Christ in you, the hope of glory

From: Tony & Sue Maden Date: September 9, 2009 5:28:25 PM CDT To: Undisclosed list Subject: Excuses for Myself, or, Statements of Unbelief

Friends,

Many of these statements in the list below have come from my lips in time past, and perhaps from yours too. So perhaps if you hear your self repeated in this list too then this article is worth a few minutes of your time to read…. and after you have read, consider sharing with your believing friends too…

Tony Maden

Excuses for Myself, or, Statements of Unbelief By Fred Pruitt

This morning I posted on Facebook an article I sent out over a year ago, called, “I AM the Resurrection.” The article contained a list of statements that people make, that I called “statements of unbelief.”

Below is that list:

“I know Christ is in me, but I have to die to self.” “I know this is true, but a lot of me is still in God’s way.” “I’m in union with Christ, but it hasn’t yet started to work in me.” “God’s biggest problem is me.” “I’m still not fully dead to some things.” “That sounds good, but I’m not that spiritual a person.” “I see what you say, but we have to remember that this is a process.” “I wish I could make that work, but I sin every day.” “I know that’s true in my spirit, but my flesh and my soul still have a long way to go.” “I’ve still got lots of obstacles to discover and overcome before I could say Christ is manifesting Himself fully in me.” One Facebook friend wrote me back and wondered about those statements, saying that she had those thoughts, too, and aren’t we still in process?

Here is the reply, as well as a link to the old article in its entirety if anyone wants to read it.

1. Perhaps I’m a little strident to call those statements of unbelief just as the words themselves. Obviously it has to do with meanings behind words. But what I find is that people hide behind those statements — and statements that seem to indicate “process” to stay incomplete in their faith. They do not accept God’s total completion in them in the now. Like a lady who used to frequently write me and talk about the “part of me that isn’t dead yet.” So, in that lady’s mind, part of her was still outside Christ, and that “part” of her was the part that was still impatient, had selfish thoughts, desires, etc. But I say that NOW HE has taken our whole selves, and not one part of us is left outside Christ, — get our eyes once and for ALL OFF BEHAVIOR, EMOTIONS, etc. — & onto the Truth that we are NOW complete in Him, that Today “as He is so are we in this world.” In other words, we accept the Christ part, i.e. that Christ lives here, but we still do not accept the vessel HE chose!

2. You see, grace isn’t just a “cover” over our still faulty sin-bent selves. I know you know that. But grace is this living reality of God to reproduce nothing but Himself in the re-captured human self. God wants sons who know who they are and live in who they are. They must be conscious. Sons who are always in transition and never “there,” aren’t going across the Jordan to possess their possessions. Their must be a total acceptance of our humanity — as it is, God accepted and God driven — in our new birth and union/grace awareness. Any “shortcomings” we believe about ourselves are usually from condemnation and the accusations of the enemy. If God speaks to something about us, He fixes it on the spot, rather than continually reminding us of where we are failing. God accepts us and even says we ARE (not will be) righteous through the Cross of Jesus. That’s a pretty big deal. The Cross of Jesus says WE ARE RIGHTEOUNESS! Well, we better get about agreeing with that!

3. Let me mention a little more about process, too, since you mentioned it. Yes, we are in process and yes, we do go from glory to glory. However, people again hide behind process and call it humility when it is often unbelief. We are complete and perfect in every stage of the process, because it is His same life expressing every moment in it. Will I manifest more or know more, etc., tomorrow? Probably. But that does not negate the total perfection and glory of today. Today, the book of Hebrews says, is the day to believe. We do not gradually pass from darkness into light, and He does not gradually take us over. It is complete and total from the beginning — in the Cross old deity, spirit of error, out — new deity — Spirit of the Living God, in! Total. What is happening is that our consciousness (understanding) is catching up to it in a process of TIME. We are seeing more of what IS, not being more of it. There is a sense in which you can “be” what you “see,” but that isn’t our emphasis. Our emphasis is to see the total in the temporal, even though it happens to manifest little by little. We aren’t in charge of that. He is.

Remember the story of Jesus coming to Nazareth in the beginning of his ministry? It is found in Luke 4:17-30.

Jesus reads the scriptures which refer to the Messiah. When He is finished the reading, all eyes are turned on him to comment on the scripture, which as a male Jew He is entitled to do. It was a normal thing. What Jesus then said, however, was NOT normal. He said that in their sight and hearing, that scripture was now fulfilled.

Of course that enraged them. Why? Hadn’t Jesus grown up among them? Wouldn’t they have had some sense while He was growing up that He was special somehow?

Apparently not. To them, Jesus was just like them in every way. He was Joseph’s son, they believed, a man like them, and HOW DARE HE say the scriptures are fulfilled in Him. He’s just a carpenter!

Well, that’s what we are saying when we by faith say that He has come into us to live His perfection in us, right now, today! People are offended because we are just like them. We are nothing special. We don’t glow. We aren’t especially “good.” Just normal folks living normal lives doing more or less normal things. How DARE WE say we are complete in Him! How DARE WE say, “I and my Father are one.”

Now if we say we are in process, that one day we’ll get there but we’re not there yet, well, they’ll pat us on the back and applaud us for that.  Because that makes us like everybody else — in unbelief! But let us break the mold, step out of the “Matrix” so to speak, and say, “He and I are one, and when I walk around walking and talking, it is He walking and talking.”

“No, that’s too much, too far!” they’ll say. “You are a man, but you make yourself God.”

But that is not the case. In order to get here, we had to thoroughly find out we are NOT God! We cannot walk in Him and still think we are “something.” (If a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Gal 6:3). We find out to the uttermost we are nothing. That is our death.

But then, we find out how completely and how HIGH we rise in His resurrection. Ephesians gives us the totality by the word “together:”

1:10 — In the fulness of times he might gather TOGETHER IN ONE all things in Christ ….

2:5 — Hath quickened us TOGETHER with Christ ….

2:6 — Raised us up TOGETHER and made us sit TOGETHER in the heavenlies IN CHRIST JESUS ….

2:21 — Building grows TOGETHER as a holy temple in the Lord …

4:16 — We are joined together by the Spirit.

He has made us accepted and complete in the beloved, and all those places we are TOGETHER is now, right now, today, this moment, as you read these words.

If you say you are complete and total in Christ and walk as He walks in this world, it is likely you will along the way encounter a synagogue full of folks who will look at you and tell you it could not possibly be. You’re like everybody else, just like us, they will say. We’re not there yet. We’re still in the wilderness of our sins and our preoccupation with ourselves. You are just like us, stuck here with us. Don’t try to put on airs or elevate yourself above us. You lack humility! Etc. Etc. Etc.

Don’t listen to them. Instead, continue to shine the light of who you are. Some will see the light; others will feel its burn. Either way you minister Christ whereever you go.

To read the complete article referred to, click here.