Hi all,
Last week I shared that the Father does indeed invite us up to His higher ways. In fact if we adjust our thinking we will understand that is what Jesus was doing in the gospels - sharing the higher ways of the Father and inviting us to join Him.
So the first step is to know you belong in the higher ways. This is all about adjusting our thinking, putting down thoughts that argue against that New Testament truth, and forcing ourselves to accept the amazing grace of the invitation. Knowing this builds within us an expectation for good, an expectation each day to see what good the Father has planned for us. We arise looking with eager expectation to see what the Father has planned for us.
How are we enabled in this?
"Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints of God in the light. For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, yes, even the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:12-14 (Amplified v12; KJV v13-14)
We are enabled because the Father God has caused us to be recreated in our spirit man by His Holy Spirit, the act of which immediately translated us into His Kingdom. That qualifies us as His children for we were born of Him by the Spirit, and therefore also citizens in His Kingdom - a Kingdom in which His Son is in charge.
We belong in the higher ways. It is now our nature. Stop any arguments you may have to the contrary, which are lying against the truth of what He has done. Bring thoughts and emotions captive to Christ and New Testament realities. Put away guilt and shame and unforgiveness of self and grow up. That's right. Grow up. Let the Life in you change your emotions, your thoughts, the way you think about your past, and who you are.
Be a doer of the Word - bring thoughts captive to Christ and starting thinking correctly:You are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, you've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness, and you have come up to our King's higher ways. Thinking like Him is part of Kingdom culture.
Don't allow anything other than New Testament thinking or feeling. Every time a wrong thought comes into your mind, reject it and state out loud and in your thoughts, NT reality. Take authority over contrary feelings for they are not New Testament reality.
Christianity is supernatural. Our lives should reflect that.
(Miracles didn't stop in the 1st century. I can recommend 2 books from friends on the subject:"2,000 Years of Charismatic Christianity" by Eddie Hyatt, which is an easy read, and "Miracles and the Supernatural Throughout Church History" by Tony Cooke, which is a detailed history. Both available in Kindle format)
Miracles were so common among the churches that specific miracles and healings were not even mentioned in the letters; because they were such a large part of normal Christianity. Paul asked the churches of Galatia, which was a large area in the middle of modern Turkey:"When God does miracles among you, does He do it by the Spirit or by the reading of the Mosaic law?" 3:3-5
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul spent all of chapter 12 talking about spiritual gifts including miracles and healings which are in the church.
James, in his letter to the whole body of Christ in the Roman Empire, wrote that if there were any sick, let them call for the leaders of the (house) church and let them pray over him, and they would be healed. 5:14-15
In I Corinthians 14:23-25 Paul writes that their meetings are so full of the Spirit of God that a stranger attending could have the secrets of their heart revealed supernaturally and they would acknowledge God is in their midst.
Is your church that supernatural? Are you part of the lives of others to be able to see first hand all that God is doing in those you fellowship with? Does conversation revolve around the higher ways and thoughts of the Father God and what He has done?
If in a true Biblical house church (not a miniature of the auditorium) you have the opportunity to pray for one another weekly at least, so you most likely do see those things - but if in a Bible study or small group or auditorium church, do you even have the opportunity to pray for one another?
Part of living in His higher ways is the certainty inside you that miracles, answered prayer, healings are a normal part of your faith. No big deal, just Christianity. Adjust your thinking. Miracles are normal for they are part of the higher ways of our Father and Lord. And be hungry to live in the miraculous if you don't have that now in your life. It starts by thinking New Testament realities.
Are you part of abnormal Christianity?
The stated realities written about in the pages of the New Testament must truly become part of our thinking. The Father has adopted us and seated us with Him in the heavenliness. The Father has therefore enabled us to partake of our inheritance among the saints, in His light. We have already been therefore translated out of the kingdom of darkness, which no longer has any control over me, and into the kingdom where Jesus is King.
This thinking is a must for a believer to walk in the higher ways. The book of Acts is normal Christianity. Seeing and taking part in miracles, healings, casting out demons, seeing angels and the Lord and all the other things of the Spirit, is normal Christianity. Answered prayer is normal. Sensing the presence of the Lord is normal.
I distinctly remember one day as a teenager standing in my bedroom when that realization hit me:Acts is normal Christianity. What the apostles described as normal in their lives and letters was normal Christianity. Healings, tongues, miracles, angels, the Lord, it was all normal.
If where I attended and if the people's lives around me didn't resemble Acts, it was abnormal Christianity. I didn't want abnormal Christianity. I wanted normal Christianity as God defines normal and would not stop until I found others who believed Acts is normal Christianity. This is key towards coming up to His higher ways and higher thoughts. The invitation remains, how will we respond?
We will pick it up there next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
Last week I shared that the Father does indeed invite us up to His higher ways. In fact if we adjust our thinking we will understand that is what Jesus was doing in the gospels - sharing the higher ways of the Father and inviting us to join Him.
So the first step is to know you belong in the higher ways. This is all about adjusting our thinking, putting down thoughts that argue against that New Testament truth, and forcing ourselves to accept the amazing grace of the invitation. Knowing this builds within us an expectation for good, an expectation each day to see what good the Father has planned for us. We arise looking with eager expectation to see what the Father has planned for us.
How are we enabled in this?
"Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints of God in the light. For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, yes, even the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:12-14 (Amplified v12; KJV v13-14)
We are enabled because the Father God has caused us to be recreated in our spirit man by His Holy Spirit, the act of which immediately translated us into His Kingdom. That qualifies us as His children for we were born of Him by the Spirit, and therefore also citizens in His Kingdom - a Kingdom in which His Son is in charge.
We belong in the higher ways. It is now our nature. Stop any arguments you may have to the contrary, which are lying against the truth of what He has done. Bring thoughts and emotions captive to Christ and New Testament realities. Put away guilt and shame and unforgiveness of self and grow up. That's right. Grow up. Let the Life in you change your emotions, your thoughts, the way you think about your past, and who you are.
Be a doer of the Word - bring thoughts captive to Christ and starting thinking correctly:You are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, you've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness, and you have come up to our King's higher ways. Thinking like Him is part of Kingdom culture.
Don't allow anything other than New Testament thinking or feeling. Every time a wrong thought comes into your mind, reject it and state out loud and in your thoughts, NT reality. Take authority over contrary feelings for they are not New Testament reality.
Christianity is supernatural. Our lives should reflect that.
(Miracles didn't stop in the 1st century. I can recommend 2 books from friends on the subject:"2,000 Years of Charismatic Christianity" by Eddie Hyatt, which is an easy read, and "Miracles and the Supernatural Throughout Church History" by Tony Cooke, which is a detailed history. Both available in Kindle format)
Miracles were so common among the churches that specific miracles and healings were not even mentioned in the letters; because they were such a large part of normal Christianity. Paul asked the churches of Galatia, which was a large area in the middle of modern Turkey:"When God does miracles among you, does He do it by the Spirit or by the reading of the Mosaic law?" 3:3-5
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul spent all of chapter 12 talking about spiritual gifts including miracles and healings which are in the church.
James, in his letter to the whole body of Christ in the Roman Empire, wrote that if there were any sick, let them call for the leaders of the (house) church and let them pray over him, and they would be healed. 5:14-15
In I Corinthians 14:23-25 Paul writes that their meetings are so full of the Spirit of God that a stranger attending could have the secrets of their heart revealed supernaturally and they would acknowledge God is in their midst.
Is your church that supernatural? Are you part of the lives of others to be able to see first hand all that God is doing in those you fellowship with? Does conversation revolve around the higher ways and thoughts of the Father God and what He has done?
If in a true Biblical house church (not a miniature of the auditorium) you have the opportunity to pray for one another weekly at least, so you most likely do see those things - but if in a Bible study or small group or auditorium church, do you even have the opportunity to pray for one another?
Part of living in His higher ways is the certainty inside you that miracles, answered prayer, healings are a normal part of your faith. No big deal, just Christianity. Adjust your thinking. Miracles are normal for they are part of the higher ways of our Father and Lord. And be hungry to live in the miraculous if you don't have that now in your life. It starts by thinking New Testament realities.
Are you part of abnormal Christianity?
The stated realities written about in the pages of the New Testament must truly become part of our thinking. The Father has adopted us and seated us with Him in the heavenliness. The Father has therefore enabled us to partake of our inheritance among the saints, in His light. We have already been therefore translated out of the kingdom of darkness, which no longer has any control over me, and into the kingdom where Jesus is King.
This thinking is a must for a believer to walk in the higher ways. The book of Acts is normal Christianity. Seeing and taking part in miracles, healings, casting out demons, seeing angels and the Lord and all the other things of the Spirit, is normal Christianity. Answered prayer is normal. Sensing the presence of the Lord is normal.
I distinctly remember one day as a teenager standing in my bedroom when that realization hit me:Acts is normal Christianity. What the apostles described as normal in their lives and letters was normal Christianity. Healings, tongues, miracles, angels, the Lord, it was all normal.
If where I attended and if the people's lives around me didn't resemble Acts, it was abnormal Christianity. I didn't want abnormal Christianity. I wanted normal Christianity as God defines normal and would not stop until I found others who believed Acts is normal Christianity. This is key towards coming up to His higher ways and higher thoughts. The invitation remains, how will we respond?
We will pick it up there next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
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