Lesson 6 The Condition of the Heart

    Proverbs 17:22 (Amplified) says that, "A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."
     Hebrews 9:14 (Amplified) says, "How much more surely shall the Blood of Christ, Who by virtue of (His) eternal Spirit (His Own pre-existent, divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (Ever) living God?"
     In order to have a happy heart and a cheerful mind, our conscience must be purified from all of our own efforts to redeem ourselves.  All of the things that the Law required (even if we could do them all) wouldn't purify our conscience.  We were still sinners and we still knew it.  Even all the good works wouldn't make as clean in God's eyes.  No matter how tried or what we did, we couldn't change that.  Even so, we try to impress God with our deeds and works.  If something goes wrong, then we don't receive our healing or for some reason we don't feel our prayers are answered, then we try reading the Word more, praying more or giving more in order to get God to move on our behalf.
     The only way to a happy heart and a cheerful mind is to look to the other side of the cross.  We see ourselves as sinners who need a Savior to deliver us on this side of the cross.  But, once we realize we have a Savior Who paid the price for our redemption, we're to be grateful and thankful He set us free from the Law of sin and death.  We should be cheerful and thankful that we are free and we should learn to walk in that.
     On this side of the cross, I did with Him, I was buried with Him and I was set free by Him.  Now, I need to learn how to walk on the other side of the cross and live with Him.  Jesus didn't suffer through what He suffered through to leave us in our fallen state.  There was also Jesus' resurrection according to Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, Since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us (grasp the fact that we) have (the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God-through the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."  Verse 2 goes on, "Through Him also we have (our) access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we (firmly and safely) stand. Let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God."
     This act of faith seems to be very difficult for the Christian to walk in.  We believe Jesus bore our sin, the curse of the Law, our sickness and disease and our separation from God, but we stumble at the thought of being free.  We mostly spend our lives under the condemnation of our pasts and never seem to walk in the liberty if the other side of the cross.
     If Jesus hadn't risen from the dead, then we'd still be in our sinful state and would have cause to be broken in spirit.  But, Jesus did rise from the dead and we should be able to rejoice and walk in fellowship with our Father because of it.  That was the whole reason for the cross.  It wasn't to leave us hiding from God with a guilty conscience.  Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) tells us to, "Let us, then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of Grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need(appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it)."
     We must come to the cross and receive (by faith) the sacrifice made for us.  We must also come to His resurrection (by faith) and live in the peace and reconciliation Jesus bought for us with His sacrifice.  We just read Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) which tells us that,  "By faith, we must learn how to walk with Jesus now to hold and enjoy peace with God."
     We seem to stay on one side of the cross.  Jesus isn't on the cross anymore and He isn't in the Tomb and He's no longer separated from God.  He has risen.  Now we need to learn how to walk with Him in the power of His resurrection.  Philippians 3:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and understanding and recognizing the wonders of His Person more strongly and 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)."
     We're not only called to die with Jesus on the cross, but to live with Him (not only after His death), but now, here in this natural body.  Paul continues to write in Philippians 3:12-15 (Amplified), "Not that I have now attained (this ideal) or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His Own."  Verse 13 says, "I do not consider that I have captured and made it my own (yet)

Lesson 5 The Condition of the Heart

    In  1Samuel 13:14 (Amplified) Samuel said to King Saul, "But now your Kingdom shall not continue; The Lord has sought out (David) a man after His Own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and rule over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."
     In 1Samuel 16:7 (Amplified) we read, "But the Lord said to Samuel, look not on his appearance or on his height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
     The Lord judged him by looking into the heart of Saul and seeing the motives of his heart and not by Saul's words or deeds.  Even when he had received command from Samuel by the Word of the Lord, he transgressed and did what the people demanded and desired instead of what God wanted.  1Samuel 15:3 (Amplified) says, "Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and sackling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
     In 1Samuel 15:13-15 (Amplified) we read, "And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered.  Verse 14 "And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"  Verse 15 Saul answers, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed."
     1Samuel 13:22 (Amplified) gives Samuel's reply to Saul, "Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
     Even in this new covenant, God looks on the heart of His people.  We can make sacrifice according to religion, but it doesn't change the heart.  Continued sacrifice doesn't change our hearts and bring about what God desires.  After we continue to do the same thing repeatedly without repentance, we have a heart condition.
     As humans with pious outlooks on life, we see the mistakes of others to judge the mistakes in our own lives. We've all heard that old saying, "At lest I'm not like so and so."  We never know how hard someone is trying to get their life in order by looking at the outward man.  We never know how hard someone is trying to forget the things that plagued their lives in the past.  As far as God is concerned..."Old things are passed away."  But, these things still haunt the believer's heart at times.  We try hard to go on with our lives as though nothing is wrong, but the heart still condemns us.
     Man's heart condition can only be dealt with by the Word and the Holy Spirit.  Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) says that, "The spirit of man (heart and soul combined) (that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God) is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his inner most parts."  The Holy Spirit won't reveal your past to you, but He will show you your new life by the Word and the sacrifice of Jesus.  Somehow we've had a difficult time bringing God's forgiveness into this "natural" life.  We understand the Word when it says that "our sin and iniquity I [God] will remember no more."  We understand, through the Word, that we're forgiven, but it's difficult for us to forgive ourselves.
     Proverbs 18:14 (Amplified) says that, "The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear?"  The way we must set about to build a strong spirit within ourselves is through God's Word.  We already have the Holy Spirit living inside us, but we need to feed on God's Word to provide food for Him to disperse throughout our spirit.
     Proverbs 17:22 (Amplified) says that, "A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."
     Proverbs 15:13 (Amplified) says that, "A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken."
     The enemy's strategy is to keep you in a place where your spirit is broken by not allowing you to believe and forget your past.  He will continually show you your old sinful nature before you knew Jesus.  Through constantly bringing up and having you concentrate on your past, he can hold you back from enjoying your new life in Christ.  If satan can succeed in locking you up in your past, he will break your spirit or "condemn you from your heart."
     We read in 1John 3:20 (Amplified) that, "Whenever our hearts in (tormenting) self-accusation makes us feel guilty and condemn us. (For we are in God's hands) for He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts) and He knows (perceives and understands) everything (nothing is hidden from Him)."
     Remember in 1Samuel 16:7 where  God revealed that He doesn't man as man sees, but He looks on the heart.  He knows the accusations of the heart and knows who we are now in Him by Jesus.  God knows all about us and that's why He sent Jesus.  He sees us now through the Blood of His Son and not the weakness of the flesh.  The only thing perfect about you or me is Jesus.  God sees the perfection of Jesus in us and not our old lives.
     Some of us in the Body of Christ come from places filled with horror and shame.  Some of us came from good homes and had good parents.  Some came from foster homes with good parents.  Some came from places where they needed to engage in unthinkable acts to survive.  These things from our past are stamped into the thoughts that governed our lives from the past, even though we're saved now.  Some of these things scarred our lives in various ways.  This is a heart condition that God wants to heal.  The only way this healing can occur is to feed on His Word and make it more real in our lives and hearts than our old lives.
     Human nature tells us that we're too dirty, because of what we were in the past, to approach a Holy God.  We feel inferior and dirty in His presence.  This heart condition holds us back from allowing our Father to lavish us with what His heart has prepared for us.  We actually do God an injustice when we allow our past to keep us from the presence of One Who loves us so very much.  It hurts the Father's heart when our hearts cause us to shy away from His presence and stand outside the throne room of His grace.
     This heart condition is on that all of us need to work on.  We keep forgiving, but fail to forget.  The old old things or things remembered, hold us and others in bondage.  We don't forget and we won't let them forget either.  This is a condition of the heart that must be dealt with in the believer's life.
     We still need to learn from Matthew 7:3-5 (Amplified) which says, "Don't judge others before we judge ourselves."  All of us have failed in our walks in some place or another.  The things is, that we must continue and finish the race.  If we allow our hearts to condemn us, then we've failed in our own eyes.  But, in God's eyes, we're already a victor in Jesus.  We need to begin seeing ourselves the way He sees us and not the we see ourselves.
     The condition of the heart depends on your revelation of Jesus.  The more you see of Him, the less you see of you.  If we see Him long enough through the Holy Spirit and the Word, then we can actually come to the place John spoke of in 1John 4:17 (Amplified) which says, "In this (union and communion with Him) love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him) because as He is, so are we in this world."  Only revelation of Him as He is, will ever fix the heart condition we struggle under.  His love is the medicine for our heart condition.  And, when the love He has for us  is revealed to us in the fullness, then we'll have no fear, no guilt, no condemnation.  We'll have only the peace in our hearts that God promised.

Lesson 4 The Condition of the Heart

     When the word "heart" is used in the New Testament, it signifies the soul, the emotions, the mind and the spirit.  The word "middle" is used in reference to the heart; as in referring to the heart of a tree or even the heart of a subject or the "heart" of the matter.
     After the fall of man in the Garden, the spirit of man was dominated by his soul and emotions.  His spirit, being cut off from God because of Adam's transgression, was now silent as far as righteousness was concerned.  Man set about, through satan's guidance, to establish his own righteousness.  Consequently, man was now out of control for the most part and was guided by his soulish parts.
     Even in his fallen state, man had a knowledge of God and a desire to be pleasing in some ways.  Satan, acting as god, would now direct all of fallen man's desire to worship unto himself by presenting them with false gods.  This false worship had a soothing effect on man as he was now fulfilling his deepest inner drive and satisfaction.
     Romans 1:21-23 (Amplified) says that, "Because when they knew Him and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and Godless in their thinking (with vain imaginings, foolish reasonings, and stupid speculations) and their senseless minds were darkened."  Verse 22 says, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools (professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves."  Verse 23 says, "And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles."
     Now, man's inner need to worship was met without any laws to govern his sinful nature.  His heart (his inner self) was now able to control his spirit and still fulfill the evil impulses of the flesh.  Some men, even though they were in a fallen state, still had the Law of God written in their hearts.  Romans 2:14-15 (Amplified) tells us that, "When the gentiles who have not the (divine) Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law.  Verse 15 says, "They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their (moral) decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving thoughts) will excuse or perhaps defend and excuse (them)."
     Even though man still knew the difference between right and wrong, he had no power (without God) to keep the moral laws that held him.  1Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified) tells us, "But the natural, non-spiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them (of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them) because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated."
     Man, at this time, walked only by his willpower to do right or wrong.  The will of man, even though there's a kind of power in it, couldn't take away the sin ruling him.  It's much like an alcoholic attending A.A. meetings 3-4 times a week.  He isn't drinking, but he's still an alcoholic.  His willpower can maintain his sobriety, but it's still a constant struggle for him.  This is still a problem for a man without God's putting a new heart within him.  We still know the difference between right and wrong, but we're powerless to perform it without God.
     A heart transplant is needed in the life of every man.  Our heart condition needs surgery from the Great Surgeon, God.  Even under the Law, man couldn't walk upright before a Holy God.  He had to continually make a sacrifice for his inability to keep the commandments of the Lord.  They kept adding amendments to the Law to cover their inability to walk it.  The heart condition had already brought death to man and he didn't even know it.
     Ephesians 4:17-18 (Amplified) says, "So this I say and solemnly testify in (the name of) the Lord (as in His presence) that you must no longer live as the heathen (the gentiles) do in their perverseness (in the filly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility) of their minds."  Verse 18 goes on,"Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. (They are) alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God (with no share in it; this is) because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the will blindness) that is deep seated in them, do to their hardness of heart (to the insensitiveness of their moral nature)."
     See how when a man gets born again from on High, his spirit get joined together with the Spirit of God, but his mind and emotions (soul or heart) is still unrenewed.  Now we understand what the Apostle Paul was saying in Romans 12:1-2 (Amplified), "I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of (all) the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting all your members and faculties) as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship."  Verse 2 goes on, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age) (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight) for you."
     As God's people, we have always majored in getting others born again, but never really majored in getting them to renew their minds by reading and teaching them the Word.  Until the Word is sown into the mind(soul and emotions), the heart of the man, he is like someone who's trying to walk with God by his shear willpower.  It's like sending someone to rehab and expecting them to be alright.  Some have come out of rehab and do alright, but most do not.  That's why such programs as the "Teen Challenge" has been so much more successful than government programs.  The government programs deal solely with the cleansing the person's body of drugs or alcohol.  But, Teen Challenge renews the addict's mind with the Word of God.  If you come out of rehab, your body is clean from the drugs, but your mind still thinks the same way it did before.
     The heart of man is the very core of his being that encompasses the spirit and the soul (mind, will, emotions) of man.  These, in turn, will govern the body to obey the Holy Spirit Who is now leading the entire man.  Galatians 5:16 (Amplified) tells us, "But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the (Holy) Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of the human nature without God)."
     In the Church, we keep telling people they must stay out of sin, but we don't always renew their minds by the Word and allow for a change of heart.  They want to walk upright before God in their spirits, but in their minds desire the fleshly desires.  We keep renewing our vows and recommitting our lives to God.  We walk in guilt and condemnation over our failures and pray for deliverance from the flesh.  Matthew 26:41 (Amplified) tells us that, "All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray; that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
     This is still true today for all who are saved.  We need to keep awake, be cautious and active in His Word.  The flesh is still as weak as it always was.  This is the condition of the heart (the core of our being).  When we were saved, our spirit got saved, but our mind, will and emotions (the flesh and soul) of the man was still as it was.  It had been in control of our lives from the first and would still try and rule like it always had.  Close fellowship with the Lord and time spent in His Word will bring the soulish part (the core and heart) of man under the control of his born again spirit.  By renewing your mind with the Word of God, the control of an unrenewed mind that had guided us for so long, will become obsolete in our lives.  Your body can only do what your head tells it to or allows it to do.
     This heart condition is what brings all the torment and sickness into the natural flesh and blood body we live in.  The oppression of the enemy, the condemnation and guilt coming from the heart, brings all the misery in our lives in the form of self-accusation.  We read in Acts 10:38 (Amplified), "How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the (Holy) Ghost and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by the (power of) the devil, for God was with Him."
     In the Gospel of Luke 2:45-46 (Amplified) we read, "And when they failed to find Him (Jesus) they went back to Jerusalem, looking for Him (up and down) all the way."  Verse 46 says, "After three days they found Him (came upon Him) in the (court of the )Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions."  Even Jesus studied the Word and attended Synagogue.  Luke 4:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "So He came to Nazareth, (that Nazareth) where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read."  Verse 17 says, "And there was handed to Him (the roll of) the book of the Prophet Isaiah, He opened (unrolled) the book and found the place where it was written."
     Even Jesus read the Word, studied the Word, and knew the Word.  Luke 4:4 (Amplified) says, "And Jesus replied to him (the devil) it is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone, but by every word and expression of God."  Jesus wasn't just a preacher, but a teacher.  He knew that if the people didn't get the seed (the Word) in their hearts, then it wouldn't change them.  We still need the Word in our hearts to change the condition of our hearts.

Lesson 3 The Condition of the Heart

     When we talk about someone's having a heart condition, we usually presume he had a heart attack or some similar malady.  Man has had a heart condition since the fall of Adam.  This heart condition isn't the muscle that pumps blood through the body, but the very heart of man itself; the spirit of man.
     We seldom think of ourselves as spirit beings.  Mostly, we think in terms of body and soul.  The truth of the matter is that man is a spirit.  We live in a body ad we have a soul.  The spirit, which is the real you, lives in the flesh and blood body.  The soul of a man, which is your will, your mind, your intellect, your emotions and is the command center that directs your body.
     When Adam committed high treason in the Garden of Eden, his spirit was cut off from God and we became spiritually dead to the life of God.  We still were a spirit, but now it was silent and shut off from the voice of what it was created to be.  We were to be led by the spirit by receiving our direction from the Spirit of God Himself and were to live in perfect harmony with our Father God.
     Once we were cut off because of the fall of Adam, he, as the one who was to propagate the human race, bred sin and death into every human being who came from his loins.  Because the blood type comes from the father, every child has been born with this heart (spirit) condition because of Adam's lineage.  Sin was transmitted from one generation to the next by the very blood of Adam who was a fallen man.
     Because sin was a spiritual condition effecting the spirit (or the heart) of man, the effects of sin were propagated from one generation to the next, much like a child born with AIDS (or some other disease) because the mother was infected.  The child didn't do anything to incur AIDS on its own, yet was born with the disease because it was in the blood.  When this sin nature was transmitted through Adam down through the centuries, there needed to be an antidote that would cure this disease.  The only way was for man to be born again from a different blood source that was free from the spiritual disease called sin and death.
     Jesus, because He was born not of man, but by the Holy Spirit, was free and could therefore bring life (God's Life) back to all who would receive Him as our antidote for this heart condition.  It was never a matter of our being good, doing good or going to church.  Even though these are good things, they couldn't fix the heart and cure the disease.  Man needed a new heart.  Ezekiel 11:19-20 (Amplified) says, "And I will give them one heart (a new heart) and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stoney (unnaturally hardened) heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh (sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God)."  Verse 20 goes on, "That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God."  Ezekiel 36:26-27 (Amplified) says that, "A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stoney heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."  Verse 27 says, "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes; And you shall heed My ordinances and do them."
     We also read in 2Corinthians 3:3 (Amplified) concerning the Church in Corinth and their receiving of the gospel where Paul says, "You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written in ink, but with (the) Spirit of (the) living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts."
     This heart condition isn't one a doctor can cure of fix.  Nor was it one that medicine can be administered to fix.  It was a spiritual condition of the heart that only God could heal.  Mostly, we didn't know we had a heart condition, although, even doctors could diagnose conditions in our body because of it.  We were (and still are) pulled down by stress, nerves and mental diseases not brought on by natural things, but spiritual things that manifest themselves in our natural body.  Dis-ease in the spirit bring disease in the body.
 

Lesson 2 The Condition of the Heart

     Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit in John 16:8-12 (Amplified) saying, "And when He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment, about sin, because they do not believe in Me (trust in, rely on, and adhere to Me), about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God), because I go to My Father, and you will see Me no longer about judgment, because the ruler (evil, genius, prince of this world) satan is judged and condemned and sentence is already passed upon him."  Verse 12 goes on, "I still have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now."
     Jesus was speaking about a future event.  He was speaking about after His death and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  When He came, the Holy Spirit would have the ministry of the new birth.  He was to convict and convince the world about sin and He was to convict and convince the believer (as they came to believe in Him) about righteousness.  He would deal with the hearts of men and bring us to the place of salvation.
     The only way to bring men to repentance is to deal with the heart of man.  When Jesus speaks about the heart, He's speaking about the spirit of man.  Notice how the Holy Spirit will speak to the hearts about sin because they don't believe in Jesus.  He will speak about righteousness because Jesus is to go to the Father and now righteousness is based on Him and not on Law and sacrifice.  He will speak about judgment because satan has been judged.
     This condition of the heart is based on sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.  If you were unsaved, then the Holy Spirit would convict your heart of your condition and reveal Jesus as the way out of sin.  If we were basing our righteousness on the Law and sacrifice, then He would reveal Jesus as the final sacrifice that paid for everything.  If we needed to understand the judgment, then He would show into our spirit how judgment will befall everyone who rejects Jesus and how Jesus was judged for all who accept Him as their Lord and ruler.  Since satan is judged, condemned and sentenced already, it's easy to see what judgment will befall all who choose him as their ruler or way of life.
     The heart or spirit of man is the real life of man.  Conviction of sin and righteousness come into a man's heart.  The problem for the believer is that we don't always listen to our heart.  John wrote  about the heart of the believer (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) in 1John 3:19-20 (Amplified) saying, "By this, (Love), we shall come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we are of the truth, we can reassure (quiet, conciliate and pacify) our hearts in His presence."  Verse 20 says, "Whenever our hearts in (tormenting) self-accusation makes us feel guilty and condemn us. (For we are in God's hands) For He is above and greater than our conscience (our hearts) and He knows (perceives and understands) everything (nothing is hidden from Him)." Verse 21 says, "And beloved, if our conscience (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us) we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God."
     The condition of the heart is based upon the conviction of the Holy Spirit according to John 16:8 (Amplified) which says that He just doesn't convict us of sin, but also about our right standing (righteousness) with before God.  In 1John 3:20 (Amplified) we read that our hearts "in tormenting self-accusation, make us feel guilty and condemn us."  If our hearts aren't sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, then we will continue to walk under the self-accusing voice of our own spirit (or heart) and not the renewed, born again voice of the Holy Spirit now in our spirit.  The Holy Spirit will convict and convince us, too, that we're now in right standing with God through Jesus.
     The Father said that our sins and iniquity He would remember no more.  We, on the other hand, do remember them.  We remember all the dumb things we did before we knew Jesus.  They're still in our conscience minds.  They still make us feel unclean and unfit to come into the presence of our Father.  This is the condition of the heart only the Holy Spirit can fix.
     1John 3:21 (Amplified) says, "And beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us) we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God."
     This condition of the heart is the most common heart problem in the Church.  Do I believe my self-accusing heart about the man of the my past, or do I believe the new heart and the truth of God's Word about my conviction of right standing with God?  It almost seems sacrilegious to say that your heart doesn't accuse you anymore.  Some see it as being puffed up or proud to declare that our righteousness is in Him.
       Romans 10:9-10 (Amplified) may be the most well known scriptures used to lead people to salvation (maybe even that led to our own salvation).  The main stay of these scriptures has to do with your heart.  Verse 9 says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  Verse 10 says, "For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trust in, relies on) Christ and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God) and the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms (his) salvation."
     You can tell the condition of your heart by the words that come from your mouth.  The symptoms of a "heart attack" is your heart condemning you like in 1John 3:20 (Amplified) which says "our hearts, in tormenting, self-accusation, makes us feel guilty and condemns us."  These are the tell tale signs of a heart that hasn't yielded to the Holy Spirit as He reveals the fullness of righteousness to us in Jesus.
     Only by the Holy Spirit, through the Word and a hearing heart, will we ever walk above who we were and walk in the fullness of who we are.  Our heart condition can never be healed by the flesh or the religion of the world.  It's only the Holy Spirit Who will bring to light the fullness of Jesus.
     Our hearts (because we won't forget who we were), keep telling us we still have to pay, in one way or another for our past by working hard to be good, by going to the mission fields or by giving more, etc.  These are conditions of our hearts that continue condemning and accusing us and keeping us from walking in the full freedom of the sacrifice of our Lamb,Jesus.
     We must allow the Holy Spirit to override the condemnation of the past life and make us more aware of our new life.  He is the heart medicine Who can heal and make new our spiritual heart condition.  It's hard for us to believe and receive the fullness of God's pardon without feeling as though there's something else we must do to be deserving of it. There's nothing we can do to deserve it.  That's why it is comes by grace.  When our hearts receive this grace with thanks, we are made free.

Lesson 1 The Condition of the Heart

     We read in John 14:15-17 (Amplified) that, "If you (really) Love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands."  Verse 16 goes on, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, strengthener and standby) that He may remain with you forever."  Verse 17 says, "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, for He lives with you (constantly) and will be with you."
     The world is only moved by what they can identify in the natural (five senses) realm.  We, the Church, are supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit of God.  We don't throw away the five senses, but we walk in a higher realm.  The Holy Spirit will use us in the natural to walk in the supernatural.  We still have hands to lay on the sick.  We still have eyes to see the needs of others.  We still have legs to carry us into all the world.  We can still feel who and what we touch.  All of these natural things are now incorporated into the supernatural man.
     We're supposed to be moved by faith in God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said in John 14:27 (Amplified), "Peace I leave with you; My (Own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you, Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; Do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled)."  Jesus is talking here, not to the world, but to His Own disciples.  He had to tell them not to allow their hearts to be troubled.
     Trouble is all around us (both saved and unsaved alike).  As we look around us and see what's happening in the world around us, it would be very easy to allow our hearts to be troubled.  As Christian people, we must have more faith in the Word than in the world.  I continually remind people that they must stay in the Word.  You cannot live on sermons or church services or church activities.  You must read and stay in the Word for yourself; not as a religious duty to God, but for the life it brings into your heart (or spirit).
     Jesus said in John 15:7 (Amplified) that, "If you live and Me (abide vitally united to Me) and My Words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."  In John 16:8-10 (Amplified), Jesus said, speaking of the Holy Spirit that, "When He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart) and right standing with God about sin, because they do not believe in Me (trust in, rely on, and adhere to Me) about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) because I go to My Father, and you will see Me no more."
     The Holy Spirit deals with the human heart (or spirit) in two ways.  He deals with the unsaved by conviction of the heart because they don't believe in Jesus, the sin bearer.  And, He deals with the saved in their spirit about right standing with God (or righteousness).  If we're saved, then the Holy Spirit will convince and convict us of righteousness because we're believed and have been declared righteous by God Himself.  He never deals with the believer as a sinner, but as a child of the Heavenly Father through Jesus.
     Jesus instructed His follower to "not let your heart be troubled, don't allow your heart to be agitated and disturbed or fearful and intimidated."  If He said not to let these things happen, then there must be a way to stop these things from happening.  Jesus told us how to prevent them from happening in John 13:7 (Amplified) which says, "We must continue in Him and let His Words continue to live in our hearts."
     Sometimes as Christians, we get so caught up in the world and in just life in general (not necessarily bad or sinful things), but just life itself.  We don't continue in the Word like we should.  We have a tendency to not let the Word bring life like it should.  We're tired after work, we need more time with our family, there are always things that need our attention, and we don't have time for the Word.
     Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the sower from Mark 4:14-19 (Amplified).  In Verse 14 "the sower sows the Word."  In Verse 15, "the ones along the path are those who have the Word sown (in their hearts), but after they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the message which has been sown in them."  In Verse 15, Jesus identifies the heart (or spirit) as the soil in which the Word is sown.  Then, in Verses 18-19, Jesus identifies those who were sown among thorns who hear the Word.  "The Word is sown in their spirits or heart, but the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamor and deceitfulness of riches, and the the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in  and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless."
     Jesus didn't say that all of these things are sinful and evil, He simply said the things of everyday life can suffocate the Word and it becomes fruitless.  The deceitfulness of riches can take away time in the Word.  This can be something as simple as working a lot of overtime or working two jobs to provide the extra things we want.  We always say we'll stop working the second job and get back into the Word once we pay off the car or we get ahead or have enough money.  We want such things as a cottage at the lake so we can't get away and relax.  Or, we want a second car to have more freedom to take the kids to school or soccer games.
     These aren't bad things, but they take up all of our time and our prayer time or time in the Word is eaten up and we don't have time left for God the way we should have.  This doesn't make you a bad person or a sinner.  It simply means your heart (or spirit) has become troubled and disturbed and agitated like Jesus said not to let happen.  He said not to allow your heart to become this way.
     Don't try fitting God into your schedule; build your schedule around Him.  Don't wait until the very end of your busy day to spend time in the Word.  If you're like me, then you'll fall asleep with your Bible open.  Maybe you can try reading the Word while drinking your morning cup of coffee.  You could try playing and listening to the Word of God on C.D.s instead of the radio during your morning commute.
     Set time aside and use it for God's Word.  Proverbs 3:1-2 (Amplified) instructs, "My son, forget not My Word or teaching, but let your heart keep My commandments."  Verse 2 says, "For length of days and years of life (worth living) and tranquility (inward and outward and continuing through old age until death) these shall add to you."  The Word of God sown into your heart, is the peace of God bearing fruit in your life.
     If you're to have a heart condition, then let it be this kind of condition.  Proverbs 3:8 (Amplified) says that, "It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your cones."             

Lesson 22 FAITH

     Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "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."
     There's a challenge to the believer on how far he or she will dare walk with the Lord in the above scripture.  For many years we've acted like God was going to sprinkle us with pixie dust and make us do what He says to do.  We've spent centuries trying to figure out what God's will is for our lives.  Our salvation was paid for by the Blood of Jesus two thousand years ago.  John 3:16 (Amplified) shows that God's will is to save mankind and everything else that was lost in the fall of man.  Luke 19:10 (Amplified) tells us, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
     In Romans 8:20-21 (Amplified) we read that, "For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration) not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of him who subjected it (yet) with the hope."  Verse 21 says, "That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption (and gain an entrance) into the glorious freedom of God's children."
     We find in Genesis 1:26-30 (Amplified) that man had dominion over all God's handiwork on earth.  When Adam transgressed in the garden, he lost that power of dominion and delivered it into satan's hands.  Luke 4:5-7 (Amplified) tells us, "Then the devil took Him [Jesus] up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time (in a twinkling of an eye)."  Verse 6 says, "And he said unto Him, to You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, pre-eminence, dignity and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will."
     Jesus displayed an authority higher than the devil when He ordered the fish to fill Peter's nets.  He brought dominion and authority back over creation in Luke 5:4-6 (Amplified) which says, "Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, 'Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.'"  Verse 5 goes on, "And Simon answering said unto Him, 'Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless at on the ground of Your word, I will lower the net (again).'"  Verse 6 & 7 says, "And when they had done this they caught a great number of fish; and as their nets were (at the point of) breaking they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them, and they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink."
     Man was God's primary subject of redemption, but He wouldn't leave anything He created behind for His enemy's (satan's) use.  Now, through the redemption of mankind by Jesus, there's a place for God's children to walk above the lies of satan to mankind.
     God's will for man and creation, through Jesus, is found in John 3:16 (Amplified) which says, "For God so loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His Only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."
    God's will for man and all His handiwork is salvation for whoever will believe.  You might say,"What if I don't believe? Will I still be saved?"  No!  Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, found in Matthew 26:39 (Amplified), "And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me, nevertheless, not what I will (not what I desire), but what You will and desire.'"
     If what the unsaved world believes (all roads lead to heaven or any religion is alright as long as you believe) is true, then there would never have been a need for Calvary.  We could have just become righteous and justified by our own works and merits.  The Word says in Romans 1:17 (Amplified) that, "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."
     Because we cannot be saved any other way than by faith in Jesus and His righteousness, why would anyone try another way?  Romans 1:17 (Amplified) told us that the faith that got our sins forgiven, goes into a deeper knowledge of Jesus that opens up a new measure of faith and that, by faith, we believe for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the the speaking of new tongues as described in Acts 2:4 (Amplified).  All this lead to more faith as recorded in Acts 3:16 (Amplified) which says, "And His name, through faith and by faith in His name, has made this man whom you see and recognize well and strong (Yes) the faith which is through and by Him (Jesus) has given this man this perfect soundness (of body) before all of you."
    In Romans 1:17 (Amplified), and many other scriptures as well, there's laid down the liberty and opportunity to walk by faith into a walk with our Father into a realm of His might which will bring glory to Him through the name of Jesus.  "But, not everyone can do these things, " you might say.  You're right in one sense, but wrong in another. Many have said that these things were for the early Church, or that these things were for His disciples only, or that He doesn't do these things any longer, or that we don't need these things in the 21st century.  Well, all of these statements are wrong.
     In Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified) we read, "And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the Good News (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race)."  Verse 16 says, "He who believes (who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Who sets it forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death) but he who does not believe (who does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him who is sets forth) will be condemned."  Verse 17 & 18 say, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly; it will not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well."  Verse 19 goes on, "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God."  Verse 20 ends, "And they went out and preached everywhere; while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied (it). Amen (so be it)."
     The journey of faith that I spoke of and quoted from Romans 1:17 will go from faith to faith.  Jesus said that the signs would follow those who believed and who believed in His name.  Then, the Word says that signs and miracles were done everywhere they preached the message in the power of His Name.
     I find it hard to accept or even think about Jesus' Name being less powerful today than it was then.  Has the Name of Jesus lost its power or have we lost faith in His Name?  Afterall, all we're required to do is to believe and to lay our hands on the sick.  I don't see anything hard about laying my hands on someone in His Name.  Are we worried about our own reputation or are we afraid it won't work?  If so, then it's not faith in Jesus' Name, but in our own name we're walking in.
     Jesus simply told them to preach the Gospel and if they believe and are saved, then these signs will follow them.  These weren't the Apostles or Matthew, Mark, Luke or even John.  They were people (like us) who heard the Word, believed the Word and healed the sick and cast out demons and performed miracles in His Name.
     Romans 1:20 (Amplified) tells us that the Lord kept working with them and confirming His message.  He wasn't confirming them.  He was confirming His Word and His Word is still alive and well today.

Lesson 21 FAITH

     2Corinthians 3:16,18 (Amplified) tells us that, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."  Verse 18 goes on, "And all of us, as with unveiled face (because we) continued to behold (in the Word of God) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another (for this comes) from the Lord (Who is) the Spirit."
     As the Church, we're called to become transfigured and transformed by the Spirit of God into the Image of the Lord.  This Image of Jesus goes from His earthly walk as a Spirit-filled Man, to the power and the glory of His resurrection.  John 17:21-22 (Amplified) says, "That they may all be one, (just) as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me."  Verse 22 goes on, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One."
      The glory and honor Jesus was given by the Father, is the same glory and honor that He has given us.  The 23rd verse of John 17 (Amplified) says, "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and (definitely) recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them (even) as You have loved Me."
     Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) 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."  We also read in John 15:9-10 (Amplified) that, "I have loved you (just) as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love (continue in His love with Me)."  Verse 10 goes on, "If you keep My commandments (if you continue to obey My instructions) you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love." 
     John 15:24 (Amplified) tells us, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the (very) works themselves. (If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's name convince you)."  Verse 12 says, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me,he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
     We've wondered for years, what the "greater thing" might be.  Because Jesus said it, we know it's true.  But, the mind staggers at the thought of doing something greater than Jesus.  When we stop and think about it, we find that getting someone born again is a greater work.  Jesus couldn't get anybody born again while He was on earth.  It required His death on the cross and dealing with our sin and the curse .  It took Jesus becoming sin for us for us to be made in right standing with the Father.  Now, because of Jesus' resurrection, man can be born again.  Romans 10:9-10 (Amplified) says that, "This is a greater thing than healing a natural (body), to give birth (through the Word and the power of His resurrection) to a new creation, by faith in His Lordship."
     This doesn't mean we're to neglect the miracles and healings that show God's power to the world.  The miracle power of Jesus (through the Church), separates Christianity from all other religions in the world today.  Revealing the power of God, through the name of Jesus, shows the world that our God is a living and loving God.  Only love foe the people can display this power the people.  Jesus said, "If you cannot believe what I am saying, at least believe the works that I do."
     No man can show forth this kind of love and power outside of Jesus and the Father Who lives in us.  We're reluctant to try walking in these signs of Jesus in us because we don't want others to think we're walking in pride.  Anyone who really loves Jesus, or better yet, who knows how much Jesus loves him, would ever consider this as pride.  The signs and wonders the Church is supposed to walk in is the revealing of the love the Father has for mankind.
     If healings and miracles weren't needed to reveal God's love to the world, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to show the Father's love to the people.  The world today is in such a mess and is seeking answers from so many sources that all they're seeking in confusion.  One religions says to meditate, another says good works get one to heaven, another says that reincarnation (doing it until you get it right) is the truth and another religion says to kill all those who won't convert to that religion.  It's very difficult to see God in the myriad of chaos in today's world.
     The faith we've been learning about in these teachings, isn't some radical kind of faith or new teaching.  It's the thing God used through Jesus and the thing Jesus used through His disciples in  Luke 10:1-9 (Amplified) when He taught, "Heal the sick, cast out devils, and bless and proclaim peace to every place they will receive you."
     The miracle power of God's love is desperately needed todayto reveal to the world that our God
lives.  We've had a form of Godliness, but denied the power for far too long.  If God is God (and He is), then He still does what He has always done on behalf of His people.  He is still the God of life, love, miracles and mercy.
     You needn't be afraid of His power through you because it's the manifestation of His love.  1Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified) says, "But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choisest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way (one that is better by far and the highest of them all-love)."
     If you read this in the light of the Holy Spirit Who wrote it, then it simply says that a better way to receive these gifts and these graces than trying to cultivate or desire and seek after them, it to learn to love.  Love isn't only these gifts, but also is the Giver of these gifts.  "If God is Love" like 1John 4:8 (Amplified) says, then as you read 1Corinthians 13 (the Love chapter), you see the very nature and character of God revealed through His Body, the Church.
     Jesus was moved by compassion and healed the sick and cast out devils.  This is the manifestation of Love, or God, in the lives of His Church.  I believe that God is raising up a people who will die unto self and live unto Him to the degree that all will know He is Lord!  The time to move by faith into the realm of the miraculous has come to the Church in these last days.  There will be those who scoff at this, but there will also be those who will go forth in the power of Jesus' Name and set at liberty all who are bound.
      Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) says that, "Now faith, is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)."
 
     

Lesson 20 FAITH

     2Corinthians 5:15-17 (Amplified) says, "And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake."  Verse 16 says, "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)."  Verse 17 says, "Therefore if any person is (engrafted) 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."
     2Corinthians 13:4 (Amplified) says that, "For though He was crucified in weakness. Yet He goes on living by the power of God. And though we too are weak in Him (as He was humanly weak) yet in dealing with you (we shall show ourselves) alive and strong in (fellowship with) Him by the power of God."
     These scriptures are hard to understand from where we are now in Jesus.  When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He became weak (as in the flesh) with our weaknesses.  When He became sin, He became sin with our sin (and weaknesses).  When He became the curse, it was in our weaknesses that He became the curse (for me).  Everything that Jesus did on the cross was through and for the weakness of the flesh which was sinful.
     Romans 8:1-3 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit."  Verse 2 says, "For God has done what the Law could not do. (Its power) being weakened by the flesh (the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit) sending His Own Son in the guise of sinful flesh, the weakness of the flesh) and as an offering for sin (God) condemned sin in the flesh (subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice)."
     As sinners, we identify ourselves with Jesus as He died in our place.  Mostly, we still identify Him in this same way.  Once we identify ourselves with Him on the cross and receive and accept that sacrifice by faith, we died with Him in the weakness of the flesh.  He identified Himself with the weakness of my flesh so that I might identify myself with the power of His resurrection and view Him not only as a man any longer,but after the Spirit Who raised Him from the dead as in 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified).
     We've always identified ourselves with the man Jesus.  Mostly, though, we've not identified ourselves with the risen Christ Jesus.  He didn't stay on the cross and He didn't stay in the grave.  If He had, then we'd still be in our sin and weakness.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we also have been raised together with Him.  Ephesians 2:6 (Amplified) says, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     This is what the Apostle Paul was saying in 2Corinthians 5:16 that we no longer only estimate and regard Jesus from a human viewpoint, but from a spiritual viewpoint as the resurrected Christ and the Messiah.  We see Him not as just a man, but as the risen Christ.  Now, as new creatures, we are supposed to live our lives after the Spirit Who raised Him from the dead on our behalf.  Does this mean we're to disregard the man Himself?  Of course not.  But, we're to look to the cross from both sides.  On one side, as sinners we look to the cross for the sacrifice of Jesus to set me free.  We accept Him as our substitute and our sin bearer.  From the other side of the cross (the side where He was raised and given Authority over death, hell and the grave).  The side where God justified Jesus (and us) when He raised Him from the dead.
     Hebrews 2:9-11 (Amplified) tells us, "But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death in order that by grace (unmerited favor) of God (to us sinners), He might experience death for every individual person."  Verse 10 goes on, "For it was an act worthy  (of God) and fitting (to the divine nature) that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence in bringing many sons into glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect (should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest) through suffering."  Verse 11 says, "For both He Who sanctifies (making men holy) and those who are sanctified all have One (Father). For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
     If we read the rest of Hebrews 2, then we find that Jesus tasted death for us so that we might live through Him.  We need to see the man Jesus' walk as our example of how we're to walk now in power, in the authority of His Name, in the compassion of His heart and in the fearlessness of the Holy Spirit Whose been given to us through Jesus' resurrection.  As new creatures, we need to learn to identify with Him from the side of the cross that raised us in His power to glory.
     After reading the Word and coming to the knowledge of what Paul was saying, we can understand Philippians 3:9-10 (Amplified) which says, "And that I may (actually) be found and known as in Him. Not having any (self achieved) righteousness that can be called My Own, based on My obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired) but possessing that (genuine righteousness) which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One) the (truly) right standing with God, which comes from God by (saving) faith."  Verse 10-11 say, "(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) and 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)."
     The power of Jesus' resurrection has transformed us into His Image as He is now in the Spirit of Glory.  We must learn to identify ourselves with not only the Man Christ Jesus, but also with the Risen Christ Jesus.  Jesus died so we might now live His life through us.  We must learn to know Him as He now Is.  Romans 6:4 (Amplified) says that, "We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, So that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious (power) of the Father, so we too might (habitually) and behave in the newness of life."  Verse 5 goes on, "For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be (one with Him in sharing) His resurrection (by a new life lived for God)."
     Hebrews 13:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Now may the God of peace (Who is the Author and Giver of peace). Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepard of the sheep, by the Blood (that sealed, ratified) the everlasting agreement (covenant, testament)."   Verse 21 says, "Strengthen, (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will (while He Himself) works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah) to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages) Amen (so be it)."

Lesson 19 FAITH

     We read in 2Corinthians 5:15-17 (Amplified), "And He died for all, so that all those who live might no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake."  Verse 16 says, "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 did once 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)."  Verse 17 continues, "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."
     In these passages from a letter to the church in Corinth, we come upon the revelation of Jesus the Church must begin to see.  The Man, Jesus, Who once walked the earth has been resurrected into a new and higher position than before.  We use His earthly walk, as a man, as an example of how we're to conduct our lives now that we're born again.  We must also come to the revelation that when Jesus rose from the dead, He raised us (those who believe on Him as Lord) with Him to a higher place than those who walked with Him previously in the flesh.
     2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says that, "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."
     We've accepted the fact that our sins have been erased and we've been born again, but we still try walking in the same way we used to do.  More than just the removal of our sins was accomplished when we became born again.  We were truly born again into the Image and likeness of God.  In Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) God said, "Let Us (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image, after Our Likeness and let them have complete dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the aid, the (tame) beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."
     1Peter 1:23-25 (Amplified) says that, "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."  Verse 24 goes on, "For all flesh (mankind) is like grass. The grass withers and the flower drops off."  Verse 25 says, "But the Word of the Lord (Divine instruction, the Gospel) endures forever, and this Word is the good news which was preached to you."
     When we were born again, we were raised into the setting that our Father had from the beginning, a people made in His Image and Likeness.  The seed (sperm) by which we are born again is God's Own seed, His Word.
     In John 1:14 (Amplified), we read, "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, 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."
     This is the same Word (seed, sperm) of God that gave us new life when we were born again.  1Peter 2:9-10 (Amplified) says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, (God's) Own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  Verse 10 says, "Once you were not a people (at all), but now you are God's people; Once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy."
     We refer to ourselves as God's children, yet we're fearful to say that we are in His Image and Likeness.  We say that we're born again in His likeness, but still allow fear to hold us down into the old way of being.  1Corinthians 3:1-3 (Amplified) tells us, "However, Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual (men) but as to non-spiritual (men of the flesh in whom the carnal nature predominates) as to mere infants (in the new life) in Christ (unable to walk yet)."  Verse 2  goes on, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough (to be ready for it) but even yet you are not strong enough (to be ready for it)."  Verse 3 says, "For you are still (unspiritual) having the nature of the flesh (under the control of ordinary impulses). For as long as there are envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?"
     People still get upset when you refer to yourself as though you were on the same kind of level with Jesus.  If God is the Father of Jesus and He is also my Father, then are we not raised to a new creature?  If we were created in God's Image and Likeness, then we must be like He is.
     I didn't say that you are the Messiah or that you are God.  I did say that we were born of the same seed (the Word) as Jesus Himself.  My earthly father had three sons.  We all have his name and we all have his same characteristics and features.  I am not my father, but I am like my father.  The things he taught me were the things of his character.  The way I talk and the way I govern my life are the very things that show my father in me.  I wasn't born inferior to my father, but on the same level as he was...a man.  The species of man has continued for thousands of years.  It doesn't matter where they were born or what color or nationality they are, they are still the species of man.  Nothing's changed since God created man.  The fall of man in the garden changed the life of man into the death of the enemy.  But, the life of God (the Word, the sperm) of God, has restored everything to the original plan of God.
     If God is our Father, then we must be like Him.  When satan became our father through Adam, didn't all mankind become like him?  When we were born again by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, then we were once again like Him.  His legacy for His family has never changed from Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) which says that, "Everything that was lost, has been restored, for those who believe."
     We see Jesus as the "Christ," man while He was here.  He's our example of how we're to walk and rule over the enemy in this body.  But, we are to learn about Who He has become since He has risen from the dead.  We see Jesus from this side of the cross as the sacrifice and now we see Him on the other side of the cross as the Risen Christ.  We are to truly rule with and in Him from His position as the Risen Christ, the glorified Messiah, as kings and priests, before Him to carry out His will and rule of Authority.

Lesson 18 FAITH

     Philippians 3:9-11 (Amplified) says, "That I may (actually) be found and known as in Him, not having any (self-achieved) righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Laws demands (ritualistic, upright and supposed right standing with God thus acquired) but possessing that (genuine righteousness) which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the (truly) right standing with God, which comes from God by (saving) faith."  Verse 10 says, "(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 come to know the power out flowing from His resurrection (which it exerts over believers) and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed (in spirit to His Likeness even) to His death (in the hope)."  Verse 11 goes on, "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)".
     These few scriptures reveal to us a place in our faith that is possible to obtain.  As we read the four gospels, we find that these were written by men who walked with Jesus in His earthly walk.  The Apostle Paul never knew Jesus except in His resurrected state of being.  This made such a difference in the way we see Jesus today.  Mostly, though, we still identify with the Man Jesus.  Paul identified with the risen Christ.
     We find things in the gospels that were taught to those under the Law.  These teachings, mixed with insight into the new covenant, were hard to separate.  We, in the new covenant, also find it difficult to separate these teachings as well.
     We still identify with Jesus' earthly ministry and not so much with His Lordship as the resurrected Christ.  Paul desired to know Him in the power of His resurrection.  Why?  Because the things we saw in Jesus' earthly walk was a Spirit filled Man Who walked in obedience to the Law of Love and the voice of the Spirit of God.  It was revealed to Paul the finished work and the total victory, not for Jesus, but for us.
     Paul walked by  says, "Which He faith in what he heard about Jesus from the finished work of the cross.  Most of us have walked in what the Man Jesus had done.  We see Him as our Savior, but not necessarily as the Lord of all.
     When Jesus rose from the dead and was seated at God's right hand, everything was different.  Not only did Jesus defeat satan at every turn, but now we also defeat satan at every turn through the power of His resurrection.
     Jesus never did anything for Himself; only for us.  He was never under satan's evil force until He laid down His life at the cross.  He did this for us.  When the Father accepted Jesus, He accepted us.  And, when satan was defeated by Jesus, he was equally defeated by those who believe in Jesus.  2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
     This grace and peace Peter spoke about can be multiplied by our knowledge of our Lord Jesus.  The more we know about His Lordship, the more grace and peace we will walk in.  When we learn more about the "resurrected Jesus," we see more of His power toward those of us who are saved.
     Sometime ago, I asked the people in our church, "When I say Jesus, then what do you see?"  We don't see the letters J.e.s.u.s., we see a mental picture of Jesus.  So, when I say Jesus, what do you see?  Do you see Him carrying a lamb on His shoulders?  Do you see Him at Galilee?  Do you see Him in the Garden, on the cross or standing before Pilate?  When I say Jesus, do you see Him in His present day ministry as Lord of all?  If so, then do you see yourself seated with Him there?
     We see Jesus in a very different light as Lord of all in Ephesians 1:17, 2:1-10 (Amplified).  We are invited by the Holy Spirit to "have the eyes of our hearts be flooded with light to know and understand Him.  Through Verses 18-19 we "Can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe."  Verse 20 says,"Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His Own right hand."  Verse 21 goes on, "Far above all rule, authority, power and dominion and every name that is named, now and always."  Ephesians 2:6 (Amplified) says, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being ) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     We've spent most of our Christian walk identifying with the earthly man and not the Lord of All.  We see ourselves as mere men who struggle to get by and not as walking in the finished work of Jesus.  When I say Jesus, what do you see?  Because where you see Him is where you will walk in Him.
     We need to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us our rightful place in the heavenly places.  That's where He is now and that's where we are now.  1John 4:17 (Amplified) tells us that, "In this (union and communion with Him) love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgement (with assurance and boldness to face Him) because as He is so are we in this world."                                                           
     "As He is, so are we in this world."  What a powerful scripture this is to the heart of the believer.  There's no way to obtain such a promise in ourselves, but we aren't in ourselves...we are In Him and He is seated at the right hand of God. He sits in a place of all authority and power.  As He defeated satan, you have defeated satan,  As He obtained healing from all sickness and disease, you have obtained also.  As He is fearless, perfected love casts out all fear in our lives.
     As we begin to see and know Him in the power of His resurrection, we will begin walking by faith in a new relationship with Him. We will be able to do the heavenly things, even in this natural body, and do spiritual things in the power of His Name that is above every name.  This is the greatest challenge to our faith.  Do we dare believe this far?
     2Corinthians 5:15-16 (Amplified) says, "And He died for all, so that all those who live, might no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died was raised again for their sake."  Verse 16 continues, "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)."  Verse 17 says, "Therefore (because of this knowing) if any person is (engrafted) 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."
     Go on from faith to faith and from glory to glory in the knowledge of Him.  Learn to know Who He is and not just Who He was.  Learn, by faith, where you are seated with Him and begin to walk in this "new man" you've become.  This isn't what you are going to be, but who He has already made you to be in Him.  This is the faith walk God is calling His people to enter into in these last days.  Is is any wonder that Jesus said that, "When the Son comes back, will He find faith in the earth?"

Lesson 17 FAITH

     2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you (in the full, personal, precise and correct) knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord."
     This greeting holds with it a place for the believer to walk that few have ever entered into.  Peter declared that the grace and peace of God can be multiplied in the life of God's children. He (God) has already given us all of His grace and peace through Jesus at His resurrection.  The multiplying of this grace and peace comes from learning more about the Lordship of Jesus.  The more we know about His Lordship in our lives, the more grace and peace we can receive.  It's already been given, but we have no knowledge about what it is or what it's for.
     Over 700 times in the New Testament, the title of "Lord" is given to and used in reference to Jesus.  He holds the Highest title and position in the entire universe.  The greatest and most blessed truth of all is that Jesus has become the personal Lord of man.  Most of us have known Jesus as the Man of Galilee.  Some have identified with Him on the cross or risen from the tomb.  Few have ever identified with Him now, as His position as Lord.  We proclaim Him as the Lord of our lives, but have little knowledge about what that means to the believer.  Since we can only receive Him and His Lordship by faith in the Word, it becomes more difficult to receive this truth in our lives.  We largely walk with Him in the sense realm in our lives today.  We can identify with the Man in the scriptures and we can see Him on the cross and we can identify with the grave.  These are all things that our senses can identify with.  After the resurrection, we can even receive Him as He cam back from the dead and talked with the disciples.
     Once Jesus ascended to the Father and sat down at His right hand, we have no way of understanding His work and Lordship other than by faith.  The work that Jesus is doing now is somewhat veiled to us because our senses can no longer identify with Him.
     The more we understand what this Lordship means in our lives, the more we can walk in the fullness of grace and peace with Him and the Father.  The Word reveals to us that satan is the lord of the natural man.  Jesus showed He recognized this when He referred to satan as "the prince of this world.  In John 14:30, we read, "For the prince of this world cometh, and he has nothing in Me."  In the revelation Paul received, satan is called the god of this world.  2Corinthians 4 says that, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ Who is the Image of God, should not dawn upon them." 
     Satan and his cohorts are called the spiritual rulers of this world in Ephesians 6:12(Amplified) which says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places."  The natural man walks in accordance to their rule and laws.  Ephesians 2:2 says that, "Wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the Spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience."
     In the beginning, satan didn't have this place of authority over the human race.  Man was the original lord because God gave man the dominion and authority over the works of His creation and made him His under ruler.  In Genesis 1:26-31 God says, "Let us make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thin upon the earth."
     Even yet, in his fallen state, man still shows the signs of dominion by being able to turn deserts into gardens, by his knowledge in science and space exploration and by the technological exploits he uses.  All of this knowledge and wisdom is the residue of the mind of Christ that was in man from the beginning.  Most of the great inventions come from Christian people who would fellowship with the mind of God and seek His wisdom.
     This one man (Adam), that God crowned with wisdom and glory, obeyed the voice of satan and committed high treason and became satan's subject.  Satan desired to rule this world and have the position that man now held.  He gained it by becoming man's ruler.  He became man's ruler by imparting his very nature into man and becoming to man what God was supposed to be.  Through the impartation of spiritual death and its reigh over humanity, satan ruled as lord.
     All of the death, sickness, crime, heartache and calamity that has happened over all these years, has come because of a demonic lord over all of humanity.  Even creation itself, is now groaning under the burden of this satanic lordship and curse, according to Romans 8:20-24.  God, as creator, was not content to leave His man in this fallen state. In the very presence of Adam's transgression, He gave the promise of One Who would legally break this lordship of satan and restore man back into his original place with God in Genesis 3:15-18.
      The present day ministry of Jesus Christ as Lord is of vital importance in the lives of those who want to walk free.

Lesson 16 FAITH

     Grace will supply whatever faith will call for.  God told Paul in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified), "But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving kindness and mercy) is enough for you (sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully); for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in (your) weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me."
     Having misunderstood this scripture for years, we missed what transpired between God and Paul.  We've thought for years that God was testing and trying Paul because of his ministry.  When, indeed, it was God Who gave him the ministry.  Because of the revelation of the new covenant that only Paul had at that time, the enemy dispatched a spirit (a messenger of satan) to buffet and harass him wherever he tried to preach.  When Paul first began teaching this message of the new birth, no one had ever heard of such a thing.  The Jews believed that God's covenant was only for them and the gentiles served their own gods.
     Paul was preaching about One God, for all men, with no more sacrifice, no more Temple, no more ritual.  He preached that now, by Jesus, even death had been conquered.  Satan had only one man to deal with at this time because only Paul had this revelation.  If satan could kill Paul, or at least shut him up, then satan could still prevent the people from receiving heir freedom from him.  1Corinthians 2:7-8 (Amplified) says, "But, rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden from the human understanding and now revealed to us by God (that wisdom) which God devised and deceived before the ages for our glorification (to lift us into the glory of His presence)."  Verse 8 says, "None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory."
     Satan's been trying to cover up his foolish mistakes for two thousand years.  He's still working to prevent people from seeing the light of the glory of the gospel.  2Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified) says, "But even if our Gospel (the glad tidings) also be hidden (obscured and covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God), it is hidden (only) to those who are spiritually dying and veiled (only) to those who are lost."  Verse 4 goes on, "For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds (that they should not discern the truth), preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah) Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
     Grace and truth came through Jesus.  John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."  This truth and grace were to deliver all mankind and stop the Law of sin and death forever in all who would believe.  Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says that, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilt of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit of Life."  Verse 2 goes on, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death."
     Satan had his hands full trying to stop Paul from ever getting this message out.  We've mistaken what God told Paul about the troubles he was enduring trying to preach this revelation.  Why in the world would God show Paul this new revelation, charge him with preaching it and then do everything He could to stop Paul?  What Paul was trying to do (the very same thing we try to do today) was take this mission from God and do it by his own strength.  "Therefore," Paul said, "I will glory in my weaknesses. I am glad when my own abilities fail because when I finally realize I cannot do this from my own strength, then God's grace and ability is made perfect and shows up to dedliver me."
     We've been short changed when hearing the gospel for quite awhile now because "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."  Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says that, "Then, if satan can still hinder the preaching of the truth and grace, how can we put faith in what we don't hear?"  We have heard a portion of the gospel, but we haven't heard all the "glad tidings" for years.
      Romans 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation (for deliverance from eternal death) to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."  Verse 17 continues, "For in the Gospel, a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from FAITH and leading to FAITH that grouses to more FAITH) As it is written, the man who through FAITH is just and upright shall live and shall live by FAITH."
     According to these scriptures, there's a growing faith that comes from the understanding of what salvation really is.  In Romans 1:16 (Amplified), we read that "this gospel is the power of God unto salvation."  What is salvation?  According to the Strong's Concordance, in the Greek text of the Word [34982-4902], the word "salvation" means "to save, i.e. to protect (lit. or fig.) heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole." [#4985] "salvation" means "the body (as a sound whole) used in a very wide application (lit. or fig.) bodily, body, slave."  In [#4984] "salvation" means "corporeal or physical bodily." [#4986] "salvation" means "of a safe father, Sopatrus as Sopater."  [#4990] from [#4991]  "salvation" means "a deliverer, i.e. God or Christ: Savior."  [#4991] "salvation" means "rescue or safety (phys. or mor.) deliver, health, salvation, save, saving."  [#4992] "salvation" means same as [#4991] "as proper noun, defender or (by implication) defense: Salvation."
     So you see, the word "salvation" that Paul spoke of means more than just going to heaven when we die.  It means healing, wholeness, soundness, safety, strength, protection, deliverance bodily and morally.  This salvation was and is the very presence of "Christ in us, our hope of glory."  We have mostly thought salvation meant we were forgiven and could now go to heaven when we leave here.  This is very much true.  But what Paul discovered was the even here, in this present age, God is still God and His grace, favor and power could work not only when we did the job, but even work better when we couldn't do the job.  And, he found out that when human effort failed, then God's strength would take over and we could walk in the very power of this salvation in the supernatural.
     Paul was saying that when we're weak ( physically and naturally), God's strength isn't diminished, but enhanced.  So now, I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.  To reach into this salvation from faith to faith and from glory to glory like the Word says is to learn to know Him.  Philippians 4:13 (Amplified) says that, "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; (I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency)."