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Posted: 09/07/2010 at 5:41pm
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Experiencing the Glory
By Ron McGatlin
In a world of storms and chaos caused by a world-system based on fear and pride that proceeds from the hearts of men, is it possible to experience the pure and holy glory of God?
Without the Holy Spirit of God permeating our spirits, souls, and bodies, it probably is not possible to experience the glory of God in this life on earth now.
Allowing the Holy Spirit to submerse us and saturate our lives with Christ Jesus is the way through the rent veil that is between the natural realm and the spiritual realm. Through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, we can move from awareness primarily in the natural realm through the rent veil into full awareness in the supernatural heavenly spiritual realm of God’s pure and holy GLORY. This is different from crying out to God to come to us in this natural realm and fill us with His Spirit.
As described in a previous article about one person in two places, we are spirit beings living in natural physical bodies.
Our redeemed spirit-man is endowed with the earnest (down payment) of the Holy Spirit. This is Christ Jesus coming into our hearts by the Spirit to begin the process of full redemption and restoration to the originally created reality of Gods design. This is not the end or final fulfillment of the process but the beginning. It is Christ in us as a seed containing His Spirit’s DNA to grow His life in us.
2 Cor 1:22: Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The Greek word translated “earnest” means, “a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest.”
- Being in Christ is being in the Spirit (heavenly spiritual realm).
- Christ in us is being in this natural realm with His Spirit in us.
- Christ in us is the hope (earnest expectation) of glory.
- In Christ we experience the glory that was hoped for (earnestly expected).
The process to experiencing the glory of God begins with Christ Jesus coming into us by the Spirit. This experience is sometimes referred to as “salvation” or being “born again.” Sadly, many if not most Christians do not move much further than this beginning point.
However, it is from this beginning that growth of Christ in us should begin to take place. Like a growing small child, we are mostly focused upon our own needs and what Jesus is doing for us in our natural lives. As we mature, like an adolescent or teen-age child we become dissatisfied and instinctively we hunger for more meaningful adult (spiritual) life.
Unfortunately religion taught me and many others that we could not hope to experience the full life of heavenly supernatural reality in this life on earth. Our great hope was only to experience the glory of God after we died and went to heaven or by being fortunate enough to be a part of the generation alive on earth when Jesus bodily returned.
Believing these teachings left us no reason to seek more of God by the Holy Spirit. There was no real understanding of our entering now into the heavenly spiritual realm in Christ who is all and in all. We had only a very shallow grasp of the meaning of the reality of being in Christ and of Christ in us.
Even our English Bible translations are slanted in places to reflect the lack of hope for experiencing supernatural heavenly life in Christ now. Just as one example, the Greek word “parousia” has the basic meaning of “a being near.” It is translated both presence and coming. However, when speaking of Christ it is always translated coming, often when “presence” would be more accurate. This is a serious core error that prevents us from the fullness of His will. Most are looking for His coming rather than enjoying the fruitfulness that comes from experiencing that He has come to His own. It is needful to be led of the Spirit and dig into the original language to more clearly see biblically the greater truth of living now in the heavenly spiritual realm of experiencing God’s glory in Christ Jesus.
God is awakening His people to the reality of life in the Spirit now.
We are awakening to the reality of faith, hope, and love experienced in the glorious presence of Christ Jesus in the heavenly spiritual realm, the realm of THE GLORY OF GOD. Only from this realm can we affect the natural realm with the righteousness, peace, and joy of the kingdom from heaven on earth. God’s plan is that His kingdom be established on earth as it is in heaven. Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit is bringing the kingdom of God from the heavenly spiritual realm into the natural realm in and through His redeemed spirit/natural beings. Jesus is bringing many sons to GLORY (Heb 2:10).
If we look only into the natural realm of this world, we do not now see all things under the feet of Jesus. In the heavenly spiritual realm all things are in perfect order. The realm of heaven came to earth in Christ Jesus 2 millennia ago and is now flowing into the earth through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit in His people.
Eph 1:22-23: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Eph 2:1-7: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Note: “in the ages to come” was written 2000 years ago. Is now maybe a season of a portion of the ages that were to come?)
Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.
Ron McGatlin
archive.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net
Edited by Ron McGatlin on 09/08/2010 at 2:38pm
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Topic: EXPERIENCING THE GLORY
