Enlightenment by Christ will lead us to face the inner conditions of our heart. Christ working within us uncovers our selfish attitudes, challenges the reasonings lodged within our own soul, and exposes the generational patterns of sin found in the flesh of our outer man. The outer man is not easily defeated, even when willingly surrendered.
The workings of Christ within our hearts will uncover many strongholds of darkness within each one of us. Christ always shows us what is hindering our walk to perfect maturity. Christ reveals how we can uproot inner problems, overthrow those bad attitudes, and loosen our bonds to discouragements. He commands us to stop fearing others or hating the brethren with gossip, and learn to REALLY love.
Christ no longer agrees with what we are in the flesh. He OPPOSES our fleshly thinking. Christ working within us shows us just what to cast off to be rid of our fears. Christ always exposes our false perceptions and our fanciful imaginations, capturing every carnal idea promoted by fleshly minds. Christ will deliver us from every false mental concept and every bad habit that would control our body.
Christ is a spiritual anointing sent to us for a complete healing of every part of our being: body, soul, and spirit. Christ draws our inner focus to a perfect heavenly realm where His life makes us members of a heavenly host, the unseen body of Christ. We, although being many, are made to fit into Christ as members in particular, with some as members of the government of God who are placed in and about the throne of Jesus. Thank God He has gained control of the hearts of tens of thousands of men and women!
Yet even now the multitudes of Christians on earth are settled upon their lees, lukewarm in commitment and not free from their inner enemies. Many are satisfied with the knowledge of sins forgiven and the hope to make it to heaven after physical death.Today most Christians are very lukewarm about pressing into deeper spiritual things of God while in this life. Material comfort seems to be enough, so they are spiritually “lukewarm”, not against the church but not given to pressing on into a full portion of resurrection life either. Christians are close, but so far away when focused on political leaders and worldly events! They too are like the faithless nation of Israel in the wilderness:
“They despised the pleasant land.” Psalms 106:24
Canaan was a nation coming from the descendants of Noah’s son, Ham. They dwelled in the most fruitful spots in in the heights of the promised land, enjoying having the wealth of bountiful harvests, made strong by that beautiful bounty. That “bountiful promised land” is a type of our inheritance in Christ, a lasting promise of a lasting kingdom. Most of the Israeli people, however, thought it would cost them too greatly to dispose of the land’s inhabitants. They settled for their current situation. Thinking they would rather not fight giants, their hearts longed to stay in the safety of the desert.
Christian people have gone to sleep while being taught to focus on material blessings, praying for the ability to prosper, to pay their bills. Attending church on Sunday makes them feel comfortable and content. Oh, believers would be glad for full stature in Christ if it would drop as a ripe fig into their mouths, but have no desire to risk loss or suffer by giving up pleasant pursuits to gain it.
Most have no desire to press through any difficult obstacles, seeing these as “the devil’s attacks.” They do not see the paths that walk about Zion. Men would rather press to possess a following, to gain worldly goods, to gain skill in earthly toils that are successful at attaining positions of rank and wealth. They press to hold worldly privilege for themselves. Yet those who PRESS ON in Him, though few, have heard and understood what His spirit says to the candlestick churches.
When God told the children of Israel to go into the land of Canaan for a possession, He said:
“I have given it to you.” Numbers 33:53
In a little while He added this striking admonition,
“Go in to possess it.” Deuteronomy 1:8
These were potent terms from the sovereign council of heaven! God had already deeded the land to them, but they were not thinking that way. Being fearful, they were not yet qualified mentally to possess this piece of earth that was then possessed by Canaanites. They saw the land as full of strong enemies, with fierce armies in walled cities in high places, requiring great risk in struggling for its possession. Even though, yes, they considered how vast and rich the land was, and yes, they knew the land was bountifully great with unlimited riches, they did not press on to possess it.
This is a “type and shadow” of Christians called to enter the promised dimensions of their spiritual homeland, to a city foursquare that has the greatest wealth of all in its length, breadth, height, and depth. This promise of God is life like that which raised Christ Jesus, life that brings our spirit to our spiritual homeland even now. Many, however, do not press on to the full portion of God being manifested to His Sons and Daughters.
To do so requires possession of godly characteristics such as found in Jesus, whom the Word and Spirit of God has Fathered. Deep within our inner being we cry “God is my Father too.” He is completing instructions that form godliness in the heart of our spiritual person. Understanding the Father’s Word and knowing His Spirit within our inner being is how we are made to cooperate, to be sealed, conformed within our inner being to our heavenly inheritance.
We are now being built up into a spiritual house of placed Sons. Jesus assumes responsibility for leading us to the Father. He is guiding us to our rightful spiritual connection to godly possessions. He intercedes to God on our behalf. The Father is giving what is needed for us to grow into the fullest stature, a complete stature of Sonship, as is the firstborn.
Christ working within us will heal and displace old habits and thought patterns, exposing every lie that is our enemy. His Word enlightens our mind and sends Spirit to baptize our inner being to cleanse us. The light of Christ exposes dispositions that inhabit our inner being. Good Christians can be entrenched in pride and religious arrogance within their soul.
We Christians need to carefully PRESS to gain full redemption without stopping short of the promise. We need to press on to be fully formed by the sevenfold Spirit of Christ Jesus now being sent from His throne. This makes the whole body Christ alive. Now “lightnings” of understanding are imparted to us by His spirit, so we may see the way of entrance into our spiritual homeland. We’re now completing our inner growth in the Word as promised sons and daughters of God.
Those who heed the call to Sonship are now redirected. They are enabled to do exceeding impossible things with an abundance of strength from above. He provides for all that we could ask for or think of, above all that we dreamed of or imagined. God has promised to do a complete work of manifesting His life to conform our destiny into the blessed state possessed by Jesus, thereby dwelling in the spirit of patience, faith, and obedience.
It was an honor to receive correct insight at the the time Joshua and Caleb instructed Israel to come out of the desert to enter the land promised:
“Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Numbers 13:30
That confession was correct in that they were “able to possess it.” It started with the disposition of two men, two hearts that believed what God had said. They were of the right mindset. A different mind was in the ten other spies. They were of a different spirit, a spirit not agreeing with what God had in mind! Two of twelve spies expressed convictions to Israel that they were able to take the land. They believed God would do what He said. These two believed, and HAD TO PRESS ON BEYOND THE FEARFUL DISPOSITIONS OF OTHERS WHO WOULD NOT BELIEVE.
These two, Joshua and Caleb, pressed on while all others in their generation perished in the wilderness. They entered the land with another generation. God has promised to give life and immortality as prizes for following His Son. Paul understood we Christians must PRESS ON to further experiences of great heavenly importance, to gain inheritance that has divine abilities to serve in the government of the living God.
“On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:7-8
God has ordained that some do take a path to the fullness of Christ because HE enables them to possess all spiritual blessings. He empowers them to know spiritual things, to know what is unknown to the natural minded man.
Our heavenly Joshua, Christ Jesus Himself, is actively sending His Spirit to stand up within us to guide us to a great army of followers in Mount Zion. These are enabled sons, spirits of just men being made perfect. God has, is, and will continue to go before them to fight their battles as they need to be won. He shall save them to the uttermost, and we shall rest in the promised land of His love!
We each need to focus on the daily bread our Father doles out. He speaks in many ways, He hears our silent prayers, and He does provide. Joshua received much divine instruction while with Moses that formed a correct understanding and assurance of victory. Joshua KNEW God was with him.
Joshua armed himself in that faith so all Israel trusted Joshua to cross the Jordan. He obeyed the divine voices he heard, entering the land as prescribed, in proper order, causing the whole nation of Israel to inherit their portion of the promised land. They gained confidence, forgot their fears, and were now proven fit to battle for possession of their God-given promise, for that homeland promised to Abraham for an INHERITANCE.
The night is far spent, the hour is come, and the day of the Lord’s unveiling is here. His unreserved commitment to us is an indestructible life that can radically thrust us through to the promises of the ages. This promise is where men complete the heralding of the glory of the Lord, when He shall “fill all the earth as the waters cover the sea”. Yes, the light of the Lord’s Day is becoming brighter to those Christians who look within their inner person to see the light of Day as the glory of the Lord is coming fully within them.
Soon the people of every nation shall come to walk in the light of the Lord’s Day. They will be drawing from us the light in the city, eating a new supper, even causing the nations to “come up” to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Then there will be peace on earth! There shall be no more war, no more cursing, no mourning, clamor, or misery, no more death, for the earth is the Lord’s. Christ is working within us to oppose fleshly characteristics. He is exposing lying vanities and all fleshly opposition as we trust the instructions coming from our Father’s guidance in our inner man.
We are the temple of the Lord and His abiding place. God subjected all mankind to vanity and to death, yet God is not mankind’s enemy. God also loves the world so much that He gave His Son a sacrifice for all. God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself. By this, Jesus is the Savior of the world, and He will appear to save ALL the men and women who have ever been in the world.
God is in the fight to bring that promise to completion. When God fights, it is with precision warfare. He fights at the right time and does for us now by pulling down false mental strongholds through His refreshing words of clear spiritual understanding. He is removing EVERYTHING on the inside of us that prevents His Word and Spirit from having its rightful place as King to rule within our inner spiritual being. This is how our spiritual body becomes alive and risen to where we bring forth no woe, nor any lie, yet are able to be built up as a temple of His truth that may flow like a river at every opening!
God has been building a HABITATION of wisdom within a people. There is a heavenly host rewho a increasing in being governed by Him. The challenge is to think in accord with His Word and Spirit. The mind of Christ must stand up within our temple to defy the laws of death working in fleshly men. His mind does expose every lie to dislodge every false mindset, making us fit properly as a son or daughter of God in the home of our Father.
"The carnal mind is enmity against God." Romans 8:7
Christians are to press on to our inheritance in God. We should see how He is releasing us daily, delivering us from within from the domination of our carnal mind. His presence delivers us from every lie, from cheating on things, from wrong concepts that like to “kill” us. OUR HOSTILE ENEMIES ARE FOUND IN THE WAY WE THINK! Our false mental concepts will accuse others with false measures of judgment. We must not deceive ourselves by accepting our own vain imaginations!
God simply knows what is true and He will uncover our religious motives when we are not so busy in dead works. He is now exposing the failure and lack of importance of life’s busy tasks. We see now that all of our religious activities that are not led (motivated) by God’s spirit are only making more religious “fig leaves” like Adam and Eve. Such “good works” often cover our own hatred, variance, discord, doubt, fear, judging, or greedy coveting for religious positions or status that are motivated by our desire to be esteemed in the eyes of others. Yes, those things must be exposed in us as enemies!
The heart of a soulish man rages inside his own being to darken with fleshly thoughts but all such fearful reasonings are squatters! Following Christ, any trespassers like these should not be allowed to inhabit our land. Our inner man is alive and pressing on to become a prize of God. Jesus Christ has been calling to bless people in the candlestick church realm for two thousand years. In these last days, the baptism of the holy ghost has now drawn believers out of such churches, gathering these few into the third heaven, the heavenly city, to spiritually keep the marriage supper of the Lamb.
God IS tabernacling in man. Our inner spiritual man has pressed on to gain eye salve to see the many ways His Spirit is working. Fiery trials and refinement from God’s wrath (passion) await sons and daughters who are spiritually asleep. There are many who are stuck in passing heavens when they are DESIGNED BY GOD to be molded to fit a heavenly destiny in the New Jerusalem. Christ is within us NOW, coming, conquering, revealing the truth within our temple:
"We are thanking Thee, Lord God Almighty, Who art and Who wast, for Thou hast taken Thy great power and dost reign. And the nations are angered, and Thy indignation came, and the era for the dead to be judged, and to give their wages to Thy slaves, the prophets, and to the saints and to those fearing Thy name, the small and the great, and to blight those who are blighting the earth. And opened was the temple of God in heaven, and seen was the ark of God's covenant in His temple, and lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and a great hail occurred.” Revelation 11:17-19 concordant
As sonship is developed within the lives of the Lord’s people, we are open to higher heavens, and the glory of the Son will be seen in our temple. As we know how God’s Spirit interprets the moment, He connects us with scripture in a spirit we trust, leading us to be redeemed in our spirit, our own soul, and in our body. To do so, He isolates those influences to which we are yielding, so we see how God is working within us.
We can “sit back," and find our REST, watching our Father unfold wondrous new days before us! Yet there has been preparatory work for possessing our inheritance. The principles of His kingdom must be written in our mind. These judgments Christ is unrelenting about do need to effectively operate to keep our heart in the love of God.
Ten out of the twelve men Moses sent to scout out the land of Canaan returned on the edge of despair, and this was after getting a first-hand look at the fruit of the land. The size of the grapes were as large as melons, yet they could not remove the gloom from their faces. What good is milk and honey in a land that “eats its inhabitants,” they thought, saying those inhabitants are “well-fortified giants”.
When the people of Israel heard the ten spies’ pessimistic report, they also lost heart, for it seemed that continuing with any plan to take over the land of Canaan would be tantamount to signing their own death warrants. It’s easy to understand their fear after the scouts’ vivid and daunting descriptions. Nevertheless, the Lord rebuked the Israelites for their cowardice. In fact, their lack of understanding brought judgment against that entire generation. That generation was then sentenced to die in the wilderness, except the two, Joshua and Caleb, with an “excellent spirit” in accord with His. They were the only two men of that generation to enter the promised land!
Today, God has set before His elect a much greater promise. Since the Canadian outpouring of latter rain in 1948, God’s people have been hearing glorious trumpets about sonship, reconciliation, and the kingdom of God. But we are continually late in entering the life of the instructions given to us with clear words, spiritual orders that enter and process our heart for full spiritual inheritance. We need to turn away from the fearful reports of men to enter in to our promised land.
We are not the first generation of believing Christians to have come to the gates of wisdom. The kingdom has been building for more than two thousand years. Many generations of Christians have already heard the gospel, yet died short of the promised kingdom. Many brethren are way short of the promise, being filled with much fear and unbelief. But God has mightily sent forth the truth of His Word and Spirit, so we clearly should not fail to understand but should grasp the promise in this generation:
"Where there is no vision, the people perish:" Proverb 29:18
We are all groaning for real deliverance, not mere head knowledge about some “deeper” revelation we boast in, not again promoting another ‘higher concept’ that is carnal. God is tabernacling within a great host of people who, like Joshua and Caleb, with assurance, declare,
"We are able to go up and take the land!”
We are counseled to arise and “press on toward the prize” of a fulfilling high calling in God. God certainly knew about the giants and the fortified cities when He commanded Moses to send spies in the first place. The Exodus could have kept moving with the miraculous manna, replete with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by the posts of a godly tabernacle, without confronting the people in Canaan with ideas of battle. But the divine command uttered:
“Send thou men that they may spy out the land of Canaan.” Numbers 13:1-2
God certainly wasn’t needing intelligence gathering. God used this as a type and shadow of those who now want the promised inheritance of spiritual life so passionately they lust after it, DESIRING IT INTENSELY! It wasn’t enough to report back that, yes, the fruits were good, but the cities were fortified and the inhabitants were giants, and “we are like grasshoppers in their eyes”.
What this advance guard was supposed to do was demonstrate courage that despised the instinct of the human heart to tremble at possible battles to the death. They were not to fear life in bondage as slaves. Despite great strongholds of truth, false perceptions spread, imaginations created carnal ideas, and fleshly concepts habitually ruled the minds of the Israeli people.
The possibility of failure was in fact not to be compared to the valuable land set before them in the mind of two scouts, Joshua and Caleb. Their outlook, their vision, was “WE ARE ABLE”. They were of a different spirit. They had an overriding passion, an intense desire, to possess the land God had promised. Joshua and Caleb caused the next generation of Israel to step forward in faith to determine who was to possess that land.
Hence, God’s intention in sending the scouts was that two should see the land, desire the land, be inspired with passionate desire for it, then express divine inspiration to the next generation. Through this, they were giving them correct understanding, vision, and leadership that caused Israel to go, to press on over Jordan, to enter the land promised by God.
Christians called to sonship are truly CONSUMED with His passion for conquering LOVE that provides unending PEACE. They have an ability to “enjoy their allotment”, their rightful possessions in God’s Kingdom. They certainly have inner assurance that will not turn back when tried. They too are of a mind, thinking “we are able” to spiritually possess our inheritance of godliness. The mind of Christ becomes their all-consuming passion, intensely, fervently, and strongly when walking through the shadows of death in earth’s dark places!
Christians are still arising from the candlestick churches to press forward to a lasting heaven where God puts our every enemy under His feet. His will and purpose will be done to deliver us to full stature, a full grown man in Christ, complete in sonship power and glory directly from God. His great purpose is to tabernacle within us all! We are called to endure when He is dislodging our enemies, as He pulls out the twisted thoughts that hate, the residing prejudice that fears, and all malice. When they are dislodged from us, our soul is saved and confidence is great.
The temple of God being opened in heaven and the ark being revealed, giving heavenly light, an understanding of God placed in the minds of sons and daughters. Those truths make them one with the promise. The ark is seen in them, because they are changed to comprehend spiritual matters. God should abide in us with loving kindness, to reveal the full portion of righteousness and the true standard of victory in Jesus.
God has authorized full victory over death, hell, and the grave for Jesus. God's blessed promise for all of us is no less. Christians see how Jesus now is, seeing as Jesus sees to identify our inheritance. The divine character is being extended even now to us who have heard the bidding call and pressed on to higher spiritual ground to gain prizes found only in the throne realm of Mount Zion.
God’s prizes WILL will be “possessed” by some. The word “possess” is the Hebrew word ‘yarash,’ meaning ‘to tread on grapes,’ indicating the necessity of treading on our enemies as a conqueror. The causative form of the verb ‘yarash’ means to cause a change in the POWER STRUCTURE of the land. They were to bring down the kings, the ruling factors, the nobles, the rich and powerful, so that a new order may replace the old. No, the enemies of hate and fear have not fled away in terror from us. They have to be FACEDf fought by resistance and removed by strong instructions directly from God.
Israel actively pressed on each step of the way, just as we Christians are going from glory to glory because Jesus is conquering by treading one rank at a time. Each rank is potentially ours, a heavenly rank joined to His army of great followers. As God directs, they are disposed to overcome each enemy, so they will find rest and enjoy the possession of their allotment of a fruitful land.
Christ quickens our spirit again and again to victory after victory in the wonder of Christ enabling us to find the governmental order of the kingdom. His kingdom brings loving righteousness and peace established as our way of thinking and living. Christ within us grows to form a spiritual body within us. It is His seat of government that is ever increasing within us.
We are more and more able to recognize His reign over our enemies, as they are dislodged from possessing our land (our life). Now, in loving kindness, He has brought peace to our troubles and enabled us to enjoy even simple everyday things within our being. We are able to unlearn human ways, cast off acquired habits that developed personality quirks carried over from generations of ancestors opposed to any new expanse of His spirit’s rule.
The people Christ rules over become fit vessels of His government and His reign is increasing within them now. As their characteristics are formed by Christ, Christ leads them to become a tabernacle of God. Christ, the anointing of God, enables us to bear with all the situations that develop within our lives, great and small. The kingdom of God is not just in word, not just head knowledge that we preach, or talk about, or read about. It is not found in dead doctrines, and it is not just a far out revelation. The King of God grants power to be godly!
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21
“And he that overcomes and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father.” Revelation 2:26-27
The carnal mind holds prideful resentments against brothers leading to increasing religious slander and inflamed church gossip. We must refuse all hatred, as that hatred starts wars among the nations, becoming multi-faceted monsters that lie with fear and torment to be subdued. These forces are brought to naught within our lives as those who press on to inherit the promise of God through Christ Jesus.
“For the disposition of the flesh is death, yet the disposition of the spirit is life and peace, because the disposition of the flesh is enmity to God, for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither is it able. Now those who are in flesh are not able to please God. Yet you are not in flesh, but in spirit, if so be that God’s spirit is making its home in you." Romans 8:6-9 concordant
Christ rightfully should reign over any fleshly disposition within each of us until He has thoroughly changed us and completely removed our tears by bringing every enemy under foot. Our inner life then becomes the conquered “land,” able to endure the redeeming process that forms a new creation within us. We are a temple, opened with a heavenly understanding, and all will see the ark—the promise fulfilled. There are freed creatures about the throne that are given “eyes and wings” that fully believe and are enabled to soar above every obstacle, with wings of expectation set toward what He reveals.
Subdued are the inner fears of death that are enemies to truth, being placed under His feet, defeated. He is pressing us to cooperate with Him daily in His divine purposes that prove what the will of God is. Even now we are witness of a new Feast with greater glory of proven divine substance. Yes, we do PRESS ON to possess prizes promised in the Lord’s feasts set before us.