By Jon Nessle

What time is it? I found myself asking that question more often than usual recently when I was in the Far East for business. I got some strange looks from the people whom I asked when they noticed I was wearing a watch... Every time I had to call back to the States, I had to ask myself what time it was back here just to make sure that I wasn't calling in the middle of the night. Over there on the other side of the International Date Line you even have you ask yourself what day it is... So what is this teaching about? It's about time.

Time flows unrelentingly. No one can stop it as it flows from the future through the present into the past. We, like everything else, exist in a window between the future and the past. In a moment of time, in the present, in reality, now. Not then, but now, not when, but now, not in the past or the future, but now. No matter where we are in the world it's always now. So what time is it? Now!

What we do in the now freezes all the potentials of the future into one past. One act in one moment of time can change our entire lives. One wrong turn, a right turn, one bold move, a reckless one, even just one kiss can put us on a different path and our lives will be totally changed. One act of one individual can also forever change one family, one city, one nation or even the whole world. What we do in the now is that important. I believe that we can take charge of our now's and with God's help make our lives the best they can possibly be.

However, since we are thinking beings, we can choose to not live our lives focusing upon the now but dwell either upon the future in maybe-land or upon the past in would-a, could-a, should-a-land. Neither of those is real, yet many people live there. If only I would have done this. If only I would have done that, then my life would be different. Are you omniscient? Do you know everything? Do you know the future? No. So what are you going to do about it? Visit a psychic? The true God does not give out the future on your beck and call. Only the false one. Accept it. You are finite. You do not know the future and you cannot do anything about what is past. You can only control the present: now. But God has given us enough wondrous things in the now that who would want to dwell on the past or wish for the future. What is the future but a bunch of potential paths that have not yet walked upon? The future just doesn't happen to you. Fate is just an excuse for unbelief. You have a lot to do with what future path you will enjoy by what steps you choose now. Your future can be what you and God make it.

What is reality? Well actually there are three realities. The one we think we live in, the one that actually physically is and what is real in the spiritual dimension. Only two are valid. Guess which two? One of the two valid ones is temporary. The other is eternal. So then, which one is the greater? That's right, God's reality, the spiritual transcends the physical. If there is a greater spiritual law available it can supercede the physical if conditions are right. The number one condition is your believing. The Gospel of Mark reveals how you can make your believing work for you.

Mark 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

This is the law of believing. It is available to whosoever may fulfill the conditions. Are you a "whosoever"? Then you can do this. The key is to believe and not doubt in your heart. You do not believe in your mind. Your "believer" is in your heart. If you dwell on something with your "thinker", (in your mind) it ultimately will sink down into your heart. If you use your "speaker", (your mouth) to declare what is in your "believer", (in your heart) then you'll receive it when you act upon it. Similarly, your "doubter" is in your heart and your "hesitator" is in your mind. If you dwell long enough on something in your "hesitator" (in your mind), it ultimately will become a doubt in your heart. If you confess with your "speaker" (your mouth) what is in your "doubter" (in your heart) and act on it, then it also will come to pass! Our job then is to confess the positives that we are dwelling upon so that they can become part of our heart and come to pass as we take believing action.

I learned from a prominent Bible teacher that "We are where we are because of our believing, and we will be where we will be because of where our believing takes us." That statement changed my life, and if you are a whosoever, it can change yours too. Sports players utilize believing and discipline their thinking, speech and actions in order to excel and to win and we think that is okay. What's different about applying the same principles for spiritual victory? In fact, the category of spiritual matters takes the application of the law of believing to its highest level. What better positives are there than what are found in God's Word! The Book of Mark goes on to describe what is available:

Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them [have already received them], and ye shall have them.

What can you believe for? Whatsoever you desire when you pray. The God we pray to has given us His Word which describes what is available. Since He is no respecter of persons, if someone received something in the Bible, it is available to you if you meet the same conditions. That is fantastic because it turns the Bible into a catalog with all the prices paid. We just have to believe that the things God has promised are already ours. This is how we claim God's blessings and cause His bright future for us to come into being.

Normally when people believe, they can get results commensurate with their own abilities. However, when we believe God we can get results equal to His ability. Some people are better at believing for things than others. But believing is not rocket science. We all do it every day. However, most people have not realized the mechanics of believing enough to make it really work for them. Everything we do, we do by believing. When you sit down in a chair, you do it by believing. You look at the chair. It looks solid enough to hold your weight. You have sat in chairs before so it's no big deal so you just do it without much thought. You just sit down. You acted upon your believing. Now if the chair looked rickety or if this was your first experience with a chair, then you'd act with different believing action. You'd scrutinize it first and test it with your hand and then if you thought it was okay, you might still sit down, but gingerly.

Praying and believing for things from God is just the same. We are already believers. We just need to change the content of what we believe. For many, it's the first time or handful of times that we've switched from believing things in the natural reality to things in the spiritual reality. Because of this we need to be more conscious of our application of the mechanics of believing. If the Bible says that there is a spiritual chair that you can sit in, then just sit in it. The only difference is that if you do you'll be seated in the heavenlies, not on the ground... If you pray and just expect it to happen, it will, if you pray according to God's Word. But for many, there are a lot of issues that need to be cleared up first before we can maintain the kind of expectation to receive from God consistently. Questions like "Am I deserving?", or "Would God do that just for me?", or "Am I just being selfish?", or "Would God do that for me after what I just did?" are things that have to be dealt with. God knows that we have to deal with these misgivings. So He's made some accommodations. Since it is always now, God's made special things available in the now to those who have become born again. If we believe them and make them our own, our prayer results will skyrocket. One of these special things is in the book of I John.

I John 3:1-2
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Verse two says that we are the sons of God, now. This is God's reality. Not in the future, not when we feel like it, but now. Wow! That is a great now to live in: living like a son of God! Consider all the future pathways that you could be walking upon. Now choose the steps that a son of God would take! Believe for what a son of God should receive.

How do we become sons of God? By believing and acting upon what God's Word says we need to do in order to become sons of God. It does not happen according to men's words or men's formulas. It must be done according to what the Bible actually says, then it will exactly fit with spiritual reality. This is spelled out clearly in the Book of Romans:

Romans 10:9, 10
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
¹⁰ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Have you confessed that Jesus is your Lord? Have you believed that God raised him from the dead? Then the Bible says you are saved. You are a son of God. It does not matter what you feel like or what some person may tell you. It matters what God says and what He says about it is in the Bible. It is a spiritual reality. So if you have done Romans 10:9 then you are a son of God. So begin to think like one, now. Now begin to act like one. Be like one, now... Before we did this we were nobodies. But now we're somebodys.

I Peter 2:10
Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Before this we were of the world and got what the world had coming to us. But now mercy is available. Mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment. This is what Jesus Christ died to make available. Have you claimed it? Are you willing to shed the darkness and walk into the light? Step from your physical reality into the light of your spiritual reality. It is available to you, now...

Ephesians 5:8
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Because we are sons of God, the people of God, and light in the Lord now, we have the ability to walk as children of light. Walking is more than taking just one step. We can grow our expectations to not only have one successful step into the wonders of God's spiritual reality, but step after step after step, consistent success, walking as children of light. It doesn't matter what we were, except that we need to be mindful of it and thankful to God for sending His son to redeem us. It matters most what we are, now.

Ephesians 2:11-13
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
¹² That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth [citizenship] of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

In time past there were the spiritual "haves" and the "have nots". The "haves" said we were nobodies, that they had it all, that they had the inside track to God and we had nothing. But that was all based upon men's' works (circumcision, compliance with laws, the words of men, etc.). They'd strayed and actually had nothing anyway. If you have been a "have" for a long time, its easy to begin to feel entitled and get used to having things go right all the time and forget where you once were and what God has done for you. Once that occurs and you cease being humble and thankful, what have you got left anyway? We all were about as far away from God and His promises as we could be for we were without Christ, strangers, hopeless and godless. But now, in Christ, we have been made near to God. That which was separated has been brought back together.

Colossians 1:21-22
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked [evil] works, yet now hath he reconciled
²² In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

The word reconcile means to bring back into favor with God. We were once separated, alienated from God, but now we have been brought together with Him to stand in His favor. Being back together in favor with God has its benefits: to be holy which is to be spiritually pure, unblameable which is to be without blemish and unreprovable which is to be undeserving of blame in God's sight. When we are like this in the sight of God, it really doesn't matter what we may be in anyone else's sight, does it?. (Our own sight included...) There are two kinds of reconciliation. The first involves the unsaved, in bringing them into favor with God. The other involves bringing back those who are born again but have strayed away. When Jesus Christ died, he took upon himself all sin, so both kinds of reconciliation are effective. Because we no longer are separated from God we can claim even more wondrous things, now.

Romans 3:21-26
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto [reaching to] all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [atoning sacrifice] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time [now] his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

This section of scripture is almost too good to be true. But it is so good it is true. Would this not be something that the Most High, the Most Powerful and the Most Loving could do? Verses 21 and 22 say that the righteousness of God is unto all upon all who believe. The word "unto" is the Greek word eis which means to or toward but implies that it reaches all the way to its end. So the righteousness of God is not just toward us, it is all the way to the point it reaches us, we have it. How righteous is God? Are there any degrees of righteousness? No. We're either righteous or we're not righteous. The world has it backwards. They try to regulate, clean up or even whitewash the outside to look righteous. They apply rules and laws and trust in rituals and traditions. But God makes us righteous from the inside, out. It is not from the outside, in. We do not act righteous because we want to become righteous. We have been made righteous now so we act accordingly.

I learned from another Bible teacher that "righteousness is the God given ability to stand in the presence of God without any guilt or shame". Imagine that, being face to face with God Almighty and not be fearful, guilt-ridden, sorry or even nervous. Jesus Christ paid the supreme price when we were redeemed. Was there any sin not paid for? Then could we not stand before God like this? Just think about that for a moment! It is not fantasy. It is spiritual reality, eternally guaranteed by God, underwritten by His Word and its yours, now! Make the next pathway you decide to walk upon a righteous one. Choose the reality and future that a righteous one deserves. Walk where the righteous can walk and do what they can do, beginning now!

Moreover, it says that those who believe in Jesus have been justified. To be justified means to be made righteous and released from the penalty of sin. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe that God raised him from the dead and have you made him your Lord? Then take the next step. Believe what the rest of God's Word says.

Romans 5:8-11
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved [made whole] by his life.
¹¹ And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation].

Romans 5 says we are now justified and now reconciled. The two kinds of reconciliation also appear here. Reconciliation is available to those who are unsaved. Jesus Christ died so that they could be brought into favor with God. But also we who are born again who were enemies and once claimed the first kind of reconciliation, now being reconciled can be made whole in all categories by his life. The second kind of reconciliation is for those who are already born again and need to be brought back into favor. We were saved, made whole spiritually when we got born again. But the process of being made whole can continue. It is available to be made whole physically and mentally as we live for God. Imagine what it would be like to maintain favor with God Almighty. This is the kind of lifestyle that only God could make available for us. Romans mentions more incredible things that God has done for us now.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

It says that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is almost unbelievable. Many God-fearing believers live under condemnation constantly because of what they've been taught. But the Bible says that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. To prove how pervasive this religious theme of condemnation has been, there is something influenced by it in this very verse! The rest of the verse is actually not in the Greek text. (The words: "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" should be omitted.) Some monk monkeyed with the text and added those extra words because it was too good to be true. Well it is so good it is true. This is what Christ died for: to set us free, not to place us under another kind of legalism. Everyone knows John 3:16: "For God so loved the world.", but they never seem to read the next verse.

John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

If Jesus Christ came not into the world to condemn the world, who are we to condemn it? If you are "in Christ Jesus" as Romans 8 says, you can live without condemnation. What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? To be in him is to be in fellowship. We are in fellowship when we walk in the light and do what God's Word says. But we are not perfect. What happens if we fall short and miss our target? I John answers this question.

I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we miss the mark we need confess our sins and God is faithful and just to forgive us all our sin. So if we have fallen short and realized it and confessed it to God, is it forgiven? If it says that all our sin is forgiven, is there any sin left? If no sin is left, what state are we in? Righteousness. So then what are you condemning yourself about? What are you condemning others about? What could an hour without condemnation be like? A day? A week? A lifetime? Try it. If God is not condemning you, why condemn yourself? Why tolerate someone else's condemnation? What time is it? Now. Now there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is God's reality for you. Begin living like this, now.

This is true today. This will be true tomorrow. And it is as true today as when I first taught this teaching 25 years ago. It's about time. Now. It's about time we realize that we've got a calling now, that has not changed, a ministry of reconciliation now, that has not changed and a God now, that has not changed! We have been made near to God, reconciled, justified and made righteous, so there's no condemnation, all now. That's tremendous! But there is more. What God has done for us in the now is so big, it actually goes beyond us individually, it extends to who we are and what we can do in the body of Christ.

I Corinthians 12:18-21
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where were the body?
²⁰ But now are they many members, yet but one body.
²¹ And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

When we were born again, Ephesians 2 says we "were created in Christ Jesus". God created spiritual life within us. That is what was born anew within us. This new creation has traits; adeptness's and longsuits just like our first birth carried traits which we've developed to make us who we are now physically. As we develop our new spiritual traits by applying God's word within our local fellowships of believers we will become who we will be spiritually and we will gravitate to positions and functions within the body of Christ. We will be where we will be in the body of Christ because of where God sets us and because of our believing response to it. Some will develop and become like spiritual eyes in the body of Christ: they will be able to see the things of God spiritually. Others will develop adeptness's at practically applying the things of God. They will be the "hands" in the body. Some will rise to the top in leadership and be the heads and some will stay at the bottom and be the feet. All are important. All are essential. No part is more important than the others are. No part can do without the others. Otherwise we as a body will miss the mark and not hit our target.

But it is easy for those who seem to see the things of God so clearly to think that they don't need those who see the same way they do. But without the benefit of the wisdom that those, the "hands" in the body, who are most adept at practically applying the word, the see-ers can drift off into fantasy. Those who immerse themselves in the daily application of the Word and helping others do the same, sometimes think that they don't need those "dreamers" who think too much. But without them they can lack direction. We all want to hit the target, but some people tend to be Fire!, Ready!, Aim!, others, Ready! Ready! Ready!... We all need each other so we can be Ready! Aim! Fire! and hit the bull's-eye. It is easy for those who are at the top to grow tired of dealing with the problems of those at the feet. But you cannot get anywhere without feet. It is easy to drift out of reality if you do not often deal with people's needs and thoroughly help them solve problems. If you are so good that you do not have any needs any more, maybe you ought to go out and witness and find someone who has needs and make them your own... We all are in the Body of Christ. We all need each other to function best so we can keep hitting the bull's-eye.

Romans 13:11-12
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation [wholeness] nearer than when we believed.
¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Is it now? Then wake up and get to work. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll become whole, physically and whole mentally. (You're already whole spiritually if you're born again.) Galatians has a snapshot of what it is to live like this:

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.

This is what it is like to live in the now as a son of God: righteous, uncondemned, functioning within the body of Christ as God has set. We live by the faith of the Son of God. This is wholeness spiritually, mentally and physically. We can choose the steps, walk and pathway of a son of God and make God's bright future for us ours, now. If we will begin to do this, everything can change for the better.

II Corinthians 5:14-17
For the love of Christ constraineth us [keeps calling us back]; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead [all died in him]:
¹⁵ And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth [no longer]live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
¹⁶ Wherefore henceforth [now] know we no man after the flesh (even ourselves): yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

If we live like this as sons of God, everything can be new. Everything can be so different that we won't know ourselves after the flesh anymore. If others live like this, we won't know them anymore either. They and we can be walking anew within God's spiritual reality for us, making it become physical reality, walking as sons of God would walk, thinking and acting as the righteous would. Is it now? Behold, all things are become new...

II Corinthians 5:18-20
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
¹⁹ To wit, that [As] God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
Imputing [counting against] their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
²⁰ Now then [So] we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Not only can we be new, but we also have something new to do. Verses 19 and 20 are an "as and so" construction. As God was in Christ energizing his ministry of reconciling people back to God and not imputing their sins against them, so He can energize our same ministry of reconciling people back to God and not counting their sins against them. Ours is not a ministry of judgment and separation. The same ministry of reconciliation and the Word that goes with it has been committed to us so we can properly and effectively bring people back to God who have been separated from Him.

II Corinthians 5:21
For he (God) hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (Christ).

This is the crux of Christianity. Not ritual, not tradition, not what men do or what men are, but what God has wrought in Christ, now. Which reality do you want? The world's? Yours? or God's? This is what Christ died for. We traded places because he was our substitute. The wages of sin is death. But what reward, what glory, what manner of life did Christ deserve? What we had coming to us, he got. What he had coming to him, we get. What we were he became, so that now as he is so are we. He became sin for us, in place of us, as our substitute and died and then it was all paid for. Then God raised him from death. Since he was our substitute and our price was paid, we arose with him. He claimed what was rightfully his as the Son of God and since he was our substitute and we are identified with him, we can claim the same with him. So that is why as he is now, so are we. This is the crux of Christianity. This is God's now: the present. And what a present this present is. It's a gift from God. We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. What steps would Jesus Christ choose now if he were in your shoes? Choose the same. There are no degrees of righteousness. We are righteous as he is. If God would do something for him, He'll do the same for you. Accept it. Live it. Now.

II Corinthians 6:1,2
We then, as workers together with him, beseech {you} also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
² (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted [the most opportune moment], and in the day of salvation [wholeness] have I succoured [helped] thee: behold, now is the accepted time [the most opportune moment]; behold, now is the day of salvation [wholeness].)

It's about time. It's about now. And now is the best time to do something about it. This is what Christ died for, to make this reality available to you, now. And it's about time we accept it and embrace it and live it. Now.