Brothers and Sisters,

Here is Chapter 11 from Steve Bray's book Living in the Heavenly Realms. This Chapter and the next posting are to be read with all the appendices from The Wy to Eternal Life which start with God's Saving Grace.

Read these without trying to figure it out; do not make a plan as to how to live this way. Begin to believe the Lord about what He is saying. Ask Him to help us receive His Truth and apply it to our lives so that the very life of Jesus Christ will begin to live through us BY FAITH, not by our trying to make it happen.

I hope these chapters help.

a bondslave in Christ Jesus, Dirk




The Christian’s Work – Believing and Yielding

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)

There are two basic elements needed in the relationship between Christ and the believer if God’s eternal purposes are to be fulfilled: the first is communion and the second is cooperation. There can never be true love in any relationship without both communion and cooperation.

Throughout eternity the Son has shared with His Father in the eternal life within the Trinity—that is communion. And when God initiated His wondrous plan of redemption the Son offered Himself as both the Lamb to be slain and as the Intercessor for man—that is cooperation. Similarly, if we are to live as Jesus did, we must enter into this same shared life where there is both an ongoing communion with God in His heavenly life and an offering of ourselves to be used for His purposes.

We must remember that we were specifically created as vessels that God could use to display His life and works in this world. Our one great role is to choose to cooperate with Him so that we may do the “good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

The spiritual man apprehends this truth and appreciates the significance of it. If he is to be fully trained and become like his Master, he sees the need for permitting the Son to live through him. It involves giving the Spirit of God complete possession of his being so that Christ may have full control and unhindered use.
Only when the temple of the body is entirely set apart for God’s purposes—fully consecrated—is it possible to be filled with His Glory. This is what brings the child of God into an experiential knowledge of life in the Trinity, where there is never-ending communion and cooperation with the Lord of Glory.

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you {with everyone sharing in the same life and will}. (John 14:20)

Those who believe in Jesus will yield to every movement of His Spirit. This is the real meaning of faith. It involves dying to the old self-directed way of life. We must be prepared to be as easily moved as a leaf in an open field by the slightest changes in the wind. We surrender ourselves completely to the life that was in Jesus and look to Him in faith to do through us what He has purposed.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes {next}. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

My sheep hear My voice…and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life… (John 10:27-28)

Our work is to yield to Truth and the leading of His Spirit while believing in Him. As the Father did everything through the Son, He is the One who must produce all the good results through our lives. This kind of dependent and trusting faith always receives the reality of what has been promised in the Scriptures.

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29)

Given time, the Lord will manifest His life and works through the members of His body. He waits until we have come to the end of ourselves. His purpose is to bring us to the place where we cease from our own works and begin living by His Spirit alone. It is then that He is able to manifest His life and works in a way that reveals how He is the source of what is being done. He then receives all the glory.
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:21)


The Spirit Filled Life

The Lord has prepared the way for God’s human children to be filled with His Spirit. He did not withhold anything when it comes to this filling. “You may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:19) He commands us to remain filled with His Spirit. Those who refuse to submit to the conditions are living in sin. And the wages of sin is death.

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is…be filled {keep on being filled} with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:17-18)

We will find that the degree to which we are filled with the Spirit is dependent upon the degree to which He controls the things we do. He fully occupies the territory where He has full control. The natural man does not have the Spirit of God, and cannot receive the things of the Spirit, because he wants to remain in control of his own life. The carnal Christian is also limited in what he can receive from the Spirit. In every part of his life where self-will still exists, there is a separation from the Spirit of God. The Spirit cannot fill and occupy that part of the heart. Only when faith is complete, and there has been a real death to the old self-directed way of life {consecration is complete}, is it possible to be completely filled with the Spirit of God.

Human beings were created to walk in the fullness of God’s Spirit. Anyone who falls short of this Spirit-filled life where the Spirit is in full control, is falling short of the glory of God. They have not yet entered into the full salvation of the Lord.
The miraculous crossing of the Red Sea represents the point where the called-out children of God receive His Spirit. Because they choose to come out of Egypt to become Spirit-led sons of God, they are given this precious Gift. He then begins to lead them across the wilderness testing period where He uses His providences to expose the remains of the self-life. The intent is to lead these children of faith to the point where their independent and self-sufficient spirit completely dies. He must prepare them to enter the Sabbath-rest where everyone ceases from their own works. (Heb. 4:9-10) Only then, when there is nothing coming out from the flesh, can they truly become a vessel that God is able to use to display His life and works. “For we are the circumcision, who…have no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil. 3:3)

God permitted His people to bring some of their possessions out of Egypt. He let them depend on these things for a while. He never puts more of a burden on someone than He has prepared them to bear. But the Lord could not take the people into the life of promise until these things were all gone. They had to be brought to a place where they lived wholly by faith in Him. Similarly, God will wait until we have lost all hope in every other temporal support before He lifts us into the heavenly life where He is All in All.

Crossing the Jordon River is represented as passing through a real death to self. There is no other way to enter into the life of promise where God “is All” and “does All.” We are told that the Jordan was backed up to “Adam” when the Israelites crossed the river. (Josh. 3:16) It implies that this supernatural work of God within the heart will take us back to where Adam fell from this heavenly life. He lost the eternal life when he stepped into self-will. We enter into the eternal life by dying to the old self-originated form of life that he passed on to his lineage.

After crossing over the Jordan River the Israelites set up a monument using twelve stones taken from the dry riverbed. The number twelve, one of the perfect numbers, was used by God throughout the Old Testament to represent perfect governmental order. He is revealing in this example how He establishes His perfect government within the heart when this crossing of the Jordan takes place.
The heart is purified when it is filled with God’s Spirit of holy love. It is then that His undivided kingdom is established. Christ sets up His throne in the heart and begins to reign without rival. And it is from under this throne that His ever-flowing “rivers” of Living Water begin to well up into a display of His eternal life. (John 4:14; 7:37-38) We can then begin living for Him here on earth with the same submissiveness in which it is done in heaven.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10)
…The kingdom of God does not come with observation {in the outward world}; nor will they {ever} say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, the kingdom of God is {to be established} within you. (Luke 17:20-21)

It is done! {The eternal Kingdom-life is fully established within the eternal soul.} I am {then} the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. {The One who becomes the source of everything.} I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes {the world and the flesh} shall inherit all things, and I will be his God {becoming his All in All} and he shall be My son. (Rev. 21:6-7)

A Definition of Yielding to God

Yielding to the absolute dominion of God is the key to finding this divine life in the heavenly realms. Yielding is the definite, deliberate, voluntary transference of the control and use of the whole being—spirit, soul and body—from self to Christ, to whom it rightfully belongs by both creation and by purchase. In this complete yielding, Christ is received as the Ruler of our lives. He must become within our life the “Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.” Everything we do is to have its source in Him.

The vessel of our body belongs to God. Consecration does not confer ownership, it presumes it. It is not in order to be His that we yield the vessel entirely to Him, but because we are His. The purchase that He made with His precious blood gives title; delivery simply gives possession. The question is not, “Do I belong to God?” but “Have I yielded the vessel that already belongs to Him?”

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

God gives His Spirit to everyone who comes to Him for salvation and agrees to be a Spirit-led son of God. (Rom. 8:14) But there is still an enemy within the heart that seeks to control the vessel. It wants to live for its own purposes. This Usurper will therefore need to die before it is possible to be filled with Christ’s Spirit and begin enjoying His eternal life in bodily form. Christ must be permitted to establish His undivided throne within the heart before His endless rivers of Living Water can flow out of the inner being.

On the great Day of Judgment there will be no question about who owned the vessel. God created man for the specific purpose of displaying His own life and glory. Because man turned to self-will and separated himself from God, Christ then had to die in order to buy the vessel back. The vessel is now His both by the right of creation and by the right of purchase. He will therefore judge every individual based on what they have done with His property while walking in this world using their free will.

Many have stolen the vessel from God to use it for their own selfish gain and for their own glory. There could not be a worse form of thief. And so we should not be surprised when these thieves are shut out of heaven.

…Do not be deceived. Neither…thieves, nor {a} covetous {person}…will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10)

Christ has the title deed to your life. The price was paid nearly two thousand years ago. It is His by the right of purchase. He shed His own blood to buy back the vessel. There is only one question that remains: Have you surrendered it fully to Him so that He may use it as He pleases? And let us remind you, He already has plans for its use. (Eph. 2:10) But He cannot fulfill His purposes until you have fully surrendered yourself to be directed by His Spirit in everything you do.

While Christ has the right to take the property back by force, His way is to move individuals by love so they will freely surrender the vessel to Him. He therefore beseeches each one of us by the innumerable mercies of God to yield ourselves to Him without reserve.

The True Meaning of Worship

The only way to worship God “in spirit and truth” is by offering the vessel to Him to be filled with His life and Glory. This becomes quite clear once we can see how Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) When we are living through Him, and His Living Word becomes an innate part of our life, we are then able to truly worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” This is the kind of worshippers that God is now seeking in this age of fulfillment. “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit…” (Phil. 3:3) It implies that we live under His control and through His power. There is no other way to truly worship God.

In contrasting two translations of Romans 12:1, we can learn a little more about the meaning of true worship. While each version refers to the same basic truth, we find a little different insight into what is implied.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom 12:1 NIV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom. 12:1 NKJV)

Simply stated, until you have presented your body to God as a living sacrifice you are not yet truly worshiping Him, regardless of what you do on Sunday. True worship of God begins when you permit Him to manifest His life and works through your body. This presenting of yourself to be used by Him as He pleases is both your “spiritual act of worship” and your “reasonable service.” And until this absolute surrender has taken place, you are still bowing down to and worshiping Satan’s self-directed form of life.

You cannot expect God to be impressed with the praises that may come out of your mouth during Sunday services while you have remained a “squatter” in possession of His property. He will not honor anyone by filling the temple of their body with His Glory until it is fully consecrated to Him. And you will not have a true capacity to worship Him in “spirit and truth,” as the truth was revealed through Jesus, until you are filled.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them {providing access to the light of life through faith}…that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:22-23, 26)

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…that you may be filled with all the fullness of God {filled with His Spirit}. (Eph. 3:17, 19)

The requirement of yielding yourself to God to be filled with His life and Glory should not be considered as something miserable or negative. What you need to realize is that this entire surrender to the Lord provides something that is infinitely greater in worth than the vessel. You will gain an entrance into the infinite riches of the eternal life. And there is no end to where that can take you. Why not give your poor, weary and thirsting soul a break by dying to the world and entering into this life in the heavenly realms?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Eph. 1:3)

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is… Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:1-3)

What on earth can compare with these promises? And how could anyone go on thinking they are on their way to heaven while refusing to enter into this heavenly life today? May you see with your spiritual eyes what it means to be a child of the living God and grasp with the hand of faith what He has made available to those who love Him!

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)

God leaves no loopholes in this matter of yielding. He has clearly specified the measure of this required surrender, and it reaches out to include every part of your body. “So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Rom 6:19) It is all-inclusive. He is speaking about every part of you. Nothing is omitted and nothing is exempt. Every part of your body needs to be set apart as His own personal possession to be used as He pleases. Like the handwriting on the wall, His words become quite clear to those who have “eyes” to see: “Thou art mine.”

This yielding includes your mind, your heart, your affections, your will, your home, your children, your possessions, your occupation, your friendships, your time, your money and all your plans. To hold something back from God is to reject His will for your life. Do you think that you will be in a position to justify yourself on the great Day of Judgment if you have resisted Him in any matter?

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment… It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:26-27, 31)

It should be a settled matter that there can be no reservations. We cannot set aside any part of our life and earmark it “reserved.” If Christ is to be Lord, He must be Lord of all. We must let Christ begin at the center and go to the circumference of our whole being, so that He may lay hold of it all and bring it all under His dominion. “To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now {in our lives in this world} and forever.” (Jude 25) This is the only way to prepare ourselves to enter into the life of heaven where God is the source of everything and where His will rules over all.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God… (Heb. 12:14-15)

It should also be understood that there can be no substitutes offered to the Lord. You cannot buy off God with your money; nor can you bribe Him to accept some of your time, talents and services in lieu of yourself. He insists on having exclusive rights to the vessel so He may use it to manifest His life and works as He pleases. In other words, your works will not be acceptable. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God {where they rest from their own works and live through the Spirit}. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works… Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Heb. 4:9-11)

Yielding to Christ is a definite act of the will. It is not a mere expression of a pious desire to be good, but a conscious choice to surrender all to Him. To yield is to die to your own plans so that Christ may gain complete control and have an unhindered use of one’s whole being. Have you by such a definite and decisive act of the will yielded yourself, all that you are, and all that you have, to the Lord Jesus? We pray that you do so before it is too late. You surely do not want to come before Him as someone who had misappropriated His property and used it for their own purposes!

Those who find themselves going back to an altar to resurrender their lives each time they are brought under conviction have never truly transferred ownership entirely to God. It is the reason why God does not honor their consecration and take full possession by filling the vessel with His Spirit of holiness. They “fall short of the grace of God” because their surrender is not yet absolute. (Heb. 12:15) God sees into the heart and He knows precisely when there has been a full surrender of the old self-sufficient and self-directed way of life.

Everything you need for life on the highest plane has already been given to you in Christ. “All things are now ready.” (Luke 14:17) The banquet feast has been prepared. You now have access to every spiritual blessing found in Christ’s heavenly life. But this life on the highest plane can only be actualized by choosing to present yourself to Him as a living sacrifice and then looking to Him in faith to do what He has promised.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thess. 5:23-24)

The Way of Faith

Some may insist they have fully surrendered their life to the Lord without being lifted into this life on the highest plane. And we know there are some earnest souls who have come to an altar to make this complete surrender. The reason that God does not immediately respond is because He still sees the need for removing some of their natural self-sufficiency. This is where patience will need to have its perfect work. He scourges everyone He receives into the heavenly realms for the purpose of removing their natural strength. Every trial is designed to put within your heart a deeper dependence upon His Spirit. And once this dependent faith has been perfected through weakness, where you become like a dependent and trusting little child who looks to God for everything, you will be in a place to be lifted into life on the highest plane where you “lack nothing.” (Jam. 1:2-3)

…My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9)

The way of faith will grow within your heart in direct proportion to the dying of your self-sufficient spirit. When you have truly become like a little child—a little one who knows he is unable to do anything on his own—you will be in a place where you can begin living entirely by faith in God. It is then that you can expect Him to begin revealing His life and works through you. As He uses the Spirit to work out “all things” for your good, you will find yourself “lacking nothing.”

Some of the sweetest words of commendation were expressed by Jesus when He observed real faith being displayed. A Roman centurion, having come to the point of recognizing his need for a miraculous work of God, came to appeal to Jesus to heal his servant. Christ responded with a promise to go with him and to do what was needed. But faith answered, “Lord, say the word, and my servant will be healed.” This is the kind of perfected faith that always brought great joy to the heart of Jesus. Thus, we hear Him saying, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” The Lord therefore immediately provided what was needed. Those who already possess this kind of faith will not be required to wait any longer for the promise.

God’s grace and love consistently responds to childlike faith and trust. God would be untrue to the very essence of His nature, which is love, and to the very heart of His work, which is grace, if he failed even once to respond to real trust and faith.

Without any exception, everything in the Christian’s life is a gift received through faith. We say once again with emphasis, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” Grace gives and faith receives. Someone once said, “Faith is man’s one great activity.” Faith must reach up and lay hold upon the “abundance of grace” that enables us to “reign in life” through Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:17)

This truth stands crystal clear in the history of the children of Israel. The land of Canaan with its manifold blessings was given to the people of God as an outright gift. It was theirs through promise years before they ever possessed it. God was constantly speaking about what belonged to them and what He wanted them to possess. And yet it was not actually in their possession until they had enough faith to step out on the flooded river and expect God to open up the way. Faith must rise up and possess the gift already bestowed in promise.

Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, “Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.” (Josh. 1:11)

There is always a preparation on man’s part. The heavenly Pearl could not be possessed until the man had “sold all.” The temple must be properly prepared according to God’s specifications and fully consecrated before the prayer of faith can bring down the Glory. There are therefore provisions that need to be prepared. But we are absolutely dependent upon God to lift us spiritually into the life of promise on the highest plane. This glorious work requires the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. And this miracle is provided through faith alone.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him…in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 1:19-20 NIV)

We should note that it was not necessary for the children of Israel to wander through a dry and arid land as long as they did. God led them up to the very border of this rich, fertile country flowing with milk and honey quite early in their spiritual journey. But they remained blinded to the glory of what was available to them. As many Christians do today, they chose to turn away because they began to see how the self-originated flesh-life will “surely die” in the Land of Promise. Rather than lose their flesh-life, the Israelites chose to turn back where they suffered forty years of weary wanderings, and ended up dying in the wilderness. Only the two men of faith, Caleb and Joshua, actually possessed the inheritance that was available to them from the very beginning.

Some may think that the spiritual life required of God is too high a standard for the ordinary Christian. They may agree that it’s possible for the minister or the missionary, but they consider it beyond the reach of people who must live and work in a secular world. But this is a wrong assumption. God requires everyone to be filled with His Spirit. The one purpose for our existence is to live as a vessel that He can use for a display of His life and works. Whatever He has planned to do through our lives He is able to carry out through the fullness of His Spirit.

Let us keep in mind that this glorious life is not to be worked out through our sufficiency. The life we need to reveal comes from Christ Himself. Everyone who is willing to yield in faith to the leading of His Spirit—the One who is able to reveal the truth and the life within the heart—can depend on Him to do what He has promised. So long as God can continue to say, “All things are possible to him who believes,” the fullness of Christ’s Spirit remains available to all.

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all… (Rom. 4:16)

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory… (Eph. 3:20-21)

We Must Choose the Way of Christ

We often hear Christian’s condemning the Jews for choosing Barabbas over Jesus. And we wonder how this could have occurred. It may be helpful to realize that Barabbas represents someone who tried to further God’s kingdom through his own efforts. The Son’s way is to plant the seed in the ground in death and then to become fruitful in resurrection life. The way of Barabbas is to save self and then live for God through the zeal of human works. When presented with these two different ways, most people choose to save the flesh-life. They will say, “Give us Barabbas.” But in the end it always results in the death of the Christ-life. And because it is effectively choosing carnality, this way of Barabbas is still killing others. Many have been turned away from Christ by the words that come out of the carnal hearts of professing Christians. Thus, we find this tragedy of the first century being repeated over and over again in the church today.

Someone once said, “Self is willing to permit the believer to do anything, give anything, sacrifice anything…if it can only live.” People do not mind serving God if they can direct their own steps and have some of their own glory. But this is what permits Barabbas and Agag, with their carnal nature, to live.

Again, it has been said, “The Cross can only sever what you consent to part from. The severing of the Cross is not an actual experience, unless the will of the believer desires and consents to the actual separation in fact and practice.” God is very gracious. He patiently waits for each individual to make the choice to follow Jesus through the cross. Those who will honestly make the same decision that He did in the Garden of Gethsemane, can depend on the Spirit to then take them through the cross and into resurrection life in due time.

Since the Holy Spirit only works through yielded faith, how can He provide a complete severance from “the old man” and all that pertains to the old creation if you are still making ample provisions for the flesh? “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh…” (Rom. 13:14) Whatever becomes food to “the flesh” is dry fodder, or the food that perishes, to the Spirit, and vice versa.

“Do not love the world or the things of the world.” With the Spirit’s guidance, look for the things of the world that you tend to use for your spiritual support. What is it that your flesh insists on having? Examine your habits and routines. What leads you to do what you do? Again, what do you rely on for your spiritual support? While the body does have natural desires that will need to be met, they should never have dominion over the Spirit. Are you being led by the flesh or by the Spirit? Are you still seeking to have some of your own glory through the works of your own hands?

If Christ’s “rivers” of Living Water are not yet consistently flowing out of the heart in both good times and bad times, there is something preventing it. There is a need to search the heart with the Spirit and be prepared to surrender the most dearly loved Isaac.

God has provided all things to enjoy. But He did not intend for us to live by the flesh and turn the things into idols. Once we are truly living through the life of Christ in the heavenly realms we are enabled to walk in this world without being dependent upon its things for our spiritual support. Jesus lived in the world, and He was able to enjoy God’s creation, but He did not receive His life from the world.
The Son came to dispossess, to displace and to dethrone that old self-life so that God may gain complete possession of the human personality. It will never do to intellectually crown Christ as a puppet King and then live under the rule of Self-desire.

Of self, for self, and by self has remained the threefold principle that governs the lives of countless members of Christ’s church. A believer cannot wholeheartedly “set his affections” upon the things above while he is still living for the things of this world. And it is unimaginable to think that someone who has truly been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, and has begun to share with Him in every spiritual blessing found in His life, could still be hankering for the things of earth and of time and of sense.

Some of our readers may have tasted of the heavenly life at some point in their past. But since that day they have slowly weighted themselves down with the things of this world. It has resulted in a loss of what they once possessed. If this is your case, may God give you the desire to lay aside every weight and once again look unto Jesus for His life in the heavenly realms. “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The only way to successfully combat the desires of the flesh is to implicitly obey every prompting or motion of the Spirit, be it ever so slight. Whether it be a warning, a check, a leading, or a teaching, all must be followed. Do not permit others to turn you away from truth with their human wisdom and rationalizations. You must listen to the Lord. Those who will yield to the leading of His Spirit in all matters, even though it may result in some difficulties and suffering, can depend on Him to faithfully take them into the life of promise where it is possible to reign with Him over all the works of the flesh.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith {so you may fully trust in God}, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life…hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now {in the lives of Christians in this world} and forever. Amen. (Jude 20-25)

In closing, we pray that each of God’s called-out children will honestly seek the Lord in faith. There is a life of promise within the heavenly realms, and we need to begin living there today. Every member of the body needs to submit to the work that God has previously planned to work out through their lives. (Eph. 2:10) It is our only means for truly revealing His light of life and drawing other spiritually poor and lost souls out of the darkness of this world and into His heavenly kingdom on the highest plane.

He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Eph. 4:10-16)