Eight Things this Christian Generation Needs to Learn to Pray and Live

That God may be all in all

That we may all know Him

Comprehend that eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son

All may know Him from the least to the greatest

We may know whom we believe in

That we learn Christ

We would know all that matters is that we're with Him together

We no longer live, but Christ lives in us

The Purpose of the Cross of Christ

In talking about the purpose of the cross I want to begin by mentioning that it is the end result that we are talking about here, not the way that the cross works.  
Once we see the end result, than we will know the way that we will have to go to get there.  

The end result of the cross isn’t hard to see. We are told very specifically what it is.  There are two aspects I want to reveal here, one is that we are no longer to live for ourselves but for Him. This is a process that works within us over a lifetime. There are no shortcuts or easy way to get there. Still this is one of the things that Christ showed us that we must do.

Just as He lived for the Father, so are we to live for the Lord also. We are to live for Him and Him alone.  

We must remember how we are told that all things are from Christ, for Christ, in Christ, through Christ, and go back to Him.

The second part of the purpose of the cross goes even one step further. Not only do we live solitarily for Him here, but now it is no longer we who live but Christ that lives in us. What a purpose to look for ... or rather die for! 

Most of us don’t even seem aware or believe that such a thing can happen. And yet Paul tells us that he reached this pinnacle. This wasn’t just for Paul; it was for those who would follow after him.  

This is why Paul tells us that Christ chose to reveal Himself in him, so that we may know what Christ expects to do within us.  

While these two concepts are very simple to understand, very, very few ever even take this as a way of life to pursue. The reason most don’t is because to go after this means that you must go through tremendous workings of the cross that most simply aren’t willing to commit and yield to.  

Yet I hope that you will respond to the Lord in this. Both individually and corporately, we must submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Mankind awaits a people that will deny themselves and not only live for Christ, but come to the place where it is no longer even them who are living but rather Christ that is living in and through them.  

Lose your life in this and the Lord promises us that we will find it. We must be willing to take the risk and to step through.  

Do you want to experience this life? Then you must be willing to die to everything. What are you waiting for? Christ is at the door knocking!

Hunger for Jesus

Two of the prerequisites for knowing God are: a burning, passionate hunger to fellowship with and know Him, and secondly, a realization of how impoverished we are without Him. If we don’t have these two realities working within us, all of the rest that we will talk about will be irrelevant.  We can never know Christ in any depth without these attitudes within. We must ask Him to create that in us.
 
Now one of the things we know about God is that He is everywhere. That means, of course, that no matter where we are He is there.

But union with Christ is talking about something more than that. It is talking of an inner fellowship with Him that is as close as possible to be in.

It is now our privilege, with His help, to steadily, continually, fellowship with Him daily.  

The very purpose of God is that He has a passion to share the fellowship of the Godhead that existed before time with mankind that He created.

To be hungry for God and know that without Him we have nothing, is an understanding of the statement by Jesus that without Him we can do nothing.  

This implies that there is to be a moment by moment union with Him that testifies to the above expectation. In other words there is no way we could walk, breath, work, play, or eat without His presence. Yet we continually live life as if we can do these things without Him. The truth is that we can’t.  

The point is that we must learn and practice the “art” of continual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. This has always been His passionate purpose throughout the ages.  

If we believe in Jesus Christ then He is within us in a way that is closer than we can possibly imagine. It is His desire that we search out this closeness with Him and come into experiential union with Him.  

We don’t want to succumb to the temptation to make this some type of doctrine that is to be debated over. We have had enough of that throughout the ages. We are to be consumed with this Christ that woos us and calls us to be in close union with Him. He will be satisfied with nothing less.  

Are you up for the call? Then don’t disconnect from the reality that God has called us to. Don’t just read about it in the scriptures, rather respond and enter into this magnificent life that awaits anyone that is willing to pursue it. Jesus is calling and waiting for you.

Gary

The Bride is for Christ our Bridegroom

   
 
The fabulous reality of Christ being the bridegroom reveals to us the passion of God for His people. I want to focus on the main aspect of this: His union with the bride!  

John the Baptist tells us that he rejoiced that he heard the voice of the bridegroom. Before that he reveals that the bride is for the bridegroom. This speaks of nothing else than the union of Christ with His people; an intimate, passionate union that the church over the centuries has neglected.  

It has to be considered extremely important that the one chosen to testify that Jesus was the Christ, from the beginning revealed Him as the bridegroom, and that the bride was for Him.  

The bride of Christ belongs to only Christ and no other. He is jealous for her. He died for her. Yet most substitute something else for the bride to present unto Christ.  


We will do well to remember this: The bride is for Christ, the bridegroom.  
What is the significance of this? It’s the union of Christ and the bride that is significant. Without this, the mention of a bride and bridegroom is without meaning.  When Christ died and the veil was rent in two, access to God was of course reinstated to those who believed on Him. Then as a consequence of belief, the Spirit was sent by Christ to dwell within all of those who believe on Him. 

Most of us don’t comprehend what this truly means to us. It is an offer of intimacy with Christ beyond any of our comprehension. It is an offer to eat and drink of Him that was passed up at the beginning of creation, but now was offered again to all of those who were hungry and thirsty.  

While the Spirit of God dwells within every believer, few take the journey of intimate fellowship and union with the bridegroom. And yet there is more to it than that. Not only are we to experience this individually, we are much more importantly to experience it corporately.  

Yet, the very entering into this journey causes problems immediately. The great majority of things that we see in the organized church begin to cause problems with that part of us that hungers for Christ and Christ alone.  

That’s why those of us that have been given the opportunity to see these things, will continually live out these things outside of any man-made system.  There is a love relationship that exists between Christ and His church. No man, or system created by man, can be allowed to come between the Lord and His bride. That’s why we show forth history and where a lot of the practices of the church have come from so that you can see clearly what the purpose of God is in the earth. Now it is hidden in many ways because of the choice of many to substitute something else in the brides’ place. This is a tragedy that must be turned from.  

Are you part of the living bride of Christ outside of any system and carnal control of men? Are you yearning and hungering after Christ and Christ alone? Do you desire to be part of something bigger than yourself that has been in the heart of God from before the beginning of creation? If you can answer yes to these questions, than you may truly be ready for the adventure and exploration of a lifetime. I hope to meet you on this journey.

Gary