This is a long post, but it is worth it to read and consider what is being said.
Sunday Morning Sermon
“Is the Spirit of Christ *ruling in you?”
The subject of spiritual union with Christ in your heart, is the most important, the most profound, and blessed of anything mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.
Yet it is sad, that it is also the most generally neglected subject.
It is the blessing that is unknown in many Christians and Churches and rarely spoken about. Ohh sure we mention the Bible verses where this is said and yet dare to go no further. Because if the Spirit of Christ is in us, then we will begin to ask why we are not continually talking and obeying Him for everything we do and say! As we study this, always remember that the Spirit of Christ will always agree 100% with the Word of Christ, and be pleasing and Glorify God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Now as we talk about the Spirit of Christ living in a saved persons heart and importantly ruling in a persons heart, we need to clarify first if you are actually Saved at all. - As I mentioned before many times, I do not ask people if they have repeated the sinner prayer like a Parrot. I ask people if they say they are saved these questions. Do you know how Jesus was tortured? Did you repent for hours? Do you still repent every day? Are you dying to self every day? Are you carrying a cross? Are you saying no to your flesh and the things and pleasures it demands? Are you sharing the Gospel often? Are you Baptized in God the Holy Spirit? Do you know and are you using your gifts every day? Does the Spirit of Christ rule in your heart? Do you make only the choices that He wants? Are you fellowshipping and praying with him every hour of your waking day?
Sadly, most people in most Churches, when asked these questions smoothly over coffee, just walk away. They have a different Jesus than I do. Sadly their Churches do also with a little jesys of soft happiness & entertainment.
But for those who have repented and are truly Saved, I wonder sometimes how much of our daily life is under our own will or the will of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts.
Sometimes we say we cannot hear Him. Often that is because we are listening to our own flesh, our own will, yelling because it wants this or that.
Yet the Spirit of Christ speaks in a quiet still voice.
Can you imagine your spouse speaking to you from 100 yards away? How about 50 or 10 yards away? Now picture them speaking to you with their lips next to your ear. This should be our goal. To listen to the Spirit of Christ in our heart so close that we can hear nothing else. It grows to where you can hear and talk with Jesus in you, all during the time that you talk with others, even in a group. It is a beautiful dance: of the highest joy is found in fellowship with the Spirit of Christ within you. But your flesh will fight you every step of the way. If you have repented and are dying to self, then your union with Christ is real, but invisible. Many won’t even try to see this but we must allow “the eyes of [our] hearts” (Eph. 1:18) to look not at what is seen, but what is unseen (2 Cor. 4:18).
Prayer is the natural fellowship of a person in communion with Jesus. Just as the leaf and the fruit will come out of the vine-branch without any conscious effort on the part of the branch, but simply because of its living union with the stem, so prayer buds, and blossoms, and fruits out of souls abiding in Jesus. Charles Spurgeon
If I am united to Christ, then all that is His, is mine. So long as my heart, will and mind are in agreement with Jesus and His word, If that is true then I can approach God with the humble confidence that my prayers will be heard and answered.
Jesus can only be known experientially through the indwelling of His Spirit in union with us. Yet who has desired this?
Imagination and thinking of Jesus, and talking with Him is more important than just Bible knowledge. When they tell us to “fix our eyes … on what is unseen” (2 Cor. 4:18), it is our imagination that must respond. This is where many Seminary and legalistic rules oriented educated people fail.
He became one with us so that we might become one with Him. Once a man is united to God, he will never truly die. There is a great difference between realizing, “On that Cross Jesus was crucified for me,” and “On that Cross I am crucified with Him.” The first part gives us deliverance from sin’s penalty, the second is deliverance from sin’s power in our flesh to rule us.
Every breath you take and every action and word are now happening because of the Master of your Soul within you. Yet as Paul says, if you’re not obeying Christ within you, then you are not Saved at all-Rom 8:9
This is the stunning message of Christianity; Jesus died for you so that He might live inside of you. Jesus has no desire to make you a better person, instead He desires to have you become a dead to flesh person that He now can live in and through your new Born Again redeemed life. He doesn’t want the old you. He wants to talk to & live in the new you, that He washed clean in His blood on the Cross.
Study verses: Jn 4:24, 14:17, 23, Acts 16:7, Rom 8:9-16,v26, 1st Cor 2:14, 3:16, 6:19, 2nd Cor 13:5, Gal 4:6
"OF GOD ARE YE IN CHRIST JESUS, who was made unto us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption."--I COR.1:30
"Ye ARE in Christ Jesus." Paul wants believers to know that they are in Christ Jesus. The whole Christian life depends on the clear consciousness of our position in Christ.
But the apostle has an additional thought, of almost greater importance: "OF GOD are ye in Christ Jesus." He would have us not only remember our union to Christ, but specially that it is not our own doing, but the work of God Himself.” Andrew Murray
"You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works": grafted by Him into Christ, unto the bringing forth of much fruit. For this is the design of the gospel, that Christ may become ours and that we may be ingrained into his body” (1 Cor 1:9).
“The meaning is quite clear and radical: without union with Christ, there will be no sign of salvation in our lives. In his Commentary on Hab 2:4 he writes: “the purpose of human life is to be united to God. That union with Christ, or being in Christ are a vital phrases in the Holy Bible. These words of God are true. Jesus Christ IN you, the Hope of Glory.” J. Calvin
What? You haven’t been taught of this main theme of all of Christianity? Why? What Church do you go to? Who is your Pastor? What? Why? How?
Spurgeon said:�"Nothing is to be trusted to but the finished work of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's bloody tree! No feelings, no emotion, no believing, no conversion, even, must ever be put into the place of that one eternal Rock of refuge—the blood and merit of Jesus Christ! Fly there, poor Soul! Whatever you are, or are not, fly there! Cast your guilty self on Christ and rest there, for there alone can you find salvation! Learn this lesson - not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ to make you repent—not to come to Christ because you have a broken heart, but to come to Him that He may give you a broken heart - not to come to Him because you are fit to come, but to come to Him because you are unfit to come! Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification is your lack of qualification. You are to be nothing, in fact, and to come to Christ as nothing - and when you so come, then will repentance come!"
First Corinthians 6:17 says, "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit."
Watchman Nee said: “What then is salvation? Salvation is nothing other than God saving man out of himself and into God. Salvation has the aspects of termination and union. It terminates the self and unites God and man. Any way of salvation that does not have the goal of saving man from himself and into union with God is not genuine. If a method of salvation cannot save man from himself and into union with God, it is only empty words. Real spiritual life is the severing of your flesh and entering into that which is divine. Our "self" is often the enemy of God’s life.
Man became separated from God by Adam’s sin. Christ then paid the price of that sin and redeemed us to God. The gospel is to lead us back in a way to a union with God with the Spirit of Christ in our heart. Has not God given us His holiness, perfection, life, power and riches? God has joined us to Christ causing Him to be our head, our trunk and our food. Do we believe that Christ is now our righteousness and sanctification and redemption? Do we believe He is presently living out His life in us? Our union with Christ is patterned after the union of Christ with God; therefore, His patience, gentleness, purity and goodness are all ours. Just as in initial salvation we previously believed Him to be our righteousness, so today let us likewise believe Him to be our holiness. Yet how many fail in this respect. They know God's way of victory, but they do not have the faith. They know their inability, but they do not know Christ's ability. They see the total corruption of their flesh, but they do not see the riches of Christ as God's gift to them.
We now have Jesus Christ Himself actually living and dwelling in us. He is now to be our Life.”
How amazing is it that Jesus who lived 2000 years ago becomes our living Friend and Lord and God, and He gives us His life, to have union with Him.
God announces to us that He has relocated us into His universe of grace. If your a repentant and saved that you are no longer outside Christ, and now not just near to Jesus Christ or beneath Christ, but you are now in Christ and He and the Trinity are in you. Do you understand this?
Remember that with “Christ in you” and you now having “union” with Christ, you still need the ordinance of communion and the celebration of the Lords broken body and shed blood for your sins.
In fact without communion there can be no union or indwelling of Christ in your heart. Likewise with repentance. It is a gate that closes salvation and union with Christ from you, as you stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that you are a daily sinner.
If you are not a daily sinner in need of daily repentance, then you don’t need an eternal Savior.
1st Cor 2:14 says: The “natural person” does not accept the things of the “Spirit of God”, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are “spiritually discerned”.
I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of God. For my part I keep myself retired with Him in the depth of centre of my soul as much as I can; and while I am so with Him I fear nothing; but the least turning from Him is insupportable. - Fenelon
Continually talk with the Lord as you get up, do your daily functions, get dressed, eat, go to work, while at work, as you travel, as you rest at home and until your eye are closed and you dream of His loving embrace. As you wake up immediately praise Him and go about your day as before. If any difference or situation arises take Him with you and ask for His Spirit to direct you. Stay in constant fellowship with Him.
It is a shameful thing to quit conversation with the Lord to engage in foolish garb, hobbies or entertainment. Being in company with Jesus is worth more than what this world could provide me.
We may try ignore this, but I wonder why.
Is Jesus inside of you? Is He living His life through you? Is there any part of you that is blocking Him? You know there is. Gods conviction has shown it you. How? The scripture, or that persons words or a dream, only you & God know.
If you repent, ahhh the beauty that awaits you!
“But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called by His grace, to reveal His Son in me…..I did not rush to “consult” with flesh and blood, not did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles” (He didn’t check with a Rochester Church or Pastor). If Jesus doesn’t come first in your life then He doesn’t rate or come at all in your life.
Do not always confine yourself to certain rules, or a certain Church building or entertainment or even a particular exact prayer time or any religious or Church forms of devotion, but instead just be simple and gentle and talk with the Lord who by His Spirit lives in your heart. - Fenelon
The most holy and important practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God - that is, every moment to take great pleasure that God is with you.
Sufferings in your life will be sweet and pleasant while we are fellowshipping with Him; and the greatest fleshly pleasures you can have will be, without Him, a cruel punishment!
”I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Gal 2:20
Is this true for you? Really?
Galatians 1:15-16—“His Son in me” Is that true - for you? Can you prove it?
All day, every day, with too many people who say they are Christians, I say “Jesus”, they say “Church”. I say “let’s pray”, they say “I’m going to a concert”
Jesus says: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” Jn 15:4
“Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Jn 14:23
Is Jesus “word” to you to go to a concert? A Big Church? Getting entertained? Having a fun Pastor? Or is it “going to pray with others”, “going to a house Bible study or small Church”, “giving up your pleasures”?
The things you demand and desire to do - is that your will or of the Spirit of Christ in you”
Don’t lie - who rules your life? Please for Gods sake - be honest. Your life and eternity depends upon it. Last week did you refuse to go to a prayer meeting? Was that Christ saying no because there was no entertainment or food or a band?
Many of you are convicted now and that good, as long as it leads you to repent and change.
But you see, in honesty, repenting is not fun. But entertainment and pleasing your flesh, is fun.
Yet you say that you are saved?
Jesus said: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” Mt 16:25
Have you truly honestly absolutely given up your life, with its own choices, desire for bigness, entertainment, pleasure, soft teachings, attention to yourself and are carrying a cross?
“Whoever loves his (current enjoyable) life will lose it, but whoever hates his life (despises the world and your own thoughts & emotions) in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Jn 12:25
You say “ohh yes. Christ lives in me. See my gold jewelry cross and my big church that I go to! Wow!
- In truth, your old life: thoughts, emotions, breath, body parts - all must die. So that you don’t control or own yourself. You don’t boast of yourself or Church or anything at all. It is now only God who you live for and who owns you, who is giving you a fresh new life (Born Again. Born a second time. God must own every breath & step that you take. If this is true for you then say out loud that you’re dead and have no right to make your own decisions led by your desires & emotions.
Many of you won’t say that will you?
You doubt this is real? Well Paul said “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail (failed equals dead) to meet the * test!” 2 Cor 13:5
* Do you pass that test? Was this so in all your choices today?
“So letting your sinful nature control your mind (thoughts) leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind (thoughts) leads to life and peace”. Rom 8:6
“Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your Flesh. Press through to ask Him to give you the victory of only thinking about Him and His Word. Don’t let your mind wander too far, you should keep it strictly in the presence of God.” - Fenelon
“Do you not know that your bodies (head to toes) are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies (actions, thoughts, emotions).” 1 Cor 6:19-20
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend (rely on our trust) on your own understanding (dead man’s thoughts & emotions).
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own personal (sin stained corrupt) wisdom.” Prov 3:5-7
“Why has your heart (emotions) carried you away (from what God wants)?
What has weakened your vision, that you turn against God and (now because you’re letting your old dead man talk) say all these evil things? Job 15:12-13
Jesus prayed to the Father: “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” Jn 17:21
“I have given them the Glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me.” Jn 17:22
“May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” Jn 17:24
Jesus Christ lives in the heart of repentant believers. But from there, He wants to spread into the rest of our inward being, that is, into our heart. Our heart includes our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. The Lord doesn’t want to just visit our heart, like a guest visits a hotel. He wants our heart to be His home, where He has the freedom to live and move & change the world. If you allow this then you will suffer with Him and carry your own cross. You will be rejected, which is a sign you are like Christ.
“That Christ may make His home in your hearts”. Eph 3:17
& Galatians 1:15-16 says — “His Son in me”.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home “with” him.” Jn 14:23
We will repeat here some scriptures that are extra important.
I need more proof you say.
Colossians 1:27—“Christ “in” you”
“To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ “in” you, the hope of glory.”
- This verse shows us not only that “Christ is in us”, but that He’s in us as our hope of glory. Or only hope. Our only glory - is to be in Him. When we believed in Him, Christ came to live into our heart to make it His home & to live His life through us. Is He really in you? Look at every choice, decision and thing you did in the last few days. Was that or were they of Christ?
Jesus loves you and wants to lead you to victory in your heart.
Second Thessalonians 1:10—“Glorified -in- His saints” “When He comes to be glorified “in” His saints and to be marveled at “in” all those who have believed.” I love that!
Ya know Jesus asked for this!
Let me show you how much Jesus loves you and how He asked for this from the Father.
John 17:20-23 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I” in them and you in me”, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:20-23
- Well, if I’m repenting & being available to Jesus, how can I be sure that He is in me?
John 14:19-20 says “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
1 John 4:15 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides “in him”, and he “in” God.”
“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:23
Can you say that your life, your words & your actions are not you, but Jesus? Are you joyfully serving & suffering for Him?
Can you say - "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30); or "I do always the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29); or "The works that I do in My Father's name" (John 10:25).
Do you have the perfect consciousness & the sense of perfect oneness with Jesus Christ?
Why is this so strange to you?
Do you see the evidence of the scriptures above? Is Gods Word still not true?
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Let’s go deeper: The flesh and the spirit are in continual conflict with each other, so it is only with the help of God by the Holy Spirit that any person can have victory over sin.
Paul describes our crucifying the flesh by saying “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
John Piper says “The Spirit will help you die. The Spirit will help you die.”
God the Holy Spirit gives you power to fight your human fleshly spirit, to give you victory over your sinful flesh. Jesus said “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you,” John 16:7.
Calvin, Owen, Spurgeon, Chuck Smith, DL Moody, Johnathan Edwards, Andrew Murray, A.W Tozer, Piper, and Leonard Ravenhill, just to name a few, all experienced God personally?
Have you? Nope I’m not going to let you slip around this by you telling me that you go to Church.
Do you talk with Jesus every hour that you are awake?
Are you in amazing awe continually that Jesus is living inside of you?
Read Isa 6. Just go sit in awe at the Holiness of God. It is so powerful that even the Seraphim who have never sinned - could still NOT look upon God and live! Repeat.
They (Seraphim) are sinless and STILL can’t look at God! Repeat.
So with 2 of their 6 wings they cover their eyes.
And even though God made them they still are embarrassed to show themselves, so before God they cover themselves with 2 of of their wings.
Then when they speak to each other - they speak of how God is Holy & the words themselves have such power that they shake the pillars in Heaven.
Then with their last 2 wings they fly to serve the Lord.
Can you grasp what I’m saying?
Because I can’t. I try. I read of it. I study it. I pray about it. And still it is like a dream. I can feel the excitement of this and I want more of it. But I have a feeling that the more I take in the more I don’t want to return from my life on earth. Maybe Paul felt this way as he was caught up to the 3rd Heaven and yet couldn’t describe it to others.
Moses took off his shoes. Isaiah put a blazing hot coal on his lips. I feel like laying down naked and saying “God slay me”, for I don’t want to leave this vision and return to a world that has nothing for me of any comparison.
Do you want more? Good!
Are you surrendered to Jesus? Really?
Remember, being “almost” surrendered is - not being surrendered at all. It’s like saying you almost took a breath of air.
If you are Saved- are there still rooms in your home heart that you don’t let Jesus go into? * In every Christian’s heart there is a *cross and a *throne, and YOU are on that throne - until you put yourself on the cross and die to self. If you refuse to carry a cross, then your stubborn heart remains on that throne and Christ cannot rule.
Definition of Surrender: “To yield to the power, control, or possession of another. To give up completely to another”.
Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the conqueror. Does Jesus have total reign over you?
Really?
Luke 14:33 Jesus said “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple”
Then you may ask, “well after that, what do I do?” -The answer is to pray, talk to God and never stop. Yes even if you say Amen, you keep inwardly praying, even as you drive, eat, shower, work, you just stay in 100% total communion with God, repenting of sins that flash up, and continually worshipping God. Telling Him that you love Him.
Thank Him for the Cross. Praise Him for His Mercy on your life - that is new every morning. Thank Him for His Grace to you for His favors and blessings and your daily bread, water and clothing and all that God has let you - not to selfishly own, but to borrow and use it for Gods Glory as His undeserving servant.
* Remember Jesus must be your Lord of all, or He is not your Lord at all. You can’t give Him 99% and keep back 1%. God will never accept those terms.
Do you understand this?
I repeat, God will never accept anything but your falling down total surrender to Him of every breath and part of your life. - Listen, a husband who is 95% faithful to his wife, is not faithful at all. There is no such thing as part-time loyalty to Jesus Christ.
We are not called to know just that Jesus lived. Or just be educated about Him.
Instead you need to intimately know Him through a living romantic personal relationship. It is in this way that not you begin to know Jesus, but that Jesus sees your desire to know Him. Knowing is key as Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:23-27 that if He doesn’t “know” you, personally, then you won’t go to Heaven.
Knowing Him happens as you have a romance with Him.
⁃ Look, a romantic intimate private & personal loving relationship with Jesus is like a vibrant, colorful perfect, symphony in your soul of music and color in perfect harmony. There is a fullness and a richness to His personality that is completely unique and stunning. If you can grasp it, Jesus is the playfulness of all creation and the gladness of our sunshine.
As you enter a romance with Jesus, everything is shut out - as your spirit dances alone with His Spirit. Lord have mercy!
Other Christians will look on at you as being a bit weird or different. They simply cannot hear the Heavenly music that you hear & dance to, with Jesus. They are like the soldiers around Saul as they hear a sound but didn’t hear the words said by Jesus to this man who got Saved and became Paul.
Your life is in a way as Paul said as He was taken up to the 3rd Heaven & said no human language words could describe it & His feelings about it.
The inter-course of Gods Spirit into you, by breathing His peace into you, removes your worry, anxiety, fear & pain. All while giving you a euphoria that cannot be described with our human language. Are you there yet? If not it’s because of your flesh.
If you step into separate aloneness with Jesus, you will be in a romantic relationship with the King of all Kings, the Wonderful Counselor, the Majestic God who controls the particles of air your breathing & the elements in the blood in your veins.
Jesus is unmatched.
He is the King of Heaven and Glory. You can’t measure the Love that He has for you. He is full of Fresh Mercy for you every morning. He understands your life. He is limitless in His Blessings to you. He is the one who died for you, so He can spend all of eternity with you. In the depth of your private romance with Him you see that you cannot even describe Him & His fathomless Love to others around you. Words fail to speak what your heart feels. He is your husband who kisses and holds you and even as it says in Zephaniah 3:17, sings over you. He is the one who guides you, heals you, forgives you, defends you, blesses you, beautifies you and rewards you. Praise God and Amen.
Jesus is all yours to enjoy. Once you cross over from a regular Christianity into this Romantic Love affair, you will never want to go back. Church alone will not satisfy you. You will ask Him to help you “divorce” from the basic going to church level - and to go higher - to His romantic & intimacy level. He is not just a man in your Bible, He is now a real heavenly lover, a confider, helper & supplier. What can mere church Christianity & Church services offer to you in comparison? Those things are complimentary, but not the main thing. Your relationship with God should be your main thing.
If you are willing, this intimacy you can have from Jesus is unparalleled to the point you just can’t sufficiently describe it. Words fail to express what you feel. Wave after wave of Gods love washing & embracing you & carrying you into the bottomless ocean of His eternal love above the planets and sky.
* If you are willing to get away from Christian things, events, parties, concerts and you take just one step to be alone with Jesus, He will run the rest of the way to meet with you. It’s true!
* “So, he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). Isn’t that great!
In the Old Testament we read of the Lords Mercy Seat. To get there you had to leave the outer court (Church events) then go past the inner court (just going to church) then open the curtain (Veil) then go into the Holy of Holies (private) where the Mercy seat was. In the New Testament we know that when Jesus died, the curtain was torn by God from top to earths bottom & the Mercy seat of Jesus was freely open too all people.
- But sadly still today, people can’t get there because of them demanding a big church or a Christian event - all in the outer & inner courts. So they never never get alone for hours with just Jesus at His private Mercy seat.
They remind me of the Wichita Lineman who said in his song: “I need you more than I want you - yet I want you for all time”.
* You need Jesus, I need Jesus, but do we really want Him? Do we want Him more than anything or anybody on earth? Will you willingly go against your fleshly pleasurable demands and go to a small Church or Prayer group? What hurdles are you making the Lord Jesus jump? Think about that.
Is it really you & Jesus or it is sadly you & your flesh with a Bible and a gold cross?
Think about it.
1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes *one spirit with him.”
John 14:20
“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
There is a "mystical union," between Jesus and your saved spirit. Paul was so moved by this, that under the leading of the Spirit he said “it is no more I that live, but Christ that liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20)
Be honest. Is that you?
To Paul, spiritual life meant the indwelling of Christ into your heart and your life, so that you ate honestly "in Christ;" so that he could say, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. Gal 3:27
You are the Lords body now. “Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in what you say or what you do every second) do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (not in your flesh) giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col 3:27
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do (even going to the bathroom), do it all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor 10:31
Then Paul goes further: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, (everything you say, every word, every action, is to be of the Lord, and not by your own choosing)”. Col 3:23
Who choosing for you today?
We are to be united with the Spirit of Jesus in feeling, actions, intention, attitude. "As the union of souls is more important than that of bodies; as that union is more lasting, dear, and enduring than any union of body with body can be, and as our union with him is with a Spirit pure and holy.
Understand that the union with Christ is more intimate, entire, and pure than that which can be between a man and woman; and that union should be regarded as sacred and inviolable."
Ohh Mercy, if all Christians felt and regarded this as they should, how would they shrink a bit from just only human connections which they often form on earth!
“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Eph 2:18, 22.
Our best connection to the Father is through Christ. Jesus prayed to the Father: “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity.” John 17:23
“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Eph 5:20
A mystical union which is between Christ and every one that is a true believer, is with Christ. Your spirit is united to the Spirit of Christ, and you are one with Him in faith and love, and by obedience. Christ and you now have one will, and you are to be ruled and governed by Christ. But are you? Will you allow it?
Many are not fully led by the Spirit of Christ, for they have set times to be spiritual or to say no to their flesh or set times to pray or fellowship with the Lord. When instead we should be communicating with Him so continuously that you almost never say “Amen”. You talk with Him even as you talk of food to another person or as you go to the bathroom.
If you have repented and are being crucified with Christ and as you die daily, you should be constantly talking and hearing from the Spirit of Christ within you.
It is His will you are to follow, with not your own body, because now it is His body. Right? Do you understand this?
If you are saved, then Galatians 2:20 is real, which says “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.” For your body is now His body as you are a member of His flesh & bones (Eph 5:30).
Because if you are killing your flesh (your own way, choices, decisions, plans) then you are joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Cor 6:17).
Now that you are dead, you are alive and your body & spirit you are now one with Jesus and His Spirit, to live out the rest of your days being His mouth with His words, He has authority over your arms, legs and thoughts. You are officially one with Christ.
Are you living as such? If not is it a matter of your strong flesh abd weak faith?
Are you there yet? Will you try?
Do you want to go deeper?
“I have abandoned all particular forms of prayer or techniques or procedures or programs. My only prayer practice is attention. I carry on a habitual, silent, and secret continual non stopping conversation with Jesus that fills me with overwhelming joy.” - Brother Lawrence
“We should put life in our faith. We should give ourselves utterly to God in pure abandonment.” Brother Lawrence
“That we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD’s Presence, by continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation.” Brother Lawrence
“You need not cry very loud: He is nearer to us than we think.” Brother Lawrence
“That there needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only.” Brother Lawrence
“Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your flesh. Press through to ask Him to give you the victory of only thinking about Him and His Word.” Brother Lawrence
“Don’t let your mind wander too far, you should keep it strictly in the presence of God.” Brother Lawrence
“Often, in the beginning of learning how to be in the presence of the Lord, you will think that you are wasting time, but you must go on, be determined and persevere in it even until death, despite all the difficulties. Remember that the reward is the actual presence of God.” Brother Lawrence
All below from Brother Lawrence. “Continually talk with the Lord as you get up, do your daily functions, get dressed, eat, go to work, while at work, as you travel, as you rest at home and until your eye are closed and you dream of His loving embrace. As you wake up immediately praise Him and go about your day as before. If any difference or situation arises take Him with you and ask for His Spirit to direct you. Stay in constant fellowship with Him.”
“We ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, speak to Him frankly and plainly, and implore His assistance in our affairs.”
“Our biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer is different from any other time. It is all one.”
“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.”
“Our only business is to love and delight ourselves in God.”
“I began to live as if there were no one save God and me in the world.”
“In continuing the practice of conversing with God throughout each day, and quickly seeking His forgiveness when I fell or strayed, His presence has become as easy and natural to me now as it once was difficult to attain.”
“The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are yelling or swearing at the same time calling for different things, I simply possess Jesus in as great tranquility as if I were on alone and on my knees.”
“God alone is capable of making Himself known as He really is.”
“People seek methods of learning to know God. There is no method or education needed. Just a willing heart to repent, praise Him and walk with Him.”
“Emptiness of myself is that which frees us from religiosity and leads us to true spirituality.”
“Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God.”
“The most excellent method of going to God is that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing people but purely for the love of God.”
“It is a shameful thing to quit conversation with the Lord to engage in foolish garb, hobbies or entertainment. Being in company with Jesus is worth more than what this world could provide me.”
“Do not always scrupulously confine yourself to certain rules, or particular exact prayer times or any religious or Church forms of devotion, but instead just be simple and gentle and talk with the Lord who by His Spirit lives in your heart.”
“The most holy and important practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God - that is, every moment to take great pleasure that God is with you.”
“Sufferings in your life will be sweet and pleasant while we are fellowshipping with Him; and the greatest fleshly pleasures you can have will be, without Him, a cruel punishment.”
“I drove away from my mind everything capable of spoiling the sense of the presence of God....I just make it my business to persevere in His holy presence...My soul has had an habitual, silent, secret conversation with God.”
“The most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God. That means finding constant pleasure in His divine company, speaking humbly and lovingly with him in all seasons, at every moment, without limiting the conversation in any way.”
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.” Brother Lawrence
Have you gazed into the face of God? Have you quietly, all alone, just privately worshipped Jesus?
Understand that sometimes the Christian or Church things we cling to keep us from a 1-1 clinging onto the hem of Jesus Robe. The blessings can become the idols.
Wherever God appeared to men in Bible times it was a 1-1 private experience and the results were the same — an overwhelming sense of awe, fear and a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt.
When God spoke, Abram stretched himself upon the ground to listen.
- When Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush, he hid his face in fear to look upon God. - Isaiah’s vision of God caused from him the cry, “Woe is me!” and the confession, “I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.”
Paul could hardly tell whether he was in or out of the body when he was allowed to see the unspeakable glories of the third heaven.
- When John saw Jesus walking among His churches, he fell at His feet as dead.
Look: It is not enough that you should memorize the Scriptures.
Some people memorize the Word of God but have never “met the God” who gave the Word. Amen?
Moses went to the stars and the sheep for silence.
There has to be a fire. There must be a fire in the heart & soul of a person that burns up everything except Jesus. But we can’t keep that Fire going as we attend to the candle wicks of our flesh, church, and things.
It simply doesn’t work that way. But we think “oh Lord I must do this Christian thing or that church thing. You see Lord it is all good stuff”
But God says “No. I just want you, alone, just you. Come unto me”.
Have you experienced the Manifest Presence of Jesus and smelled His breath and kissed His lips and layed down in His arms?
If so then you have reached a level that others will not be able to understand and like Mary you will keep these things in your heart.
Look folks, I believe that the Manifest Presence of God is the central fact of all Christianity.
At the heart of the Christian Bible message is God Himself waiting for you to push forward and Into the conscious awareness of His Presence.
Now we have already talked some about it, but as some of you know I’m fascinated or I guess you could call it obsessed with the story of Moses with the Burning Bush and with Isaiah at the Majestic Throne of God.
AW Tozer said “I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion… I want all that God has or I don’t want any. Nothing in or of this world measures up to the simple pleasure of experiencing the presence of God. –
Leonard Ravenhill said: “You can have all of your doctrines right—yet still not have the presence of God.”
I hope that I am making sense to you.
Psalm 46:10 says: “Be still, and know that I am God”.
John 17:21 – “. . . that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us . . . ”
I’m talking about believing in Jesus to the point where you physically, mentally & emotionally just collapse & fall into His arms. Your now dead. There is no job trouble, marriage problem, no addiction, no money, no no no problem.
You see: - Dead people don’t have emotions, money, fears or problems. Jesus is all sufficient.
Jesus now takes you, while holding your limp troubled life & begins to breath into you - to give you life. Every thought, worry, anxiety, problem and issue you had - is now His. The breath of Jesus totally transforms you into a person you could only dream of before. You feel like all of your weights are gone. Your saturated with His Manifest Presence & it seems just walking on air.
The Lord says in Rev that He will wipe all your tears away. Sing praises to Him as he tells you how many hairs that you have & as He also hugs you and kisses you. Then with your head in His lap & your hands in His wounded side, He tells you how beautiful, spotless & pure that you are to Him as He begins to sing to you, a song He made just for you! Maybe as He sings to you of how much He loves you, He tells you a secret of your new name, that He has chosen for you. You read His Love Letter (Bible) and He explains to you things you struggle with.
As you rest Alone with Him, He takes away your pain, sadness, rejection, pain, anxiety, debt, worries, doubts, fears, and all of your hurt.
Then He replaces those wounds on you & gives you His Love, Mercy, Grace, Compassion, Peace, Joy, Satisfaction, Tenderness and Salvation. All while He sings to you! Feeds you, clothes you, and by His Spirit enters into your being & heart to be with you forever more. He is yours & you are His.
Now (not before as just at Church) He “knows” you! Your name is written in the blood from His wounds for you, into His book of eternal life.
Others who just go to Church will not meet with Him Alone now or sadly in Heaven.
1st Cor 2:14 says: “The “natural person” does not accept the things of the “Spirit of God”, for they are foolish to him…”
Andrew Murray (very famous) said: “But i find among Christians that there are hundreds who if you ask did ever you understand that when you became a Christian it was on the condition that you -never ever - forever - will seek to do your own will?
You are to give up your will and all of your choices to Him alone”. ~ Andrew Murray.
He said that when you get weaker, He will then make you stronger.
As an example Jesus rode on - not a White Stallion - but instead He rode a donkey.
He served. He washed peoples feet. He had no money, no Pastors Robe, pulpit or church. He belonged to no denomination. He ARGUED with the Religious pastors and made sure that thirsty sinners got water.
Powerful isn’t it?
Look folks, you must be a servant to someone, either to God - or to your flesh.
If you desire God & to feel His touch & presence & to have a loving relationship with Him, then go after Him. I can’t emphasize this enough / Get Alone with Jesus. A hotel room, a tent, wherever. If it’s ok, FAST. Let Him fill your stomachs as He fills your heart. The best way to go after Him is not with your feet, but often on your bed or floor, with you opening up your heart to Him. Read His Love Letter. Go ahead & let your tears highlight its pages with dampness. Seek Him with all of your heart, mind, soul & strength. Have union, experience, fellowship, communion & relationship, all with God & let everything else in your Christian life move lower to come after & not before. To our Majestic God alone, be all Praise, Glory & Honor.
Let’s stop. Let’s pray. Let’s seek, ask and cry out individually and corporately for the Manifest Presence of Jesus Christ and for us to be dead Christians shining bright His glorious light, mercy, grace and love to the world around us.
Want more? Want to go deeper?
Ok!
Swallow hard & breathe as you read. More advice on how to follow the Lord and not our flesh.
The words and ideas below are only possible in your life, if your heart is led by the Spirit of Christ.
Peace does not dwell in outward things but it dwells within the soul; with the Spirit of Christ. - Francois Fenelon
Silence promotes the presence of God, it prevents many harsh and proud words, and suppresses many dangers in the way of ridiculing or harshly judging our neighbors ... If you are faithful in keeping silence when it is not necessary to speak. And as you are silent, nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others as by self-examination thoroughly to know our own. Accustom yourself to unreasonableness and injustice. Abide in peace in the presence of God Who sees all. The more you selfishly love yourself, the more critical you will be. Self-love cannot forgive the self- love it discovers in others. Nothing is so offensive to a haughty, conceited heart as the sight of another one.
Your discouragement is simply the despair of your wounded self love. Your flesh. You didn’t get what you r flesh “wanted”. - Fenelon
Be content with doing calmly only the little things which depends upon yourself and let all else be to you as if it were not. - Fenelon
The greatest of all crosses is self. If we die to self in part every day, we shall have but little to do on the last day. These little daily deaths will destroy the power of the final dying.
Retreat inward and fellowship with the Spirit of Christ within you. As you move about and converse with others stay in prayer to Christ within you as He will give you the words then to speak. - Fenelon
The chief thing is not to listen to yourself, but silently to give ear to Jesus in your heart. Talk as little as you can with others, compared to Jesus and do much for Jesus without caring to be seen. God will teach you more than all the most experienced persons or the most spiritual books can do. What is it you want so much to know? What do you need to learn but to be poor in spirit and to find all wisdom in Christ crucified? “Knowledge puffs up.” Only “love builds up.” May your life’s interest and focus be solely on God .
Try to be brief. Learn to get to the heart of the matter and disregard the nonessential. Don’t spend all your time dilly daleying. What you really need to do is sit quietly before God. Silence yourself inwardly. Come back to your Lord often. You will get more accomplished this way. It is more important to listen to Jesus in you than to listen to your own thoughts.
Give yourself up to His plans. Be led wherever He wills by His providence. Beware how you seek aid from man when God forbids it. Men can only give you what is in them. Most of that will be their own flesh. - Fenelon
If you get quiet with Jesus with a repentant heart, God is merciful, and will show us our true hideousness in our hearts, yet only in proportion to the courage he gives us to bear the sight. You can often help others more by first correcting your own faults than theirs. - Fenelon
You are impulsive, and always striving for something just outside your reach. What are you striving for? All that you own will eventually leave you. Your possessions cannot fill your spirit. They just remove the Lords Spirit from ruling in your heart. Aren’t you tired of the emptiness of your possessions? Don’t they secretly tell you that they are just not now or ever to be enough? - Fenelon
Do not study more than you can use. Study with a prayerful spirit. God is both Truth and Love. You can only know the truth to the degree that you love. Love the truth of God and you will understand the truth of God. - Fenelon
I don’t want to cut you off from your public duties or ministry. I don’t think that you now spend enough time visiting those in your church that you need to. That is to be a focus for you and to let the Spirit of Christ in you fellowship with the Spirit of Christ in them. But also you really should re-evaluate what you do with your free hours. Indulge your curiosity less, and keep your business details to a minimum. Learn the art of letting other spirit filled Saints help you.
Love the sheep and be cautious of saying too much to the goats.
You know don’t you, that your troubles have made you find out what you never knew before about yourself, and I am afraid that the authority, the success, and the admiration since then that has now come your way, will make you self-satisfied. Such self-satisfaction is incompatible with humility. We can be humble only so long as we give attention to all our own infirmities. Once we think we are ok, we then are not. - Fenelon
But God, working within your spirit, produces a calm and faithful heart that the world cannot touch. I really want you to take an adequate amount of time to spend with God so that you might refresh your human spirit by His Spirit.
All your busyness is draining you. Pay attention: Jesus took His disciples aside to be alone, and He interrupted their most urgent personal and family business. Sometimes Jesus would even leave people who had come from afar to see Him, just in order to come to His Father. - Fenelon
I suggest the same to you. It is not enough to give out—you must learn to receive in from God, too. The Spirit of Christ in you will want to use your life to pray to the Father. The Bible says the way for us to the Father, is through His Son. Yet there you are tinkering with a thing or fussing over a matter or being entertained with the goats. This will eventually harm you.
Woe to the soul that is self-satisfied, that treats God’s gifts as its own merits, and forgets what is due to God!
Set apart regular seasons for reading and prayer and involve yourself in outward matters only when it is really absolutely necessary. - Fenelon
Often, when you suffer, it is the life of your self-nature and flesh that causes you the pain. When you are dead to self and surrendered, you do not suffer.
If you were completely dead to your old nature, you would no longer feel many of the fleshly self pains that now bother you. At some point you must recognize that the troubles you have, stem or are surrounded by your own self. Your flesh is deceptive making you think that it is outside circumstances bothering you. No. If you are dying to self, and Christ in you is in charge, then you will say “no” to others request to you or interference into your life with Christ. Saying “no” may seem wrong or difficult, but it is often the best choice. Especially from those who may not have the Spirit of Christ “ruling” their life. Your saying “no” may in fact be you saying no to the devil using them to distract you. Remember, your flesh will always like a magnet attract to the flesh of others. You must say “yes” to the Spirit of Christ in you and say “no” to the person outside of you.
Are you always trying to “be something” or to be noticed for your spirituality? There are a lot of people who have an outward spirituality, but inwardly they still think too much of themselves.
True humility is not like this. A truly humble person is content in all situations. He doesn’t notice if he is being praised or blamed, and isn’t always weighing if what is being said to him or about him is to his advantage.
When it is the Spirit of Christ you love “in” someone, you stand by that person no matter what. People who have no secrets from each other never want for a subject of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back, neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of their heart, without consideration they say just what they think.
Live in peace without worrying about the future or the world or wars and events. Unnecessary worrying and imagining the worst possible scenario will strangle your faith and peace with God who holds the world in His hands. God alone knows what will happen to you. You really don’t even own or know this present moment, for even this belongs to God. - Fenelon
Your mind must fast as well as your body. I am not ashamed to say that I often have no desire to write, speak or be spoken about, to reason, or persuade anybody. I only want to spend time just thinking of the Lord as I talk with His Spirit within me. - Fenelon
Commit yourself to God! He will be your guide. He Himself will travel with you, as we are told He did with the Israelites, to bring them step by step across the desert to the promised land. Francois Fenelon
God never ceases to speak to us, but the noise of the world without and the pride of our own fleshly wants within us, prevent us from listening to him.
A general rule for the good use of time, is to accustom oneself to live in a continual dependence on the Spirit of God. Remember that in a way true prayer is only another name for the love of God. Its beauty does not consist in the multitude of our big words; for our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him. God just wants us to talk to Him. That shows we love Him. And if you can’t talk but just groan or cry, He even turns that into a prayer. For He is omnipresent and omniscient and knows everything. Right?
“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be“ Thomas a Kempis
“Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame.” Thomas a Kempis
“What difference does it make to you what someone else becomes, or says, or does? You do not need to answer for others, only for yourself.” Thomas a Kempis
“At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done.” Thomas a Kempis
“Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.” Thomas a Kempis
“Deep in the soul of every person on earth is a longing for the presence of God. The heart of every human being strives toward God, but only the redeemed can overcome the great barriers between God and man. For the greatest barrier of all is the conflict between man’s desire for God and his sinful fleshly desire to please himself.” Tozer
“The great labor of the Church has always been and should be now to get people to give serious attention to spiritual matters. A great many pastors and preachers do not worry about this at all, because they do not expect anything and, therefore, they do not get it. But a man of God, with the burden of the Holy Spirit on him, will want to stir the people to serious attention.” Tozer
“I want the presence of God Himself, or I don't want anything at all to do with religion... I want all that God has or I don't want any.” A.W. Tozer
"We should come to church not anticipating entertainment but expecting the high and holy manifestation of God's presence. Understand that worship is not some performance we do, but a presence we experience. Come alongside and enter into God's presence” Tozer
“Wherever we are, God is here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. No one is in mere distance any farther from or any nearer to God than any other person is.” A.W. Tozer
Tozer pointed out that if you think about any of the great saints whose lives and stories are well-known (not just people from the Bible), you will see that they were all unique individuals. Moses was not like Isaiah. John was not like Paul. C.S. Lewis was not like St. Fenalon. God did not choose to reveal Himself to these men because there was something really special about them. The same with any true mystic (deep seeking Christian) seeking more of God .
What quality do all of these people have in common? Tozer concluded that it was “spiritual receptivity – being open to God and being responsive to that inward longing after Christ within the heart.” Tozer
“I have never found any who prayed so well as those who had never been taught how. They who have no master in man, have one in the Holy Spirit.” Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon
“Oh, that we fully understood how very opposite our self-righteousness is to the designs of God!” Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon
“As one sees a river pass into the ocean, lose itself in it, its water for a time distinguished from that of the sea, till it gradually becomes transformed into the same sea, and possesses all its qualities; so was my soul lost in God, who communicated to it His qualities, having drawn it out of all that it had of its own. Its life is an inconceivable innocence, not known or comprehended of those who are still shut up in themselves or only live for themselves.” Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon
“They only did what God permitted them to do, which enabled me always to keep God in sight… When we suffer, we should always remember that God inflicts the blow. Wicked men, it is true, are not infrequently His instruments; and the fact does not diminish, but simply develops their wickedness. But when we are so mentally disposed that we love the strokes we suffer, regarding them as coming from God, and as expressions of what He sees best for us, we are then in the proper state to look forgivingly and kindly upon the subordinate instrument which He permits to smite us.” – Madame Guyon
“We must forget ourselves and all self-interest, and listen, and be attentive to God.” Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon ———————————————
François Fénelon (specifically François de Salignac de la Motte-Fénelon) was born on August 6, 1651, at Fénelon Castle in Périgord. Fénelon studied at the seminary Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where he was ordained as a priest. Later he was ordered by the Pope to burn all of his books that he had written.
Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (Commonly known as Madame Guyon. Born: April 13, 1648, Montargis, France Died: June 9, 1717 She was a French Christian considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church for teaching people they needed Jesus and not the Pope.
“From her tenderest Years, she in a very particular manner consecrated herself to God, and was so affected with Divine Things, that when she heard or read of the Sufferings of the Saints and Martyrs, She would wish to be such an one herself. But when she grew more a Woman, the Follies incident to Youth, but chiefly Pride and Vanity, had Predominance over her, though she often felt secret rebukes in her Heart for them, and would bewail her Failings and Transgressions bitterly.”
Both writers along with Thomas Kempis and many others up to today, including Andrew Murray, A.B Simpson, A.W Tozer, Leonard Ravenhill and this writer, believe in a practice of the experiential knowledge of God. Believing, fellowshipping, worshipping Christ, personally, without needing to rely on religion, a Church or laity. The Apostle Paul is one who considered like the people above to be also a mystic Christian, because he desired a deeper connection to Jesus than what standard Christian religion supplies. Any true mystic also puts the written word of God as the primary focus.
A. W. Tozer, who has been called a Christian mystic because of his emphasis on true knowledge and personal experience of God, brings balance to the discussion:
“Some of my friends good-humoredly—and some a little bit severely—have called me a ‘mystic.’ Well I’d like to say this about any mysticism I may suppose to have. If an archangel from heaven were to come, and were to start giving me, telling me, teaching me, and giving me instruction, I’d ask him for the text. I’d say, ‘Where’s it say that in the Bible? I want to know.’ And I would insist that it was according to the scriptures, because I do not believe in any extra-scriptural teachings, nor any anti-scriptural teachings, or any sub-scriptural teachings”
A mystic is simply one who has moved from mere religious belief or systems to actual inner experience of with the Spirit of Christ within their heart.
Mystics are those people who have desire to have a deeper connection to God that many relatives guy is or weaker Christians do not understand. Their fellowship with the Spirit of Christ within them is so close that they have a difficult time remaining on earth as they desire more and more to be fully united with their ultimate love. No true mystic desires to be a mystic. That is simply a title given to them because of their insatiable hunger for more of Jesus.
Pastor
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