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My Word to you for 2017: You are just as much in Christ as you have ever been or ever will be! He can't possibly Love you any more or less today than He did yesterday or than He will tomorrow! God IS Love! The same benefits that were yours in 2016 (and in all prior years) are still yours! Christ in you is still the Hope of Glory! Amongst many other wonderful things, He calls you His Wife, His Brother or Sister, His Body, His Friend, His Living Epistle, and the Apple of ...His Eye! You are loved, valued, accepted and blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ! Through Him you have access to all things that pertain to life and godliness! You no longer have to rely on your own performance by trying to produce the Fruit or Gifts of the Spirit; and there is no shortage or rationing of the New Wine! You are free to rest in HIS PERFORMANCE...as you function through HIS Faith, which works by HIS Love! Freely you have received, NOW...Freely give!
No rhymes, No limericks, No numerology, Nothing spooky, No fortune cookie messages, No Christianese horoscopes, No 'carrot & stick' words promising to give you what you already have or make you who you already are, and No words coming from a compulsion to perform prophetically, because a New Year is just around the corner. Just Truth! Regarding New Year's "Words": Trust the Peace of Christ to be the referee in your heart. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Shalom! ~Joe
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The Christ Life is not a life-long, religious pilgrimage which will one day get us to God. Jesus' Incarnation was the ultimate pilgrimage FOR us and AS us! His vicarious Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension exemplified the consummate pilgrimage...once for all! Our pilgrimage is a life of discovery IN Him! The Path and Gate (both refer to Jesus Himself...Who is the exclusive WAY to the Father) are narrow, but the glories of His House (again referring to the In Christ realm) are infinite in width, length, height, and depth!
It is past time to remove the religious, virtual reality goggles which have so many "insiders" struggling with "outsider" paradigms! Shalom! ~Joe Religion denies our fixed position in Christ, tells us that we're still spiritually naked orphans and harlots in Jesus' future bride rehab program, offers us fig leaves to cover our perceived nakedness, attempts to impregnate our minds with thoughts of perpetual self-loathing and keeps us at a "crossroads"...waiting for the next season, formula, Christian celebrity, or prophetic word. This in no way resembles the ministry of Jesus, the first apostles or the First Century church.
Jesus already placed us in the rich, sweet center of heaven's jelly donut! We're not flies trying to navigate our way in! We're sons and daughters who can function from the In Christ realm...all day, every day. Through Christ, we have been seated in heavenly places and eternally inter-twined with the Trinity and each other! If you can only hear Him and live and function by His Spirit during certain special seasons and visitations...or after YOU have "righted" all of your wrongs...then you have a great excuse to walk "after the flesh" (carnal mindset). Such doctrines and mindsets demand it! The simplicity of Christ is absolutely beautiful! Shalom! ~Joe Have you ever realized that the Word says Jesus: "Lights EVERY man who comes into the world" (John 1:9) and told unbelieving Pharisees that the Kingdom of God was IN them (Luke 17:21); while Paul told pagan Greeks that in the one true God they "lived and moved and had their being" (Acts 17:28)? "Evangelism" is about awakening people to the One Who already Loves, accepts, and dwells in them...allowing them to participate in His abundant Life. He upholds ALL THINGS...to include every cell of every body, by the Word of His Power (Hebrews 1:3). We have spent so much time trying to get God INTO people, instead of awakening them to His Omnipresence...which includes every part of their being. Yes, there is a QUICKENING...but the Power Source is, and always has been, ever-present! The darkness that He calls us out of and translates us from is our ignorance of His ever-present desire for our friendship with Him to be realized and for our sonship to be made manifest. You can't boldly declare that He's omnipresent while claiming that He is absent from the Atheist. Our "witness" comes to bear witness with His ever-present, internal, and eternal tug! While I don't believe that all have come to the knowledge of Him Who is Truth. Truth abides, draws and continues to tug! The Gospel witnesses to the ear He Who is "witnessing" to the heart.
Shalom! ~Joe |
AuthorsJoe Chadburn Archives
April 2020
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