Getting Back to One Lord, One Faith, and One Father Over All

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If you had an OFF switch how many ways would you want to use it? What attitudes and actions would you want to escape? How many bad choices in life would you want to leave behind? How many ways would you want to separate from improper ownership, unnecessary obligations or faulty thinking?

We have the perfect “off switch”; it’s called the “Cross”.

When Paul the Apostle talks about the “Cross of Christ” he is bringing focus upon the death of Jesus, followed by His burial and resurrection. That one event not only redeemed us back to God, but it also brought transformation to our way of life. You see; Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection became the place of our own death, burial and resurrection. No, we didn’t die physically; but rather Jesus supernaturally took us into His own death so that we could come to know His life.

Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

2 Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

This is so very profound and represents the foundation of salvation; “Out with the old and in with the new”. Think about this; we were invited to leave behind the old life with its many hang-ups and enter into the life of the Savior. On that special day the power of God moved upon our hearts, minds and actions and the Holy Spirit took up residency.

The release from worldly burdens invited a peace and rest not known to the natural man. With physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual burdens now gone we found a different purpose in life where the glory of God shines within our hearts and within our smiles.

Now maybe you have heard this message before; but quite frankly it’s not a message that ever gets old. Once you’ve been liberated from the flesh, the world and the Devil there is an excitement and a hunger for wanting more of Jesus.

New Personal Freedoms

So if one confession brings peace and joy can we then hope in gaining even more salvation? Some would say; “We already have it”, but what’s been missing from our understanding?

The Word says we are “being saved”

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The New Testament writers often admonished believers to seek change as they embraced the faith. Much of their instructions included a plea to set at bay the old life and make way for the new. Paul the Apostle is the greatest proponent of this message because he understood that the Cross of Christ retained valuable transformative power.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Paul is even clearer as to how we put to death our fallen nature:

Romans 8:11-13 … if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Such a simple ongoing trust in the power of the Cross and the Holy Spirit’s ability to bring change is not well known to the Church. Yes, we once experienced radical change so very long ago, but then resigned to pursuing other Christian interests. Yet to lose sight of the fundamentals means we also leave behind life by the Spirit.

Remember the role of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into all truth. Within that relationship we acknowledge our shortcomings and He then provides us the cure. Yet the cure is also creating a stronger bond of trust in God alone. This continued exchange with deity represents walking by the Spirit? The only interruption to this walk of faith is rooted in natural man’s confusion about who’s in charge.

Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

The power of God remains available when ever we need to renew our hearts and minds. Yet this also tells us that without the Cross remaining “front and center” we can get stuck within fleshly worlds; but I’m referring to a fleshly church.

If life by the Spirit is interrupted we will naturally depend on our own strength to make life and faith happen. This is not an obscure battle; the bible reveals two distinct covenants that come into play.

1. One is a covenant born of faith which was presented to Abraham. As Abraham trusted God with the life of his son it was counted unto him as righteousness. Many a saint held to a similar trust in God and were commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. Together with us we would come to receive eternal life through the promised Redeemer.
2. The Law of Moses was also present within the Old Testament. This was a covenant delivered by angels that imposed upon the saints an obligation to embrace set laws and commands. In this agreement blessing and redemption was conditional and dependant on the performance of the saint.

Why the second covenant when the first was born of faith?

From the time that Adam was created and set in the garden a natural authority and commission was given to him to rule over creation. In essence a covenant of flesh remained in effect and fleshly man dwelt within God’s glory. However man failed to stay in close union with God and the matter of righteousness needed clarification. Man would then need to know what was expected of him if he ever wanted to experience restored fellowship with the King. Yet only Jesus Yeshua was able to keep the law and that’s why we participate in His life and salvation rather than our own.

Keep in mind that a walk of faith knows rest within the life that Jesus provides. The attitude that manifests is one of gratitude and humility. However when we seek to make known our godly worth, pride and haughtiness consumes us. Such an attitude was present within the church even in Paul’s day. Some were causing believers to be confused about the roll of authority since they just came out of a rabbinical system. Paul stepped in with a rebuke.

1 Corinthians 3:3-4 …. Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

He expounds on the same problem further in his second letter;

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Please notice his mention of “another spirit”. Life with Christ is a spiritual journey; if we deviate from the simplicity of the gospel message we begin to engage other masters. Yet the real concern is in regards to other powers.

Counterfeit doctrines invites counterfeit spiritual support

Colossians 2:20-23 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Human commands and teachings + elemental spiritual forces = a stronghold within the Christian life

In another passage Paul tells us; that the Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons (1 Timothy 4:4).

SADLY WE HAVE BECOME THAT “LATER TIMES PEOPLE”

But we still have an opportunity to come out from under spiritual lies. Strongholds once imposed upon us due to faulty doctrine or due to our own faulty attempts at devotion get resolved at the Cross. We have two opportunities to rewrite our own personal history.

First – We can start over and ask Jesus for a new salvation free of the confines of any past questionable performance.

What we are leaving behind is our perceptions of salvation subject to a backlog of failures. Think of it this way; if the salvation message has been mishandled by us or by the dictates of other men; Jesus still makes available a pure work. Hence this is not about rededicating ones life to a past religious obligation. No; we want; “we need” something new.

By all means choose your own words here; it’s just about you and Jesus this time. Let no man stand between you and the free gift of God.

Application

Jesus/Yeshua, on my behalf and by the power of the Holy Spirit

• I ask that you test the quality of my salvation and Christian experience at the Cross.
• If it falls short of truly being what you had in mind for me, then let’s start new.
• Be my Savior and the foundation of a new salvation and a new Christianity provided by the power of Your Holy Spirit.
• Forgive me of my sins and wash me clean by Your blood.
• Remove the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual obstacles that once plagued me due to my ties with faulty religion (name them) and my times of worldly compromise.
• And based on the Cross remove “the improper” physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual ties I once made with men, organizations, leadership and seducing spirits.
• Jesus, You are the Resurrection power that now saves me and makes me new.

Secondly – If you are sure of your foundation in Christ but haven’t always made right choices; do realize that a Christian is living a spiritual life with God or a spiritual life apart from Him.

Hence spiritual foes do get added to our walk when faith rubs shoulders with the world. This should be self evident; wherever we took a wrong turn in our relationship with Jesus it has suffered a spiritual setback that needs resolving.

A detour in faith often begins by being in close proximity to the Old Testament and its fleshly perspective. The Old Testament can inappropriately feed a desire to prove one self as capable, reliable, if not acceptable to the Most High. Yet a works mentality can’t compete with:

• The Law having since been placed within our hearts.
• Or “Knowing the Lord” as granted to us in salvation.

15. course this also challenges human wisdom. If we seek to follow the counsel of Old Testament saints, they may rightly describe the fallen condition of man; yet they fail to offer a Holy Spirit cure.

Things actually go down hill from here. The need to measure success by fleshly means lets us misinterpret the Christian life by what we think and feel. Those wonderful Old Testament stories then become for us a distraction rather that an extension of God’s reach. Such Old Testament inspiration encourages us to;

• Emulate the life of Old Testament Saints (It borders on Necromancy).
• Emulate Types and Shadows (Colossians 2:15-17 NASB).
• Emulate Old Testament Ministry Concepts.
• Relive a past dispensation (Times and Seasons)
• Invite Religious Condemnation.
• Enter a Different Glory and spiritual ministry.
• Revive the Tabernacle of Moses or a Priest Class.
• Be blessed or cursed for keeping the law.
• Give God ten percent rather than all.
• Seeking for inspiration in various Old Testament prayers (Abraham, David, Jabez)
• Exalt the law as a standard within Christian performance.
• Return to O.T. dietary laws.
• Making a building (temple, tabernacle or alter) the primary place to find God.
• Duplicate the supernatural events of the past.

All of these and more have created their own religious influence within the Church.

Let me also add that the Old Testament also brought instruction through three principle agents.

• Angels

The law was placed into effect and even policed by Angels (Acts 7:37-38). References to judgment within the book of Revelation are also administered by angels.

• The Angel of the Lord

God’s visitations and presence within various Old Testament encounters was with the Angel of the Lord; including what took place at the burning bush on Mt. Sinai.

• The Prophets of old

The Old Testament prophet saw the Spirit of God “come upon him” when prophesying 1 Samuel 10:10. This is in contrast to a New Covenant gift where Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy and resides within the Prophet of today. Hence if an external source of prophetic inspiration speaks it will lead the church contrary to the will of God.

• Prophecy through angelic encounters

Angelic messengers were also present. Daniel found added instruction through the counsel of angels when it came to end time prophecy.

These examples give rise to us thinking that the Christian life is a physical pursuit of God rather than that which comes by way of the Holy Spirit. If we find reason to make it a fleshly journey then we allow our physical mind, will and emotions to create a new religion. That amounts to us thinking we are right in our pursuit of God because it satisfies some form of want or desire within us. However our neighbor also believes that his own definition of wants and desire are true. As mankind glorifies any self interest a spiritual realm validates his many religious actions.

All men believe their take on faith is sound because they feel it.

This mindset was all based on that initial contract Adam and Eve once made with the Serpent. In brief; within the Devil’s domain he feeds mankind power and success in exchange for worship. In this way each man does what is right in his own eyes. But this is where the war rages.

Each man invites a different spirit to validate his own self interest. This is where we come to understand that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood (Men) but rather the powers that rule within their convictions. Hence wars are fought over the wants and desires of nations, of governments, within cities, within business, finance, religion and within our very homes.

Application

Jesus based on what you did on the Cross and by the Holy Spirit;

• Test by the Cross where I have sought for salvation in natural man’s search for the divine.

• Test by the Cross where my fleshly actions in faith have taught me to become a fleshly Christian and settling on counterfeit forms of spiritual validation and power.

• Test by the Cross where I have participated in fleshly Old Testament behavior, fleshly New Testament behavior, fleshly ministry behavior and an embrace of spiritual powers to seduce my flesh causing me to war within earthly kingdoms. (Mention some of the behaviors listed above if they apply)

• Judge by the Cross the spiritual realm associated with these issues.

Jesus, You are the resurrection power that now saves me and makes my salvation new.

One more valuable piece of the puzzle

When we go home to recuperate after a hard days work it’s because our physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual person has been exhausted due to exchanges with others, if not based on carrying the weight of the world. A fleshly pursuit of God isn’t much different. How we once chose to conform into the likeness of fleshly man in faith takes its toll. And don’t discount our own fleshly steps in faith; if not our fleshly dive into wants and desires. For this reason we ask one more thing of Jesus and His power to renew our steps. We’re asking Him to remove the wounds once imposed upon us in service to faith and to self.

Application

Jesus based on what you did on the Cross and by the Holy Spirit;

• Test by the Cross where I have been under the burden of fleshly ideals that have exhausted me in my attempts at serving you by serving myself.
• Test by the Cross where I remain physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually wounded due to the path I once took in my fleshly pursuits in religion and in worldly compromise.
• Judge by the Cross the spiritual realm associated with these issues.

Jesus, You are the resurrection power that now saves me and makes me new.

One Lord, one faith and one Father over all is available but we have to remember to enter the kingdom through Jesus and explore what He did on the Cross to actually make a difference. To enter His life means we get to refocus our attention upon our King and His Kingdom and in the process we regain a new level of innocence. That is more valuable than gold, considering how dark and lonely the world has become.

As you might have guessed, both a new salvation and a reevaluation of our wants and desires is a valuable opportunity to start fresh in Christ. You can expect in the days ahead the Holy Spirit will be bring to mind other matters that stand in the way of having a hope and a rest in Jesus alone.