THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST

[Albert Finch]

Abraham wasn't found righteous until he BELIEVED...

It wasn't his adherence to the law or the Word, nor was it his daily prayer life or faithfulness that caused the grace of God to shine upon Abraham's life. It may have been prayer or faithfulness that got God's attention, but neither of these did anything in the way of making him worthy of a relationship with God, nor did they serve to fulfill any promise. Romans 4:3 says, "What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'"

Romans 4 where He speaks of His grace that is made available through those who will simply BELIEVE. Fear, doubt and unbelief go hand in hand with deception. When we allow any of these to enter into our thought process, we are believing and agreeing with the lies of the enemy of God, which is satan.

Fear can and does cause us to disobey God as we begin to interact and engage with the enemy in our thoughts. Our minds seem to lose the reality of the magnitude of who God is, and we slowly lose sight of what He has promised.

We must grasp deep within our spirit man in order to truly walk in the covenant blessings. Of course, we know as BELIEVERS in Jesus Christ that He abides in us, but it is vital that what He has spoken remains at the forefront of our thoughts so that we are continually aware of the covenant of the Cross. Partaking of Him is also receiving His word as truth. In receiving the truth we make room for Him to dwell in our lives, not just in the heart but throughout our entire man. Our thoughts now must also belong to Him.

John 6:53-56: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats of My flesh and drinks of My blood abides in Me, and I in Him."

We cannot come to the knowledge of Christ as our Messiah unless we BELIEVE that which cannot be seen with the natural eye; likewise, we cannot live an abundant life in Christ unless we by choice throw off every lie of the enemy and BELIEVE what we cannot see with the natural eye. Any time we begin to entertain a lie that God has somehow forgotten or forsaken us, we are believing that He has abandoned the covenant, and deceit enters in.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."—2 Corinthians 10:4-5

We must take a stand and refuse to believe the enemy about who we are and what the outcome of our lives will be. Did Jesus not say "I have come that you may have not only eternal life but life abundant"? Those who enter into the abundant life are not those who have been "specifically chosen" but those who simply trust God and BELIEVE.

"And these signs shall follow those who BELIEVE: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover!" - Mark 15:18

That is living in the supernatural. That is manifesting the power of the Kingdom of Heaven, where the constraints and confinements of the natural world are pushed back and superseded by the Almighty King of Kings!!! In all of our shortcomings we can become as a little child as we read the Word, and decide that if God had spoken it then it must be true. And thus we began to operate in what God has promised. We are in covenant with God and BELIEVE what Jesus, who walked a life displaying the miraculous, has spoken in John 6: "If you have fellowship with Me, I will abide in you."

It isn't our disciplined lives that give us access to the promises of God and allow us to manifest the Kingdom; it is BELIEVING. It is refusing to be deceived by the enemy in believing that we aren't good enough in our present state and that we must keep striving in order to one day manifest the power of Jesus
God in fact does use us to manifest His glory even as we grow. We do not have to wait until we obtain some specific level of "spirituality" before we see God move powerfully in our lives. We need to simply BELIEVE that He desires to use us and that He will.

The army of the Lord that takes the nations consists of BELIEVERS who are very human but also very much like God. They manifest the glory of their God through signs, miracles and wonders, which accompany the message of the Cross. And the glory of God rests upon them because they BELIEVE.