Salvation!

For my blog post today, I decided to give you a chapter from my book Awakened. This is probably one of my favorite chapters because it poured out of my heart three years ago, after visiting a dear friend who had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. While I was writing this book, a friend who was proofing it for me asked, “What happened to your friend?” I hadn’t added the outcome to the end of the chapter, so I included it in the next chapter… so, I’ll add that part to the end of this blog.


Wednesday night, my husband and I, came home from the hospital after seeing a friend diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was told that it was inoperable and untreatable. Thursday morning, I got up and sat down to work on my Bible study teaching notes and instead ended up writing ten pages of what turned out to be this chapter! There was no thinking, no striving. It just flowed out of me through my pen.
We went to encourage our friend, lay hands on him, and pray. While we were there visiting with him and his family, I sat there quietly, praying in tongues at times, and encouraging him at other times — all the while reminding him that he IS healed. Healed, not only two thousand years ago, but healed BEFORE the foundation of the world (since the cross is ETERNAL and He was the Lamb slain BEFORE the foundation of the world). He would respond by lifting his hands to heaven and declaring “I choose life, I choose life! I will not die because I choose to live.” Life and death is in the power of our tongue!


I looked him in the eyes and told him that it is not about his faith or believing.  It is ALL about Jesus’ faith.


Like Paul, we live our lives by THE faith OF the Son of God. This was not my friend’s battle OR even the Lord’s battle! In fact it isn’t a battle at all! It is a victory that is his NOW!! Cancer has been defeated and has no right in his body. As my husband and I were praying for him, I laid my hand on his head, and a rush of tongues flowed forcefully out of me, and then laughter came bubbling out of me. The Bible says, “With joy, we draw from the wells of salvation!” With joy we draw from the wells of divine health and healing… wells of WHOLENESS! We didn’t ASK God to heal him; we just spoke to his body to be healed.  I then told him that I heard the Lord say “Hey, hey, hey man of God, you ARE well!”
On the drive home, my husband and I talked about some of the things we heard well-meaning believers say while we were there. Comments like, “God have mercy on him,” “This battle is not yours, it’s God’s,” “just give it to Him so that He can get the glory,” and “You just have to believe!” Our hearts went out not just for our friend, but also for all the people we heard praying over him. And we talked about how imperative it is that the body of Christ understand what this Gospel of Grace is.


We talked about how vital it is that we know what this FINISHED work of Christ looks like with skin on! In other words, what we look like as the embodiment of ALL that is FINISHED. Because when our understanding changes, our words will change…. the language of FINISHED will just overflow!


And instead of well-meaning “soulish” words… which are powerless words, we will say what God says, “IT IS FINISHED!” And those words will release the dunamis, miracle-working power into our lives, and the lives of those around us. And the sick will realize they ARE healed, the captives will know they ARE no longer imprisoned, the blind will know they can see, and the oppressed will walk free.
A friend recently asked me, if once we understand what it means to be FULLY redeemed, will we see different results now in this life? I believe we will! We were created to live a FINISHED life, and we were definitely designed to see the results of it NOW. We were created to live a life of WHOLENESS. A life of nothing missing, nothing broken, nothing lacking in EVERY area of our lives was designed to be our everyday experience. Our experiences are an outpouring (NOT an outpouring from heaven) but an outpouring from the Christ-life within us. In other words, the FINISHED works of Christ flowing THROUGH us into manifestation.


What does any of this have to do with a chapter on salvation?  Everything! Because salvation is much more than going to heaven. Jesus said in Luke 5:23, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’”  Salvation and healing are one and the same. Jeremiah 17:4 says, “Heal me O Lord and, I will be healed;  Save me and I will be saved. For You are my praise.” We are saved; therefore, we are healed.


The word praise means to tell the story! We are to tell His story, WHICH IS also our story. IN Him, we are healed, AND we are saved! His story (AND yours) is that BOTH were done simultaneously — when He saved you, He healed you… boom, bam, DONE, FINISHED all at once!!
So as I worked on my weekly Romans Bible study the next morning after visiting our friend, what jumped out at me was Romans 1:16. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone believing–both to Jewish first, and to Greek.” And then what flowed out of me just as forcefully as the rush of tongues when I prayed for my friend, was this chapter on salvation.  
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. He was confident in the gospel’s power to result in salvation to everyone who believed. Please don’t read that as conditional IF and THEN language! The result of the Gospel was salvation to ALL men. FINISHED! And as we continue to learn more and more about this Gospel of Grace, about the FINISHED work of Christ, it results in salvation (Greek sozo = wholeness) manifesting more and more in our lives. Paul FULLY trusted in the truth that this Gospel of Grace had the power to result in salvation in our lives. The problem is if the gospel has the power to do that (and it does!), then why aren’t more people living lives that reflect salvation?


And I guess we would have to answer the question with a couple of questions. First “What do we believe about the Gospel?”


Do we believe that this Gospel of Grace (this nearly-too-good-to-be-true good news of Christ and His FINISHED work) has dunamis, miracle-working power from God to manifest salvation in our lives? What do we believe about this Gospel of Grace and about salvation? Is the Gospel just a sin focused message that we preach to unbelievers so they will repent? Is salvation about making heaven someday and missing hell?


And the second question, “What actually is salvation?”


Salvation is sozo in the Greek. Meaning healed, delivered, WHOLE in every area of life, nothing missing, nothing broken! It is ALL of the FINISHED work of Christ. Salvation isn’t that we go to heaven someday, BUT salvation is NOW. We are designed to reflect sozo or salvation NOW —  healed, delivered, WHOLENESS in every area of our lives. And if our lives look contrary to that (as in sick, chaotic, fearful, broken, or lack of any kind) the problem may be our understanding of salvation.

 
There is nothing we did to receive salvation. It was ALL His doing. Our “receiving” it, or our “aha moment” is simply yes and thank you! And with that simple yes, we enjoy the benefits of salvation — healing, prosperity, deliverance, and WHOLENESS.


This understanding ALREADY exists in our hearts, i.e., in the mind of Christ. We simply need an awakening of revelation IN us. Paul told the Romans in his letter, that there are some things we should know in Romans 6:6-7.

  • Knowing that Adam (the old man) was crucified at the cross — ALL of Adam!
  • Knowing that the body of sin (ALL sin) was done away with at the cross. Knowing that we are no longer slaves to sin.  
  • Knowing that since Christ was raised from the dead, He dies no more.
  • And knowing that death no longer has dominion over Him. 

We really do already know these things in our hearts. We just simply need to relax and rest in this knowing, in the mind of Christ…. just awakening to it.


Paul said these are things we know. The word know isn’t an imperative or a command to do something. It’s just a statement of fact – we KNOW! In other words, we understand that sin and death are a non-issue because Jesus did away with sin and completely defeated death. FINISHED! It’s an awakening to the truth that because we are IN Him, what’s true of Him is also true of us.  This is who we are — a new creation, no longer identifying with Adam, no longer slaves to sin, BUT raised from the dead and dying no more, and death (and its effects) have no dominion over us! Salvation (Greek sozo) is living as Paul said in Galatians 2:20….. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”


Salvation is His life, the Christ life IN us — the newness of life IN us. And as we awaken to it and realize it’s who we are, our lives will reflect His salvation – healed, delivered, and WHOLE in every area of our lives!


Sadly, instead of seeing ourselves as WHOLE, we focus on our brokenness.  Believing that it is our brokenness that glorifies God and thinking that He broke us, or allowed us to be broken, so that He can use us. Or so that we can grow and mature in Christ. And then we find Old Testament Scriptures to identify with that way of thinking. Scriptures like…..

  • Psalm 51:17“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you God, will not despise.”  
  • And Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

BUT that was David’s cry! We’re not David! We are IN Christ. Jesus was broken for us, AS us!  We may have, at times, felt broken, or believed that we were broken. But we are not and never have been broken — we are WHOLE in every area of life. And we were made WHOLE two thousand years ago! But instead of seeing ourselves as ALREADY delivered, we’ve been crying out for God to deliver us, save us, and have mercy. Identifying with Scriptures like these…..

  • Psalm 34:4, I sought the LORD, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.
  • Psalm 34:17, The righteous cry and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.
  • And Psalm 107:6, Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.  

Again this was David, in Adam. It’s the cry of the old man of the flesh! He cried out for God to continually deliver him and to act on his behalf. To rescue him from trouble. We don’t have to cry out and ask God for what He’s already done.  We were delivered 2000 years ago! For us, it’s just who we are — Delivered (past tense, FINISHED)!! The word delivered in Hebrew is natsal and means to be delivered, snatched away, or rescued out of and into. It’s not just being rescued FROM something but INTO something. Colossians 1:13 says, “We HAVE BEEN delivered FROM the dominion of darkness INTO the Kingdom of His dear Son.” 


David cried out for continual deliverance. We are to simply live IN the deliverance that is ALREADY ours IN Christ.


Divine health is part of our deliverance — part of our inheritance, part of our salvation. We were delivered out of sickness and disease, which was in the dominion of darkness, and into health, WHOLENESS, IN Him. But instead of our lives reflecting health, instead of seeing ourselves as ALREADY healed and WHOLE, we are often sick and diseased.  Either believing that God allows it — or by allowing a defeated enemy to attack us. And/or believing that He uses sickness and disease to teach us or to perfect us. And we find things like Paul’s thorn in the flesh or the sufferings of Job to wrongly validate our beliefs.


And these wrong beliefs affect everything in our lives. It affects how we see God. And affects how we pray for others — asking or begging God to do what He’s already done IN Christ, instead of declaring it is FINISHED!  It affects the quality of our own lives… how we see ourselves and, consequently, how we experience life. And wrong beliefs also affect how we understand and interpret Scripture.


For example, after reading what Paul says we should know in Romans 6, we should read chapter 7 from that knowing. But we get to Romans 7 and carry over our wrong beliefs, and we misinterpret this chapter. We read chapter 7 not realizing that since we are a new creation, we CANNOT be a wretched man, sold into slavery to sin, or a carnal man. Therefore, Paul couldn’t possibly be talking present tense about himself in the present tense! And he couldn’t be talking about us IN Christ!! How do we know this? Because it contradicts other things that he said earlier in Romans. For instance…


Romans 1:9, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers.” 


Paul said that he served God IN his spirit and IN the gospel (good news) of His Son. That isn’t a description of a wretched man! But because we sometimes struggle in wanting to do what’s right and not doing it, we WRONGLY identify with the wretched man. Forgetting that Paul told us in Romans 6 that Christ is our identity.  


Romans 6:3-4, “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
We were co-crucified, co-buried, co-resurrected, and co-ascended. And we are NOW co-seated with Him in heavenly places. We are NOT sold into slavery to sin – and NEVER have been! We are NOT under the dominion of death — and NEVER have been! The Gospel is the power of God unto — or resulting in salvation — for ALL mankind. Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.”


Paul’s message in Romans, and ALL his epistles, is NOT that we should struggle between sin and grace. His message is NOT that we have two natures at war on the inside of us — a little bit of Adam and a little bit of Christ – an old man and a new man.


NO! His message was and is INSIDE YOU IS CHRIST.


This is his message to ALL men. This is the message that Christ taught him in the wilderness. And this is the message the Father commissioned him to take to the Gentiles after he awakens to Christ revealed IN him.  It’s the message of the Gospel — Colossians 1:27b, “The glorious riches of the mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory.”  And that revelation of Christ IN you — is enough to manifest salvation (Greek sozo – WHOLENESS) in your life. Inside you is Christ. Therefore IN you, AS you and flowing THROUGH you is WHOLENESS because He is the Master of Wholeness.  


Isaiah 9:6 (The Voice Translation), “His name? His name we’ll know in many ways— He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing, Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace.”


The message of the gospel is, inside you is Christ — therefore IN you, AS you, and flowing THROUGH you is deliverance because the Deliverer is IN you. Inside you is Christ — therefore IN you, AS you, flowing THROUGH you is divine health because the Healer lives in you – He is the health of your body. In Exodus, it says He is the LORD God our Healer. In Hebrew, the root of Healer is rapha) meaning wholeness. In other words, He is the LORD God, our WHOLENESS IN us!! WE LACK NOTHING IN CHRIST! ALL is FINISHED!


We MUST get this! We MUST begin to read and understand Scripture from Christ’s point of view… from a view of FINISHED!  Because this Gospel, this message of Christ IN us that Paul preached was given to him by Christ Himself. So it’s essential to ask yourself how Christ sees you. He sees us saved or sozo’d — healed, delivered, WHOLE in EVERY area of our life. And since He sees us that way, we need to see ourself that way as well — we need to agree with Christ!


So, when your body doesn’t look healed — you need to still see yourself as healthy and whole because He is Health and Wholeness IN you. When your finances or relationships appear to be lacking — you need to choose to see them as abundant and whole… nothing missing, nothing broken. Then speak to those areas to line up with what God says to be true about you. Begin to say what He says… you are saved or sozo’d — you are healed, delivered, made WHOLE in every area of life: spiritually, physically, mentally, socially, and financially.   Sickness, disease, poverty, and lack were all defeated in Christ. They have no power unless we give them power!


How do we give them power? By having a sin consciousness. Because death (and all of its effects: sickness, disease, etc.) can only reign through sin. They have no authority in your life! We have been given ALL power and ALL authority over ALL things. The book of Romans is NOT a book about sin. It’s about our new lives IN Him. It’s the Christ life, IN us. Resurrection life IN us!


Who I am IN Christ is part of my daily confession. Confession is homologeo in Greek. It is my agreement with Abba. It is my co-thinking, and co-speaking WITH Him what He says about me!! Romans 7 is about a frustrated life before Christ enslaved to the law (before the cross) BUT the resurrection changed EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!


Hosea 6:2, “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.”  


Isaiah 66:8, “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”


Romans 7 was not written to us as believers. It was not written to the church, or, for that matter, to anyone after the cross! Romans 7:1 says, “Or are you ignorant brothers (for I speak to those knowing the law), that the law rules over the man for as long as the time he is alive?” Paul is speaking to a transitional generation of Jews — teaching them to how to transition from Moses to Christ.  The law was never for Gentiles (non-Jews) or any Jews born after the cross. We (born after the Cross) were NEVER slaves to sin. We were NEVER in Adam. ALL of Adam died at the cross. Jesus was the LAST ADAM!!


PROBLEM:We thought we were born in Adam with a sin nature! And we think sin is something we still have to master and rule over. Still thinking that we have to maintain a victory (stand in faith) against sickness, disease, etc. Thinking sin and death are a normal part of our lives.


TRUTH: Sin and death NEVER had dominion over us. The effects of death – sickness, disease, poverty, lack, fear, etc., had NO dominion over us EVER!


The key to walking in this new life IN Christ where salvation is manifested, where we have health, freedom, and wholeness in ALL areas of our life, is found in Romans 6. It’s found in our knowing what is true about us. Romans 6:6-10 says, “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
The key is in knowing these things about us and reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God IN Christ.  And realizing these things are not just about yourself, but about ALL mankind.  In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul said he knows no man any longer after the flesh — he goes on to say that it’s because, IN Christ, we are a new creation (a new humanity). The old has passed away and the new has come (or been born). Verse 14 says that he sees all men as new creation IN Christ and not as the old man (in Adam) because if One died for ALL, then ALL died.


We are sons and daughters of God. Our lives are a reflection of our Daddy’s life.  I’m a Daddy’s girl — just like Him — made in His image and likeness. The exact representation of His glory — just like Jesus. Because As He is so am I in this world.


AS HE IS…… He has NO sickness! NO disease! NO poverty! NO fear, lack, depression, addiction, etcetera!!


SO AM I….. therefore, I have NO sickness! NO disease! NO poverty! NO fear, lack, depression, addiction, etcetera!!


His nature is my nature. I am love because He is love. I am goodness because He is goodness. Love and goodness are not adjectives that describe Him — it’s who He is. Likewise, they’re not adjectives that describe us — it’s who we are! It is Love and Goodness IN us, AS us, flowing THROUGH us!


Paul said he served God IN his spirit IN the gospel (or the good news) of His Son. What is the good news of the Son? IT IS FINISHED. To serve isn’t working FOR God… We’re not a hireling. We’re sons!! Begin to see the word serve as in co-participation and co-union with Him — in your ONENESS with Him. Our serving God is in our co-labor, co-reign, co-life, co-grace, and co-union. Our serving is in our co-participation of what is FINISHED. Our serving, is the FACE TO FACE fellowship we have with God IN Christ.


We are ONE…we are bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh.  Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”  We are alive in Him and dead to sin!  Sin, sickness, disease, poverty, fear, lack, etc., NOT a part of our lives — NOT co-existing with us. Why? Because we are filled to the FULL with the fullness of the Godhead. We are ONE with Them. FACE TO FACE!!


And that fullness doesn’t leave room for anything else. We are complete, FINISHED in Christ. We lack nothing!


BUT a mistaken identity causes us to think we are lacking. And we continue to go to the Father and cry out for Him to deliver us, to cleanse us, or forgive us from sin. And the Father’s response to us is, “What sin? You have been set free from sin. You ARE alive IN Me.” We cry out for healing for our bodies from sickness and disease! His response — “What sickness, what disease? What cancer?!? You are alive IN Me, and I AM the health of your body. You are healed, delivered, WHOLE in EVERY area of your life!” Like with Adam, He also says to us, “Who told you that you were naked, and lacking anything?”


We lack nothing IN Christ. We have been given every spiritual blessing IN Him, and He has given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness.  IN Him, we lack nothing!


Awake to righteousness! Awake to who you are IN Christ! Saved, healed, delivered, WHOLE in every area of life (spiritual, physical, mental, social, and financial)… NOTHING missing, NOTHING broken!  Reigning over EVERY defeated thing that would attempt to rise up against you (in your thinking). The truth is that it has NO power to rise — every enemy 100% DEFEATED in Christ!!  Sickness, disease, poverty, etc., have nothing in you because Christ is IN you, and you are IN Him. ONE with the Father, Son, and Spirit.


Alive IN Him! And dead to everything that is not of Him!!


It’s not that we don’t pray for people, and lay hands on the sick — of course, we do!  Jesus said in Revelation that He is the One who IS and WAS and IS TO COME. He is an ever-present Healer, Deliverer, etc. It’s just that we need to go higher – we need to have a BIGGEER revelation of this Gospel of Grace …. of His FINISHED work IN us. We need to see everything through the lens of IT IS FINISHED! 100% DONE!


Manna was provided in the wilderness for the children of Israel, BUT it wasn’t God’s best for them. He is a GOOD Father and always provides what we need. But manna wasn’t what He wanted them to experience forever… He wanted them to cross over into the Promise Land.  To grab hold of His promises to them! It was theirs and belonged to them. Likewise, the FINISHED work of Christ is ours — it belongs to us. It is our Promise Land! He is still our Healer, but His desire is that we walk in the fullness of health that belongs to us — in our WHOLENESS! He is still our Deliverer, but His passion is that we see ourselves as COMPLETELY delivered and walk in the fullness of freedom that is ours.


We’re not trying to get healed. We’re not trying to earn God’s favor. We’re not trying to get more increase in our lives. It’s not IF we obey or IF we have more faith, THEN we will have more favor, obtain our healing, or walk in abundance and increase.  NO! We ALREADY have it ALL IN Christ!


We are not struggling to get anything from Him. We have it ALL ALREADY IN us! FINISHED!


We just simply need to BE who we ALREADY are  — image and likeness of Him!! Alive IN Him. It’s Him… His life, IN us, As us, and flowing THROUGH us. We are saved (Greek sozo) — healed, delivered, WHOLE in every area of our lives. Nothing missing, nothing broken! NOW in this life! Because He is Salvation In us, As us, and THROUGH us.


suggestion: For more on living in WHOLENESS NOW in this earth in our physical bodies, I suggest you read my first book, It Is Finished.


An excerpt from the chapter Paul’s Gospel……


We were created in His image and likeness, we are reigning sons, made a “little lower” than God (Psalms 8:5), crowned with glory and honor. The word crowned in Psalm 8:5 is an imperfect verb and reads as will crown. Mankind had forgotten who they were. Genesis 1:26 reveals that man was crowned (given dominion) in the garden. But then after the fall, they had forgotten they were reigning sons, and creation no longer responded to them…. “the ground no longer yielded.” Man lost their dominion and began to forget his origin – BUT God did not!


Hebrews 2 tells us, “BUT we see Jesus!” The Incarnation not only restored us to what Adam and Eve had lost or had been but restored us to what Christ the Last Adam is — a glorified, incorruptible, immortal human participating in the divine nature.


Hebrews 2 quotes Psalm 8 and puts the word crowned in the aorist indicative tense…. A past tense, FINISHED fact!  I love the past tenses of Scripture. FINISHED! Jesus restored to us once again (what was always ours) dominion or reigning. We are crowned… adorned as victors… with glory and honor and with dominion. Ruling over the works of His hands with ALL things in subjection under our feet!
And just in case we didn’t understand the vastness of our dominion, the writer of Hebrews adds, “He left NOTHING un-subject to him.” Nothing in this verse is a strong word. It means NOT ONE THING!


Leaving NO exceptions… ALL things = ALL things!


When I wrote my last chapter, a good friend was in the hospital with inoperable stomach cancer. We prayed for him and fully expected him to recover. Unfortunately, he died a few days later. It truly rocked me to my core! Steve and I had fully expected him to walk out of that hospital fully recovered. I don’t know why he didn’t. And please don’t say, “oh but he did, not just in the way you expected.” We believe in experiencing health and wholeness NOW not after we die. Death is not our savior, Jesus is and we completely, 100% know that we are meant to experience His FINISHED work NOW in this life. So, again, I don’t know why that wasn’t Manny’s experience. And as I said it truly rocked me to my core! But my anchor is hope and when circumstances rock me and threaten to cause me to drift into the unknown, I simply fall back I what I do know! And what I do know is He is the Healer and divine health and wholeness is ours to freely walk in.


Since then, Genesis 1:28 has been on my mind. It says, that God blessed mankind and said subdue and have dominion. We reign as sons, and our lives aren’t subject to sin, death, sickness, disease, and poverty. Our new life IN Christ is resurrection life. And resurrection life continually quickens our physical bodies. We are seated with Him in heavenly places. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us that He is seated far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name named, not only in this age but the one to come. And then he says we are His body and the fullness of Him who fills all in all.


We ARE His body!! We ARE the fullness of Him!! He is IN ALL of us… the FULLNESS of who He is… a reigning Son! We are to bring into subjection (or subdue) ALL things (Psalm 8; Hebrews 2) and rule over them. As a son, made in His image and likeness, we reign in life and ALL things are subject to us. What are ALL things? Everything Jesus defeated and stripped of power is in subjection to us… under our feet. Sickness, disease, poverty, lack, fear, etc. IN Christ, we have peace with God. We have WHOLENESS — nothing missing, nothing broken in our lives, WHOLE in every area (spiritually, physically, financially, socially, and mentally). Cancer is defeated; therefore, cancer is under our feet because we are reigning sons. Sin was stripped of ALL power; therefore, sin is under our feet.

What is peace?

I’m hearing a lot about peace these days. Makes sense I guess that in a world right now where there seems to be nothing but chaos, division, anger, hostility, tension, etc., people really want to FEEL peace. And Eastern Mysticism and other philosophical self help religions promise inner peace through meditation, yoga, or some other formula. But is peace an inner feeling or an emotion? And if it is what happens when we don’t “feel” it? Don’t get me wrong I have had moments when I have felt absolute peacefulness! But the thing about a feeling or emotion is that it ebbs or flows depending on our circumstances, our atmosphere, or what we do to maintain it.

But is that the peace that God says we have?

The good news is that peace is a FINISHED work!! There is nothing you can do to get it, or get more of it. There is nothing you need to do to maintain it. And there is nothing you can do to lose it! It is independent of your feelings or emotions. You have ALL peace right now! It doesn’t ebb and flow, it is constant, secure, and anchored IN Him. Isaiah 9:6 says that Jesus is the prince of peace! The word prince is sar (שַׂר) in Hebrew and means chief, ruler, master, lord, keeper. The root of the word is sarar (שָׂרַר) and means to have dominion. He is the Keeper of peace, it’s under His authority and dominion. Peace is His and He gave it to you!

Romans 5:1 says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a beautiful truth….. we have peace with God!! It’s ours! Doesn’t matter if you feel peace… you have it! Doesn’t matter if circumstances are good or bad… you have peace with God! You don’t have to follow after religions of mysticism such as Buddhism, New Age, Kabbalah, etc…. you have peace with God! And Paul said we have it through our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s it! You don’t have it through any other source. He is the prince or keeper of peace and our justification by His faith = we have peace with God!

The word peace is eiréné in Greek and means to join, to be set at one again. In carpentry it is referred to as the dove-tail joint, which is the strongest joint. And the word with is pros in Greek meaning face-to-face. Peace is the unhindered enjoyment of our face-to-face friendship that we have with God IN Christ Jesus!! It is our oneness with Father, Son, and Spirit, IN Christ.

And this peace is a fruit of the Spirit. I like the Mirror Bible’s translation of Galatians 5:22…..

Your spirit effortlessly bears the rich harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, integrity, gentleness and self control; all these individually reveal the irresistible attraction of the inner-life of our design. (They are not fading, fragile emotions produced by willpower. This is the fruit of what you know in your spirit to be true about you. Fruit is the effortless, spontaneous expression of the character of the tree. Rest in the awareness and assurance of who you really are!)

I love that. Peace is not a fading, fragile emotion produced by willpower. Peace is the effortless, spontaneous expression of Father, Son, and Spirit IN you. That’s good news! That’s the gospel of peace!

IT IS FINISHED!!

Asking and Believing… aka using our faith!

Today I was meditating on Mark 11:24: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

I love when Abba breathes on a Scripture, causing it to come to life in us!! 

Asking and believing are present tense verbs (present and continual). And that is exactly what we’ve been taught to do with this verse… ask and believe, ask and believe, and ask and believe again. Over, and over, and over UNTIL we receive what we have been asking and believing for.

But the word receive is aorist… in other words, it’s a FINISHED tense; DONE! 

We’re not being told in this verse to ask and believe until our faith is strong enough to receive what we’ve been asking and believing for. No, what we are to understand in this verse is that when we come to the realization that we have already received, then we will have it. In other words, when we understand that receiving is a already a FINISHED work. 2 Peter 1:3 says that we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness! There isn’t anything else to receive! We’ve been given ALL.

So, when we realize that what we have been “asking and believing” for ALREADY exists (eimi) IN us, then we will HAVE it. Or in the Greek. The word have is our English translation of the Greek word eimi meaning to be, or to exist, I AM. 

What have you been asking and believing for? Healing, finances, peace, wisdom, etc.?? Realize that is already a FINISHED work IN you, begin seeing yourself as I AM HEALED, I AM PROSPEROUS, I AM FULL OF PEACE, WISDOM, LOVE, ETC. and it will manifest in your life... it will BE!

~ Robin

Response to Covid-19!

Simple truth….

When He died – YOU died
When He was buried – YOU were buried
When He rose – YOU rose
When He ascended – YOU ascended
AND where He is seated – YOU are seated!!

SPOILER ALERT — where He is seated there is no Covid-19!!! Likewise where YOU are seated is NO Covid-19!!

GOOD NEWS – Romans 6:11 we ARE (right now – present tense in this life!) dead to sin and alive to God!
Sickness and disease WERE the result of sin and death

THEREFORE – YOU are dead to sickness and disease… YOU are dead to Covid-19 AND alive to God… alive (right now – present tense in this life!) with His life and health flowing through you!! As He is SO ARE YOU IN THIS WORLD!

KEY – Just believe it and say no! NO to sickness and disease! NO to Covid-19!!

What Grace Communicates…

My 21-year-old daughter had to write an essay for one of her classes.  It is so beautifully written (and no that isn’t mom bias!!) that I thought I would share it with all of you.  Enjoy!

THE RADICAL LOVE OF JESUS – WHAT GRACE COMMUNICATES

The most significant transforming truth I’ve come to understand this past year and a half has been the radical love of God. It’s a simple reality that I’ve claimed to know and encounter and yet something I’ve realized is that I knew absolutely nothing about the radical love of our Jesus. We often take the spotlight off of how radical it is and make it about ourselves. We make it about our sin, and our separation, and our need for a bridge back to God. But the crushing reality the Holy Spirit brought me to is that the cross was never about my lack or separation. It was always about a bold display of love. A love that cries out “YES!” to His people, “THIS IS WHO YOU ARE TO ME. THIS IS WHO YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN.” Never once was it about a wrath with which I have been taught that my God was bubbling. 

As long as I can remember, I saw the cross as a place where God poured out His judgment, His anger. But how can my God be both consumed by love and also wrath? The two oppose entirely one another! I have been taught that sin was so offensive to this holy, all-powerful God that He could not enter or be near it. How ridiculous is that? How can an all-powerful, strong God not be near something as little as my sin- when Romans describes sin as just ‘missing the mark’! How can such a loving God be offended by my merely missing the mark? That sounds like a sensitive man, a man who isn’t strong at all. I’ve come to learn that isn’t God whatsoever. My earthly father is never offended when I miss it! He embraces me even more, pouring the truth of who I actually am into me. I can’t imagine how much more my heavenly Father does that to me! Not only is He not offended by sin, but I also go as far as to say that He doesn’t even care about it. And I say that because the truth is: He cares about our hearts. The law, the cross- it was all to point out that our hearts were far from Him after the garden, but His was never far from us.

The garden has become one of my favorite stories. Holy Spirit has completely shifted my view of it! I had been so used to hearing an angry God call out to Adam after he had ‘sinned,’ “WHERE ARE YOU?!” When what happened was Adam hid, and a loving, tender Father cried out, “My son? Where have you gone? You are far from me!” All Adam did was miss the mark of his original design! In my relearning of this story, I found the word ‘sin’ isn’t even in it. The word used in the garden story is ‘disobeyed’ which is the word shemah in Hebrew. It’s ‘to listen.’ Nowhere in this story is God angry towards any ‘sin.’ In fact, He is overwhelmed by a passionate, zealous love that says, “I WILL NOT LOSE YOU TO YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU FAILED TO LISTEN.” The Father never separated Himself from humanity out of anger or disgust toward his son’s now presumed ‘unholiness.’ God sought humanity out! God went looking for Adam because the view of the son had not changed. What changed was our view of the Father. Here is where we see a passionate love story unfold.

When I came to these conclusions, my theology as a whole was on tilt. How then did the law, the wild stories from the Old Testament fit in with all this??? For if my God is the ‘same yesterday, today and forever,’ how could He be angry in the beginning stories of the Bible and pure love after a day of judgment toward His son? He couldn’t. So I had to go searching out what wrath and anger meant because those are words used in scripture! Here began my journey of grace- my journey of actually understanding the radical love of Jesus.

As I was reading up on this, seeking out, essentially, who God is- I discovered the meaning behind the word ‘wrath.’ I found the word used most often in the New Testament is the word orge, which means, ‘any strong passion.’ It’s the origin of the English words, ‘orgy’ and ‘orgasm.’ I would say those are definitely not words having to do with anger! I would even say the latter has to do with a response of overflowing love towards another person! I read a book by a man named Steve McVey called Beyond an Angry God. In his book, he describes ‘wrath’ like this: 

‘If a small child picked up a snake and his dad ran toward him screaming, grabbed him up and was slapping his hand, the child would perceive it as anger but in actuality, what he would be experiencing would be “fierce love.”‘

I discovered that the word wrath or orge is a violent love towards anything that harms us- such as sin and death. I called my mom, absolutely undone by everything I was learning. I felt as though I had no idea what the actual purpose of the life of Christ was until this very moment. She shared with me that the root word of orge is orego. It means ‘to stretch oneself out to touch or grasp something.’ This is what Jesus did toward us! The radical love of Jesus stretched Himself out (on the cross) to grasp us! Another meaning of orego is, “to yearn after, to desire, to stretch toward (to pull towards). “The Father in His love for us, desired us and stretched toward us (through Jesus), pulling us to Himself.”

Writing all of this has me wholly undone yet again. I find myself in tears as the reality of the garden married to the reality of the cross comes to settle within my heart. I have come to know the heart of the radical love of Jesus. It’s Hebrews 12:9, “His jealousy over us burns like fire.” It’s Hebrews 2:6, “Somewhere in the scriptures it is written, “What is it about the human species that God cannot get them out of his mind? What does he see in the son of man, that so captivates his gaze?” It’s God leaving the garden with Adam. It’s the radical, “YES! YOU ARE MINE!” of the cross! It’s the law fulfilling the emptiness within itself- crying out for an example of how to actually reach God and thus leading us to the realization we never lost the relationship with Him! 

This long journey has offended my mind and my theology. This truth has unraveled me completely! I feel like Paul, “Overwhelmed by what grace communicates, I bow my knees in awe before the Father.” (Eph. 3:14 Mirror Bible) My heart cry is now, “The secret is out! His cherished love dream now unfolds in front of our very eyes.” (Eph. 1:9 Mirror Bible) Grace communicates my origin. Grace communicates that I am the very dream of the Creator. Grace communicates I never lost right standing with God. Grace is not an excuse for me to do as I please but causes my heart to shemah- to listen and respond to all He is and says. This is grace. This is the radical love of Jesus.

Mankind never had a sin nature

Mankind has only ever had ONE nature… the nature of God (Elohim – Father, Son, and Spirit). We weren’t born with a “sin nature” and then miraculously when we believed in Jesus, He took that nature out and gave us His nature! Although for years, that is what I believed and taught!!

Genesis 1:27: So God (Elohim – Father, Son & Holy Spirit) created man in His own image, in the image of God (Elohim – Father, Son, & Spirit) created He him; male and female He created them.

ALL mankind, male and female, were created in the image and likeness of God — in the NATURE of Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Genesis 2:7: Then the LORD God (Yahweh Elohim) formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the Breath of Lives (plural indicating Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and the man became a living being.

He (or really THEY – the Godhead, Elohim) breathed Their divine breath, breathed ALL that they are, Their very nature INTO man. One nature – God’s nature IN man!

Yes, man sinned… and still sins. But not because of a “sin nature!” We have only ever had the nature of the Father, Son, & Spirit. From the garden until today the problem hasn’t been a “sin nature” but rather man believing that he is something other than image and likeness, or the nature of God. And then his behavior flows out of who he believes himself to be. Just like God’s actions flow out of who He is… for example, He is love therefore He loves. David said it like this in 119:68: You are good and do good. 

Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinks in his heart so is he! The word thinks is the word sha’ar in Hebrew meaning to reason, to calculate, to estimate. It also means gatekeeper!

Adam didn’t pass on a sin nature to mankind. If that were true then Cain wouldn’t have had the choice to use his authority over sin. He would’ve simply been yielding to an inherent nature of sin But God said to Cain in Genesis 4:7 “…. sin lies at the door. And it’s desire is for you AND YOU SHOULD RULE (HAVE DOMINION) OVER IT!”

He did NOT say to Cain, “I wish you could rule over it Cain.” Or “I wish you had dominion like Adam once had, but unfortunately, now all you have is the sin nature that your father passed onto you.” NO! He reminded Cain that he indeed had authority over sin. In other words sin was not inherent in him! He reminded him of his true nature… likeness and image of God, with dominion and authority over sin.

Cain was the GATEKEEPER of his heart, of his entire being… He had the power to choose to walk in the nature of God or yield to a distorted image of himself (sin).

Wake up to who you’ve ALWAYS been — nature of Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, Their likeness and image, with dominion over ALL the works of Their hands and ALL things under your feet!! You don’t have nor have you ever had a sin nature! You are crowned with glory and honor!

My take on John 8 – woman caught in adultery

Instead of seeing the face of God and feeling His breath of life, the Pharisees were staunch in their wrong beliefs… in the God that Moses presented in the law. Believing God was like them, demanding wrath and justice instead of mercy and love.

So they brought a woman that they caught in adultery and threw her at Jesus’ feet demanding her death because their societal justice (law) required it. But the Father, expressing Himself in and through the Son, simply looked at both the woman and her accusers with eyes of compassion and love and began to draw in the dust.

I don’t believe He was stalling for time, nor was He writing the sins of the accusers as some have suggested. But in writing in the dust He was declaring Jeremiah’s words to them.

We may not have made the connection to Jeremiah 17 when we read John 8, but the Jews of His day would have seen Him writing in the dust and asking who is without sin and they would’ve made the connection.

They would realized that they were not without “sin.” They had forsaken Him (Jer. 17:13)… that they had abandoned Him in their understanding and had departed from Him. They had turned away from Him and served “other gods.” It says of them in Jeremiah that they “shall be ashamed.”

These scribes and Pharisees who were used to honor and respect from all, probably felt great shame as they realized they weren’t as “sinless” as they thought they were and probably with a tremendous feeling of defeat…. Feeling the sting of self-condemnation, they dropped their stones and walked away.

But He wasn’t pointing out their shortcomings by writing in the dust. He IS love, and all He can pour forth is love. He IS a life-giving spirit, and all He can release is life. These Pharisees and Scribes were His very own! He loved them and desired that they walk in abundant life.

When He would say things to them that we think were harsh rebukes of disapproval and judgment, things like “Woe, to you hypocrites,” it was the cry of the Father. In Greek, it is a word uttered in grief. In Hebrew it is the word oy which means a lamentation (a passionate expression of grief; weeping), it is a crying out after; and its ROOT is to crave or much desire or long after; to covet.

And a hypocrite means an actor, a pretender; one who decides, speaks and acts under a false part; — one who is walking in a mistaken identity… not walking in their true nature, who they were created to be.

When He spoke to them, it was always with a passionate longing after them. It was rooted in His desire for them to walk in who He created them to be. Instead of hearing “judgment” and “disapproval” we are to hear with ears of LOVE. Love that says “this is not who you are so come back to the knowledge of who you always have been IN Me — image and likeness of God.”

Jesus writing in the dust was a declaration that this One standing before them, He IS Yahweh, the Hope of Israel and the Fountain of Living Water (Jeremiah 17:13). Jesus was declaring to them and to her the end from the beginning. Saying to them that I AM He who was with God and is God. I AM He who was and is ONE with Father and Spirit….and one with you!!!

Although Scripture doesn’t say it (and it’s pure speculation or imagination on my part), I can see Jesus writing the names of everyone standing there in the dust, just like Jeremiah said. And then the Breath of Life, Himself, gently blowing into the dust breathing life once again on the names of those who had forsaken Him because they had lost their way. Reminding them that He had once breathed into that dust and formed a divine one filled with all of the fullness of God. Formed in Hebrew means completed and connected. Man has always been complete and a connection of heaven and earth… of the realm of spirit in this earth realm.

And this Yahweh would heal them and save them (Jeremiah 17:14) from perishing…. From a living a life of non-existence. He would not leave them in the dust realm! Yes, they had turned away from Him because of Adam’s transgression… forgetting who God was and who they were. But His plans would stand firm, His will before the foundation of the world would be done. They had been created by Him in the very image and likeness of Elohim, and they would once again remember they are gods and live out of that divinity.

Giving An Account to God

I love when the Spirit of God breathes life on a Scripture dispelling all condemnation that we’ve previously had when we read it. I’m captivated by this verse!

Romans 14:12 (Amp.): And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God.

Give an account of himself….. The Amplified Bible says “give an answer in reference to judgment to God”

What is our answer in reference to judgment? John 5:22 The Father judges no one but assigned ALL judgment to the Son. And John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all (judgment) unto me.

We’re not giving an account of all the things we did that were wrong OR right! That’s an Old Covenant mentality!!

What is the account we give to God? His account of us! Made in His image and likeness with ALL dominion over ALL things. Holy, righteous, justified, redeemed, complete, perfect, eternal, divine ones.

The God Account!!

This is why I love looking at Bible verses in the original language….
 So then each of us concerning himself must give an account to God.
~ Romans 14:12 KJV
Greek doesn’t officially say TO God it says THE God (Elohim – Godhead) — some ancient manuscripts don’t have “to God” in this verse.
Let’s tweak this verse a bit to be more Christ centered…..So then, each of us concerning himself must give the Elohim (God) account!
I love that – the God account!!
Account is logos which is lego which means the expressed thoughts of the Father; Jesus is the Logos; In Hebrew it is davar which means to speak things into order;
Concerning is peri which means all around; encompassing every side; covering all the basis;
and give also means to utter, to yield, to receive;
So — Robin’s paraphrase: We will say, we will yield to, we will receive, and we will allow concerning everything about us, concerning every area of our lives what the Father has spoken regarding us in Christ..… the Elohim account!!
What is the Elohim account of your life? Who are you IN CHRIST?
Healed, prosperous, righteous, holy, perfect, complete, victorious, etc…… The Elohim Account!!
We’re not giving an account TO God…. we’re allowing His account of us to be how we see ourselves and others!
Romans 4:12 in The Mirror Bible: Thus the logic of God will find its personal expression in every person.