believe this is foolishness.  Jesus said in Mark11:23(Amp), "Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him."

     Jesus didn't say that the mountain will obey what we say, but He tells us that, "Whatever you say and do not doubt but believe, will come to pass."  How many would like all the things we say, including the good and bad, come to pass?  Do we truly believe that the mountain will move?  Or are we believing that, "I doubt I can have whatever I say?"

     We're living in a "Woke" world, that tells us what we can say and what is politically correct.  If we speak out of turn, then we're cancelled, removed from media sites, and sometimes fired from our jobs.  This isn't about politics, but about freedom.  Today's churches aren't allowed to speak out about ungodly things happening in our nation.  Paul writes to the Church in Rom.12:2(Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age); fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed (changed by the entire renewal of your mind), by it's new ideals and it's 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."

     The things happening in today's world, are Spiritual and not political.  Americans stand to either choose freedom or free stuff.  If we comply with the ungodly mandates and orders from our political class, then we will receive free stuff, while losing our freedom.  Is God still our Source or is the ungodly government our source?  God instructs us in Prov.22:6(Amp), saying, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and in keeping with his individual gift or bent, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

     There is a struggle happening in our nation, between parents who believe they should have a say about what their children are trained up in and those who believe they should be trained by the woke culture, with it's beliefs.  We must not allow this age and it's woke culture, to train up our children and cancel all that God's done in and for this nation.  This is totally against what God's Word and His Spirit says.  We're not allowed to say, "Merry Christmas," but "Happy Holidays.' today, so we don't offend anyone.  

     If we remove and cancel the things God has done in the founding of our nation, then the next generation won't remember the covenant our founders made with God.  Our founding fathers weren't without fault, no one is, but God could and did use them to establish a nation that He designed.  America has lost sight of the Blessing God pronounced on us, trying to become like other nations.  God's people have never and will never, be like everyone else.  We are a new creation people, made in God's Image and Likeness.

     The ungodly have noticed how there is power in the words we speak.  That's what cancel culture and political correctness are about.  I'm amazed that God's Church has awakened to this revelation.  The entire planet is controlled by the words we speak, but we believe that what we say is "of no avail."  We submit to the world and watch what we say, but refuse to submit to the Power of God's Word in our speech.  If we speak contrary to the world, then we're cancelled and silenced.  Jesus Christ is the Word and will never be cancelled!  Rev.12:11(Amp) says, "They overcame by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony."  

     Psalm12:2-4(Amp) says, "To his neighbor each one speaks words without use or worth or truth; with flattering lips and double heart, deceitfully they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongues that speak proud boasting. Those who say, With out tongues we prevail; our lips are our own to command at our will-who is lord and master over us?"

     God's Church is supposed to be a Light to the world and salt to the earth.  Salt is a preservative that prevents things from spoiling and decaying.  Sugar cured ham isn't cured by the sugar, but by salt.  Without the Church, the earth is bound to be rotten and in decay.  Jesus gave the Great Commission, telling His followers to, "Go into all the world, preaching the Gospel or Good News and bringing others to salvation."  God's Church can't allow the ungodly things of the world, to be mixed with the things of God.  Our nation will be saved and restored by the Promise and integrity of God, but we have a part to play in this too.  Heb.5:14(Amp) says, "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 even and contrary either to Divine or human law."  Some human laws are contrary to the Divine Laws of God's Word.  

Developing the New Creation Lesson 96

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."

     We became new creations, the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  The fresh and new "HAS COME," not will come in the future.  It's of upmost importance that we go to God's Word to see how we're to live and function in this new spirit man/woman, while we're here in these natural bodies.  We can also watch those who've gone before us, in order to learn who we've been made to be in Jesus Christ.

     When looking at Jesus' life and earthly ministry, we can see what God's will for both Him and us.  If Jesus was doing it, then it must be God's will to do it.  If healing wasn't God's will, then Jesus wasn't in God's will when He healed people.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father" and "It's not Me, but the Father in Me that does the work."  Many seem confused as to what God's will is for His people.  The Holy Spirit is always speaking and leading the child of God, but we must listen to His Voice.

     Many don't recognize the Voice of the Holy Spirit, because they don't know God's Word.  The Holy Spirit will always refer to the Word and will never contradict it.  Everything He speaks to us, will always line-up with the Word.  1John5:7-8(Amp) says, "So there are three witnesses in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these are One. And there are three witnesses on the earth: the Spirit, the water and the Blood; and these three are in union: their testimony coincides."

     The Holy Spirit will never direct us to do anything that isn't from the Father or doesn't line-up with His Word.  The Blood is one of the witnesses in the earth and is the Truth of the covenant and the Authority and dominion of our Sacrifice Lamb that provides protection from the destroyer.  If we don't understand the Blood and covenant, then we can only hope that things in this life will work out.  We can't put much faith in something we don't have knowledge of.  Many only hope and believe that prayer is like playing The Lottery, taking a chance that something will happen.

     Many have lost confidence and faith in prayer and the Super-natural things of God, because they don't know God's Word and His Promise.  The one scripture we thankfully place faith in, is "All who call upon the Lord, shall be saved," but aren't the rest of God's Promises just as True?  We can't only rely on what others tell us are God's Promises, but we must know the Truth for ourselves.  2Cor.1:18-19(Amp) says, "As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes that might mean No. For the Son of God (Christ Jesus, the Messiah), Who has been preached among you us, by myself (Paul), Silvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No: but in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes Answer in Christ. For that reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency to the Glory of God."

     Do we know what God's Promises are and believe and put faith in them, as quickly as we believe in His Great Promise of salvation and being born-again?  We've never allowed our faith to grow in the other Promises, because we haven't been taught to believe in the Super-natural Presence of our covenant.  Our Father Promised more than just going to Heaven when we die.  God Promised that we'd be a new creation people and sons and daughters of His Own Seed, when we receive Jesus.

     When we put faith in this Promise, we become new creation children of God.  All of God's Promises are just as sure.  Paul writes in Rom.1:17(Amp), "For in the Gospel a Righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith, that arouses to more faith). As it is written; The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."  We were dead in sin and trespasses, but are now alive and living by faith in Christ Jesus and the Promise of God's Word.

     One of God's Promises is that we have been made Righteous, by our faith in Christ Jesus.  Do you truly believe you are righteous in God's eyes, by faith in that Promise?  Or, do you still deny that, quoting Rom.3:10(Amp), which says, "As it is written; None are righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no not one?"  If you haven't received the Promise of Righteousness, then read Rom.1:22(Amp) which says, "But now, the Righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law; although it is attested to by the Law and the prophets. Namely, the Righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confidence, reliance on Christ Jesus the Messiah, and is meant for all who believe, for there is no distinction."

     This is one of God's Promises that is "Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus, to the Glory of God."  Do you believe what God says about you or do you believe what others say?  Do we believe this Promise, as quickly as we believe in salvation and forgiveness?  This is going from faith to faith in God's Promises.  It isn't being prideful to believe that we've been made righteous by Jesus' Righteousness.  This is the Promise of the new creation.  We were created in Righteousness, when we received Jesus and His Own Righteousness.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 95

      2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."

     Wondering why I've spent so much attention on this particular topic?  Every child born, either in the natural or the Spirit, comes into this world without knowledge of life or things that pertain to life.  Every child, both natural and Spiritual, must learn to walk and conduct our lives by what and how they learn.  If we learn things that are wrong, then we will walk in those things.  The outcome of adulthood and the progress we gain, depend on how and what we learn.

     Prov.22:6(Amp) says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and in keeping with his individual gift or bend, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  If we train ourselves in God's Word, then we will trust and walk with Him as we grow into Spiritual maturity.  Our Spiritual walk will direct our natural walk, when we train ourselves by God's Word.  We will either learn to lean on God and His way of doing and being right, or we will learn on the world's ideas, with it's religious traditions and customs.

     Raising a child in a home filled with double-standards, will cause indifference in that child's heart, which he/she teaches to the next generation.  If we just attend church on Sunday and live another way the rest of the week, then we're training ourselves and our children that's it's proper to be indifferent about our walk with God.  It's difficult to turn a heart that has been raised and trained up like this, because it's become an established part of that person's life.  David writes in Psalm119:113(Amp), "I hate the thoughts of the undecided in religion (double-minded people), but Your Law (Word) do I love."  David confesses to not living by what he tells others.  He tells us not to copy his actions, but just obey what he says.  

     Many today have been trained to walk with God, just like this.  We attend church on Sunday, while not paying attention to the Lord until the next Sunday.  Most of us haven't been trained to take God at His Word and trust in Him, so we raised our children to do the same.  Many Christians ridicule those who seek to walk with God in a greater way, calling us "fanatics, Word people or faith people."  God is raising believers in the Power of His Word, who refuse to walk according to the religious dictates of the world.

     Most Christians only know what our denomination has taught us, without searching God's Word and His will for ourselves.  They are saved and born-again, but don't see the need to go beyond what they've been taught.  They are still in the infant stage of the walk with God, because they haven't searched God's Word and received the knowledge of their new creation identity. 

     Knowing the Father by what others have taught us, isn't true fellowship with Him.  Jesus said that, "My sheep know My Voice."  It's up to every individual child of God to build their own relationship with the Father.  We're to be in fellowship and close companionship with the Lord, so we hear when He speaks and can follow His instructions.  Many say, "God doesn't speak to me," but Jesus says this isn't so.  It's not a matter of God not speaking, but we're not listening or hearing.

     Some view God's Word as being like magic and that things will simply come to pass with a certain hand movement or word.  It requires time in God's Word for us to receive the knowledge of who we've become in Christ, to trust  in Who He really is, and to rest in what He has Promised in His Word.  It's not magic, but trust and assurance in God's faithfulness, that builds our relationship with Him.  If we don't know His Word and covenant, then we won't know what to put faith in when we pray.  Sadly, many ignore God and His Word, until a crisis arises in our lives.  Then we try building enough faith to receive a miracle.

    Many Christians have left the reading and studying of God's Word, to their preachers and ministers.  This has been one of the biggest mistakes in Christianity.  We don't believe we're called to the ministry, so we don't feel compelled to study God's Word for ourselves.  If we believed that studying math was the teacher's job in school, then we probably couldn't balance our checkbooks.  Teachers are charged with bringing forth the application of math in our lives and the student's job is to apply what we've been taught, so we can count.

     How often do we take the lesson taught in Church and study the scriptures until we know the Truth of God's Word for ourselves?  Our math teachers gave us math books and homework, that furthered what they taught.  What would society be like if only teachers were taught to read?  Can you imagine the chaos that resulted because drivers couldn't read road signs?

     A disciples is a student.  Jesus said in Matt.28:19(Amp), "Go then and make disciples of all nations."  Disciples are students who learned what Jesus taught about our Heavenly Father and how God's Kingdom functions here on earth, applying His Name to bring others into His Kingdom.  There's never been a rocket scientist who can't read or count for him/herself.  They must know how to read and count, in order to achieve this title.

Developing the New Creation Lesson 94

     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come." 

    Sadly, few believers understand that we are God's children, who are already Blessed with every Spiritual Blessing and that the old things have truly passed away.  If we don't spend time in God's Word like we should, then we will fail to understand that Jesus bought and paid for our complete deliverance on the cross. 

     James1:2-4(Amp) says, "Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith brings out endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects, lacking in nothing."

     Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark4:15,27-29(Amp), saying, "The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."  2Tim.2:6(Amp) says, "It is the hard working farmer who labors to produce who must be the first partaker of the fruits."  Jesus continued His Parable in Verses27-29, saying, "The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground and then continues sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases-he knows not how. The earth produces acting by itself-first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe and permits, immediately he sends forth the reapers and puts in the sickle because the harvest stands ready."

     Jesus said that, "The Word is like Seed sown in the ground."  The Seed is God's Word and the ground or soil, is the spirit of man.  It takes times for the seed to produce a harvest in a natural garden.  We plant many seeds like corn, beans, squash, knowing that it takes time for the seeds to produce a harvest.  We continue "sleeping and rising night and day, while the seed sprouts and grows and increases, knowing not how."

     James writes about the patience of sleeping and rising, while the seed brings forth it's fruit, in the above scripture.  In the natural, many gardeners put fences around our gardens, because animals and birds try to eat the seeds we've planted.  In the Spirit, we have an adversary who "comes at once, and by force takes away the Message sown into people's hearts."  Satan tries to steal the Seed, before we put faith in God's Word and receive the fruit of our labor.  Timothy writes about the hard working farmer who labors to produce and must be the first partaker of the fruits.

     We too easily give up on the Seed of God's Word, which produces after kind.  1Pet.1:23(Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  Is.61:11(Amp) says, "For as surely as the earth brings forth it's shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring forth, so surely the Lord God will cause Righteousness and justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations through the self-fulfilling Power of His Word."

     Nothing can stop the Seed of God's Word from bringing forth whatever the Word says.  The same "self-fulfilling Power" that brings forth the Seed or Word of salvation, will bring forth the Seed or Word of healing.  The hard working farmer can sow whatever Seed is needed, into our born-again hearts (spirits) and it will bring forth a harvest.

     The Apostles James and Mark both write about how the enemy tries to dig up the Seed of God's Word, before it brings forth a harvest.  Many think that, "It must not work for me," but Mark says that we "sow, sleep, and rise day and night, while the seed produces, while we know not how."  The same "self-fulfilling Power" that holds the universe in it's place, is working in us today.

     The Seeds of healing, peace, righteousness, and fellowship with the Father, all "produce after kind," according to the Law of Genesis.  The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write in 1Cor.3:9(Amp), saying, "For we are fellow workers (joint promoters, laborers), together with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, you are God's building."  The Seed that God planted through Jesus, is now the family God Planned in the beginning.  It's the self-fulfilling Power in that Seed (Jesus, the Word) that has brought forth and is still providing the harvest today.

     Satan comes immediately to try to steal the Seed sown in our hearts, because if he can't take it away, then the Seed will produce by it's self-fulfilling Power.  Once we've received the Seed and keep it in our hearts, then we can "Count it all joy."  Why would we do that?  Because we know that if the enemy is out to stop it, then we know he's fearful of the harvest coming to the hard working farmer.  When we know that nothing can stop the Seed and harvest, then satan knows he's defeated in our lives.  Satan is the Seed eater, so we must stand firmly in faith, with the Seed of God's Word in our lives.     

Developing the New Creation Lesson 93

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     2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come.

     Paul writes to the Church (including us), in Rom.12:2(Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external (superficial) customs, but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and it's 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."  

     Paul understood that before we were born-again, our lives were fashioned and formed by the world, without God.  We had functioned by our senses and emotions, instead of by God's Word and His Spirit.  Our senses and emotions can't conceive or understand the Spiritual things of God's Kingdom.  The only way to understand Spiritual things, is by the Spirit.  Jesus told His followers in John6:63(Amp), "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."

     We can read God's Word without having the Spiritual Revelation of the Truth, not understanding they are Spirit and Life.  Most opinions about God and His Word, have come from what Paul describes in the above scripture as the "external, superficial customs of man."  Many rituals and religious traditions that we've been taught, have very little to do with the new creation man/woman of God.

     Many only see God as being angry and often displeased at the new man/woman He has created.  Many too, believe that God spends much of His time putting sickness and hardships on us, in order to teach us how to do right.  We must truly understand that God has created us in Righteousness and that He sees us that way.  We try making ourselves righteous enough to deserve God's Goodness, without understanding that He has already made us righteous and that His Goodness has already been given to us to enjoy.

     Through faith in Jesus, we've already become new creation beings, without sin or the remembrance of sin, in God's eyes.  The world would have us live like we are still sinners and need to try becoming good enough to deserve God's Grace.  We have already become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.  God has given us our inheritance to enjoy, but it must come into the new creation person, by Revelation from His Word and the Holy Spirit, not by the carnal way of man's thinking.

     Prov.4:7(Amp) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom, skillful and Godly Wisdom. For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation)."  We became new creations, when we were born-again and whether or not we know it, we received Wisdom.  1Cor.1:30(Amp) says, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of Salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from eternal penalty for sin."

     God says that, "Wisdom is the principal thing" and Jesus is our Wisdom from God.  We've been given Wisdom by God, but lack the Revelation and discernment that Proverbs tells us will bring us understanding.  This was all provided for and to us, when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but we haven't understood it.  God instructs us in the above scripture, saying, "With all that you have gotten, get understanding."  If we don't understand the Spirit and Truth of God's Word, then we will lack understanding and fail to receive what our Heavenly Father has provided for us.  We will fall into the "external and superficial customs" of man and miss out on the inheritance given us, through Jesus.

     We don't strive to earn this.  This is an inheritance God's new creation family receives, by faith in the Finished Work of Jesus.  An inheritance is something that another has obtained by their life's labor and then leave to those he/she loves.  Gal.3:14-16(Amp) tells us, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentile, so that we, through faith might receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit. To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, if even a man makes a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified, confirmed). Now the Promises (covenants, agreements), were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir)."  God doesn't say that it was given to "his seeds, descendants," as if to many persons, but says, "And to your Seed, your Descendant, your Heir," obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ Jesus, the Messiah.  Rom.8:16-17(Amp) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also, heirs of God and fellow, joint heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."

     Jesus' suffering was denying Himself, so we could gain Him.  In order to deny ourselves, we must renew our minds by God's Word and Spirit, and following what the Spirit says, at all costs.  Jesus needed to get Himself off His mind and putting us on His mind, in order to go to the cross for us.  We're new creation children of the Most High God, heirs of God and part of His family.  We must renew our minds to the Spirit, so we can carry out His will for our lives.  If we remain carnal minded, having only ourselves on our minds, then we will be taking the easy road, instead of the one that doesn't require self- denial.