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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.
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