“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the Armour of light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:11-14)
“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame.” ( I Cor:
“We have a more sure word of prophesy; whereunto we would do well that we take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (II Peter 1:19)
God’s real purpose in us is to create a consciousness of God. Being conscious is that which our soul knows. We are all awake to our natural world to some degree. But how awake are we to the realm of the Spirit of God that God wants us to be. The above Scriptures are related to our sleep, and slumber, to the consciousness of God.
The Christian is superior to every other life because of the consciousness it can possess. The secret to living is our personal awareness of the Spirit, living in our being.
To be an over comer is to become conscious of the victory Jesus has obtained for us. From beginning to end, Christianity is all supernatural. Jesus birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, was all supernatural. God’s purpose for us is to be transformed into the image of Christ, into the nature of God.
If we are not first awaked and enlighten to the victory Jesus has obtained for us already, then we fight with a defeated attitude instead of a conquering spirit.
Until we understand and awake to see that this battle is already won by Christ, and worked out through us by his Spirit. “Awake to righteousness.” Righteousness means the right way to do it. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD.”
The secret to victory in our life is being consciousness of Christ’s victory. We are called to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. We are called the
In the early church Christians did not go about apologizing to the world. They went about casting out demons, healing all manner of sickness and disease, working miracles and raising the dead.
We need to think of our risen Jesus, not just as the Jesus who lived two thousand years ago. We need to think of the victorious Jesus, who lives today, in our hearts. He is not crucified, or on a cross, but on the throne with all power in heaven and earth. “”All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore. The Lord worked with them confirming the word with signs following. These signs shall follow them that believe, in my name they shall cast out devils, lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Jesus went to the cross, to go to the grave, so he could preach to the dead and set the captive free from death and bring them forth, delivering them from the grips of death itself. Then he stands before the church and says, “I am he that lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forever more.”
He conquered death as a man and then brought the dead out of the graves. “The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” (Matt: 27: 52, 53)
Are you conscious that the Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead, is now living in you. Jesus came to set man free from sin, sickness, and make us like him. We live in defeat because we have no vision of our purpose and we are not awake in our mind to his holy triumph. The revealing of God in us is to be in same.
The message of Jesus was the revealing of the nature of God to man. Jesus preached that the
The message of Jesus was constructive, not destructive, positive, not negative. He waxed strong in knowledge and wisdom and by the Spirit he developed from glory to glory.
He laid hands on Peter’s mother who was sick with a fever, then a leper, then the blind, and healed them all. It was a process of consciousness that he became aware of as it happen through him. He turned water into wine, walked on the water, spoke peace to the storm. By his consciousness and awareness to the Spirit of God he confronted nature and it obeyed him. He entered into new realms as he worked out and demonstrated what the Spirit of God wanted to do through him.
He healed disease, created eyes, made the maimed whole. He made a gradual and continuous assent into the all power of God. He raised the dead, first a few minutes, then a few hours, then four days. By the operation of the Spirit of God in him that he was awake to and allowed to be worked out through him, he became aware of his dominion over sickness and death.
He developed as he saw the Spirit work and the Spirit worked because he was awake to the Spirit realm and conscious of him all the time. Jesus lived in God’s Presence. That is were we should want to live also.
All along the life of Jesus there was a growth and development into the consciousness of God. Step by step Jesus discerned the Spirit, his purpose for man, his purpose for God, and God’s purpose for him. Step by step he revealed the power of God in the new light that dawned upon his soul.
He wants to teach us what he learned and received from his Father. If we will awake and hunger and thirst for more of him, not only to know him, but have a desire that he would develop us also into a mighty man or woman of God.
The purpose of God is to make us into the image of Christ. We should no longer be satisfied with being just a babe in Christ, but we should ask God to wake us up to our real purpose in Christ. God’s real purpose is to make us like himself through Christ and empower us to do the works of God.
