OVERTURE
Adjusting our own personal knobs that influence the making of our decisions, is what brings us to the fastest, and clearest possible results. Call it self-evaluation, self-analysis or self-judgment, if you choose, but seeing things in ourselves for ourselves, is a powerful gift given to us through having a will.
When we ask ourselves the question, “Am I in Christ?”, with sincerity of heart, we begin a journey into a place unlike any other place we can experience in our Christian walk. In presenting this question, in true honesty, we show that a real desire exists within us towards something of distinct purposeful value, and that we are really after a relationship of depth with Christ at whatever cost. Through seeking self-clarity, our chances of attaining this sought after place in Him increases enormously. Furthermore, if we arrive there, we can also look forward to seeing a noticeable impact, quite similar to that of Christ’s earthly ministry, channeling into the world while we are in that place.
However, if there is no desire that exists in you to know the answer to such a question or if fear and anxiety are what have actually brought this matter to you, there really isn’t any need to read on. Why do I say such?
Well, first, if you are not in Him, you will be looking or rather reading on for something to justify the validity of the ground that you are currently on, which is surely different from Him. Secondly, it will only be a show for proving that you are satisfied leaving hindering things covered up in your life that stagger a journey into sincere relationship with Christ. Thirdly, when you ask, the Holy Spirit is the one that will be answering that question for you, not me or you; and if you come into the question with an un-yielded attitude, anything attempted to be revealed to you will fall on your conveniently “deaf” ears and “blind” eyes. Who will this be of any value to?
When we are not in Christ that generally signals that we are either away from Him or that we are straddling the line between the spiritual realm and the natural world, of which either place can negate a higher destination. In addition, there are masquerades of costumes in us that have got to be sorted through in order to get to the entrance of the door leading to that kind of relationship with Him. Christ is always after true growth in those who are His and to achieve this growth, you have to come into that door—but completely.
It is pretty much common knowledge that hopping off a “moving” merry-go-round is no easy feat for the young or the old. Even so, one of the best times to attempt this as a means of saving face from probable falls, especially for the inexperienced, is when no one is looking; and no one on Earth is looking when you ask yourself for yourself “Am I in Christ?” It is just you and the Holy Spirit.
So, are you in Christ? That is the question of truth for the hour to yourself, “Am I in Christ?”
. . . and how do you know?
Christ is what pleases God. When the world runs its evil course, we will be judged by what we are inside by relationship with Christ. The first question, more or less, will not be how good or bad, or how right or wrong we are. Christ went to the cross for all of those flaws in us. Instead, it will be on the point of, “Are you in Christ?” Why? Well, because who Christ is, is what pleased and pleases God.
If we love God as we say we do, which should lead us to want to express that love, it should be only natural that we would want to satisfy Him. We know that we can do that by being a part of what has already commenced that pleased Him — Christ; and in order to follow that path to His pleasure, we must come to the point of knowing what the essence of Christ is.
Take a moment to write down about five things on a piece of paper to answer that question, “What is the essence of Christ?” If you have no answers of your own, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Next, ask yourself, “What am I the essence of?” Write about five things down on your paper to answer that question.
And last, look at the two lists. How do you match up? How do you match up to Christ? You should be asking yourself, “How am I successful to Christ as Christ is successful to God?” Then in a corporate sense, ask again, “How are we then successful to Christ as Christ is to God?”
It is not what we gather on the outside, but yet, the measurement of importance is how much purity we have on the inside. We then become of real value to the Kingdom of God and to ourselves. However, we must realize that this truth is not so because of our works, but because of the purity we gain through Christ. At this point of growth, we can begin to stabilize, for we have tapped into what holds things together–inner strength. That is what is found in inner purity.
Christ lived by the Heavenly Father by taking on His MIND, by taking on His WILL, by taking on His THOUGHTS, by taking on His DESIRES, and by taking on His INTENTIONS. God was the basis of His entire life, nothing else; no children, no mother, no temple, no brothers, no sisters, no father, no pastors, and no friends. Christ being in this place, settled things.
It is like the scientist who finally uncovers the intricate solution to his two year grant research project. He does not keep running these same tests after such a discovery has been made, for his search has now ended. He fills in the blanks on his report with his findings and then he takes on that result. The discovery is initially released within him, and then he releases it to the world. From what can be seen at that moment, his discovery is never to be re-visited from that particular premise ever again. He has found something of value, now he proceeds to walk in that discovery through its usage in other projects set before him.
Our first service to begin the process of getting on His ground is in learning to love Christ. It is not for Him to love us, He already loves us completely. He even went to the cross to pay for us to be one. He has shown us that He loves us and now He wants to experience our true love for Him. Not love for what He can do for us, but love for Him personally, for what He is. We must learn to love Him for ourselves, and as we do, through the Holy Spirit, we will have taught ourselves what love clearly is.
This seems as though this should be such an easy task for us, but it is not. Yes, He should be the easiest of all to love simply because He is truly worthy of something– something very special, yet we struggle with this simplicity of being. We resiliently say we love our children, our spouses, our parents, etc., and they are not even in this classification. Our love for them is essentially for the fulfilling of worldly obligations, desires, and things of the tarnished self; but we are able to easily turn ourselves strongly towards them. Christ asks for none of this. There is no pressure with Him. He just requires sincere participation with Him and alongside of Him, with both of you giving each other your all and all. Nice!
This pure love, towards Christ, can only come to us in the power of the Holy Spirit and He brings it to us in a living way. He is our teacher, the gift issuer, our inner self guide. He knows all that is going on from the Master above and He is willing to share these things with those who care to hear and use them in their own personal lives.
With the Holy Spirit’s works of love manifested in us, Christ becomes the true, foundationally sound, love of our lives. It is He who has led us to know what that love is and what those other things connected to that love stand for, as well as how we can continue to yield our wills so that they become something real within us. With the understanding of this knowledge, the Holy Spirit begins leading us into a life long journey of living in Christ, with Him as our continuous guide for as long as we choose to follow Him.
Let us now be reminded of what a Christian is? A Christian is a follower of Christ. To do this, to follow Christ, we must live on the basis of what Christ is; that which is true of Him shall be true of us, His followers — His children. We are in Him. It is not a system of philosophy or doctrine, but a revelation of faith that His Spirit leads us to. Praise the Lord for that possibility!
Yes, the Holy Spirit is the true one that will reveal all to us. However, along the way as He processes us, here is what can be said amongst us concerning the matter. One, your proof can never be an argument. What argument has ever built up anything? Arguments pull things down. If it is in question, you are not there. Next, it cannot be logic. Logic cannot construct anything. Logic can destroy. Think on what it has done in Earthly relationships.
What matters in the end is whose ground are you on. Nothing else matters. Your ground does not matter nor do other people’s grounds, but only the ground of Christ. Nothing of spiritual value can truly happen in your life if you have not entered onto His ground.
You enter onto His ground by the natural expression and manifestation of His risen life, in your life, brought about through His Spirit. That is the sign that you are the embodiment of Christ, which you fully declare. You are in Him and He is in you by His Spirit.
That is how this “nicey” stuff got into the Church and into the temple that is not real. He is not truly in us, and we know it. We have this imagined pressure from each other to portray something every time we meet at the temple, on the street, or in other venues. Therefore, we make up our own embodiment through faking and pretending what we interpret as the embodiment of Christ. We become people trying to imitate Christ embodied in them, rather than letting His Spirit work in us.
His Spirit is powerful! His Spirit can properly straighten things out. His Spirit is Him!
Are you, in Christ?
TP
In His word: John 3:35; Psalm 2:11 Matthew 3:17