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What Is Life? – Part 1

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Scripture reading: John 11:21-27

We do not fully understand what life is. If you do not understand what life is, then you do not understand what death is, either. LIFE IS GOD. Jesus says in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” This means that life cannot be killed. Resurrection life means that even one who has been blasted into smithereens, so that you could never find any two pieces of his body together, is then seen sitting in this room smiling at you, complete and whole. Death had been conquered; it had no power over him. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life.”

Do we understand how powerful life is? We know the awesome power of destruction. We have seen things like the atom bomb blast in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which brings terror to the human mind, but the power of life is greater because it reverses the power of death and destruction. The Bible says in Revelation 20:13 that the elements will give up the dead, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” 

We are comprised of so much air, so many gasses, so much water, minerals and all the different substances, but we also have LIFE in us, and the life determines that we must remain an entity for eternity. In the interim between our physical life and eternity, old time gets a hold of us and we die, and our body goes to the earth. We see the gasses and the entire physical body yield to the earth and join this great reservoir of elements in the earth and sea.

The Word says the sea gave up her dead, and the earth gave up its dead, the air and the ashes gave up their dead. The soul (which is the real man) slips back into its body like a man putting on his clothes. He is raised up—not another man, not another flesh—but the same man is raised up, and he looks at the devil and all the forces of destruction and death and says, “Aha!” The devil and all his forces are beaten; all that he has done to humanity over the ages has been in vain. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (I Corinthians 15:54b-55).

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, June 1996, pg. 2-3)

Thought for today: Ask God to give you a personal revelation of what it means when Jesus says, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Then, hold on to this eternal life and never let go.

The Power of Life

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 2:11-18

God’s loving kindness reaches out to us even in our lowest estate. It says in Hebrews 2:14-15, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE.

Jesus Christ is in the process of conquering death in us and through us, His body. If a man walks into the room and puts a gun to your head demanding that you open the safe or he will blow out your brains, because of fear you would do what he says with the hope that you would preserve your life. It was the fear of death that caused you to obey his command. If you did not fear death, he would have no power over you. His power lies in your being afraid. If, on the other hand, when he says, “Give me your money or I will kill you,” you answer, “I am not afraid of you killing me,” then when he kills you, he still does not get your money. He would soon learn that he is not going to get anything from people who are not afraid to die. The thing that appeases him and makes the spirit strong in him is when you get up, get the money and give it to him. He goes to the next house and expects the same human behavior. He will never stop doing this. If, however, he knew that none of these people were going to give him what he demands, because they are not afraid of him or of death, then the power would be taken out of his hands.

The power of death lies in fear. If we are not afraid of death, then we are not afraid of anything. The power of fear is the power of the devil and that is what makes him function. Christ abolished death, yet death is a great big thing for us. We are afraid of death. WHAT GOD IS DOING FOR US NOW IN CHRIST JESUS, IS GETTING US INTO A PLACE WHERE WE WILL LOSE THE FEAR OF DEATH, AND INSTEAD WELCOME IT, AND DESTROY IT THROUGH THE POWER OF LIFE. When Jesus Christ was on earth, He had life and immortality dwelling in Him as a human being.

II Timothy 1:9-10, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, WHO HATH ABOLISHED DEATH, AND HATH BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL.”

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, June 1996, pg. 1-2)

Thought for today: There is a place in God where we can be free from the fear of death. Ask God to bring you to that place and He will.

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Scripture reading: Revelation 4

Here we are in Revelation 4 with the four beasts and WE ARE BEING CHANGED. We are being metamorphosed. A gradual change is taking place in us. God wants us to give way to this change – GIVE WAY. The caterpillar craves food and it eats green leaves and everything. It eats and eats and eats until it goes into a chrysalis or a long sleep, then awakes as a beautiful butterfly. We must feed upon the Word of God until the time of final change comes. The change begins right now, gradually. Sometimes you cannot even see it. You look like an old caterpillar outside, but a beautiful butterfly is being formed within the soul, THE THRONE OF GOD.

The twenty-four elders sitting around the throne represent the priesthood. We are becoming priests IN OUR SOULS. The four beasts, the four natures of the soul, are being changed. Hallelujah! The PERFECTED IMAGE is shown in the white robes and the crowns worn show kingship. For God has promised us kingship. The lightnings and thunderings that proceed “out of the throne” room are the massive power of God’s energy and life which will come forth to change the world in which we live, bringing us into total union and oneness with God.

“The seven lamps” that burn are “the seven Spirits of God.” The Spirit of the churches will be in us and it will be all perfected in us. One church will NOT be in charity and another one in evangelism and another one in praise. We will ALL be in charity, in evangelism, in praise, and in love, and ALL THE ATTRIBUTES of God will come forth in the soul nature of man.

The “sea of glass” means there will be a clearness, a purity that you can see right through. There will be nothing to hide. No one will have secrets. It will be just one pure nation of people, one holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people. There will be clarity. This heaven is the heaven WITHIN US, the place from which Christ is going to reign and rule in the earth.

In Revelation, “the four beasts” are “full of eyes.” When you look in Ezekiel 1, there are wheels outside. The wheels represent the Holy Ghost. In Revelation 4, instead of wheels, gyrating wheels moving with the spirit, the eyes came into the beasts themselves. The wheels had incorporated themselves into the beasts. The Holy Ghost had now incorporated the soul of man. Remember, the Holy Ghost is in the man’s spirit at this present time. HE IS WORKING IN THE SOUL. He is preparing a place in the soul FOR THE CHRIST. When the fullness of Christ comes, then we will have Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

When the beasts give glory to God, the elders fall on their faces. At this point man does not want any more glory. HE GIVES IT ALL TO GOD. “THOU art worthy…for THOU…hast redeemed us.” GLORY TO GOD!

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 84-85)

Thought for today:  Give way to God changing you. Let His metamorphose begin in you today.

Food for the Bride

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Scripture reading: John 6:48-58

Have you ever thought about who the Holy Place congregation is? (We are talking about types and shadows as we see them in the Tabernacle of Moses: Outer Court, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies.) Let me tell you: the Holy Place congregation are people who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that if you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be in the Holy Place congregation, because that generally is where you go to get it. But the Holy Place people are the people who walk in the Spirit or are being taught to walk in the Spirit. I want you to notice that it is Holy Place and Holy Spirit. You cannot be holy without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the church holy, for by nature we are not holy.

Let us go on a little step further. We say that there is a Holy Place congregation. This Holy Place congregation is ministered to by a special Spirit, by a special ministry. That is, that if God has not ordained men to the ministry of the Holy Place, they cannot minister to Holy Place people. Do you understand that? We have been listening to people who are not ministering to us. We have been getting food from tables that are not our table.

How would you like to be getting an Outer Court feeding while you are pressing on in the Holy Place seeking to become like Jesus Christ? You need something stronger. You need stronger food. The men and the women who participate in strenuous sports like running, jumping, etc., have to be fed special food in order to give them the energy to do what they are doing, or else they will be losers. Sometimes the difference between the winner and the loser is the food they eat. This is what God is saying to us: there is a food for the bride in the holy place and God calls it the wedding feast.

If you are expecting to come forth at midnight in the nature of Jesus Christ – why are you found eating food out in the potluck area? We call it potlock, but it really is luck, potluck. You may get it or you may not. Somebody may drop a little Halloween in the pot, and when you go out there it is all sweets, all candies. It is the same in what people are feeding on in the spiritual areas. They are feeding on nice things. They say, “Come, let’s sing a beautiful song and let’s dance.” They sing and dance and have a good time. They are entertained. But God is saying that there is a bride that must have special food, because she must come forth at midnight and bring forth a son; she needs strength for midnight.

At midnight the mighty men are going to fail. At midnight many who think they are the bride will find they have no oil in their vessels. They will have to go out into the darkness to get oil when it is going to be rough business.

(Excerpt from Warfare in the Holy Place, an audio message #1984-11-04)

Thought for today: Feed on the right food and walk in obedience to God so that you are not found lacking when the Bridegroom comes for His bride.

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Scripture reading: John 2:18-22

Jesus Christ is the beginning of the construction of the THIRD TEMPLE. In Christ, we are that third temple and the final fulfillment of all that has been written about temples in the Bible. Jesus Christ told the Jews, in effect, that Herod’s temple was not the true temple, but that His body was the true temple.

John 2:18-21, “Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days? 21 But He spake of the temple of His body.”

Paul speaks of this temple in I Corinthians 6:19, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

It is very interesting to note that this teaching is believed even in modern Israel. There is, however, one exception in Israel’s belief – it being that they think they are that third temple. In a natural sense they are, but in the spiritual sense we, the Israel of God, which includes both Jew and Gentile, are that temple.

The story is told of the reference to the third temple being made by a high-ranking Israeli when things seemed very dark for Israel during the 1973 October war. His words to Premier Golda Meir were, “This is the end of the Third Temple.” In that dark hour for Israel, he would not be playing with words had the meaning not been fully known to the Premier. He was referring to Israel in no uncertain terms.

For a long time, our colleges and seminaries have been teaching that the symbolic meaning of the word Canaan is a glory land beyond death, and thus fostering a doctrine of a faraway heaven on some faraway planet. Now, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Christ within us, we know for sure that the experiences of heaven are ordained of God for us to have here and now while we are in this life. Jesus, through His life, demonstrated that He dwelt in heavenly places while on earth. For example:

“No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” John 3:13.

This passage and many others clearly say that Jesus, though He was on earth, also was in heaven. Not just heaven in us, but us in heaven.

TRUE ENOUGH, most Christians have to die before God can get them still enough to bring them into the reality of the Spirit, but now we are understanding the ways and purposes of God, and we know that God will bring heaven down to earth (terra firma) as soon as the saints allow the Kingdom of God to come within them.

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10.

We can be like Jesus. This will happen not because we are trying hard to be; as a matter of fact, we will never be by trying, but because we are learning to step out of the way and LET HIM MAKE US LIKE HIMSELF.

JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD is God’s final pattern of that which He is creating with His word in the earth. “He spoke and it was done.” By the anointed word of God, we are being recreated in His image and likeness. There is a teaching which would disarm you, which says that you can do nothing about it. You have been given of God a free will, and you can prevent God to the point of going to hell if you desire. On the other hand, you can give God the right of way in your life to bring you into conformity with His image. Romans 6:16 states that whatsoever spirit YOU obey, his servant you will become. Thus God expects you to exercise your franchise in submitting yourself to Him that He might put you in alignment with Christ.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 5-6)

Thought for today: Let us yield today to God and ask Him for his grace to overcome our very selves. Let Him make us like Himself so we will be in alignment with Christ.