Eph 1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
What is it that hinders and restricts the child of God from attaining and receiving that which has already been provided for them through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Though there are variables to that question, I want to bring to you a promise and insight that I believe will make all the difference in your walk with Christ.
And that is. . . YOUR ATTITUDE CAN BE MANAGED BY THE WORD OF GOD
What a promise we have. Our attitudes can actually be managed, ruled and controlled by the word of God.
If you’ve been looking for great revelation and good news, then this is surely it.
Haven’t you ever wondered why is it that we, as children of God, constantly need our attitudes adjusted and why they’re like a roller coaster ride that never seems to end?
Please allow me to give you some precious insight. Our attitudes are the way they are because we haven’t yet come to the truth and the realization that everything has already been done and accomplished in the spirit.
When you have the mindset that God needs to furnish something else for you that is still lacking, or feel there are things that He has left unfinished concerning you, that would make you complete, the truth doesn’t reside in you.
You are not dealing in the reality of God’s word wherein He has promised that all things have already been provided for according to His divine power.
2 Pet 1:3
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
When you remove, or separate yourselves from the reality of God’s word, then that greatly affects your mind and attitude. The difference, or outcome, is whether you walk in victory or defeat.
Do I need to say it again?
When your mindset is stuck on what you believe to be the unfinished work of Christ, you lose out.
There is a huge difference between people who fast and pray, in order “to move the hand of God,” and people who walk in genuine power and authority of that which has already been done/ given by Him.
Please listen!
We are not the sick trying to get healed and we are not the undelivered trying to get delivered. We are the healed and delivered in Christ. Satan is trying to steal these truths from us.
When people pray and fast for healing and deliverance; when they are fighting the good fight of faith and seem to spend enormous amounts of time rebuking the devil, whom they feel is personally blocking the move and hand of God, usually the effort is about getting something we feel we lack for ourselves which will make us complete. Perhaps it’s about standing in the gap, praying and interceding for the benefit of others, who are just as lacking.
The good fight of faith is in knowing what rightfully belongs to you in Christ and keeping it. Praying for others is so they too will come realize these truths and receive them as their own lives.
When you walk in the power and authority of that which is already been done, you’ll still pray, you’ll still fast and you’ll still rebuke the devil. But you’ll be doing these things in new light and revelation. You won’t be rebuking him so that healing and deliverance will come to you. You’ll be rebuking him because he’s a thief who’s bent on stealing something that already belongs to you.
What’s the difference?
Your attitude.
When your attitude sees yourself as already blessed instead of waiting to be blessed; when you see yourself already healed, already delivered, already financially prosperous and already forgiven, then this difference is victory.
Remember, it’s much easier to keep something that you already have, or own, if you truly know it belongs to you, than it is to go get it back, when you didn’t even think was yours in the first place.
This is the powerful, but unfortunate mindset that affects multitudes of God’s people.
Everyone knows that God is able. We all know that God can do all things. We know that virtually nothing is impossible with God, so what do they do anyway? They petition, plead, fast and pray to God to move on their behalf. It seems so good and Godly, so surely it must be a holy and righteous thing to do. It’s the place where they start, but actually it’s a place of defeat.
Starting places can include. . .
1) A place of desperation.
2) A place of discouragement.
3) A place of need.
They’ll pick a place out of the Word of God, but do so according to the flesh. Though they don’t realize it, they’re actually operating from within the enemy’s camp.
Instead of starting from the place of complete victory in the Lord’s camp; a place of full understanding and confidence in their relationship with the Father, they’ll start in the enemy’s camp where they embrace the lie(s) about who they are in Christ, resulting in never ending struggles of trying to be victorious.
I’m not saying that you cannot get to victory from the enemy’s camp, which, at best, is a difficult place to be. Rather, I’m telling you that there is a better place, a better camp from which to start.
In the camp of the Lord, there is always victory. We see what the Father is doing and we do it too. We go from victory to victory!
Let me show you something in this scripture. . .
1Thes 5:23
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Children, hear what the word of God tells us through the words of Paul . . . and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
That word holy in the Greek is holoteiace and it means to be sanctified completely or to be sanctified entirely. Then Paul makes this incredible statement as he’s praying for those in Thessalonica.
And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord Jesus Christ.
Here’s revelation knowledge. . .
You’re a triune man, which is made up of three separate parts, spirit, soul and body.
And Paul says, “I pray that your whole spirit your soul and your body are preserved blameless until the coming of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
I believe most Christians have an understanding that they are made up of these three parts, but their understanding is only tied to hearing it with their natural ears, than the application of it through their hearts, or what I call revelation knowledge.
Most people relate to themselves through those two primary avenues, specifically their soul, or emotions, and then also through their physical body. These are the two avenues that the majority of God’s people tend to relate to God and to them selves as well.
The average child of God does not see himself or herself through the spirit, or the third part of our being.
It is not terribly difficult to discern the emotions of the soul, nor is it difficult to discern the feelings of the body. We’re naturally in tune with both of these. We experience them on a daily basis. What very few of God’s people relate to is the one third of our being that is born again. The one third of us that is identical to Jesus at salvation, and the one third of us that is both sanctified holy and righteous because of Christ in us.
I don’t believe that there are ten Christians in a thousand who even have revelation knowledge concerning the spirit, soul and body, or who walk in that knowledge on a daily basis. I find that tragic!
It’s a shameful tragedy, and yet, the average Child of God doesn’t even understand that the only part of them that is born again is their spirit man, NOT the soul or body. If the spirit isn’t allowed to influence and transform the soul with the truths of God’s word, then the body will continue do what it has always done through the soul, or what we know as the “seat of our emotions.”
It is amazing to me how multitudes of Christians have placed such tremendous importance on getting souls saved. There are only two scriptures in the entire New Testament that speak of souls being saved. Neither of which has anything to do with the born again experience.
James 1:21
wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Heb 10:39
but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Neither one of these scriptures speaks about being born again. Why is that, you ask. Because in the born again experience, your soul is not saved, only your spirit is made brand new – a new creature.
2 Cor 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Old things are passed away and all things are new, because you are a new creature.
VERSE:18
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2 Cor 5:17 is not speaking about your physical body, or your soul, becoming brand new. It speaks only of your spirit.
When you became born again your soul did not change or die; neither did your emotions change and your body did not change or die. Only the spirit was made new in Christ, or – BORN AGAIN.
Multitudes of God’s people place such great emphasis and importance on saving souls. Properly stated, the soul can never be saved. It can only be renewed.
Rom 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Salvation comes by hearing the Word of God and receiving, by faith, the finished work of Christ. This results in the death of our old man, which is then regenerated in Christ as a new creature. The body and soul remain as they were. Only renewing of the mind (soul) brings about the desired change in the body.
Have you ever heard the saying, “As the mind goes, so goes the body?”
I’ve often wondered how it is that so many people, who’ve been born again, believe that everything about them changed when they accepted Christ. No wonder they doubt their salvation experience. Walking away from an altar, they find that they still think and feel the same. Nothing appears different to them, though in fact, if genuine, they are indeed different. Their spirit man has been made new in Christ. The old man is dead, replaced with the new creation that only Christ can give. Faith makes the work a finished work. Now it’s the soul and body that needs to catch up to these truths through the renewing of the mind.
It’s a wonderful and beautiful journey that begins with salvation and ends upon our earthly death. Behold all things would become new and the old things would pass away.
Christians falsely think that salvation includes a change in all things. Most prayed a prayer of faith at an altar, which they no doubt really meant. But instead of coming into the full promise of his word / truth, they entered into a state of confusion and doubt when things didn’t quite change in the ways they wanted.
Here are but a few examples. They thought. . .
1) That lusts and evil desires will simply go away.
2) That bad circumstances and situations in their lives would be easily remedied.
3) That broken marriages, that a moment before were total disasters, would suddenly and instantly be healed.
4) That all that was wrong in life would unexpectedly be made right.
5) That their runaway emotions and attitudes would now behave and be completely under control.
6) That their past and all that they hated and disliked about it would be completely gone and forgotten.
Does this sound like someone you know?
They were accepting and rejoicing in the experience of the moment, but never actually came to a place of knowing the kind of truth(s) that brings real freedom. If you have real freedom in your inner or new man, and you do, then transformation in the soul and body can take place as your mind is renewed.
Emotions, attitudes and feelings, are conflicts when revealed by the truths of God’s word. Christians who do not allow the words of truth to wash over them remain captives of all that the soul and body experience. Though they are captives, the real prisoner is the new man within them who yearns to be set free, to possess all things, but is sadly at the mercy of a person who knows nothing of this new man and the freedoms he has come to give each of us.
Anonymous Quote: “You can’t have what you don’t know”
When you come into understanding concerning the word of God, only then will God’s word bring the necessary understanding, or renewing, that makes it possible for a lifestyle change in you. We then become more than conquerors.
Rom 8:37
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
As great a word as this is, multitudes of God’s people simply do not feel like conquerors, nor do they walk in the lifestyle of a conqueror.
This scripture was written about the new man, the new creature in Christ, in you, not the flesh man who accepted Christ.
When the light comes on in the hearts of God’s people, then God’s people will begin walking in that light – “the eyes of their understanding being enlightened.”
Be blessed in the Lord. His words are powerful, enlightening and full of joy. Walk in the light while there is still time.