Awakening Begins

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1:6

"the we love one another ... this is the commandment ...heard from the beginning that you should walk in it."

2 John 1:5-6

It's always hard to start something new. The picture I get is that writer who keeps pulling the paper out of the typewriter or the hopeful athletes first painful day in the gym or road running out of breath. Most of us go into our experience with God not like this writer or athlete though.

The truth is most of us stumble upon our experience with God, are touched in some way and haphazardly try to figure out what to do next. For me, the affect of change was so sudden and powerful that it thrusted me into my faith. Later when all the emotions of being touched simmered down, I needed to find discipline to forge forward. My point is everyone comes into relationship with God differently according to there personalities and past but all come by faith.

So let me clarify what I mean by Awakening Begins. Most have heard of the four stages of growing toward being an expert at something. We begin as a "conscious conscious" completely swallowed up in an ocean of information, terms and experiences that are new to us, very conscious of our fears and limitations. We end up hopefully by persistence and patience "unconscious unconscious" where we don't have to stop to question ourselves and the world around us. There is peace in who we are and our mission and purpose in life, and we are fully aware of the world we live in both physical and spiritual.

For me this took decades to break my apprehensions that held me back from entering realms of "unconscious living". I grew up abandoned for the most part and terrified of surviving in this world. In fact God was gracious enough to take me through my worst fears to break the stronghold it had over me. So I could find peace and triumph in Christ. So what I am driving at is, most of us are stuck in the eternal baby stage of faith. We have failed to enter the awakening of another world beyond what we see. We are fixated on the Way of faith avoiding the Truth and Life of faith. Yet Jesus objective in saving us is not to one worshipped in tongue while we live in the old life. He says I am the way AND the truth and life to the Father.

For example, Evangelicals have great hearts to share Christ, but typically they are held up in the experience of God's outer court where Christ died and rose and the word of God is introduced. Evangelical/Fundamentalist likewise are held up in the inner court of church life and the teachings of the word without ever entering the Holies of Holies, an awakening of "unconscious". Let me be quick to clarify what I mean by "unconscious" here. I am speaking of the whole objective of our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to help you transition from an old way of life to a "new and living way" Hebrews 10.

This new way of life is REST, to thrive not survive. When we succeed at putting our trust fully in God we live an such a way as to REST from our works and enjoy seeing Him take care of us as we partner with Him. In this new way, we resolve the egg on our face problem. No longer are we prone to identify ourselves by the brokenness of our soul, but we see ourselves by the Spirit as a spirit man or women partnering with Him. In this new consciousness we BEGIN to live and find that that part of ourselves is separate from our natural mind will and emotions. In fact we find God went out of His way to purchase that YOU, because it is GOLD!

Never do we see in scripture that spirit man spoken of being "good or evil" "right or wrong" because it is only possible for it to be "dead or alive"! Why is that? Your spirit was made in the image of God to unite with His Spirit and partner together on earth. Because sin reigned in your mortal bodies that part died. The problem is most of us walk into "faith" without regeneration. This is a false conversion in that the seed did not germinate with a heart but a mind.

A further problem is even if we are regenerated and the spirit part of us is activated we face a battle of "wills". Our flesh is strong. It has had years to corrupt our soul. This can pose a real problem for those who come from worse off childhoods like myself. Decisions are made in real time here, do you go back to no battle and the bondage you experienced. The happy slave affect. Or do you accept the momentary sufferings? The bible says you will if you have experienced the genuine "down payment" of the Holy Spirit. Many give up on the battle for many reasons. The sad thing looking back for me was I had given up at times right before the breakthrough. Motivation is key and hard for those who haven't experience a genuine relationship and touch from God.

I usually tell people "you get to be awesome". Or "don't you want to find out what the real YOU is anyway"!? Motivation is a hidden thing, much like our attitude it plays such a supreme role in our destiny. Without a vision a people perish (motivation & perspective) and there is nothing more powerful than seeing distinctions (holy & unholy) and responding to them in how we approach God and life (attitude). How life-changing can one afternoon be if sat down to evaluate what is really important and planned our lives around those values. However, in this new way of living, our daily being renewed by living outside our souls realm is so important. If i had to live in that soup kitchen called my souls mind will and emotion, I could never make heads or tails of what was really going on. That is why the bible tells us to obtain the"key of David" Isaiah 22 because David's key to life was when it says"He encouraged Himself in the Lord"! This is the best example of how we can step away from ourselves (soul) and peer back into our lives with God at our side (spirit to Spirit) and examine what is going on. Thus the invaluable need for regeneration or a born again experience to quicken our spirit back to activity, so we can partner with Him to have an advantage point to see what is going on in inside ourselves and life around us.

This is why we pray, not to speak a bunch of soul talk... "Oh please help me ... I want this... If only you would.... " but to examine ourselves, speak to ourselves the truth. and command our mind will and emotions to get with the new program of the Spirit. This is how we move from being a victim to never having to feel powerless again. If God is inside me I should never have to be the victim! This is what I mean by AWAKENING! It is when we start to be the core center of what God is doing around us.

We stop blaming stuff, people and events. We stop trying to please people. And we begin to love ourselves first the way God intended for us to. We make ourselves the first project of love. If I am this golden and valuable to Him because of a spirit man/women that cannot sin, but made like Him. Than it is my sworn duty to protect it from sin and my souls folly. If I am this valuable so is everyone else that He created. Whether their spirit is dead or alive, I can now see the value in the potential in every person. This shift toward a life of trust in God is really just an awakening of the partnership we are to have with Him in our spirit man. Again notice there is no way to succeed without separating the soul and the spirit. This best done under constant influence of the word of God which makes "division of soul and spirit" Hebrews 4:12 The Word of course gives us a great example of how this works in the Epistle of James when he likened our walk as central to looking in a mirror and remembering who we really are. Paul speaking in his letter speaks of the Spirit bringing liberty by "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" 2 Corinthians 3:18 thus we see ourselves "transformed into the same image" from one experience to the next.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone can live victoriously otherwise. Truth is a lot of people pretend to live above the surface of their fears but are sinking daily in them if you saw what God sees. Most of us are satisfied with pretending to be a "Christian" whatever that means to us or we think it means to others. But I am wanting to call you out of that mess to true victorious living! We aren't talking cars and money and fame. Just a love & peace for the powerful spirit self inside you partnering with God through the finished work of Christ. I am not talking about spiritualism here, there is no way to this life without the work of Jesus Christ being daily applied to your life, through an active relationship with your heavenly Father. Otherwise when you fall back to having the egg on your face again, accompanied with the feeling of discouragement, failure and the need to go back to the old life of dead works. Only Jesus blood cleaned sin once and for all, only His blood gives you the reminder to stay humble which really is POWER. For when I make room for God alongside me, He can empower and guide me to victory.

Today make that decision to begin your awakening with Him! Stop seeing yourself after the flesh, after what you see. Peoples reactions to you need to be evaluated for a response but should never be something to penetrate your identity. You may have been rude. Their is obvious reasons for actions and their is spirit self talk needed, however the ability for others actions to affect your identity must be ceased once and for all. You are what God thinks of you, the true you. Your manifestations and dysfunctions will eventually come under this rule of identity and power of God but until then grace is needed and understanding that God understands the battle.

For example, even your memories, one of the most powerful aspects of your being that you can draw pain from or pleasure cannot be seen as the core of YOU. Many think of our minds as not our flesh just our soul. But your brain is a physical phenomena created by God with neuropaths and learned behavior. Maybe one of the hardest parts of your body to train, however YOUR CHAMPION, your spirit man can! Take every thought captive the Word tells us. How? By bringing God into our consciousness! Which one? Our spirit man's consciousness not your memories! This is very difficult if we haven't separated that part of us from the rest of us, that super id as phycologist like to term it.

If you cannot bear witness to that part of YOU, then consider today giving your life to Him. Not just your mind but your life! Let God quicken your spirit man to life. So that His spirit can bear witness yours that you are HIS! God never asked you to accept Him or approve of Him but to entrust yourself to Him, too submit to Him. This acquiring a new identity as His own is THE difference maker. Let what Jesus did for you be applied in a way that gives Him ownership over you. For God wants to give you a NEW HEART, and drive out all the evil spirits that have lived in that vacuum of death inside you.