Two Kingdoms, Two Natures, Two Lives

John 3
3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
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5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Faith is a substance, a tangible reality of something that otherwise cannot be seen or experienced. Faith recognises The New and the old and acknowledges two opposing realities! The Heavenly Kingdom and the earthly kingdom, flesh and faith/Spirit. Paul talks plainly about realising these two natures or laws at war within his body.

Romans 7
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

⁠Understanding these two kingdoms/realities is a vital foundation for the Born Again believer. Faith sees and enters The Kingdom of God, a Kingdom which is eternal, everlasting and unchanging just as God is faithful. The flesh life however is brief, full of uncertainty and fear and constantly striving to find satisfaction and power.
The flesh is unstable, broken, uncertain and bound by fear but faith lives in The Secret Place of The Most High, safe and secure from all alarms with a Spirit of power and of love and a sound mind! Faith STAYS there!! Faith LIVES from there!

James 2
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror]!
20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?
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26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. ⁠

James is not trying to enforce church attendance, religious obedience or a bigger offering. He is making it very clear that The Life that is in the believer is God’s Life! And HIS life LIVES!! By faith His Life lives and produces fruit! Fruit that will be tangible evidence of that faith!!
Grace does not act!! Grace does not give a response. Grace alone is a gift unreceived! Grace makes the giving of a gift possible but ONLY BY FAITH can it be received! Only faith will believe The Word of God and lay hold of His promises. Grace can promise you eternal life and the indwelling of The Spirit but only faith will believe, receive and walk in that promise.

Galatians 2
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We see here again that divide between flesh and faith. Paul lives in his fleshly body but he lives that life by faith!
In the flesh we are fleeting, empty lives but by faith we live an eternal, abundant life, more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! By faith Jesus has given me every victory, by faith I enjoy that The Lord has given me ALL things that pertain unto Life and Godliness! ALL THINGS! He has given them!!! But without faith I will never receive or enjoy those things!!
If we truly have faith to believe these things then we should walk different!! We will NOT walk in defeat! Consider the life that truly believes these things and walks in the goodness/fullness of them!

Hebrews 4
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

Knowledge of His Word is not enough. His word must be mixed with faith. It must be received by faith and practiced by faith! There is so much that is available to us, that has been given and promised to us, if we will only believe! If His word, His promises, His testimonies are mixed with faith in US!
Let us stir up our faith and very simply choose to believe His word! Bring a sacrifice of praise where faith is lacking and let The Lord encourage us to believe on Him step by step, word by word, promise by promise.

Absolutely Everything!

2 Peter 1
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything related to life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the moral decay and corruption that is in the world through lust.

THERE IS NO LACK IN GOD! There is NOTHING lacking in the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ in a believer! If we find that we are lacking, dry or without His Joy then very simply but very sincerely we need to acknowledge that we’ve been in unbelief! We need to repent, confess and turn again to the promises and testimonies of The Word of God and take by faith the victory and provision given us in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!! Praise His precious name!! Sing again His songs of victory and declare HIS Salvation!
HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN!! He is not holding back until we are ready! He has ALREADY bestowed on us EVERYTHING that pertains to HIS LIFE and GODLINESS! We already have access to all that we need! Jesus has given us HIS LIFE, HIS VICTORY, HIS ACCESS to The Father, HIS POWER, HIS TESTIMONY!! It is for us to simply have the faith to believe!! Do we live by faith? Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ is all that He says He is… IN US!!
WE HAVE NO EXCUSE! The ONLY reason we lack is through our failure to believe! We doubt His provision, we doubt His promises, we forget all that He has done and all that is ours in Him! Have we forgotten to grow in a “true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence”? We have forgotten to praise and magnify The Lord!

John 16
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Romans 8
37 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

1 Corinthians 15
57 But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God, Who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and by us makes manifest the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

1 John 5
4 For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.

•⁠ ⁠Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, may we be stirred up in our faith! May we arise and leave the place of despondency and self. May we exalt The Lord Jesus and not magnify our problems! Let us rise up in faith believing that Jesus has won every victory, that He has already gone before us, that He is casting out the enemy… Let us be found ever rejoicing and giving thanks in all things, knowing that we are more than conquerors because the battle is already won! Let us fix our eyes on The Giver, not the gifts. Let is offer our sacrifice of praise, for when we offer to Jesus the little praise we have, we will always leave full of Him!!

Abraham Rose Early

Genesis 21
12 God said to Abraham…
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning…

Genesis 22
2 [God] said…
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning,

Abraham did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galations 1:16), He did not lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-8). He didn’t fast and pray for a week, doubting what he had heard and pleading with God for confirmation. He did not stay up all night in confusion and frustration. He didn’t argue with God or petition Him to change His mind. He didn’t hesitate at all!! Consider what this implies and we will start to understand in a practical sense the relationship that Abraham had with The Lord.
Abraham knew The Lord’s voice so clearly that there was no doubt that He had spoken and no question of what The Lord had asked. Abraham trusted and feared The Lord so completely that He did not fear to carry out His instruction/leading. Abraham was so utterly dependent upon The Lord for life that nothing was too much for The Lord to require of him. This is why He heard The Lord so clearly and this is why The Lord spoke to Him.
So consider, with all that Christ has secured for you, with all that is available to you by the power of The Holy Spirit… Do you know God so intimately? Would you consider yourself to have the same reverence of, trust in and dependence on God? Abraham had this intimacy with The Lord without the indwelling of The Holy Ghost, without all that Christ has won for us at Calvary, before the tearing of the veil… Abraham’s knowledge of God was intimate and it is blasphemous against all that Jesus Christ is and all that He has done to think that we cannot walk this earth with the same intimacy and testimony. Having such intimacy with The Lord is not dispensational, it is relational!!

John 14
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you I do not say on My own authority and of My own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power).
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20 At that time [when that day comes] you will know [for yourselves] that I am in My Father, and you [are] in Me, and I [am] in you.
21 The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]
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23 Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.
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27 Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

May we seek to know our Heavenly Father as Abraham did, as Jesus did; to know and recognise His voice; to walk with the same early obedience and dependence, without hesitation. May we be careful to keep pace with our Shepherd and not run ahead or backslide.
May we be identified with our Lord Jesus Christ and be identified by Him. May others look on and take note that we have been with Jesus! (Acts 4:13) May we lay hold of the precious promises and all that Jesus has secured for us! Hallelujah! What a precious hope! Let us press on, looking unto Jesus! May He increase and may we decrease more and more!
May we learn to rise early and be about our Father’s business, without hesitation. He is worthy. He is Sovereign. He is faithful. Oh that we might know HIM!

Where Is The Blessing?

Matthew 1
19 And her [promised] husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.

We can only imagine the pain, confusion and disappointment before the angel came. We can assume that others noticed too. Her family, her friends, her neighbours, her town… How many would believe her story? A virgin birth?? She was doing the will of The Father, she was being faithful to the call… Where was the blessing?

Luke 2
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,
5 To be enrolled with Mary, his espoused (married) wife, who was about to become a mother.

Not only had she to endure almost losing her betrothed and the judgement and disdain of others but now a heavily pregnant Mary must make the 4 day journey by foot or donkey to Bethlehem!! How uncomfortable this must have been! Could not The Lord have provided a camel and a cart? Why didn’t God postpone the census? Where was the blessing?

Luke 2
7 And she gave birth to her Son, her Firstborn; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room or place for them in the inn.

There was no warm room, no warm blankets, no hot water, no nurses… There was no bed!! There was no room!! A new born child, laid in a cold, barren manger ((with no mention of a stable))!! Where was the blessing??!

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Our flesh will always look to its own earthly experience and possessions for blessing, justification and comfort.

Mary never asked where the blessing was. She was in possession of the greatest blessing that anyone could ever know!! She had the promised Messiah living within her and no earthly “need” or desire compared to such a precious honour and privilege!! Nothing else mattered! She carried The Lord Jesus Christ and He was so much more than enough! She could trust implicitly that she was the handmaiden of The Lord and that Jehovah was seeing to her every need to fulfil His will in her life.

And where was the fruit of that testimony brought out? In a place where every earthly support was removed. Only when every fleshly comfort and provision was taken away was the life/testimony/glory of The Lord Jesus brought forth. The flesh will look on and see great hardship, poverty and shame but faith sees the precious presence and blessing of Almighty God! Hallelujah! The flesh would have made a temple out of the Inn, but praise The Lord we read of only Jesus and nothing else!

The Born Again believer possesses the greatest blessing that could ever be asked for! The source of all life has come and dwells within us!! Emmanuel!! Hallelujah!! The Lord Jesus Christ living within our hearts!! Nothing else matters! Nothing else compares to the wonder of it all!! The Father is seeing to our every need and He will bring to fruition the life and glory of His Son in our lives as we walk faithfully and obediently in the way, as Mary did, removing all dependence on earthly/fleshly means. Hallelujah we have Christ within! The source of all life, joy, hope, victory and glory!! Let us carry HIS life unto fruition to the place that we are lead to. It is HIS life! And HIS life LIVES!!

1 Corinthians 6
19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,
20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

Faith Rejoices Evermore

Psalm 27
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Faith does not rise from petitioning and crying out before The Lord with teeth still clenched and desperation. Faith rises with joyful, restful assurance that God is indeed already doing exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.
Faith does not dig in and fight in prayerful frustration trying to force through its own desires. Faith fervently casts and commits the trials, cares and burdens of life to the Almighty God knowing soundly that this is the day that He has made and that He, The Lord, is truly making all things beautiful in His time. That He is Sovereign, Good and working out His will in our lives. At times we must toil and persist and follow our Shepherd into the valley or into the presence of our enemies but faith is always resting in the presence of the Shepherd.
Faith does not strive, work harder and increase self effort to achieve. Faith surrenders to The Lord and casts itself upon His loving kindnesses, tender mercies and compassions and rejoices in being submitted to God and remaining as the apple of Jehovah Jireh’s eye.
Faith rejoices evermore, in all things, in sacrifice and blessing because faith knows, remembers, hopes in and walks before The Lord God Almighty, The Ruler of Heaven & Earth, The Redeemer and Saviour! Faith is rightly related to Jesus and rightly identified with His death and resurrected life! Identified with Him and by Him!

Luke 18
8 … When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?