It is not the nature of the flesh to appreciate the value of Spiritual thoughts. It seems that only when flesh and blood are brought to the place of utter desolation that a divine appreciation is born within the human spirit. How we ought to praise our heavenly Father for the trials and temptations that come our way — knowing that His promise IS that it will always end in a divine conclusion. He has said that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us and that He WILL perfect that which concerns us. You see, in order for God's will to be done we must be purged from every desire that opposes Him. (That's really the only time that God's will is done.) The Father knows just how and when this is to be brought to pass. It is through these "wilderness experiences" that we learn the most significant spiritual lessons. It is often when we are in the desert of human aloneness and seemingly isolated from the rest of the world that we can hear our heavenly Father talk to us, Sometimes we are not willing to bring ourselves to this solitary place of meditation, so our Father arranges things in such fashion that we are reminded once again of our need to seek His face. We do not always like the process that brings us to this place of learning, but we may be comforted in the knowledge that ALL things do indeed work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. His purpose, of course, is that we be "conformed to the image and likeness of His dear Son" - Rom. 8:28-29. Sometimes we forget just HOW our Father brought His first Son into conformity with His will. We read in the Bible that He was A MAN of sorrows and acquainted with grief — He was tempted in His desires in all ways like we ourselves — He was lonely — despised and rejected of men -- He had emotions and even wept as we might today. Many times He found it necessary to withdraw Himself not only from the multitudes but His own disciples too, in order to pray and seek His Father’s will. You see, the Father understands the weakness of all flesh -- He made it! He also knows just what must be done in order to conform us to His likeness while all the time strengthening our faith. The Bible takes time to record that even Jesus, God's first Son, the captain of OUR salvation, the author and finisher of OUR faith, the first born among MANY brethren, LEARNED obedience through the things that He suffered - Heb. 5:8. Jesus, the human Jesus, was not always aware of His Father's leading in His sufferings, perhaps even as we many times are not aware. His flesh did not necessarily enjoy the process of change any more than ours. You see, obedience is the criteria here and disobedience is deeply rooted.in ALL flesh. That is WHY in order for man to learn the things of God, his flesh must be subjected to a certain kind of suffering. It is this suffering we are talking about that brings about the will of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus experienced this suffering, for He spoke from the same place of conflict when He said "The Spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak" - Matt. 26:41. Paul says in Romans 8:3 that Jesus came in the "likeness" of sinful flesh. So, you see, the flesh is not really the answer, it is just a part of the problem: that is as long as it is not under the control of the Spirit. In fact, that's all a problem really is, just something that is not yet under the control of the Spirit. Quite simple, isn't it? Maybe we should yield "right away".) About this suffering thing: the Bible says that IF we suffer with Christ we will also REIGN with Him, It sounds like it is saying, "no suffering, then no reigning". Some today would like us to believe that suffering, any kind of suffering, is absolutely unnecessary. I can't buy that! The Apostle Paul must have derived the same kind of SPIRITUAL BENEFIT through his sufferings. He must have seen some sort of purpose in it even to the extent that he sounded these most unusual words..."That I might KNOW Him and the power of His resurrection AND the FELLOWSHIP of His SUFFERINGS being made CONFORMABLE to His death" - Phil. 3:10. Wow! That’s a pretty difficult statement to make, let alone understand, Why in heaven’s name, if a Christian is to escape ALL manner of suffering, would Paul want to fellowship or share in the sufferings of Christ? I thought that Jesus came to deliver the human race from suffering. I thought that one did not have to suffer. I supposed that suffering, any kind of suffering, was a sign of spiritual weakness and ignorance on the part of the believer. 1 thought that if you were to read "Seven Steps to Victory" by Dr. Know It All , one didn't have to suffer. I thought that all suffering was supposed to be of the Devil and any one who suffered in any way, shape, or form was living far below their God given privileges. Surely, any one that suffers must be out of the will of God and lacking in faith! Evidently, neither Peter, Paul, James, John or Jesus, who all either wrote or spoke about suffering and trials, had not been fortunate enough to get their hands on the right cassette tape series. They must not have known better. Question: Could there be a certain kind of suffering that is JUST AS MUCH a part of the will of God as being healed? Seems to me that the Bible speaks an awful lot about trials and temptations accompanying the Life of the believer. Even Jesus mentioned a cross for EVERY ONE to bear. You don't hear much about that to¬day though. It seems that in order to be in tune one must be a heavy advocate of health, wealth and prosperity, or he is out of rhythm. Maybe there is another side to the coin that flesh and blood does not like to hear. Even Peter said some of the strangest things about suffering. Perhaps what he said, according to some of our modern day seminar teachers, was way out of context. Maybe the Holy Ghost didn't give him his material. Perhaps he wasn't fortunate enough to have attended one of our modern theological seminaries. Maybe he didn't have a Bible dictionary or an analytical concordance. Maybe he didn’t know anything about Greek or expository preaching. Perhaps he had forgotten to memorize the fundamental principles of "Victorious Living". Here are some of the things he said about this matter of suffering — listen! "For as much then AS Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin (no wonder flesh wants nothing to do with suffering) — THAT he no longer should live the rest of his time (the time he has left) in the flesh, to the will of man, but to. THE WILL OF GOD. Beloved, think it NOT strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some STRANGE (out of the ordinary) thing has happened to you. But rejoice in as much as you are partaking of CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. After you have suffered a while, God will make you perfect and establish, strengthen and settle you. Wherefore let them that suffer ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD " According to what? I Peter 4:1-2. It sounds like suffering, a certain KIND of suffering, is just as much the will of God as having a Devil cast out. Could it be that there is a particular God ordained suffering that is used to bring ones will into subjection and conformity to the will of the Spirit of God? Aren’t flesh and Spirit contrary one to the other? If, according to the Bible, Jesus LEARNED obedience BY the things He suffered, then He must not have known what the Father required of Him until He was trained in the things of the Spirit. You do not need to learn something you already know — it is only that which one does not know that he must learn. The Apostle Paul wrote another thing about this thing called obedience. He said that we are to "cast down (dethrone) imaginations and EVERY high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge (Word) of God and bring into captivity EVERY thought to the OBEDIENCE of Christ". He said that this is HOW obedience is fulfilled ~ II Cor. 5:4-6. It was Paul who also said^ "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you PRESENT your bodies a living SACRIFICE (how the flesh abhors sacrifice), holy, acceptable unto God, which is YOUR reasonable service: and BE NOT conformed to the worlds system, but be YE transformed by the RENEWING of your mind, that you may understand what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, WILL OF GOD - Rom. 12:1-2. Renewing of the mind IS the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. You see, until we learn to PRESENT our bodies in obedience to the Lord (actually presenting of our bodies IS obedience to the Lord) and to lead every thought captive, suffering will be the inevitable tool that God will use to help bring this about. Someone once said, "God does not use force, but He certainly knows HOW to make you willing". The Scriptures say that the way of the transgressor is hard and as the sparks fly upward man was born for trouble. Suffering in the flesh is the Father’s way of redeeming the spirit and bringing man’s will into conformity with His will. Even Paul once said that he had delivered a man’s flesh to Satan’s control that the spirit might be saved. The Bible clearly states, "The wrath of God IS revealed from heaven AGAINST TVLL ungodliness". It also says, "Tribulation and anguish upon EVERY soul of man that does evil, but glory, honor and PEACE to EVERY man that works good" - Rom. 1:17; 2:9-10. It must be clearly understood that when the Bible speaks of suffering, it does not necessarily mean to suffer from sickness or disease or some kind of physical disablement. The kind of suffering the Bible speaks of here is the kind of suffering that belongs exclusively to the believer. The world does not experience this kind of suffering. This kind of suffering comes from the conflicting and contrary desires that are at war within the believer. The reason for this conflict is because man HAS been made a new creature and that new creature is at work within him and wants to gain control of his mind. If there were only one entity, there would be no struggle. Actually, it is God and the Devil fighting it out for control of man's will through his mind. Man yields to whomever he chooses. The Bible plainly identifies this as ".the sufferings and afflictions of Christ" You may remember Paul mentioning this kind of suffering when he wrote about the struggle between the FLESH and the SPIRIT - Gal. 5:16-17. He said that they are CONTRARY (in opposition) to one another and they strive to gain control of man's mind. Actually, you might say there is a civil war going on within man. This causes the most painful of all battles until the will is conquered and brought once again into subjection to the Spirit of God. Remember when we said that a problem is just something that is not yet under the control of the Spirit? Jesus Lord .

What do you turn to in time of need? Do you follow just any old suggestion that comes to mind? A lot of people do. I know of many precious souls who seem to lack direction to their lives be¬cause they just aren't willing to recognize that they are not capable of handling their problems. If we could only realize (real eyes) this, we would stop trying to deal with them and turn them over to our heavenly Father who both wants and is willing to carry the load. The Bible puts it this way, '*Cast thy burden on the Lord and will sustain thee" - Ps. 55:22. Jesus says, "Come unto me all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Why? "Because my yoke is easy and my burden is light" - Matt. 11:28. May I put it in my own words without re¬moving any of the sanctity? Come to Him everyone of you who are floundering, failing and anxiously striving in the weakness of your human nature, you who are burdened down with earthly cares that hang about thy neck as a great and heavy yoke; take upon thee instead the divine nature (nurture) that can and will sustain you in all of your ways and the promise is thy day so shall be thy strength ’’. The Bible in so many different ways encourages us to PUT our trust in the Lord. Even King David said in Psalm 33:17, "A horse is a vain thing for safety". We are asked to acknowledge the Lord ways and then He will take it upon Himself to direct our paths, Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness that is of Him, and then He will add all else to our lives". Matt. 6:33. It’s so simple, but how we often com¬plicate our thinking. We depend too much upon our own minds. We have, as it were, entered into a contract or an agreement with God in Christ. Sometimes we get our thoughts mixed and fail to distinguish our work from His. Sometimes we want God to do ours and then at other times we try to do His, We forget that the whole basis of Christianity is trust and that God cannot do ours and we cannot do His. It's in the agreement, and agreements are no good if the ones involved do not keep their word. Jesus says, "You seek me and continue to think on the things that are in my kingdom (that's our part) and I will provide all of your needs according to my riches in Glory, whatever they may be" (that’s His part). Of course, there are earthly responsibilities we must assume; God knows that, but they are not to be magnified above heavenly things. It is often said that we are not to be "so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good". But what about being so earthly minded that we are of no heavenly good? My ex¬perience is that more people are worried about falling into the first category than the second, I've met a lot of people who are earthly minded, but I find it a rare thing to meet anyone who is heavenly or Spiritually minded, even in church, if you please. It appears to me there is little danger about going overboard with Jesus in most people's lives. I think they are quite secure. If we are going to magnify something, I believe it would be wise if we took the Psalmist* advice who says, "Come now and let us magnify the Lord together" - Ps. 34:3. We are bound to magnify something 1 So what do you turn to in time of need? Do you turn to that which helps you and sustains you, or do you consider that which only ends up delaying your answer? Is Satan leading you on?? People are all different, not any one of them are alike. They have different tendencies or different grooves of thought. They turn to different things when they become lonely, frustrated, bored, or just plain discouraged. You see, human beings are sub¬ject to many different kinds of emotions. More often then we should, we allow our emotions to rule us and make us slaves to our feelings. Feelings are good and were created by God to be our servant, but when things are turned around, it can become quite a problem. In fact, that’s what a problem really is—just something turned around. It can become heli on earth. Have you ever noticed that "evil" is really "live" spelled backwards? It all began with Adam and Eve when they obeyed Satan. When feel¬ings and desires became their master, so did Satan. Satan took control of their emotions and they became ego motions—motions motivated by their ego. They became a curse born of selfishness rather than a blessing, but then that’s always the way it is when we yield our emotions to Satan. Ever notice the difference when God has them as compared to the other side I Fear is an emotion and so is peace. Joy is an emotion and so is sorrow. See the difference? It's just a matter of which spirit has control of you—who you yield to. They are just the opposite in nature. One is the Spirit of God, the other the spirit of Satan. That's how simple it is. Jesus said, "The THIEF comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come that you may have Life abundantly" - John 10:10, The child of God can yield his emotions to the Spirit of happiness “Christ if he wants. He doesn’t have to "pursue" happiness like the world teaches. It's already within him; all he has to do is develop or cultivate an awareness of his posses¬sion. He can do this by magnifying and acknowledging the Lord, not by magnifying and talking about the problem. Try it I It works; whether you emphasize the negative or the positive, you will get immediate results—what we sow, we will reap. And we don't have long to wait for the harvest. You might say that to live dominated by your feelings is living backwards or turned around, and the scriptures say the way of the transgressor is hard. We were not created to live backwards (evil) but front¬wards (live)—our back on our problems and our face in the di¬rection of the Lord- The Psalms say, "They looked unto Him and their faces were lightened, and they were not ashamed" - Ps. 34:5. If you face the Light, the shadows will be behind you, but if you turn your back on the Light, then you must face the shadows. No wonder Jesus said, "Get thee behind me Satan". Some people say we must face our problems, but they don't tell you how to cope. You do it by facing the Lord, and then He will take care of the problem. We are to overcome evil (darkness) with good and ONLY GOD, according to Jesus, is good. People lean in different directions when they have problems. Some think of drink when things get rough? others turn to physical activity to drown out their loneliness or boredom. Sometimes they turn to other people in order to discuss their problem. They for¬get that what they really need is for God to talk to their'Spirit so they may "Live'* and learn that God cannot be found in these other things . Inevitably there will come a reckoning (Rom. 6) day when they must learn the truth that David learned when the scripture records a great milestone in his life. It simply states, "And David encouraged HIMSELF in the Lord". There just wasn't anyone else around that could do it for him. And anyway, it wouldn't last any other way. Well, I guess the question now is, "Where can a person get help that will last and is there really any such thing"?? I suppose that we have all asked these questions at one time or another when we were very preoccupied with the problem at hand, when maybe we should have been putting it under our foot. I wonder if maybe the real problem has been that we too often look for our answer in the wrong thing. The answer, if we are ever to approach things from a sober point of view, must be admittedly recognized as not to be found in drink, or doing, or people, or places, or things; but in Christ and Christ alone. I like that song that says, "There is no disappointment in Jesus, He is ALL that He promised to be".

In the knowledge of God’s Spirit is conveyed His Power and Ability. God is in His knowledge; God is Spirit, Knowledge, Power, and Faith. With God’s knowledge comes wisdom, or the ability to use this knowledge as it can be productive and creative in your life and in the lives of others. When one speaks according to the knowledge that God gives, he is giving voice to the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto deliverance to anyone who believes. It will deliver anyone that receives it and believes it, for it is God’s power. This is speaking as an oracle of God. It is as thought God spoke. When God speaks, His Word is performed. The one who ministers the Gospel of Christ represents God, so therefore God must be his ability. Because the Gospel is Truth, you have the ability to back up the words that you speak. You cannot separate God’s Spirit, which fills the Gospel of Christ, from Faith, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Deliverance. He is all of these to us and for us. The Gospel of Christ is saturated with all of these things, for the Spirit says in 1 Cor 3:1 that the Gospel is the image, or expression of God. Wisdom, faith, healing, and deliverance are all given to you through the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is God expressed to the heart of man. The world was framed by the Word of God. The same Word and ability that formed the world and brought it into existence is released from the lips of the one that proclaims the Gospel. (Notice I said Gospel, not theories, or someone’s opinions.) The Word of Faith, creating out of things that are not seen, the things that are now seen. When one speaks according to Spiritual Knowledge (God’s knowledge), the same power that was drawn upon when the world was created again goes into action. The very same Word with the same Eternal Power. The never changing Word with His unchanging power to perform. The ability of Love, fulfilling the needs of those who put a demand upon the Living Christ. 1958

I think a lot of people have a hard time being a friend, not that they do not want to be friendly. It’s just that they don’t know how. To be a friend I think that we should learn to assess the needs of the other person and then be to them what they need. It seems that quite often we think the other fellow needs just the thing that we have to give, merely because we believe that it is right and it works for us. Maybe this is true and maybe it isn’t, but we should be sure before we talk. Sometimes we are apt to talk at great length to someone, and have a sincere desire to be a friend within our heart, and the only impression we get across is that we are “preachy” and think we have all the answers. This isn’t true in a lot of cases, but if the one to whom we are talking thinks it is, then all of our effort is lost. Our good intentions somehow didn’t get through. There are many people who are lonely, people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. There are many people with heartaches--people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. All of them need friends, but not all of them know how to be a friend. Being a friend is everyday living, not just sometimes when you visit someone. Wives and husbands and children need friends, and being a friend is everyday living right in the home. A man comes home from work. Whether he has worked hard or not doesn’t really matter. He’s been away a long time and the time is twice as long if he loves his family. He comes home and he likes to have his wife “talk to his heart.” Sometimes this isn’t done with just words--it’s done with, maybe a touch or a look, or it maybe the tone of voice that carries the message. The tone, the look, or the attitude communicates more effectively than words. It’s the same with a man. He can growl or kick the cat, or he can be understanding of his wife’s needs. She’s had a hard day too. And it’s the same with others. We must learn to understand their needs. Sometimes there is more communication in silence than ten thousand words no matter how well intended they were. What people want and need is to know they have a friend, not a phonograph. I think this kind of understanding should be the aim of every Christian. He can tell others of Christ more effectively if he learns when to be silent and just be around, and when to talk, and what to say. Too many people have been turned from the church and discounted Christianity because all people knew how to do was talk. They didn’t know how to listen or just say, “How are the kids” Or, “Boy, I’m tired, how about you?” Or maybe just be quiet and be available. Their heart was in it, but they talked without knowing the need that was to be supplied. To be a friend is the greatest joy we can experience. To be a Christian is the basis of all life; but to share this gift of love with someone else brings a joy that knows no bounds. Being a Christian is not just going to church and singing songs, and listen¬ing to the preacher, and telling someone else what they should do, but being a Christian is washing the dishes, washing the car, going to work, cleaning the house, visiting the lonely, and just being a friend everyday.

There is a liar. His name is Satan. Of Course, he does not like us to know this. If we should find out that he is a liar, no one will believe him; and if no one will believe him, he becomes powerless and ineffective. He is powerless anyway; but to those who do not know this, he is very effective. However, this does not change the fact that he is a liar. This Satan subtly hid his motive from the eyes of Adam and Eve one day causing them to fall into utter spiritual darkness. He told them they would learn good and evil if they would obey his words. They learned, but Satan never told them that when they did they would also die (spiritually) even as God had said. Adam and Eve became captives of the liar. Satan slew them through their minds. Adam's mind became blinded by the god of this world. By the way, Satan never told adam and Eve who he was. He didn't want them to know. That's why he was succesful at taking them captive. Now there is one called Christ who exposed the liar. He equips you so that you are not ignorant of the devil's devices. There is an example in the Bible of how this Christ uncovered Satan and showed men where sin, sickness, infirmity, insanity, and the like came from. He said it this way, "Ought not this woman whom Satan has bound be loosed?" --Luke 13:16. And another time, He said, "If I with the finger of God cast out Satan..."--Luke 11:20. Again he exposed the liar. Man, blinded by Satan, thought his trouble was what his mind classified as sickness. Jesus had Spiritual knowledge and called it what it really was-- THE WORK OF SATAN. Jesus exposed the source again. This Christ (Truth) stops the mouth of the liar. This is because Christ reveals the truth about God, the truth about man, and the truth about Satan. This truth cancels all lies. In fact, he cannot even exist! Satan looks upon being known or recognized as the liar with much distaste. When one is brought to the realization that Satan is a liar and he recognizes (discerns) his lies, Satan's potency is swept from his hands. Actually, he doesn't have any, but he doesn't like us to know that. You see, the instrument used by the liar is the carnal mind. That's something that man has never been told. He has never known that it even existed. Satan doesn't want him to know either (Rom 8:6-7, 2 Cor 4:4). Satan does not like the truth to be told about himself, for he refuses to believe it. He doesn't want you to either. Satan just won't face up to it. He realizes that it is so much his nature to lie, that if he were to make a promise to himself, he could not keep it. That, you see, is because he was made to do nothing but lie. Satan has a complete lack of integrity. There is not truth in him! Satan doesn't like us to know this, but he does not really have anything true to back up what he says. For instance, he has been the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10). Because of our justification (righteousness) in Christ, he has nothing LEGAL against us--only his lies. God's word reveals Satan's avenue of approach (the mind) when He says, "I fear lest any means as the serpent (Satan) beguiled Eve through his subtlety so too your mind might be corrupted from the freedom and simplicity that is given you in Christ." --2 Cor 11:3. He is the one that lies to our mind and when we allow our imagination to run rampant and wild, pushed and driven by those lies. He is the one who is responsible (the source) of all sin, worries, sicknesses, cares, and anxieties. He will never tell you this so don't bother to ask him. You can believe God's word though because it came from the mouth of the Christ-- "SATAN IS A LIAR..."--John 8:44. Satan is the one that goes about LIKE a roaring lion seeking whose mind he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). The Bible uses the word like a roaring lion . He is not a roaring lion. this is just to show you the eagerness to devour your mind. But you can remember one thing--he is defeated and Christ holds the chain that harnesses him (1 John 3:8, Col 2:15). You see, Satan's lies are the absolute sum total of nothing. When he suggests to you defeat, that's a lie. When he tells you that you are not righteous, that's a lie. Everything he suggests is a lie. Everything he gives birth to is a lie. Satan is just a talker. He's the master salesman in a crooked department store. You must first buy his product. He sells cares and perplexities for you peace and joy. He thinks it's an even exchange. He needs you in order to be effective and to get rid of his merchandise. You have to watch him because you can't trust him and you always end up being shortchanged. A lot of times, this salesman brings something to your attention when he really has in mind selling you something else. Maybe he will offer you thoughts of pleasure and care when really he's dipping deeper into your pocket for your soul. Yes, Satan is a talker, but if you don't have a mind to listen, he speaks into the air. We have the mind of Christ. (See 1 Cor 2:16). He knows that the success of his influence is dependent upon how well he can convince someone of the truth of what he says, while all the time he knows that he cannot tell the truth. He's like a confidence-man and he wants your confidence; he wants to seduce you into the realm of reason and encourage you to reason things out. He can put up a pretty good argument as long as he can keep you within the realm of materialistic thinking. The success of Satan's efforts depends wholly upon deception, deceit, subtlety. He hides behind a clock of unrighteousness fearing to be exposed. This is why Jesus came--to unveil God and the light of His presence shove Satan out in the open. Jesus came and pointed out with the finger of God the source of all man's trouble. Satan knew if he were to work effectively, he must not make himself obvious; he must remain incognito (hidden). The Spirit of Truth came and is here to reveal good from evil--(God from Satan). Man for the first time can see the difference with the eyes of the Spirit and exercise proper judgement. Satan is exposed and the man in Christ can recover himself from the devil's snare, because he can now see the way out--he can see Christ. the man in faith, in Christ, has a spiritual eye to see the source of trouble he has the eye to see God. the man in Christ now knows what Satan promised him and hid from him (2 Cor 4:4). He is now equipped to shun the appearance of evil, resist the devil, and wait it the confidence of his God.

There is not such a great gulf between those who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and those who believe that God is one. The doctrine of the Trinity opens the door to harmony by saying, “These three are one.” The Trinity tries hard to explain God but it runs into the same difficulty that has always been encountered when explaining the things of God--carnal understanding. Flesh just can’t know the things of God (1Cor. 2: 11). Trinity is inadequate and admits it! After fashioning minds to accept the “Personages” of God they turn around and in effect say, it wasn’t so because these three are one. The doctrine of “oneness” stops short of things too. They feel that the one and only God is Jesus Christ and that is His name! It is true this is the only name by which we know God. You see, God never had a name, but God is not contained in a name either. I would like to suggest that we look further into what the Bible says in regard to “Oneness.” I know of no other word to use; but by using the term “Oneness,” I do not refer to the doctrine of Oneness. I might as well define what I do mean. Oneness is not only Jesus being made one with God, but it is the believer being made one with God as well. The understanding of this is where the flesh falls short every time. I feel the truth of this Oneness is quite evident throughout the Bible. Jesus prayed to the Father and said, “That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they also maybe one in us.”--John 17:21. There is no thought of merely being “in accord with” or of having a “singleness of purpose” as some would have us believe. One is just a number, not many, just one. So when I use the term “Oneness,” that is what I mean. It is my desire that these words will help to establish harmony between those two groups of people who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Oneness. These words are meant to “put together” not “take apart.” I can put together only by talking about the Spirit of God, because it is only in the Spirit that we are made one. Here, again, I must define my words: Spirit is God--not part of God, but all of God. The Spirit is the Father God that Jesus represented. “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”-- John 1:1. There is no disputing the fact that Jesus was the Word because the Bible plainly states, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”--John 1: 14. In Jesus dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form (Col. 2:9). It is extremely difficult for me to consider how God, the Father (as a person) could dwell within God, the Son, another person, but I can understand a Spirit dwelling in a person. “And the Word was God.” The Word,” (Logos in the Greek) does not suggest a person. God is not so easily defined. Logos is a dynamic thought, not man’s thought. It is the dynamic, or expression of Divine thought, that existed in the beginning that was made manifest to us in the form of the flesh so we could see it. “We beheld His Glory…”--John 1: 14. When I look to the flesh, the only thing I can see is Jesus. It is not the flesh that is God; it is that which is in the flesh--the motivating force (Spirit) that is God. God entered the flesh because through Jesus He could express Himself in such a manner that man could understand. God dwelt in Jesus. Jesus’ flesh was made alive by God. Herein He was the Son of God. The believer’s flesh is also made alive because God dwells in the believer (Rom 8: 11). The same thing that made Jesus the Son of God makes us the Son of God. There came a time when Jesus gave Himself up to the Father. He is no longer in the flesh; he gave that up so we might also become Sons. While He was in the flesh, God was in Him reconciling the world to Himself. Now He has committed unto us the words of reconciliation (2 Cor.5 19). As God worked in Christ, He now works in us, both planning and doing what He desires (Phil. 2:13. We can look to Jesus in the flesh and see Him as the Son; and because we are flesh we can see, and in a measure, comprehend the great compassion and love that He showed forth to those about Him. But because we believe Him, we have received a new dimension of Life by God’s Spirit dwelling within us. We have the privilege and favor of being with Him in the place of glory that was His when only God was, or as the Bible says, “Before the world was.”-- John 17:5. This is the place of our Spiritual abiding; it is the place in the Father’s house that Jesus prepared for us. It is the place in which He received us to Himself so we could be where He is. It is the fulfillment of this prayer that He expressed to the Father, “Father, I WILL that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.--John 17:24 All of this transpires in God. This Oneness is in the Spirit--it is not in the flesh. In the flesh I am a Son of God, with God’s Life in me. But when one sees his position in God, he will inevitability come to the conclusion that God is all in all and that in Him we have all been made one (Eph 1: 10). Jesus spoke in recognition of two things. He spoke, recognizing His position as a Son in the flesh, and He spoke recognizing His Oneness with God in the Spirit. Consider these remarks: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30, or “Before Abraham was, I AM.”--John 8:58, or “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”--John 14:9. These are Spiritual facts because they recognize a position found only in God. Then speaking from His position in the flesh, as a Son of God, He said, “All that the Father hath told me, I have told you.”--John 15:15; and again, “The words I speak are not my own, but the Father who dwells in me.”--John 14: 10. There are many words which Jesus uttered that become understandable only when we consider this duality within Jesus, but to suggest the thought is, for the moment, enough. Jesus reigned as the Son, until He put all enemies under His feet--even death (1 Cor.15:26). When God raised Jesus from the dead, He gave Him an incorruptible body so at this time there did exist two Gods—God, the Father, and God, the Son. Let’s consider these things for a moment: Jesus was resurrected from the dead. He had a material body. It was one having form and substance--it was not Spirit. He was emphatic about that. He said, “A Spirit does not have flesh and bone as ye see me have.”--Luke 24:39. Death no longer had any power over Him, He now could live forever. Jesus could have restored the Kingdom to Israel or do anything He wanted to because He had triumphed over all things. He was Lord of all (Acts2:36). Jesus had received the nature of God, the Life of God, the power of God. He literally was all of God in the flesh (Co1.2:9). But there was a God who was Spirit too! What would have happened if this condition continued? To understand this you must understand somewhat of the nature of man. The Bible is quite plain when it comes to exposing at least one of the weaknesses of the flesh. Flesh CAN NOT SEE, nor will it BELIEVE, anything outside its own realm (Rom 8: 7). Therefore flesh can’t understand or believe God, who is Spirit. Jesus could have remained in the flesh and all men would have flocked to Him. They would have beheld His miracles, and argued His wisdom, but THEY WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THE FATHER GOD, who is Spirit. No man can truly know Jesus without knowing God! Yet there were those who claimed to know Him. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” By their very words they showed forth their ignorance of who Jesus really was. Jesus said if they had known the Father they would have known Him; but because they knew Jesus only AFTER THE FLESH, they did not know the Father. Had Jesus continued to exist in the flesh, no man would have known God. Although the fullness of God dwelled within the body of Jesus, man did not see God; they only saw another man, one possessed of powers beyond their comprehension, but a man nevertheless. They did not perceive the Spirit. The whole plan of God would have crumbled at this point if Jesus had not given Himself to the Father. Jesus was to reconcile man unto God and man was not reconciled. His place of abiding was not yet prepared. The Holy Spirit (God) did not dwell within man. Here is the paradox that would have happened if Jesus had stayed “in the flesh.” Men would have believed Him because of His works--things they could see. This is the thing that Nicodemus based his belief on (John 3:2). But because Jesus spoke not of Himself, but of God, men could not believe because God is Spirit and no man can understand the things of God--only the Spirit knows the things of God (1 Cor.2: 11). So Jesus had to go away if man was ever to know and abide in God. The fullness of God dwelled within Jesus, and only Jesus. Had Jesus remained in the flesh, no man could ever have had the Life of God within Him because God had already committed Himself. He had given Himself to this man Jesus in whom He was well pleased. He was satisfied. He had found the man worthy of His love. God loved the world to such an extent that He gave Jesus over to Satan (death) and let Him go through the torments of hell, just so we would not have to taste the penalty of sin. What a tremendous thing this is! He was forsaken by God, which IS the penalty of sin, then God raised Him from the dead and rescued Him from hell. He gave Him authority over all things and in effect said, “It’s up to you.” Now the final test of love was up to Jesus. God had lifted Him up above all principalities and all power and made Him Lord of all. He could have established Himself in this world or He could have established us in God. He desired that we know God as He knew Him, so His prayer was, “Make them one, Father, EVEN AS we are one.”--John 17:21 He tried to explain this to the disciples. He said that He was in the father and the father was in Him (John 14:10). Jesus knew the futility of trying to make the disciples understand this amazing thing, but He told them about it anyway. “I have told you about these things before they come to pass so that when they come to pass, you might believe.”--John 14:29. He said that the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things (John 14:26). He would bring to mind the words that they were hearing now and they would understand. “At that day,” Jesus said, “Ye shall know that I am in the Father, and He is in me, and I am in you.”-- John 14:20. In order for this to happen He had to go to the father. This is what He had started to tell His Disciples. It was disturbing news to them. They sensed a termination of their relationship with Jesus in the flesh; but they had no inkling of the NEW, and more COMPLETE LIFE, that was in store for them in the Spirit, and they were troubled. “Let not you heart be troubled,” Jesus said, “You believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you and when it is prepared I will come again and receive you unto myself so that where I am there you may be also.”--John 14:3. But Jesus knew that when He left, the world would see Him no more. He also knew why He was going to give Himself over to the Father, (no man can see God). But He also knew (as no one else had ever known, because He experienced it) that when God had given a man Spiritual Life He also gave him Spiritual eyes. So He told His disciples, “In a little while ye shall see me no more, and yet, in a little while ye shall see me because I go to My Father. Because I live you shall live also.”--John 16:16. He promised them, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.” Then He told them plainly, “It is necessary for your sake that I go away because if I don’t go away the comforter will not come”--John 16:7 If the Comforter did not come, we could never have the Life of God. There would be no such thing as a New Birth because that comes only because Jesus prepared our dwelling place in God. Had the Holy Spirit not come, we could never have known the things of God (1 Cor.2:12), but Jesus did go away! The world will see Him NO MORE, but we see Him because where He is, there we are also. We can behold His Glory because we are hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Listen to the words of the Bible: “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God may be All in All.”--1 Cor.15:28) This has already been done! All things were put under Jesus feet! This is the ultimate--One God! Man has come into the knowledge of the One God by Jesus Christ. God extended Himself into the realm of flesh by Jesus Christ and man’s ears heard God’s Word from His lips. He came from God and we called Him the Son of God. Remember Jesus had said that the Father is greater than I. He returned to God so that we might know beyond all doubt that there is but One God. He came from God and He returned to God (Spirit) so that we might be one with God. He returned to God so that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (God Himself), could dwell within us and we would know no division! Had Jesus not given Himself to the Father, there would have been two Gods--one Spirit and one flesh. Man cannot worship two Gods! One cannot worship the man Jesus and worship God at the same time. “God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.”-- John 4:23. Jesus was the first born among many brethren; and because of His love for us, we are made accepted in the beloved. We live in the Father because Jesus lives in the Father. He has given us the Holy Spirit so we may know that all He has said is true. This is our guarantee! I hope now that you have begun to see how Jesus has taken us beyond the limits of persons and places and things and placed us in Himself. The Bible says that we are not of this world even as Jesus was not of this world (John 17: 14). Our Life is no longer of the flesh--flesh divides, and we are not divided. Flesh cannot please God--that’s why we are new creatures (literally a new creation). We are made this way because God dwells in us. “Ye are not in the flesh if so be the Spirit of God dwells in you.”--Rom 8:9. It is through Jesus that we entered into oneness in God. Jesus said, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.”-- John 14:6. He gave Himself to the Father that God maybe the only God. Then because Jesus asked Him, God gave Himself to everyone who believes Jesus. Because we believe, we have entered into God! There should be no contention between those who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and those who believe that God is One. Our understanding of God should go beyond the limits of the flesh and be enlightened by the only God, who is Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is a good place to start; but not to stop. We must go further! If Jesus had stopped and not given Himself to God, no man could have eternal life. On the other hand, had He not been a faithful Son, we would not have an abiding place in God. My desire is that we know the Son and His relation to the Father, that we will understand the love that caused the Son to give Himself to the Father; and above all, that we today, right now, KNOW AND ACCEPT OUR POSITION IN GOD! There should be harmony with our brethren who believe that God is One. They too must go on to understand that as God is One so are they, in Christ. To be one with God is the miracle of Salvation. We are made to be a NEW CREATION while we are yet in this mortal body. We must reckon ourselves to be dead to sin. We must consider our lives (our desires in this world) to be no more, because it is God who is now working in us. He plans what is to be done, and He is the only one who can do it. He is our place of rest. When we are willing to listen to God and let Him work, when we are willing to say, “Not my will, but thine be done,” we are in a position to learn more of God than we can ever imagine.

It's very necessary that we keep our honesty and integrity before the Lord. This is our standing before the Spirit of God, not before man. Wrong is never done first in the flesh; it has its origin in our spirit. There are quite a few people who do not understand this fact. They take great pride in directing the activities of their bodies--“self discipline”--they call it. Yet their spirit goes its own free way. The man who lives before God must live before Him in his spirit, because God is a Spirit. When a man is honest in himself and consciously lives in the presence of God, then he finds that the habits and actions of his body will begin to conform with the purpose of his heart. That’s when we begin to show to others that God can change a man. But this understanding that God is a Spirit and that our responsibility is to Him, must come first. At one time it seemed to man that God was only concerned with what he did. He thought that it was perfectly all right to think whatever he wanted to as long as he controlled his actions. That’s the fallacy of man’s thinking. The Psalmist began to see the truth when he said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart (or spirit) be acceptable in thy sight...” Jesus taught it very clearly in what we call “The Sermon on the Mount.” Read Matthew 5:27 and 28 and see what I mean. God expects us to pay attention to what He says. Then when we hear and understand Him, we are to become “doers” of His Word. An illustration of what God expects is found in Joshua 7. It has to do with a man called Achan. He heard the instructions of God as given by Joshua, but he moved in his own will, doing what he wanted to do. He died because his sin found him out. The law is very demanding. A man can’t live without mercy. So Jesus Christ came and brought mercy. Now, if we believe in Him, we can have all that we need. Jesus Christ brought a dedication to us too. The dedication of the Old Testament was to the Law, but the dedication that Jesus Christ brought is of the Spirit. He said, “God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit.” He tells us that the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Then again the scriptures tell us that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. So, you see, our first responsibility is before God. When our hearts are right before Him, our actions will follow, because “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

I'm thinking of people and people have problems. I do not necessarily like that but I guess it's the way we are made. We must come to the place of recognizing the Spiritual life of God within us as being the only source of life or we will always be overcome with problems. When we forget that we are children of God and pay attention to the things of the flesh, we are in real trouble. The worst part of it is that when we look only to the flesh, there is no way out. You see, we are in trouble when we obey the appetites of the body. Sometimes we think that we can exercise great control over our desires, and by sheer discipline we either do or do not do that which we feel we should. But in doing this we completely overlook the mind that is in us. There are desires generated within our bodies but they are hade more intense by the desires that Satan puts in our minds. It seems that Christians have a particularly rough time of it. You see they have been born again. They have a new nature at work within them. Being a Christian does not automatically mean that you have the peace that Jesus meant for you to have. It is available, but you have to take hold of it. When a man does not know how to take hold of these things, he’s in trouble. A battle takes place within him and sometimes it’s too much for him to handle. Then it spills over to the outside and we see or hear a word or a deed that is evidence of these battles that rage within. It’s these battles that I’m so concerned about. None of us are immune to them. Sometimes we are not too aware of the battle that goes on in others because we are so occupied with our own. We generally consider the battle that goes on within us to be the greatest and so we are apt to belittle the problems that others are having, or if we do not happen to have the same type of trouble that someone else is having, we are quite apt to condemn the other fellow by thinking, “what’s the matter with him; he should have better sense.” The person who thinks this way is wide open for trouble. Another thing that quite frequently happens is that we look at a problem with our mind and say, “boy, you sure do have a problem.” Man has a tendency to think that if he can’t solve the problem, there is no solution. I wish we could forget that kind of thinking. Is anything too hard for God? In God there is no big problem nor is there any little problem. He has overcome. He is the answer. “we are complete in him.” All we have to do is turn to him. His word is, “he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” So, come, taste, and see that the Lord is good. We must major the fact that our father’s heart is never closed, and we must never forget it. Another thing--sometimes we feel that our sin is too great, God can never forgive us. Watch out! You’re thinking like a man again! Man can’t really forgive. He can overlook, but he always remembers. When God forgives, he forgets. Your sin is no more. We must know that all we have done, no matter how sinful we think it may or may not have been, no matter what we have done or ever will do, in God’s eyes it has already been done, even before Jesus died on the cross! In that act of dying on the cross Jesus cleansed us from all sin, for all time--forever! Jesus knew all about our sin. He became every sin that we ever sinned or will sin. God laid our sin upon him. Remember, then Jesus died and our sin died with him. In him our sin is no more. God showed us how much he loved us by giving Jesus as payment for our sin before we ever knew him! I can’t comprehend such things, but the bible says it’s so, so I won’t argue it. But sometimes the battle rages so vigorously within me that I can’t think straight. I guess every one of us remember sometime when the “I will” and the “I won’t” forces were at work within us. Sometimes we said, “I won’t” when we should have said, “I will” and sometimes it was the other way around. It’s hard sometimes to do the things that we should, especially in the Lord. A lot of times we know that we should act a certain way or say a certain thing, but there is a contrary spirit within us and we want to be contrary. That’s where we lose the battle--wanting to be contrary. There is something that we have all learned but we don’t always keep it in mind--if you want to get along, abide by the rules. It seems to be quite popular nowadays to forget the rules. That’s why we have such a chaotic condition in our world today. Let’s forget the rules, let’s make up our own, and each group goes their separate way wondering why the whole world is out of step. God gave us a pretty good set of rules--we call them “the ten commandments.” They are still valid today because all they do is define our relation and attitude toward God and our fellow man. Man, as usual, has a hard time interpreting them, so Jesus gave us a new rule that encompasses the other ten. He said, “love the Lord thy God with everything that’s in you, and to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” That’s a pretty good rule and it’s one that many people seem to forget. You must mind the rule if you want to get along. You play a game of football or baseball or whatever. You play by the rules or you don’t play. You drive a car. You obey the law or you are apt to end up dead--you and maybe others. The universe obeys God’s laws. The sun, the moon the stars, the planets are all where they are because they are in obedience to certain laws. Man has orbited the earth and walked on the moon because he obeyed certain laws. The Bible says the flesh brings forth death and the Spirit brings forth joy and peace. This is a statement of one of God’s laws that it would do us well to consider and obey. Now, concerning our relation with each other, we will get along when we obey the laws of the society in which we live. Break them and you will have trouble. This is not anything to be surprised at. Our whole life is based upon this truth. We select our friends because we like them. We get along with them because they do the things that we think they should. In other words, the same set of ethics, or rules, by which you live, govern them as well. You see, we are governed by rules whether we think so or not. Jesus once suggested to a group of people that they were in bondage to certain laws and that made them quite upset. “We be Abraham’s seed,” They said, “And are in bondage to no man.” Jesus answered them in this fashion, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts (desires) of your father you will do.” That’s pretty plain talking. Let’s put it this way: you are Satan’s children and you will obey the laws of Satan. A whole lot of people breathe a sigh of relief and say, “I’m surely glad that isn’t me.” But it is you and it is me, at least until we are born again. And then if we don’t walk in the newness of life, it’s still us! The latter end is worse than the first because we have been made new and yet we have not claimed that which we have professed we both need and want! Sometimes I think that maybe we are not too bright! The people to whom Jesus was talking--the bible says that they “believed” Jesus. A better translation would be they “followed” Jesus because Jesus very soon pointed out that they didn’t believe him. The fact is they were so violent in their unbelief that they picked up stones and would have killed him. Many people profess to believe Jesus yet quite often they say, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” This says that there is something in us that rebels against God’s word. “He that is of God heareth God’s word. Ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God.” That’s straight talking; but the question is, does he mean me? You bet he does! He is talking to every man and woman who is not born again so that they might know clearly their position before God. He is talking to every man and woman who is born again so they can get straightened out in their thinking and know what is causing them so much trouble. Man is born in sin. He is of his father, the devil; and the desires of his father he will do. Man is born in iniquity and by unrighteousness is he formed. Man is a creature of the flesh and for this reason he obeys the laws of the flesh. We can discipline ourselves and perhaps appear to be something that we really are not, but we can not, by any stretch of the imagination, make ourselves to be anything but what we are--creatures of flesh. Because we are creatures of flesh, we will do that which is natural to the flesh and in the doing we most likely will think that we are perfectly right. Listen to what the Bible says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Also, “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.” Again, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Therefore, “They that are in the flesh can not please God.” So, you see, it is not at all unusual for a man who lives in the flesh to become angry, to hate, to murder, to kill and to perform all manner of evil, both in his thoughts and in his actions. There is only one end to this kind of life: “To be carnally minded is death.” There were some people that followed Jesus but they didn’t believe his words. Of them Jesus said, “Ye are of your father, the devil, and his desires will ye do.” Certain things come natural to the flesh. We do not have to think about them. We seem to have an inborn knack of doing the wrong thing. We don’t have to think how to be impatient; we are just naturally good at it. When someone says something about us that is not too complimentary, it is quite easy for us to retaliate in kind. Humans are good at that sort of thing. I wonder why? It is because that is the natural thing that the flesh produces. The flesh brings forth evil just like apple trees bring forth apples. Again listen to what the bible says, “now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these: 1. Adultery 2. Fornication 3. Uncleanness 4. Lasciviousness 5. Idolatry 6. Witchcraft 7. Hatred 8. Variance 9. Emulation 10. Wrath 11. Strife 12. Sedition 13. Heresies 14. Envyings 15. Murders 16. Drunkenness 17. Reveling These are the things that are natural to the flesh. The fact that man, as a whole, is not completely overwhelmed by them is proof that God has poured out his spirit upon all men. Now, the thing to do is to allow this spirit--this life of God--to bring forth his life within you. Again, let’s see what the Bible has to say: “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” Also, “they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the spirit.” Then this, “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” When we believe the words of Jesus, we are made to become children of God. We are born of the Spirit according to the will of God. He becomes our father. His life, his Spirit, is within us. This releases us from the bondage of the flesh. We are no longer a child of Satan; we are a child of God. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you.” There can be no argument about this. Listen: “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We have life in our mortal bodies now because God raised Jesus from the dead. Now because we are new creatures, we have been given a new nature. We have a new life source-- the Spirit of God, himself. There are things that are natural to our father and they are natural to this new life that we have. Listen to this: the fruit of the Spirit are things that make us pleasing to God. The fruit of the Spirit is: 1. Love 2. Joy 3. Peace 4. Longsuffering 5. Gentleness 6. Goodness 7. Faith 8. Meekness 9. Temperance These things are in us and will be manifest through us as we allow God to live his life through us. The trouble is we try, by our own effort, to bring these things about. Go back and look at number nine of the works of the flesh. We enter this life of God by believing the words of Jesus. You see, he is God’s expression to us. He is the word of God. The children of Israel that came up out of Egypt did not enter into that which was promised them because they did not believe that which God told them. We are cautioned not to let unbelief be in us thereby keeping us from inhabiting the promises of God. There is a rest that comes to those who will believe the words that Jesus spoke. It is a rest that comes about by the complete cessation of our own efforts to produce Spiritual qualities within ourselves. God desires to be formed within us and he wants to plan and he wants to do. All he asks of me is that I will reckon myself to be dead to the old things of the flesh and alive by his life. If I will do that, if I will keep my mind fixed on this, then my father will transform my life. This transforming of our lives--it’s a delicate process. It is slow. It takes time. I feel that sometimes we are too anxious for a change and try to bring it about ourselves. (go back and look at number nine of the works of the flesh.) The change that God brings about is going to be a transformation. God is not so concerned about what we do, but He is very much concerned about what we think about in our “inner man.” It is here that the soul is and He desires that our soul shall see Him.Then there is no problem of what we shall be because when we see Him, we shall be like Him because we will see the real thing. We shall see Him as He is. There are many facets to our lives, more than we really know. One day we are subject to one mood and another day we are subject to an entirely different one. If we are honest with ourselves, we see a mixture of things within that somewhat surprise us. It is just as good that no one else sees these things because we are not at all proud of them. Sometimes we might be kind and sometimes we might be a monster too. Maybe we like to consider ourselves honest, but when we think no one is looking, we discover there might be a bit of thievery within us after all. A lot of times we are patient, and then, for no apparent reason, we blow our tops. We are indeed quite complex. We have to make allowances for these things so we divide them. Under certain conditions we are supposed to act a certain way and under other conditions we follow a different set of rules. Now, we come to the Lord. There is honesty in our heart in this regard and we are born again according to the will of God. It has not been our habit to think of all the virtues that we should reflect in times past. Now there is something within us that makes us very much aware of our shortcomings. We see our lack of wisdom and love and kindness and patience. We feel badly about this and try to do something about it. But it doesn’t work. Our mind feels as though it were worked beyond its capacity. We say that we want to be like Christ, but something happens; and before we think, we have done something for which we are sorry. Sometimes there are struggles within us that do not come to the surface, but they are so severe that they tend to destroy our very life. That’s the trouble with being your own general! We are continually finding out things about ourselves that we didn’t know existed, naturally we do not know how to handle it. But God does! He is our father and he desires that we cease from our own trying and leave things up to him. When these two ways, the old and the new, struggle for supremacy within us, they are struggling for just one thing--control of your mind. Satan wants you to think about the problem and react according to his desire. Your father wants you to think about him and believe his word. This is the crux of the whole situation regarding mankind--what do you think about? Eve considered Satan’s word and dwelled upon it. The result was that she reached forth her hand and did take of the fruit and did eat. We learn from our father a little at a time. It is hard to see him in all things, because we do not know all things, and so we learn a little here and a little there. That is why our spiritual growth seems so slow at times. Let’s look at another law of God. This one says that if we will renew our mind we shall be transformed. This transformation does not necessarily take place immediately, but our Father’s word is that it will take place as we keep our mind on Christ. The carnal mind, the Bible says, is enmity against God. That word "enmity" has some potent synonyms: Hostility, antipathy, antagonism, animosity, rancor, and animus. Listen to what they suggest: enmity suggests a positive hatred that may be open or concealed. Hostility suggests all enmity showing itself in attacks or aggression. Antipathy and antagonism imply a natural or logical basis for one’s hatred or dislike, antipathy suggesting a repugnance, a desire to avoid or reject, and antagonism suggesting a clash of temperaments leading readily to hostility. Animosity and rancor suggest intense ill will leading readily to hostility. Rancor is applied to bitterness. Animus adds to animosity, the implication of strong prejudice. So there you have a picture of what the carnal mind is up to. Let’s look over in 2nd Corinthians and find out what we are supposed to do with the old mind. In the tenth chapter you will find the instruction is to cast down our imagination and every high thing (thought) that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of the Lord. When our minds are renewed in this fashion, our lives will be transformed by the power of God and that transformation will be real and it will endure. This business of renewing our mind is not an easy thing. The question that we ask is: How do we renew our minds? If the answer lay in the realm of flesh, I would listen to your problem, categorize it, analyze it and then attempt to tell you what to think, say, and do in order to bring you out of your dilemma. If it worked, you would soon have another situation that would throw you. But the answer is not in the realm of flesh! It’s in the realm of the Spirit. So I can tell you how to renew your mind. Think of Jesus and what he has made you to become in him. It is in Jesus that the fullness of God dwells and the Bible says that you are complete in him. You are alive because you have been born anew by the power of God. You are alive in a new realm and you have been made one with God in Christ. Everything else in this world is of no importance. All that you need to be, all that God wants you to be is in Christ. That is the foundation of your new mind. If you need wisdom to meet a certain situation, remember you do not have it yourself. What wisdom the old man had is gone, the old man is dead, Christ is your life. God made Jesus to be our wisdom. If I need salvation, I can not work it out myself, God made Jesus to be my salvation. If I feel condemned for some stumbling, for some shortcoming that overwhelmed me and I feel the need for righteousness, I may look up and thank my father because he made Jesus to become my righteousness. The fact of the matter is, everything that I need, or ever will need, is supplied to me by God through Jesus. This is the word of God, therefore it is established. It will never change. The renewed mind refuses to consider. Any other thought. So now my thoughts go back to people and their problems and I think again of what the Bible says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you you fall into divers temptations." I think of what Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall persecute you and revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Then I think of Paul’s problems-- his thorn in the flesh. “Lord, take it away,” he cried. The Lord said, “No, my grace is sufficient,” and so Paul said, “Therefore I will glory in my tribulations.” It sounds like trouble is a good thing. Why? Because we are born in sin and shaped by iniquity. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to God nor indeed can be. My carnal mind is hostile to God, it is suspicious of him and if there was nothing to cause me to seek deliverance, I would not know God. There is a law of the flesh, and my body obeys this law. The flesh continues to produce that which is natural to it. But there is also a law of the Spirit and I am born of the Spirit so this law is at work in me. It also produces that which is natural to it. The law of the Spirit is life in me as I obey its precepts. I have the privilege of a new life. I have the indescribable privilege of being made one with God. Of what good is the old life compared to that? What does all this mean? How can I be overcome when I am no more? It is Christ who lives in me. He is my life. Who is it that can prevail against him? By what circumstance can he be overcome? Some wondered how it was that Jesus could do the things he did. He answered them in this fashion. “You can enter into a strong man’s house and if you bind him, you can do whatever you wish.” And so Jesus has made us to become one with God. He has given us all things whatsoever we need and there is none who can stand in his way. People have problems. Yes, but isn’t it wonderful what we can find because of them!

In Christ, I am a new creature, I have been born again. My Life is in God. But I still have this physical body, even though I have reckoned it to be dead. Now, a puzzle comes before me; how can I be dead and still live? Jesus was dead. He was crucified, yet God brought Him back to life. That’s the way He lived again the second time, was it not? This is what the Bible says about us, now listen: “We believe that if we died with Christ, we shall also live with Him.” Does it not say that? After all, Jesus told Martha that He was the Resurrection. Again, the Bible says that God, who raised Jesus from the dead, if He dwells in you, He will also make your mortal body to be alive. That’s pretty plain. The only thing man knew about up to this time was a physical resurrection, which was understandable, because all he knew was a physical life, which is also understandable, because all he knew was a physical God. But Jesus brought about a change. He introduced us to a Spirit God, and He prepared a way for us to have a Spirit Life and live in God. Here are some of the things that happened. First, Jesus died for me. This was of the utmost importance because only death could free me from sin! It was required, if I were to live in God, that I be free from sin. So, I had to die. But, it was also God’s fore-ordained and predestined plan that I should be like Jesus. This meant that I must remain in this world. How else could I tell those who do not know God about His love for them and how they could become a new creation in God? That meant that even though I was crucified with Jesus, I had to have life in this body of flesh. The Bible tells me that God gave this life to me. I do not understand how this can be, but I can only say what the Bible says. God sees me in Jesus; that’s the only way He accepts me. So, as far as God is concerned, I am in Jesus! When Jesus was resurrected, I was resurrected. That simply means that once my body was dead, now it’s alive. I live in Jesus, and because He is the Resurrection, I live in the Resurrection.

Have you ever considered the philosophy of a man who plants a lawn? He fascinates me. It is one time in his life that he has a clear cut objective. He has a goal--he wants to see some green stuff come up. I think the man who plants a lawn offers us a rather clear illustration of the responsibility that we should exhibit in living for the Lord. Let’s consider it for a moment. A man plants a lawn because he is not satisfied with the way things are. He wants to improve the place. So here is what happens--first he prepares the soil and then he plants the seed. Here is where he exercises his responsibility. He begins to care for this patch of ground. He doesn’t let it get too dry nor does he let it get too wet. He takes steps not only to keep people from walking on it, but he attempts to keep it from becoming a picnic ground for the birds. He acts like a man possessed. Why?--Because he has planted a new lawn. He knows that if he lets people tramp over the place and the birds feast to their hearts’ content, there won’t be enough seed left to grow. In effect, his actions say, “I have a new lawn here and I’m going to treat it as such. The old lawn was a mess and I’m glad to get rid of it. I’m going to take care of this one. I’ll water it every day until it gets established. Then if any weeds show up, I’ll dig them out.” This man is going to have a nice lawn. And if he doesn’t do these things, the new one is going to end up as badly as the old one. It won’t be because he didn’t have a new lawn, but it will be because he just didn’t take care of it! When a man comes to the Lord and believes in Jesus Christ, the Scriptures say, “He is a new creature.” If a man believes this, he will recognize the existence of this New Life and treat it with proper respect. He will not continue old practices that he knows will not aid this Spiritual Life any more than he would allow folks to tramp over his new lawn. He will not allow his mind to become saturated with the pride of material possessions, nor will he dwell on thoughts that do not glorify God. Such thoughts become the birds of prey that rob the seed. This man will say, “I have a New Life; it was given to me by God. I will see to it that it has the proper environment to survive; I will seek God’s ways.” This man has found a New Life--he knows it, and he acts accordingly. How about you?

“They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth…” “And truly, our fellowship is with the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.” I want to think about our “fellowship” with our Father. It is a very quiet and restful experience. Sometimes we think that we have to be vocal and active when we fellowship. We read in the Psalms that we should enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, and we make a formula out of it. I guess that’s the way they entered into the presence of the King in those days, but for the one who is born again, those things have changed. We do not have to enter into the presence of God--we LIVE in Him. God does not sit in the Heavens and say, “If you praise me I’ll listen to you.” He loves me, He gave His life for me; and as I come to Him, He takes me to Himself and says that He will never leave me or forsake me. My Spirit longs for you to know that you live in God, that you have become a new creation in Him. You no longer have to seek the favor of God for He has given you all that He is. He has held nothing back. He has made you to be One with Himself. That is the basis of our fellowship with our Father. We do not have to beg for His ear, we live in His heart. I form words with my mind. I want these words to tell my Father how very much I love Him. But my mind is not knowledgeable about the things of God. How, then, can my mind find words to express that which it is incapable of understanding? We have the privilege of speaking to our Father in a Spirit given language, but there are some who have not yet learned to exercise this gift. However God does not withhold His fellowship from us because we have not yet learned to speak with other tongues. There is yet another way. It is a way without words. It is a way of rest and peace, and it is a way of strength and confidence. It is the way of the Spirit. It should not be a strange way to the one who has been born of the Spirit. We have been made to be One with God. It is no longer God and me; He has taken me to Himself and made me to be alive in His heart. Now, while I am in this flesh form, there is an Inner Being that knows the Life of God and can say to my mind, “You will listen to God and learn from Him.” The Bible says that God’s Spirit witnesses with my Spirit that I am a child of God. My Inner Man says to my mind, “Learn that and rejoice” because that is what my Father made me to be. God’s Spirit did not bring this knowledge to my mind; that is my responsibility. God has made me in such fashion that He can communicate with me, but for me to become aware of this communication, I must be Master over my mind. I must bring it to the place of obedience; that means that I must listen to God. That’s very much different than it was before I came to the Lord. Before I came to the Lord, my mind taught me. Now, that has changed, I have a new Teacher. Now I am beginning to understand that My Father communes with my Spirit. I am not aware of what He says unless I bring my mind to the place of obedience to my Father. There is a scripture that I feel is trying to tell us this truth; it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” There is a place of fellowship with our Father wherein we can be perfectly still. There will be no need for words, and in this quietness we will know a perfect harmony with our Father. I believe that this is the kind of fellowship that our Father desires for us. It is in this quietness that I have the privilege of knowing the heart of my Father. There are no time restrictions to this kind of fellowship because there is no conscious effort of doing on our part. A moment can contain all that God is. His strength and compassion and care envelopes us. A moment can contain so much that we could never put it into words, or it could contain just a Word from His heart that we so desperately need to know to guide us through a particular way that we should go. What I’m trying to say is that it is these moments of “Spirit witnessing” that we are in perfect harmony with our Father. It is a fellowship known only to our Spirit. Sometimes, when we fellowship with the Father in this fashion, we enter again into our everyday routine and do not have any more conscious knowledge of God’s thoughts than we did before, but we feel a comfort and we have a knowledge that goes beyond our conscious knowledge that we are in God, and of God and that He is all of our life in every way. Things in this world do not seem to be as important as they were before. You see, we have been in fellowship with our Father. There are other times that we will be so full of what God is to us, that we will feel as though we are in an entirely new world. As we bring our mind into sub¬mission to the knowledge that God has imparted to us, we will be overcome with the wonderful provision that God has provided for us. We will enter into an understanding that goes beyond our ability to comprehend. God has revealed Himself to us. It’s all because we have been in fellowship with our Father. It’s a sweet fellowship. It’s restful because I am in the place of knowing that it is not of works, but it is by His Spirit. It’s a time when I refuse to think. It’s a time when I am quiet in my Spirit, and in this quietness my Father talks to me. We have wonderful fellowship.

This is how I feel--not the feeling in my flesh, but that feeling in my Spirit. That is the real part of me. In this Spirit part of me there is no desolation, there are no fears; all is at rest. It is not a rest that is but for a moment; it is a rest always; it is a rest complete. This Spirit portion of me absolutely knows the strength of God; and because God is strong, my soul rests. I have rest in my soul because it is God that does the work. There is peace and thanksgiving because my soul has found this rest. I can not enjoy this rest when I become careful of many things. Whenever I begin to do something that I think is work for the Lord, whether it is physical activity or mental thought, I become fretful and disturbed. I become driven with my own lack of knowledge and understanding. There is no rest within me at times like this, and so I must say that these ways are not of God. I learn from God without conscious thought, and I never learn from God when I consciously try to think and say I will learn this or that. This used to bother me, but now I have found that when I cease from my trying, then God impresses His thoughts upon my mind; then my mind has received something for which it did not work. I have been made conscious of God’s thought because I had no thought of my own. This amazing turn of events used to bother me. I would say, “How do I know this is of God?” Then, as I saw the Word, I realized how foolish I was. I desired to learn of God, I was born of the Spirit, and God’s Spirit was within me. The reason God’s Spirit was within me was to teach me. It was not just to make me feel good. It was to reveal God and to teach me about Him. God’s Spirit is not bound to my senses; so what more natural way for God to teach me, then just to make what my mind would call an “impression.” I have learned that God teaches me in this fashion. I never receive these impressions unless my mind is at rest. I have become weary from trying to learn, from studying, and just plain disciplining myself. I did not want to give up, and yet I couldn’t feel that this driving that I felt was quite right. I figured that if I did not keep at it, I would be a slacker and never receive anything from God. Yet, as it was, I was in desolation; there was no quickening of God’s Word within me. At times like this my mind would become so tired that I would just “let go” for a bit, and not struggle and strive. It was at these times of rest that I received these impressions from God, and His Word became very real. It was vibrant with an aliveness that my mind could never conjure. Then it was that many things became plain, and the things of God seemed so much more enlarged. These things came to me without any effort on my part. I could not see how they were connected with my thoughts or abilities in any way. The only thing I knew is that when God’s Word became alive to me in this fashion, I was very conscious of the closeness of God and of His care for me. There would be no doubt to plague me until I began to analyze it with my mind; and then all of the sanctity would break down, and it would become a dead thing. It was because of this that I came to realize that my mind was evil continually. Then I saw the meaning of the words that I had read so often in the Bible. “Capture your mind, renew it, and bring it to the place of obedience to Christ.” I began to see in so many ways how God works through me. For instance, I learned that there was no struggle to follow the leading of the Spirit and speak in tongues; and yet, for many years I had thought that it required perseverance and sacrifice on my part. Then I found that there was no struggle at all. I found this rest in other things pertaining to God--in Interpretation and Prophecy, and many other things. But my mind still kept the “Moses Seat;” and wherever my mind ruled, Christ did not, and in that thing I had no rest. So I found at my place of rest was a place where I ceased from my own efforts of trying to figure things out, of ceasing to worry about what people would say or think. I found that for me, it was a place where I worried about nothing. There was no need to worry because my God said that He would take care of me. I found that this was not only my place of rest, but it was my place of revelation. It was here that I learned from God. I would offer my mind to God and He would breathe His thoughts upon it. I was not swept off my feet by the strength of my revelation; indeed many times I did not even know God was there. I had thought it was a trick of my subconscious mind and that I had just recalled something that I had previously known. But my knowledge never gave me the sense of peace and sureness that these times of revelation gave. Gradually I came to know the leading of God. I don’t call it “imagination” any more; I will not give the flesh credit for establishing my faith--only the hearing of God’s Word does this. So I say, “Thank You, Jesus,” and live in His peace. My mind has developed an awful habit of wanting to figure things out, and I suppose one of the most pleasing compliments someone could give me is to say I have a sharp mind. But one thing I absolutely must face is that my mind is not Spirit; it knows not the things of the Spirit, and therefore it can not generate faith in God. My soul has been created a Spiritual-living thing in Christ; and it is in my soul that I receive things from God. If I wish to know the peace of God and live in the place of rest that God has provided for me, then I will capture my mind and say, “Come, let us learn from the Lord.”

The word acknowledge* is used in the following scripture: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.”--Prov.3:6 To me, this is a very wonderful thing--that my whole life can be directed by God. But I have a responsibility too. It’s found in this word acknowledge. What does it mean? I looked it up in the dictionary and it’s even better than I thought. It says: l. To admit as true Isn’t that wonderful! First of all, we are to admit that God is true--in all our ways. To acknowledge Him is to say, “He is true.” That gets us off to a good start. If we don’t acknowledge that He is true, we might as well not go any further. If we did, we would be entering an area of doubt, and doubt is not in the world in which I wish to live! So, in all thy ways admit that He is true, and He shall direct thy path. 2. To recognize the authority of The Bible uses such wonderful words, doesn’t it? Most people are satisfied to use a word in only a small part. But here is acknowledge, a word with several usages; but the Bible makes full use of the word. If God is true, then it naturally follows that He has authority. We would say, “Of course, God has authority.” But the real question is: Are we willing to recognize His authority in all ways of our life? Again, it breaks down to a simple truth: God can only direct us when we do recognize his authority. Too often we say we recognize His authority, but we don’t, because we modify things with our own reasoning. In all thy ways--recognize the authority of your God--and He shall direct your path. 3. To respond to Again the full usage of the word astounds me. Naturally no one can direct my path unless I followed their direction. Yet, how often have I cried for God’s guidance when all the while I refused to respond to his Word. I wanted my own ideas to come about. But here again, I can see a wonderful progression. If I recognize that God is true, and I recognize God’s authority then, I must ask myself, “Should not I respond to Him?” So, in all my ways, I must respond to God and He will direct my path. 4. To state that one has received notice This does not state one will receive; rather, it says that one has received! That’s faith. I suppose that our greatest hindrance to our Spiritual rest is the fact that we feel we must see what we call “concrete evidence” before we are willing to say, “I have received.” We feel that we are only being honest when we adopt this attitude. I can not really say I have acknowledged God’s Word unless I say, “I have received it,” because God’s Word says that I have received. My flesh will say, “Not so!” But my God says, “It is so.” Therefore, it’s best that I say “Flesh, you are a liar, only God’s Word is true.” So, in all thy ways, say that you have received from the Lord, your God, and He shall direct thy path. 5. To express thanks for This rounds out the definition of the word acknowledge. Isn’t it beautiful? How full the Word is! To acknowledge God means: I know you are true. I recognize your authority. I respond to you. I have received from you. And now I thank you. There’s not much more to say, so in all thy ways, give thanks to your God, and He shall direct thy path. *Webster’s New Word Dictionary (1967), School and Office Edition

Many times I have been asked to give an example of acting on God’s Word. I have found this a rather difficult thing to do. It has to do, as I see it, primarily with your attitude. The Word of God makes a statement. It is not a wishful thing, but a clean cut positive statement of fact. This fact, however, is not clear to our natural mind; we can not reason out the logic back of this statement, therefore, in ourselves, it is hard to know how to act. An example to me that is outstanding occurred when my Dad died. This question of acting on God’s Word came up in my Bible class on a Monday. God’s Word came to me and I told my class to notice it. We read, “Surely, He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”--Isa.53:4. I told my class that this was not a wishful statement, but that it was very plain, and that the way to put this in operation was to actively think about that when conditions of sorrow and grief would engulf them. Sorrow and grief is something that we do not take upon ourselves. It is brought about by conditions over which we have no control. Therefore, it is as though a load were being placed upon us, and it seems such a personal thing that no one else can take it. It seems as though it is something that we must take. This is not true. The Word of God declares that Jesus took them for us. So I within myself say, “I am not going to carry this load of sorrow because Jesus has already carried it.” My mind will be plagued by this sorrow; it will persistently impose itself upon my con¬sciousness; but because I believe that Jesus bore this thing, I am not about to do something that Jesus did for me. I don’t want to be overcome by grief, and I don’t have to be because Jesus took my grief for me. He did this because He loved me and did not want to see me in sorrow. So because of all of this I resist thinking about these thoughts of sorrow (resist the devil and he will flee from you-- James 4:7); and I think about the Love that removed me from the bondage of sorrow. Then I praise the Lord for His great Love; and I find that as long as my thoughts are turned in this direction, sorrow and grief have no hold over me. These are the things that I taught my class. That was on a Monday. The next morning I received a call that my Dad had died. Dad and I were very close. I was the only son, and Dad and I had a lot of respect for each other. Even though I was aware of the Word of God, I was not immune to the grief that pressed upon me like a flood. It is this particular kind of grief that comes only once in a life time; so I told myself that if I believed the Word of God, here was the time to put it into practice. I did. I made confessions to my sisters of what God had done, that He had carried my grief and I was so thankful for it. I could see that they did not fully understand, and then the thought hit me that I was expected to show grief or people would think that I did not properly love my Father. I was perplexed. I loved my Dad and I didn’t want people to think otherwise, so I thought that it would be all right to show a little sorrow. But that was playing with fire. I found that I couldn’t open the door to sorrow just a little bit. I found that in accepting a little I was overwhelmed. Then again I thought of Jesus. Jesus asked me what I thought His reasons were for bearing my sorrow. The only answer I could think of was that He didn’t want my heart to be broken. Then He reminded me that He came to heal the broken hearted. When I saw that, Jesus asked me again why He would want to heal my broken heart. The only answer that I could think of here was that He loved me. Now I saw that in accepting even a little bit of sorrow, I was turn¬ing from the love that Jesus had for me. I couldn’t do that. I loved my Dad, but I loved my Jesus more. The love that I had for one and the other was a love in two different realms. I loved my Dad in this world, but the love I had for Jesus reached out of this world into the realm of God. I turned to the Love of God because I found that everything I needed was in Him. I didn’t much care what people thought, whether they thought that I loved my Dad or not. I knew I did, my Dad knew I did, and Jesus knew I did; so once again I turned from the thoughts of sorrow and I held on to the truth of God. Jesus did bare my sorrows, and He did carry my grief; so I refused to let them get a lodging in my heart. I thanked God for doing this, maybe it was a blind thanks at first. My only foundation was the Word of God. Jesus said that He did this so I had to believe it. I didn’t feel it, but I believed it. By pure faith then, I thanked God for what He did. I felt as though I was being untrue to the memory of my Dad, but then I knew that Jesus would never cause you to be untrue or false to anything. When I saw this, I realized that it was nothing but Satan’s activities. If I allowed thoughts of grief to master me, they would cause me to be sick, and I knew that wasn’t from God. So I fought them with everything that was in me. I fought them because I saw that it was just another way that Satan would like to destroy me. I fought them by reaffirming over and over again that God’s Word was true and He did do this thing for me. Once I had made up my mind that it was really God’s will that I should not have to bear my sorrows, when I saw clearly that it was Satan’s pleasure for me to have a broken heart, I just utterly put it out of my mind. I praised God and reveled in His Love. But one thing I found--I couldn’t for one instant fool around with Satan’s ways. I found that Satan is always just around the corner, but I also found that with my thoughts on Jesus that “corner” was a million miles away. So, this is the truth of it in this particular thing, and in this particular way. I acted on God’s Word. The victory of His Word was something that I did not experience until I thoroughly believed it to be true. The reason for this was that my attitude did not change from the ways of the flesh until I changed them. That’s when I really began to praise the Lord, because that was when I saw He loved me.

There are two scriptures that I want to contrast for you. They are found in 1 John 3. I’m just going to use the first part of the scripture. It may seem a little abrupt, but I think maybe that's good. You can read them and study everything in between and you will begin to see what a really wonderful thing Jesus did for us. All right, here it is: The eighth verse: “He that committeth sin is of the devil.” The ninth verse: “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin.” I’m born of God. I live in Him and His Life is in me. He is Lord of all. I’m not going to tell Him that His Word is not true. It’s obvious that if I think His Word is not true, it is because I do not understand it. What I need is understanding. God told me that I was not to lean on my own understanding but to trust Him with all my heart. So, because I know His word is true, I can be so bold as to say that I’m not worried about sin in my life. I’m not saying that sin isn’t something that someone should be concerned about, because we jolly well should be concerned about it if we don’t live in the Lord. Sin will kill you dead eternally. Just doing good deeds is not getting rid of sin. You can do all the good deeds you want; but if you are not living in Christ, you’re living in sin. You see, sin is not in the doing or not doing of anything; sin just means that you are separated from God. You are not complete if you are not in God. You are only half there. You haven’t yet entered into that place of living that God prepared for you. You are still existing only in the flesh and that is only half of what God wants you to have. You have learned all the things that God is not; now He wants you to believe Jesus and learn all the things that He is. You could not enter into God by your own efforts, so God sent Jesus into the world to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Because Jesus did the will of His Father, we in Him have been made one with God. We are complete. We are no longer separated from our Father. We have received His Glory in that we have been made to be one with Him even as Jesus is one with Him. The thing that I have to do now is to teach my mind that this is so. This is no easy task because the whole world is contrary to what my Father is. You see, Satan is the prince of this world, and it is from this world that I have learned all that I know. The Bible tells me that my mind is against God. It never has been subject to God’s will and it never will be. I can not depend on it to tell me of God. But again the scriptures tell me that I have received the Spirit that is of God and it is from Him that I will learn of God. My Father tells me that I am not to depend upon my own understanding, but I am to trust Him in everything. If I do this, it naturally follows that I will depend on Him for everything. I would like to expand on that because I feel that we do not depend on God for many things. That’s because of the way we are made physically. We are creatures of habit. When we habitually do things we don’t think about what we are doing. I find that in the things I do habitually I am not aware of God’s presence in my life. I don’t believe that my mind even wants to think about God. My mind wants me to think that I can take care of myself. We even teach one another to become self- sufficient. That’s sad because when we give our lives to Jesus we become His. The Bible says that you are not your own. You have been bought with a price, the blood of Jesus. That’s what happens when we give our life to Jesus. Our whole life is His. There are many times that we think that we have actually given Jesus our all. Yet there is a questioning within us that is concerned about just what it is that Jesus wants. We feel that there are certain things that we should give to the Lord, but there are other things--those things that we think are virtues that we think are unnecessary to give to the Lord. Then there are certain desires within us wherein we are not too sure just what to do. So we end up by dedicating certain things to the Lord while other things are overlooked. They are overlooked many times because they are things that we do habitually and therefore we don't think about them. And there’s the problem! We have allowed our mind to do the sorting and the dedicating. In short, we have followed the dictates of our mind rather than the Word of God. There is really no problem as to what we are to give to God. We are to give Him everything. We are to give Him what we think is good and we are to give Him what we think is bad. Actually, it’s pretty nice, we don’t have to make the decisions anymore. We just give everything to Jesus, our body and our mind and all those desires that are in our soul. We no longer have to be concerned about what they are going to be used for. Jesus is our Lord, and He will sanctify us as He sees fit. He knows what He is going to do and He knows how to do it. He has set me apart for that particular thing that He will do through me. I don't have to worry about the outcome because my Father is Lord of all. There is no power that can overcome Him. My only responsibility is to give Him everything that I am. Everyday, when I find something in me that I didn't know about before, I’m just to give it to Him. It’s dying out to what my mind says is the very essence of my life; and because I am habitually a slave to my mind, I find that this “giving” is a very painful thing to me. Yet, because I do it, I find a joy and contentment that transcends anything that I have ever before experienced. I feel complete. I feel solid. I savor a success that I could never achieve by my own efforts. I have a feeling that is comfortable, it is secure. I am living in my Father. This is what I want everyone to experience. It isn’t a goal that is nothing but a mirage on the horizon; it is a real, solid, substantial fact. It is not found in the reality of this world, but it is found in the reality that is God. It will last as long as God is.

Not so long ago I took a trip. It was rather a hurried up affair—didn’t take the family. I was gone for about two weeks. At my destination, I met people whom I had worked with here in California. They had transported their families, belongings, and interest to this new place; and as a result, were fairly contented. No so with me! I discharged the responsibilities required, but in between I got mighty lonesome for home. People would ask me what I thought of their place; and for the life of me, I couldn’t find anything good about it. The weather wasn’t what it was at home, the stores were different, the scenery didn’t have the same beauty that I was accustomed to, the restaurants were either too expensive, or the food was poorly prepared. And the evenings—they were long. I spoke to my friends with whom I had worked. I asked them about some of the things we had enjoyed in California, and didn’t they miss them? They told me it was not too bad; they had transferred their interest to their new surroundings and were becoming quite well adjusted. I could see they had a point there. I certainly hadn’t transferred any interest. I was still bound by the ties in California. My interests, my family, my friends--all the old familiar surroundings--were far away, and my only thought was to get back to them as soon as possible. Naturally I wasn’t content away from them; they were my treasures, and that’s where my heart was. So out of this experience came a great new understanding of why many people have so much trouble living a Christian life. It’s just that they haven’t really recognized themselves a new creature. We say we are born again, but we are still applying the old standards of thought and procedure to this new Life. It on1y takes a little bit of serious thinking to know that if we are born again, it is because the old life was no good and would not allow us to attain that which we needed. This being true, why do we then cling to the old ways of thinking, the old habits of living? The new creature finds his life in new things. Let us not bind him into the old mold. Rather let us turn from the old ways and purpose to follow after the new. Or, to say it the way the scriptures say, “Place your affection on things above, and not on things of this world,” or again, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, rather lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.” Or again, a very sober warning: “To follow after the flesh is death, but to follow after the Spirit is Life and peace.” After all, what do you really want?

(EPH. 5:19) I advocate that a man talk to himself. There are some who might consider this an act of lunacy, but so much the better. Talk to yourself and begin to travel the way of victory. There are reasons for what I am saying, sound scriptural reasons, so perhaps I’d better tell you what I mean. There are many different truths of God that all lead to the same thing. One doesn’t have to be a brain and assemble these in one, two, or three steps, just start in. Any truth of God leads irrevocably to God Himself, so have no fear of straying from God’s thoughts. Whenever we are speaking the truth of God, we are not speaking it of ourselves. It did not have its origin within our carnal nature, it came from God. That is why it is God’s Word. Therefore, we can boldly declare it IF WE WANT TO! The only thing that will stop us from declaring God’s Word no matter what may seem to be the reason is the old devil himself. He will cause every thought to come to our mind that would keep us from opening our lips and forming the words that would express God’s truth. This is a pretty critical time, too. If we obey our carnal mind, then we become a slave to it; however, if we obey God, then we are obedient to Him. This makes me think of another one of God’s truths; it says that we become the servant of the one we obey. It’s a tremendously hard thing to speak God's Word, especially when things are not going right, but this is the time that you need the medicine. It’s not hard to speak God’s Word when the sun shine, and the flowers grow, and the kids mind, and the bills are paid; but it becomes a different thing when the storm comes. It doesn’t make much sense to the carnal mind to say all is well, when any fool can plainly see that things are in quite a mess. It seems foolishness if not downright hypocritical. To open our mouth and say that we possess the peace of God when our heart seems smothered by doubts and turmoils and fears seems dishonest and a downright ungodly thing to do. But if we really believe God’s Word, we have every right to claim God’s peace, because Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you.” Now, here’s the crux of the whole situation: The peace that Jesus had was a Spiritual peace, it came from God. This is the peace that He gave to us. It is God’s own tranquility and it will permeate our whole life when we are aware of the fact that God dwells in us. The thing within us that says we do not have peace is that thing that is not aware of God. We become aware of other things, and it is those things that overcome us. The answer is to become aware of God, acknowledge Him--give Him His rightful place. If someone comes along at this particular time and they talk of the wonderful things that God has done for us and we converse with them and magnify the Lord together, then we swing into the realm of God’s thinking and we leave the troubles of the world behind. The secret of victory and peace is to be aware of God. No matter what conditions prevail, BE AWARE OF GOD. Some people try to perpetuate this awareness by being constantly on the go to church, to prayer meetings, to committee meetings, etc. There is no victory in this. It just develops into a merry-go-round. You end up by being so physically tired that Satan has an easier access to you. To offset this you feel that you have to go more, and the merry-go-round goes faster and faster. You can easily see that this is not God’s way of victory. To think that we have to attend church to be aware of God is sheer fantasy. It is somewhat like the Jews--they believed that the only place on the face of the earth that God dwelt was between the Cherubims on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the Holy of Holies in their Temple. At one time this was true; but a miracle took place. God gave Himself to Jesus; then, because Jesus loved us, He gave Himself back to God so that God might give Himself to whoever believes. Therefore, today, when we believe the witness of God by Jesus Christ, we are enveloped by the Presence of God and brought forth into a new realm. God brings this about just because we believe. It is by His power that we are made a Spiritual creature. We are made alive by the Life of God who dwells within us. When God was in Jesus, Jesus talked; but He didn’t always say words that came from His own mind. He gave voice to the truth of God who was within Him. Sometimes these words seemed complete nonsense in the light of carnal knowledge and the circumstances that surrounded them. For instance, what man in his right mind, carnally speaking, would consider feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two small fishes? Yet Jesus told the people to sit down, He got the food, asked God to bless it, and God performed the miracle. Jesus learned that He could let His lips speak God’s Word even though it would put Him in a precarious position with His fellowman. Jesus told His disciples about these things. He said plainly, “The words I speak are not my own, but the Father’s who dwells in me.” Now, what I want to know is this: What kind of sense does it make to have the God of Life dwelling within us and still give voice to the feelings of the flesh? Is God subject to the feelings of our infirmities? Are His desires for us the ones we express by our words of doubt and indecision? We had these before we ever gave ourselves to God! Now that He is our Life are we going to live the same miserable kind of existence that we had when we were without God and doomed by the fetters of hopelessness? Is not God powerful enough to change our lives for His Glory? Of course He is! The thing of it is WE MUST KNOW WHO GOD IS! God is Spirit. He is the Creator of all that is. He created us and He created the world in which we live. He is Master over all His creation, whether we believe He is in us or not. He has promised the believer that He shall possess certain things. He has said that we have His peace, His Life, His joy, His power. And in fact, ALL that He is we are because He is in us. Knowing all these things, I advocate that a man talk to himself. He will not really be talking to himself, but he will be giving his power of expression to the Almighty God who is alive in him. He will be saying God’s words of truth. Why is it so hard to do this? Simply because the carnal mind knows that these words are indeed God’s words and it will violently oppose them. You see, the carnal mind will never voluntarily lend itself to the things of God. When we learn how to give our speech over to God, and in the midst of adverse circumstances, express God’s Word, we will know of a truth that God is in us. No less important, we are beginning to learn how to deny our carnal mind its so-called right of expression. We will begin to learn how to present our faculties to God. We have finally realized that the old carnal nature of flesh is no longer to rule us; we are to consider it dead. We are alive because God Lives in us. In speaking God’s Word in the midst of adverse circumstances we begin to learn how to turn to God. This act marks the beginning of the end of the dominance of the flesh over our spirit. That’s why the carnal mind puts up such a fight when it comes to allowing our lips to speak the truth of God. We have been made NEW creatures IN Christ Jesus, but we will not begin to Live in this NEWNESS of Life until we believe that it is so. When this truth is established in our heart, then we will wrench control from the grasp of our carnal mind, and speak God’s truth from the abundance of our heart. Yes, I advocate that a man talk to himself—that’s what the world calls it. They call it that because they do not know, even though the voice is the voice of a man, the Words are the Words of God.

You ask me, “Why do we say, “Look to Jesus,” when it is God who is good, why not say, “Look to God?” In the first place we will have to see what God is. In John 4:24, Jesus said that “God is a Spirit.” In Luke’s Gospel, the angel said to Mary that she would be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and that this Holy Spirit would conceive within her. Because of this, the child should be called the “Son of God” (Luke 1:35). There are other places in the scriptures that testify to the fact of God being a Spirit, but these two will establish the thought. There is no way that physical man can “look to the Spirit,” because as the scriptures say in Romans 8:5, “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.” It is necessary that there be a “touch point” between man and God. This touch point is Jesus Christ. In John 1:14, it says that “The Word,” (this Word is identified as God and is therefore according to Jesus a Spirit) “became flesh and dwelt among us.” We have “Christianity” because of this fact. This Spirit is what enables a man to be a new creature and Live like Christ. Christianity is not just that man can reform his life according to the principles of Jesus Christ, but that the very God of the Universe can Live in this body of flesh. The Epistle of John says that the Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, but if any Spirit confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, but the Spirit of anti-Christ (the devil) dwells in him (1 John 4:3). You see, this was the hope of all ages, that the Spirit of God should indwell man. But it never happened until Jesus came. Righteousness is the only path to God. To be righteous one had to keep a righteous law. If righteousness could have come, it would have come by the law; but no man could keep this law even when they were as favored as the children of Israel. That’s why the Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.”--Rom. 3:10 Jesus came, “Not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it”--Matt. 5:17. That’s why He was righteous in the eyes of God and God indwelt Him and made Him the Christ (Acts 2:36). Jesus spoke the truth because God was in Him. One of the things He said was, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh to the Father but by me.”-- John 14:6 Because this is true, the hope of all mankind began to be realized. Here is one man, Jesus, who has what all men have hoped for--the Spirit of God dwelling within Him. No wonder all men look to Him. Nothing like this ever happened before. But the more important thing is this: That all judgment is now given to the Son. You can read about this in John 5:22. Jesus also said, “Even as the Father has power to give Life (Eternal Life) to whomsoever He pleases, so also the Son can give Life to whomsoever He pleases.”--John 5: 26. We have this Spirit of God because we believe in Jesus. We believe the Truth of what He said. We are not under the condemnation of judgment simply be¬cause we believe on the only begotten of the Father. That is Jesus who was made the Christ. Read about this in John 3:18. A Christian today can have the Spirit of God because Jesus prayed the Father to give us of this Spirit (John 14:16). The Bible tells us there is no other name given under heaven by which we might be saved (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the one who intercedes with the Father on our behalf when we are overtaken by sin (1 John 2:1-2). So you see, we have a hope because of this Jesus, and that hope is secure because He has said that He will raise us up in the last day--that’s His job (John 6:39). He has authored our faith, and He has finished it. That’s why we can say with the Bible that we are looking to Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith (Heb. 12:2). I hope this will give you a better understanding of why I say what I say. I cannot answer for anyone else. This is what the Bible says, and I believe it to be true; therefore, I say it.

Genesis 17:1 makes a very important statement: “I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless.” This was God’s word to Abraham four thousand years ago, and it is no less significant to us today because God does not change. It made sense to Abraham who “went out not knowing where he was going.” All he knew was that he had the promise of Divine guidance, which was enough! You have no natural knowledge of where you are going either! You think you do--but you are not really sure. No man can be. You don’t know what the next twenty-four hours will bring forth, let alone the next year. You are not even sure of what the next five minutes will unfold! “You have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4). Mans mind is occupied with the present, he tries to analyze the past, and he hopes for the future. Sure you have plans, dreams and aspirations--but there are a thousand and one things that can upset your plans, blast your dreams knock your aspirations into a cocked hat. Humanly speaking, you might be a strong-willed, ambitious person--but you don’t control the future! What is your life? You are like a mist that appears for a little time, and then vanishes. (James 4:14). But you can be absolutely sure of Almighty God! He is Eternal! You can be sure of His love, His faithfulness, His unfailing promises, and His personal interest in you. (If you ever doubt God’s interest in you, remember that God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners--actively opposed to Him--Christ died for the ungodly. Don’t slander the Cross of Christ by doubting God or questioning His love. Don’t doubt His word--do it) You can be sure God has a plan for your life--a perfect plan--a plan that involves the microscopic details, for God takes as meticulous care of the infinitesimal as He does the infinite. Furthermore you can be sure God delights work¬ing His plan in you. God’s method is men. When he wants a job done, He seeks a man who is available. The only ability God requires is availability. There is no limit what God can do with a man if He has ALL if him. To be blameless is to be available. It means to be open and receptive to God’s will. It is the opposite of indifference or rebellion. “. .. be blameless, not faultless.” Jesus Christ will present every Christian “faultless before the throne of the Father...” You’ll make mistakes, but be blameless. Have the right attitude towards God. Square your will with His. This is your privilege--walk before Him and be blameless. Go God’s way. Trust in Him.