Beloved Family… I feel led to share something the Lord has been taking great pains to get me to understand during my own recent boot camp training sessions. It will serve as a reminder that it’s important to pay close attention to the paradigms in which our minds are habitually encased. A paradigm is like a ‘cattle chute’ for your mind. Just like a bull or cow, once it has entered the confines of the chute, is forced to go wherever the chute dictates, paradigms do the same kind of thing to your mind. Cattle chutes and paradigms lead those caught within them to predetermined and inescapable destinations and conclusions. So, if our current paradigm patterns are not compatible with the paradigms God wants us to learn, absorb and apply, those that actually do control our minds will lead us into serious trouble.
Is there any wisdom in following a map that is false and does not correspond and conform to the actual terrain through which you are going to have to navigate? Wouldn’t that be the height of stupidity? Yes, it would. But… unless you’re equipped and fitted with the correct paradigms that conform to actual Reality, like it or not, you will be totally unprepared for the future, especially when it’s time to enter the Arena of Testimony for our upcoming Last Days times of combat. When you’re actually locked in a to the death struggle with the powers of Darkness, you have no time to focus on anything, except the dire emergency in which you’re engaged. In those critical moments, you have to be able to act instinctively and automatically. You must act and react properly… knowing what to do and how to do it, and when. You must be unshakably grounded… deeply rooted into God’s Perfect Reality and Invincible Truth. Otherwise you won’t be able to persevere and overcome.
This is what Paul was stressing in his letter to the believers of Ephesus. Beloved friends, the powers of Darkness are much stronger and more clever than we terminally wounded human beings could ever be! And they’re intent on ensnaring our minds and hearts so they can easily drag us into the same eternal destruction that awaits them! So keep this in mind as you absorb what the following God-inspired words are saying:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the Strength of His Might. Put on the full armor of God (before you enter the Arena), so that (when you’re actually engaging the enemy, face to face) you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places!
“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything (to get yourself ready), to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the Shield of Faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD!
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this (formidable challenge) in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the Mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:10-20 Amplification and emphasis added.)
Dear ones… Paul was cautioning those disciples to be sure to enter the Arena clad in, and covered by, and armed with… the right paradigms or mental pictures and patterns! And notice how he implored the Ephesian saints to intercede on his behalf… to undergird him with intercession, so that he too could remain faithful to the end… amid the terrors and horrid shocks and total chaos of weathering the onslaughts and ploys of his demonic enemies. He asked to be shielded by the prayers of the Lord’s Body because he too had to remain combat ready by receiving the steady streams of Grace that only come from abiding wholeheartedly in the Perfect Presence of Almighty God. Only union with Him can empower and equip us to remain true and steadfast in the fulfillment of our Covenant responsibilities to God. Only God Himself can empower us to fulfill the disciple mandate He entrusts to us. So we must be well aware of this, at the very times when we will be tested in the days to come. Do not enter the Arena unless you are safely under the ‘shadow of God’s wings!’
Paul had something eminently real and practical and experientially dangerous in his mind as he wrote those words. He was discussing matters of eternal Life or eternal Death! And so, he was warning the Ephesians, and every future generation of disciples, especially those of us who will be called upon to serve the Lord in the Ultimate Showdown Era of the Last Days. We, more than any generation before us, will have to know what he knew, and receive the grace from God that he knew we are all so desperately going to need to receive. Paul was showing us what we too would experience and what we would need to know… to be properly prepared for our own times of ultimate testing.
I’ve heard many teachings in the past about the ‘armor of God’ and our ‘spiritual weapons’ that Paul was discussing in that text. They often take Paul’s instructions literally… making a formula… requiring us to imagine ourselves literally putting each of those pieces of equipment that are listed. But that implies that the equipment will keep falling off for some reason, making it necessary for us to continue to remember to put it back on, over and over and over! But I don’t believe that’s what Paul was actually trying to get across. He had something more permanent and personal in mind. He wasn’t actually referring to physical armor and weapons. They were symbolic of a set of paradigms believers must install deeply into their minds and hearts. When we do that, then we’re properly fitted with God’s revealed Truth and Eternal Blood Covenant level of Certitude, even when we’re in the midst of the chaos of terrible life or death struggles!
So since we’re all going through our own individual rigors of boot camp training, I’d like to share some of what the Lord has been teaching me. I’ve developed a somewhat different perspective and understanding of what Paul was trying to get across for you to consider:
“Finally, be strong in (the abiding Presence of the Lord. God Himself is your Perfect Preparation and Equipping. So learn to abide in, and continually draw from the Perfect Indwelling Presence of) the Lord and(remain as one with Him by identifying with Him and remaining fully unified with Him, and fully energized by and) in the strength of His Might.
“Put on (identify with) the full armor of God (which is God Himself… putting into you the Omnipotent Power of His Holy Spirit), so that you will be able to stand firm against the (fraudulent deceptive and totally empty) schemes of the devil. (So remember that your covering is the indwelling Presence of all that is in God’s Living Word, Yeshua Himself! HIS ETERNAL, ALL-SUFFICIENT PERFECTION EQUIPS, ARMS, AND COVERS YOU WITH THE FULLNESS OF HIS PERFECT FINISHED WORKS OF GRACE!)
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (The demonic angels know that only the Creator of all things, God’s Living Word made flesh, has the Authority and Status necessary because He has already completely overwhelmed and routed them! They know that this is a fully finished fact! Our Messiah completely vanquished them by His atoning Death and glorious Resurrection! But they keep attacking our souls, doing everything possible to confuse and cripple and twist the way we see things and think about them. They do this hoping that we will lose our grip on the fact that the One who has routed and conquered them is already with us and He is covering us completely and continually with His Perfect Finished Work of Redemption!
If the enemy can get us to forget and ignore His All Sufficient Closeness, they will isolate us and close in for the kill! So we must remain fully girded by the sure and certain faith that our Covenant with God makes possible and insures. In that case, our faith will spring no ‘leaks’ and our enemies will have no openings by which to penetrate us and do serious damage.)
“Therefore, take up the full armor of God (that is, remain totally identified with Yeshua at all times. If you’re one with Him, you’re one with His Perfect Finished Work! In your mind’s perspectives, remain totally as one with Him. Root yourselves in the Perfection of what He is eternally, and what He has already done to meet all of your needs! Let His Infinite Sufficiency increase in your mind so much that everything else will decrease completely. Do this) so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore (not by relying on anything that is created, or to be done in the future; but by resting peacefully in the assurance that you are always being fully covered by the Perfect Presence and Authority and Power of Almighty God Himself) having girded your loins with (His Eternal) truth, and having put on the breastplate of (Yeshua’s Infinitely Perfect) righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace (that is His Triumphant Resurrection Life, abiding and working from within you) in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith(which is the Finished Triumph of your Covenant Representative and Eternally Victorious Champion) with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is(the risen Messiah Yeshua), THE(Glorious Eternally Infinite and All Sufficient Life-giving Redeemer, who is) THE WORD OF GOD!(Ephesians 6:10-17 Amplification added.)
I believe you will see that the picture I’ve tried to paint does not make any of us the main character in this story. It presents your Perfect Covenant Representative and Champion alone. In other words, He is covering you and supplying whatever is necessary, completely! Yeshua’s Eternal Perfection is your 100% Covering and Guarantee! His Fullness totally blots out anything and everything that has been created and corrupted by Sin in time and space. So in my scenario, only our Messiah can be seen, and nothing else. And that means that my Self-life and yours, and the Self-life of every other created being, including that of the Serpent himself, is not even to be mentioned or factored into the equation in any way. Scripture is revealing and commanding and promising to the human race that our God can be trusted and relied upon to an infinite degree, no matter what else may or may not be happening! He abides at a level that is completely above and superior to, any other level that can be found throughout His vast, multi-layered realm of Creation. And His New Covenant brings us up to abide with Him at that level. So everything is all about God and the Perfect All Sufficiency of the Mercy He gives to His created beings through His Living Word and Holy Spirit! When we’ve been so perfectly covered and protected and delivered by our risen Messiah… then nothing else could possibly matter!
And in the book of Revelation, which is, in its entirety, the revelation of the risen Messiah, God’s Perfect, Eternally Triumphant Living Word and Son, God lets us see that in His mind’s Perspective, everything is already covered by His All-Authoritative Perfect Word… just as He said it was in chapter two of Genesis! And the Fruit of what flows from His Infinitely Complete and All-Sufficient Finished Works of Creation and Redemption, is ours to feed upon and enjoy and share freely with everyone and everything we encounter, forever! Our demonic, totally vanquished enemies are helpless and unable to prevent us from abiding in the total and everlasting Triumph of our Messiah!
“I AM the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!” (Revelation 1:8 Emphasis added.)
“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am ALIVE forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.” (Revelation 1:17-19 Emphasis added.)
“And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “IT IS DONE! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the one who thirsts from the Spring of the Water of Life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son!” (Revelation 21:5-7 Emphasis added.)
Beloved friends, can you see that God’s perspective is all about His Word, and nothing else? The Word (the beloved Son of God) is the Preeminent Factor in everything that pertains to God and His Creation. Because the Word contains all of God’s Eternal Fullness within Himself, He blots every competing consideration out of the picture! That’s how majestic, glorious and All Sufficient He truly is! God’s Word is Everything to all of His creatures. That means He has already done EVERYTHING NECESSARY, through and by His Living creative WORD! He created the universe through His WORD, and He sustains and supplies every created thing by His Word, and He reveals Himself and His Plan for all of Creation, through His WORD. His Word has also redeemed and fulfilled every one of God’s revelations, commandments and promises… whatever is necessary to restore His Sin-wounded Creation… by the Perfect Finished Work of His WORD! So what more do we need? What more does God need to do to cover us more than He already has?
“He (the Word) is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all Creation. For, by Him, all things were created, both in the Heavens and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or Dominions or Rulers or Authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together! He is also Head of the Body, the Church; and He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead, so that He Himself will come to have FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING!
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the Fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile ALL THINGS to Himself, having made peace through the Blood of His Cross; through Him, I say, whether things on Earth or things in Heaven.” (Colossians 1:15-20 Amplification and emphasis added.)
These portions of God’s written Word, that reveal His Living Word, pretty well cover everything, beloved… do they not? So what can the powers of Darkness do to prevent or override that? By the incomprehensible Perfection, Thoroughness and Finality by which God’s Word made flesh has identified Himself with us poor fallen, Sin-corrupted Covenant brothers of His, He became one with our State of Sin, although He was Perfectly Righteous in Himself. And He embraced and became one with the death penalty and condemnation that were rightfully ours… and paid the debt to God’s Perfect Standards of Justice and Righteousness… IN FULL! He atoned and died, as us… and when Father restored His Human Life and resurrected His human body in its glorified perfection… our Messiah ascended back to His rightful place at His Father’s right hand… TAKING US WITH HIM!
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of Darkness into His marvelous Light; for you once were not a people, but now YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had not received mercy, but now YOU HAVE RECEIVED MERCY!” (1 Peter 2:9-10 Emphasis added.)
So now dear ones… in light of all the background information from Scripture that has been presented above, I’d like to offer an imaginary scenario for you to ponder and assess. We’ve seen how God has already done absolutely everything concerning His Creation and the Redemption and Restoration of His Creation. That’s why Genesis tells us at the beginning of chapter 2 that He entered into His Eternal Sabbath Rest. He is resting because all of the work is already done! He has already covered us, and has met all of our needs, TO PERFECTION! And that’s why we can afford to REJOICE IN HIM… ALWAYS!
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3)
So now the scene is set for us, by the revelation that God Himself supplies for us. In His scenario, we see the Father, and His risen Living Word, and His Holy Spirit… RESTING! His beloved resurrected Son, our All-Victorious Covenant Representative and Champion, is sitting beside Him, because all of His necessary Work is already done! And, because the New Covenant has made us to be as one with our Messiah, just like a Bride is one with the Bridegroom, we are there too… in Yeshua… by the Throne of God… in God’s Holy Presence… being in full possession of whatever pertains to the Bridegroom! So now what? What is left for us to do now? How should we approach and address our Heavenly Father? On what basis should we now be praying to Him? Is there anything we could ever ask for that He has not already given to us when He made His Word to be one with us?
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, allwho are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light!” (Matthew 11:25-30 Emphasis added.)
God has given us the right paradigm that contains the absolutely necessary scenario and perspective we need from which to face and resist the enemy. The correct paradigm is presented in Colossians 3:1-4. Each disciple, whose Self-life died with and in his Messiah, and who is now hidden with Messiah, in God (that is, who is now ‘married’ to God and one with Him in an Eternal Blood Covenant Union), should never separate himself mentally and emotionally from the Covenant oneness he already enjoys with God.
But if disciples are not properly trained and taught and prepared to abide as one with their risen Messiah and His All Sufficient Fullness, they will allow the demonic lies and ‘false flags’ to attack and punch holes in their faith. And that leakage will eventually separate them, mentally and emotionally, from God… and cause them to begin to see themselves once again as separate, radically independent individuals. And in that separated mode, the deluded disciples will begin to think of themselves as separated and forlorn and they’ll say things like the following to Father:
“Father, I’m feeling overwhelmed because of all the strife and turmoil I see taking place all around my Earthly existence. Things are not going well at all for me. It looks very bad for Your Kingdom, and for my family and for me. We’re having a very difficult time. We lack finances, we are facing many enemies, and there is no favor or peace or joy. We’ve lost our way and are alone and without any sense of wellbeing!
“So Father, I’m asking you to do something about all of this. Where we’re at and what we have to work with are not at all good enough. So please intervene on our behalf! We need You to create some new ingredients to add to our situations so our many needs can be filled and our circumstances changed. We need you to save us from the demonic clutches. So do something Lord, so we can finally have proper cause to rejoice and be at peace!
“Lord, I ask You please to provide me with a new job… or at least give me a new, more reasonable boss. What I have at present is terrible. Please do something that will change my circumstances and get me out of this mess and help me to better protect and provide for my family. Show me what I still need to do and how to do it so that what is not good enough now, can finally be corrected in the future. I ask this in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Dear ones… can you see what is wrong with that picture? Can you see what trusting primarily in our own very limited, earthly perspectives, feelings and opinions will do to us? Can you see how dismal our outcomes will be if we ignore what God has revealed to us and instead rely solely on what our fallen faculties and senses tell us? God regenerated our spirits and fused them together with His own Holy Spirit FOR A REASON! He sent His Word to identify with us… so that we could correspondingly identify with Him and His Eternal Perfection and Triumph!
But what sort of viewpoint and mindset are being revealed within the words of that person’s prayer? Is that the Eternal Heavenly perspective that Last Days disciples need to habitually focus on and entertain? Or is this person’s focus trained exclusively on temporary earthly circumstances? And is the fact that he has slipped back into his Self-life paradigm the reason why he sees what he sees… and feels overwhelmed… and assumes that what God has already done is not at all good enough?
“…Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your (deluded worldly humanistic) laughter be turned into mourning and your (God-less radically independent) joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the Presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you!” (James 4: 4-10 Amplification and emphasis added.)
Notice that the person in my example is telling God that what He provided in the past is not sufficient to meet his needs! Thus the man presumes that it’s up to him to give God advice and inform Him of what is really going on, as if God were ignorant about what is really happening! And because he only sees through his natural fallen imaginations and senses, he feels compelled to try to coax God to do better… to do something extra that He hasn’t already done, so that his many pressing needs can finally be met!
But will the paradigm in which the man is caught please and glorify God? Could we truly approach the Eternal Living God while we’re entangled within such a grossly distorted mental viewpoint? Dear ones… we MUST be able to abide in full personal possession of the full picture that God has revealed to us. The disciple in my example is most certainly stuck in a terribly false and demonic paradigm that will drag him to a disastrous destination! He’s not living by faith, he’s living by sight and sound and feelings. He’s unable to realize that he’s asking for something that His Father has already provided for Him in full! And if that’s the case, then he is truly ‘double-minded’ and still hasn’t grasped what Paul revealed to all New Covenant disciples in another text that I keep bringing up to you again and again. Let’s look at it again… and never stop continuing to absorb what it contains:
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on Earth. For you have died and YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD! When CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him IN GLORY!” (Colossians 3:1-4 Emphasis added.)
What an enormous difference it makes when your perspective is obediently focused on ‘things above’ in Eternity, and, by the exercise of your God-given faith, you see yourself as being one with Almighty God, in perfect alignment with what is revealed to you by His Word! In that scenario, you’re already Home! You are wedded and bonded to Almighty God and are forever entitled to draw from all that pertains to Him! In that picture, everything is already done and finished and INFINITELY PERFECT!
People who operate in the flesh are much too self-centered and absorbed with temporary earthly matters to be able to see into the realm of their regenerated spirits. They can’t pick up on realities that are spiritual because their flesh limits them to the use of the fallen, Sin-corrupted faculties of their souls. That’s why they obsess over all the demon-manipulated things that are presently going on in this dimension of time and space. But they’re clueless when it comes to knowing about the way things are with God in His Eternal Perfect Sabbath Rest in Heaven.
When we’re limited to an earthly perspective and focus, we work from the mindset of a God-less humanist! When we’re stuck with that natural viewpoint, we fail to learn to use and develop our God-given spiritual faculties. So we can’t help but assume that God is weak and lacking in understanding, and has, to date, not done an adequate job of providing for His people! That viewpoint makes it utterly easy for our demonic enemies to thrash us to a bloody pulp! And it exposes our disobedient unbelief and shows us to be spiritually blind, deaf, and totally ignorant of what God has revealed to be true about His Perfect Finished Works of Creation and Redemption! So can you see why the Serpent keeps trying to get us to disbelieve and totally mistrust God’s Word?
This is exactly what God’s written Word is warning against! As long as we insist on maintaining that dismally inadequate perspective, we will continue to demean and insult Almighty God and His revelation of what His Word and Spirit have already showered upon us. And it will be evident that we still have not taken God’s written and Living Word seriously!
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder! You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world (and its perspectives) is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires (to reflect back to Him the indwelling Fullness of) the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
“Submit therefore to God. (Embrace, absorb and reflect back to Him the Greatness of the Truth of His Perfect Finished and All Sufficient Grace.) Resist the (pathetic lies of the) devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God (on His revealed terms) and He will draw near to you (according to His Covenant promises). Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your (worldly humanistic) hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the Presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you!” (James 4:1-10 Amplification and emphasis added.)
“Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My Throne and the Earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at MY WORD!” (Isaiah 66:1-2. Emphasis added.)
Our Heavenly Father has warned us about the dangers of remaining stuck in the natural worldly humanistic paradigm patterns that prevail in most people that populate this fallen world. He compares such people to beasts that have no spiritual discernment and understanding! Such a betrayal and disobedient rebellion will surely expose such people and show them to be frauds.
So He is not at all pleased or satisfied with those who only purport to be followers of His beloved Son, the Living Word of God who created and sustains everything to Perfection! Ponder the words of this psalm beloved:
“Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.
“If I had said, “I will speak thus,” behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; THEN I perceived their end! Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
“When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I WAS LIKE A BEAST BEFORE YOU. NEVERTHELESS I AM CONTINUALLY WITH YOU; YOU HAVE TAKEN HOLD OF MY RIGHT HAND. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to Glory. Who have I in Heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever! For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
“But as for me, THE NEARNESS OF GOD IS MY (Infinitely Perfect) GOOD; I have made the (Perfect Fullness that is in the Word of the) Lord God my (All Sufficient) Refuge, that I may tell of all Your (Perfect Finished) Works!” (Psalm 73:13-28 Amplification and emphasis added.)
Beloved Family… our God has seen fit to entrust His Name and Reputation to our tender loving care! But we can only do Him justice IF… we know and interact with Him accurately… according to what He Himself has revealed to us about Himself. This is why we must be taught and trained to remain focused on the revealed Blazing Glory of the Eternal Perfection of His All Sufficient Fullness! We must learn and accept and absorb the Perfect Paradigms He has revealed to us before we are able to reflect Him precisely and accurately to whoever and whatever may happen to be around us. It is our Glory and Privilege to behold Him in our hearts AS HE TRULY IS! And when we do that, we spontaneously and automatically reflect His overwhelming Glory out to His demonic enemies… and also to the myriads of human beings around us who have not yet been able to know His Reality and Truth as they actually are!
Dear ones… if the so-called ‘saints’ do not know their God… what chance will the demon-oppressed, deceived and enslaved children of fallen Adam have of ever coming to know and submit to His Overwhelming Glory and Perfection? They live in total Darkness! How then will they ever be able to sense and experience the Presence of God’s Eternal Light… unless there are disciples in their vicinity who are able to reflect and radiate the Light of the Perfect Presence of their awesome God to them and upon them, AS HE REALLY IS?
“Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “SIR WE WISH TO SEE JESUS.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
“And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be GLORIFIED! Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to Life Eternal. IF ANYONE SERVES ME, HE MUST FOLLOW ME; AND WHERE I AM, THERE MY SERVANT WILL BE ALSO; if anyone serves Me (on that Heavenly Glorified basis), the Father will honor him!” (John 12:20-26 Amplification and emphasis added.)
So, beloved friends… let me offer a sample prayer that I pray will more accurately reflect the Truth contained in God’s Biblical Self-revelation. Ponder it and see what the difference is between the two paradigms that are being followed in those two prayers.
If you can see the difference, you’ll have a grasp of the difference between the Self-life that is natural and originally downloaded into our fallen, Sin-corrupted human nature, and the Messiah-Life that God tells us His Holy Spirit is continually downloading into our regenerated spirits. The difference is enormous… it’s like the difference between Eternal Life, and something that is totally dead and ever-decaying, and hopelessly bankrupt. See what you think…
“Beloved Father, I thank you with all that is in me for making it possible for me to be as one with Your Precious Word, and Your Holy Spirit, and with Your Eternally Perfect Presence. I am privileged to abide and bask in Your Eternal Glory always… and to partake continually from the Eternal Treasury of Grace you have so graciously provided from which I can always draw whatever I need. I’m overwhelmed at the Infinite Perfection of the Provision you have given to us. Your Perfect Infinite Glory and Fullness blot out everything else that may be going on around me. All of the earthly strife and turmoil I see are nothing more than temporary blips on my viewing screen. But You, and the Perfection of Your Finished Works of Grace, are ETERNAL! Your GLORY causes everything else to diminish into nothingness. And only You in Your Infinite Eternal Glory remain in my view… and in my heart of hearts!
“I rejoice in your Glory and Majesty and Beauty my Lord. Your Eternal Perfection lets me know that our earthly situations and circumstances have already been noted, covered and completely paid for and provided for by Your Lovingkindness and Tender Mercy. I know that in Your Perfect Timing, the Fruit of Your Son’s Perfect Finished Works of Creation and Redemption will be revealed in my time and space earthly dimension. And I know that because You have already covered everything and provided everything my household and I will ever need, I have nothing to fear and have no reason to fret or be anxious. What is already in Eternity will progressively appear in the midst of this fallen space and time world… right on schedule!
“Father, You already know all the things we need. And You have already provided them. They are waiting in Eternity for us. And you told us to come to you to receive them from You each day. So I rejoice in Your Perfect Wisdom and Knowledge. I rejoice that You know all things and have all things covered. So I honor and praise You and exalt Your Name, and I ask You in the Name of my Messiah, to transmit to us the ‘Daily Bread’ Your Wisdom has allotted to me and mine for this day.
“Thank you Father, for covering everything so beautifully and perfectly. Thank You for making it possible for us to rest always and rejoice continually in You and Your Perfect Lovingkindness. Thank You for making it possible for us to abide with You in outrageous confidence and joy… and for being able to see that You have already provided all the necessary things that to me, are yet physically unseen, as long as I still abide here on Earth. I know that they exist in Heaven… and I know that they will appear in our earthly circumstances, right on time. Your Grace will emerge from the indwelling Fullness that is in my Lord Yeshua. Your Precious Perfect Word and Holy Spirit will cause Your Provision to appear in our time and space situations, according to Your Perfect Wisdom and Timing. I know that You know us and our needs far better than we could ever know them.
“Father… thank You for elevating Your people to be raised up so we can be where Your beloved Son reigns with You. Thank You, for sharing Your Heavenly perspective with us and for putting us in charge of sharing the Grace You pour upon us with this poor fallen world. The powers of Darkness are routed and have been forever put in their proper place. Yeshua has done that in our name! And so the demonic powers are not in charge of anything! You have put Your redeemed and Spirit-empowered people in charge. And so I receive from You the necessary strength needed to fulfill the tasks You’ve entrusted to me… for Your Eternal Glory… the Exaltation of Your Son… and the good of Your chosen Jewish and non-Jewish Covenant Family.
“So I rest in You and fully expect to see Your Perfect Presence and Your Love and Wisdom working from within us. And I fully expect your All Sufficient Provision to be working on our behalf, at all times. And for this, and for everything else, I thank and praise You Father… and I will caress Your beautiful Face by the obedient rest and trust of my faith in You. I will live and move and have my being… in the Person and in the Name of Your beloved Perfect Son, my Lord and Redeemer, Yeshua, who reigns Supreme, forever and ever… Amen.
Beloved friends… the Holy Spirit fills us with the characteristics and traits of our risen Lord Yeshua! We have the mind of our Messiah! So instead of allowing ourselves to be overcome and overwhelmed by the evil that the powers of Darkness are roiling up all over the world, RELEASE AND INJECT THE PRESENCE AND PERFECTION AND ETERNAL TRIUMPH OF YOUR LORD INTO WHATEVER YOU SEE AND HEAR AND EXPERIENCE! Don’t be overcome by evil… OVERCOME THE EVIL WITH THE ONE WHO IS IN YOU, FOR HE IS INFINITELY GOOD!
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the Firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 8:28-39 Emphasis added.)