“And you–are,                                                                                                                                       in Him (in Christ Jesus),                                                                                                                 {having-have-been-made-}                                                                                                            complete/full.”      a     ;                                                                                                                                                        Colossians 2:10                                                                                         (Lit. frm. Grk. txt & wrd ordr)

    It is a fact of each of our upbringing that we read & understand the scriptures through the filter of our comprehension of words, through the lens of how we have come to an understanding of definitions, of what words mean, whether our understanding is fully correct or that we have limits of the true fullness of denotation (actual meaning).  Over the last couple of decades, and increasingly more in the last number of years, etymology (the study of the origin of words) has come to really capture my heart & mind, most predominantly in the study of the Word of God.  And what I have come to learn by the Holy Spirit, who breathed into the writers of the scriptures  (II Timothy 3:16a – “All scripture – God-breathed …” ), is that God means what He says with far greater denotation, fulness, and intent than we have believed. 

    Yet also what I am continually discovering is how much greater the working of the finished work of the cross of His Son Jesus is and consequently is to be in our lives as that which is a continual-present working by His Holy Spirit to change us, that which makes this working of Grace “unforced effort”.  That is to say, the finished work of the cross & the consequential resultant working (breathing) of the Holy Spirit inside of those who have believed [& especially evidently inside of those those who are continually believing] into Jesus is that by which our “deeds” are fruit and not a work of “effort” on our part to produce fruit. 

   True Biblical “Christianity”, our life in Christ on earth, was never meant to be a comparable religion to other religions but with the Name “Jesus” attached to this religion.  The work of “religion” among all the religions of the world keeps people focused upon themselves, their “deeds”, based upon some kind of (empty) hope that they are pleasing enough to their deity in hopes of being good enough to make it into heaven.  Focus is forever and always on self within the religions of this age, even upon one’s own works, with one eye maybe looking up now and then.

   Our believing into Jesus for our salvation, for our Liberty – our freedom from sin and freedom to live before the face of God our Father with joy and without a sense of condemnation – comes to be as a living reality, not by each of us focusing on ourself, our deeds, rather by our ongoing focus upon the Face of our Savior, Jesus our LORD, in whom is our true identity (Colossians 3:3), by which we are changed (II Corinthians 3:17), a resurrection grace-glory transformation into the image of His resurrection glory in that continual gazing upon Him, beholding Him in that glory gained for us and as us because of the utter completeness of what is the finished work of the cross in having dealt with our sin, and so thus also in His having been raised to newness of life because of our complete justification in the sight of Almighty God (Romans 4:25).

    Our understanding of what is to be a daily living in this Liberty of Christ, this Liberty in Christ, requires a paradigm shift in our comprehension from out of an understanding rooted in Old Covenant “Law obedience” to what really is solely wholly our New Covenant walk; that is to say, what is – through the grace-truth of the finished work of the Cross – New Covenant “obedience”.  And trust me, Dear One, it is not at all the way we have heard all of our lives.  True New Covenant, grace-truth “obedience” is not at all an effort of self-focus on our deeds … whatsoever!  This is going to be a huge earthquake in our heavenlies, Beloved, a paradigm shift of utter divergence in our thinking from how we have been “wired”, yet one that is going to bring about for the Bride of Christ a Liberty in her thinking in who she is, right now, as a royal Bride of her LORD, the King of kings  … her TRUE and real identity, which will thus cause her to walk (to be walking) in such royal Kingly authority that will topple the strong Hamans who have intimidated her and her people with threats for far too long.  She will see this accomplished in the work of the rest of the finished work of the cross, because this authority will come by her words, but from THE Throne far above all principalities and powers, where sits AND rules her LORD, the Lord of lords (ref. Psalms 110).

   There is a foundation being properly set in this Kairos hour, Beloved, both a taking apart of the wrong foundation and a proper, faithful re-foundationing – of Christ Jesus – the true and exact architectural design in what is this grace glory, this resurrection/ascension/Royal-Throne-seated authoritative identity of Christ in Christ.

    Beloved, the day we believed into our LORD Jesus Christ, we were eating from the tree of life.  That moment we were born again, our nature was wholly changed … whether it looked (or looks) that way or not – (see Romans 6:4-11). 

                         “So-then, if any ‘in Christ’, a NEW creation;                                                                  the ‘old’ (old things) passed-away;                                                                                  BEHOLD, have-come-to-be ‘new’ [‘all’ (all-things)]                                                                                                                                     II Corinthians 5:17         (Lit. frm Grk. txt word order.  Bold is emphasis frm. Grk wrd.ordr) 

    So then, let us consider this: A fruit tree does not “try” to produce fruit, does not strive, or with effort, go, “uugggghhh” in order to produce fruit. It simply receives the nutrients – from the sun, from the rain, from the soil – and accordingly produces fruit after its kind.  Likewise, the true working of the Holy Spirit inside of us, in accordance with the blood of Christ now upon the true Mercy Seat in heaven, WILL PRODUCE in and through us the fruit of righteousness, the very testimony of the finished work of the cross, and hence, the very image of Christ in and then through us (Hebrews 9:14).  Thus it is, the believer, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our LORD Jesus Christ, into His resurrection Life (I Peter 1:18-19, 23), in our ongoing “abiding in the Vine”, we will be, by this ongoing flow of grace, producing fruit after the kind of the incorruptible seed of which is our new nature.  Our life in Christ is not be a work of our flesh, our effort, to try to be “Christian”.   Our “work”, if you will, is to simply abide in the Vine (John 15:1-7; John 6:56; Romans 5:17b), staying connected in our ongoing relationship with our heavenly Father – in the Word/the Bible, in prayer and praise & worship, on a daily basis, yet not doing this by rote religious exercise, rather because it becomes to the believer precious daily relationship in getting to know – to personally really know – this Almighty God (Psalms 119: 103, 161b-162) Who is Abba Father, in the unveiling of Jesus, from the scriptures, in His resurrection glory (Luke 24:27, 32) by Holy Spirit who lives inside of each one who has believed into Jesus (John 16:13-15), seeing that this daily partaking is literally life giving substance, a breaking of daily bread, a willing pouring out of grace by Him into us for the day (Romans 5:17b).

     Look at the word of the LORD to Joshua in Joshua 1:8; but do not, in reading this command to Joshua, see this apart from Exodus 24:13 and 33:11b.

    Joshua is not merely being told to meditate in a book of words that are by God.  Joshua already had been, by his own willingness, learning the living voice of YHVH during the desert years under Moses’ leadership and with Moses.  The “words on the page”, the words of the book Joshua was going over when the LORD spoke to him (Josh 1:2-9) were not at all to Joshua just mere words of scripture; he had learned the voice of YHVH,  And it was thus, through this living command of Josh 1:8 and consequential ongoing hereafter inclining of his ears daily to these written words, that YHVH would be grace pouring out of His life into Joshua.  Joshua and YHVH already had cultivated living relationship.

 Look back at Moses’ request for grace-glory, and then David’s.

“And now, if, I pray Thee, I have found grace in Thine eyes, cause me to know, I pray Thee, Thy way, and I know Thee, so that I find grace in Thine eyes,..”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Exodus 33:13  (YLT.)

“Teach me Your ways, O LORD [YHVH];  I WILL WALK in Your truth:”                                                                                                               Psalms 86:11a (NASB)                                                                                                (“Thy” changed to “Your”)

    David wasn’t committing to walk in the truth if he got taught the LORD’s ways.  Rather, he knew that somehow there would come to be transformation of his walk into the truth of the Word by the Word, if he learned the LORD’s ways from His word. (Remember, Beloved, “grace and truth” from YHVH specifically are one and the same – per John 1:17 et al ; hence, to walk in the Truth of YHVH is to walk in the grace supply of YHVH-shua   …  Selah  …) Continue reading The Ripped Veil – Walking before the Face of God →