Dear Mike

I was reading (As He Is So Are We In This World) and you said this: “Well, what do you have in Christ? I’ve got nine things that I came up here with and if you come up with anything else, I wish you would let me know because I would like to add to this and get just as many things as we can find in the word of God, and I want to put this on the web page so that everyone can see what it is that we are and who we are in Christ.” About six months ago when I was reading scriptures, this from John stood out like never before another one of those “wow” how could I miss this all the these years studying scriptures. This one scripture from John I refer to quite a bit:

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is}.

This is one of the ‘will be’ part of ‘is, was and will be’. Now here is what stood out to me.

1Jn 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
Joh 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Mike, I know that you are my elder brother in Christ; our Father was dragging you through the wilderness before me.  We all have to go through the wilderness to get strengthened and weed out the chaff from the wheat.

Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Joh 17:20 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
Joh 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.

Peace in Christ
S____

Hi S____,

Thank you for your input and your enthusiasm for the things we have been given in Christ. God has revealed them to us by His spirit, which is His word:

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

I gave a study on this subject in Dallas a couple of years ago, entitled “The Christ of Christ.”
There is much more given to us than many of us even want to acknowledge.
 
One of the reasons we don’t hear very much about all that is given us in Christ is the fact that it is given to us to be as He was in this world, and while few orthodox ministers will openly acknowledge it, the Truth is that we all have before, and many still do, despised the Christ of scripture, whose doctrine from the pen of the apostle Paul went was:

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

God’s elect always have and always will be despised and rejected by the masses of orthodox Christianity and the rest of the world.

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

While there are billions of  ‘Christians’ on this earth, there are very few who are living by, or who even believe, those words. Most Christians decry the doctrine of dying daily as a very discouraging and negative teaching, which needs to be seasoned with the fact that Christ promised to give us “whatsoever we ask of Him.” Of course they quote the Bible to prove themselves to be right:

Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them

It is the enemy’s pattern to pit one verse of God’s Word against another verse of God’s word. Consequently they never point out that the very next two verses insist that we must forgive our brothers their sins against us or else our heavenly Father will not forgive us our sins.

Mar 11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

What do those verses tell us about the preceding promise to give us ‘what things soever we desire?’ They show us clearly that our faith must be reflected by our way of life, and if it is not, then we actually have no faith with which to receive the things “freely given to us of God.”

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

And when we are given eyes to see those things which are freely given to us, we find that it includes dying daily and suffering daily for his sake.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

“Dying daily” entails daily pain and suffering, which accompanies the rejection of all men. It is what Psa 107 calls “His wonderful works to the children of men.”

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that [ men] would praise the LORD [ for] his goodness, and [ for] his wonderful works to the children of men!

“ Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.” Without the storm to be calmed, we cannot become the grateful children God is bringing us to be. So it all boils down to this truth of what we have been given:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

It serves no purpose at all, but is rather counterproductive to point out all the positive promises of life and wealth and blessings in the Word of God and fail to point out that the word of God is a two- edged sword that separates the soul and the body and in the end destroys all flesh and all temporal things. So the very next verse make this clear:

1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ [ is] God’s.

I hope you will take the time to read the study notes and listen to the talk in Dallas in 2007 entitled ‘The Christ of Christ.’ We are to Christ exactly what Christ is to His Father, and in Christ, we too, are in the Father.

1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

So we are in very good hands indeed.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike