THE WAY TO THE ABIDING LIFE
My dear Christian friends, living a “sin-less” life is a good goal. Unfortunately, many settle for that, but it is not the aim Christ had in mind for us. Living a “self-less” life is His goal for us. There is a big difference. Many either do not know the difference between the two or do not know how to obtain the second. Some may even knowingly or unknowingly reject the needed actions to experience the self-less life. We often know what it is that we should desire, but lack the knowledge and power to obtain it. We live a “dualistic” life with one foot in Christ’s kingdom and daily have a foot in the natural world that builds up our self-life. I trust I can help here.
Many Christians have settled for living a sin-less life only to find themselves battling each day to keep from temptations and continual failure. They are constantly tempted by the natural world and by their own natural desires. They find themselves sinless but very self-full and addicted to being in control of their lives. Why is this?
They do not realize the natural strength they were born with will be with them for the rest of their lives. It is not permanently done away with at the time of salvation, nor can it be. Our natural life is needed to live in this world. It is not put to death on the cross in one final act. It is a daily process that must occur willingly. Our natural strength is to be reined into not only obedience but eventually harmony with Him daily. Reining in our natural strength through the law and a sinless life is a start. The law only shows us that we have a natural tendency and must die to it. We do not realize this is why we have the battles in our lives and cannot remain in constant contact with the Lord.
Many eventually attain a good prayer life, and unfortunately settle for it, but the abiding life Jesus spoke of (John 15:4-9) is the goal of the Christian faith. His word commands us to “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) which infers there is a deeper, attainable walk that includes a seamless communication with our Lord. It is not an event or on again, off again lifestyle.
Our Christian life at last allows us to mirror Christ’s life here on earth. It includes a walk that gives us a constant awareness of our Heavenly Father’s presence. This affects every move we make all day long. There is no dualistic, on again, off again experience. It is where we also can say as He said, “I only do what I see the father do.” (John 8:29). He accomplished for us all the elements necessary to experience this same life on earth Jesus did. He was, after all, the “Firstborn of many.” (Romans 8:29)
This life has been made available to all of us. In the book of Hebrews, he commands us to go “on to completion.” (Hebrews 6:1) “Completion” is achieved when we have all the elements necessary to say we “Walk the earth as He walked the earth.” (I John 2:6) He has given us a complete salvation package that allows our lives to be as His was. It is that we may be equipped to bring our heavenly Father’s “unseen kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.” That is what the salvation package is meant to do. Just what are the components of this “package” and how do they work together to bring Christ’s life to us?
The salvation package includes three main elements of salvation:
First and foremost, He gives us the cross, to pick up daily, deny ourselves or this natural strength we live with, and rein it into harmony with Him. (Luke 9:23) Our sins are not merely forgiven on the cross, but our entire strength is reined into harmony with the true application of the cross. The word says that “He died on the cross. However, we also died once and for all on the cross.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:8-10, I Timothy 2:11). And it is meant to be a daily, moment but moment experience. It gives us a new life, not a reformed old life, but a Christ life. By faith, He took us to the cross in His spiritual loins.
With the cross active in our lives, our tendency to act in our natural life without His involvement is impossible. We are now walking in Christ instead of merely having Him trapped inside, unable to influence our lives through His Holy Spirit. Many have the infilling of the Holy Spirit but do not know how to release Him through their very being. That discussion is something for a future date.
The second part of this salvation package is the effect of His blood being applied to our lives that works in us the harmony (through spiritual genetics) and aids us in our walk. Because of His blood, we naturally (genetically) are in harmony with Him. We only do those things that He did. He truly, by His blood, works in us “both the will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Third: The power of His resurrection gives us the power for this walk. The word reminds us when it says, “I am crucified with Christ, never-the-less I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20). It is not a reformed or empowered old life, ruled by a set of laws, but an entirely new life where we cannot go back to the old because we now have His nature and therefore His will in our spirits. We naturally do those things He would do. (Scripture)
All three of these elements combine to give us this unbeatable package of salvation that causes us to “walk the earth as He walked.” These things when working together, as they should, they give us the ability to live as He did seamlessly, without interruption, all day long, Halleluiah!! What victory.
Conclusion: We are now grown up “In Christ” instead of merely having “Christ in us” We are now living our lives with a minute-by-minute connection with Him. There are laws that He has given for us to keep to maintain this life. These laws are discussed in our book “The Two Tabernacles.” The result is that He is taking us to our desired purpose for our lives by His victorious resurrection power. By remembering our continual death on the cross moment by moment, He has given us resurrection power continually. That puts Him in charge to guide us into His perfect will for our lives through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Eventually, we end up owning something that has been only imaginable!
What does this give us? A life of uninterrupted communion with Him and the power to perform His will in every minute we exist. It is a communication with the Holy Spirit from within and fellowship with our Father that Jesus himself experienced.
The abiding life is about a constant connection with Christ in every sense of the word, from the inside out! If it be so, God’s children will finally begin to accomplish establishing God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven in the sphere he has given us. This is what He told us to pray for and I believe the time has come for this abiding life to infiltrate all our lives So His Kingdom may come “in earth as it is in Heven” (Mathew 6:10)