Search
Scripture Reading: Col. 1:12, 15, 19, 27-28; Col. 2:2, 6-7; Col. 3:3-4, 11; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:17; 15:45
Let us open the letter to Colossians, chapter 1, verse 12, where is written: “…who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light”. Here we see the phrase, the term “a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light”. God has called us, giving us “…the allotted portion in the light”. I would like to ask you to think – what is it? – the allotted portion in the light”, which apostle Paul mentions. What is “…portion in the light” for which we have right?
Now, let us read verse 15: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation”. Surely, we know that there are a lot of things about Christ in the following verses.
Now, let us read verse 19: “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell”.
Now, let us read in the 2nd chapter, verse 2, only the last part of the verse and verse 3: “…the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden”.
Now, let us read verses 6-7: “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, Having been rooted and being built up in Him...” Being rooted means that this has already happened. You are rooted, bat being built up means a process, which is going on. So, be rooted and be built up in Him.
Now we have to read chapter 1, verses 27-28: “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ”. The word “full-grown” here means mature, fully grown in Christ Jesus – to present every man full-grown in Christ.
Now, let us read in chapter 3, verses 3-4: “3:3 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory”. And verse 11: “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, cythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all”.
Now we must read a few verses from the 1st Book to Corinthians, in chapter 1, verse 30: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” – from Him, that is from God, from God and you are in Christ Jesus, and the Christ became wisdom for us, which includes the righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Now, let us open chapter 6, verse 17: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Now we must read chapter 15, verse 45, just the end of the verse: “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” – the last Adam, i.e. Christ, became a life-giving Spirit.
We read Col. 1:12, where it says about “…allotted portion of the saints in the light” – it meant a lot of heritage, an for example may be used the situation, when the good land of Canaan, which was given as heritage to the children of Israel, was divided on shares. (Josh 14:1). The heritage of believers in the New Testament, their shares – that is not a physical land, but the comprehensive Christ. He is the portion of saints, their godly heritage, which was given them for life. This portion – is Christ, Christ Himself.
I am a Christian for many years, and surely, I knew that Christ is our Savior. He is our life, He is the dear Lord for us. But I was never told, that Christ is our portion, that He is an allotted portion of the saints in the light. He is not only the Savior, not only Lord, not only life, etc., He is also a portion, our lot. We have to read this epistle, the Book of Colossians, with prayer, so the Father would let us see what kind of portion Christ is.
That is not a small portion, that is not a simple portion. We could read, that this portion is tight attached with God, with the creature, and with a new creature, with the church, with the Body of Christ, and that even more tight attached with us. That portion, that is Christ Himself, is tight attached to God. What is He comparing to God? It is said to us, that He is an image of unseen God. God is unseen, but at the same time, He has an image. Unseen God has the image – Christ, that is Christ is a reflection, an explanation, a determination of God! He is a definition of God itself! Without Him, you never could recognize God, and you will never be able to see God, but by Him or in Him you may find the expression of God, you may find an explanation of God! So, further, it is said, that the fullness of Deity is abiding in His body. What does it mean – that means, that He is the full incarnation of God Himself! God incarnated in Him, God’s fullness, the fullness of Deity dwells in Him bodily. That means that everything that God is, is in Him, God incarnated in Him! He is a real incarnation of God! And that is our destiny, our portion. Not just the savior, not just life, but the portion in which God was incarnated. God is incarnated and is expressed in Him! And He is such a portion for us.
In the Book of Colossians there are also other things about Christ, regarding a creature, and these things are told to us. Here is said something, that is hard to understand immediately. It is said here, that He is the First of all creation. To Him belongs the firstborn, advantage in all creature, and all creature was created from Him, by Him, and for Him. All creature was created from Him, through Him, and for Him. And even now all creature exists in Him. Ann all of this is intended for Him as a heritage, so all creature exists from Him, by Him, and for Him. All this creature dwells in Him!
We can’t fully understand that. I just repeat these words to you. Regarding a creature, He is the First, Firstborn and all creature comes from Him, exists by Him, and would be intended for Him, and all exists in Him. And regarding a new creature, that is to church, to Body of Christ. He is the Firstborn from the dead, and He is the Head of the Body, and He is all in all, in a new man. I just identify these terms. He is the Firstborn from the dead. He is the First One, risen from the dead, He is the First in new creature of God – that means, He is the first in resurrection! And He is the head of Body! And He is all in a new man. He is all in all in new man, that is in the Body!
And regarding us, the saints, today He is our life. Today He is our life and He is our hope in the future. Today He is our life, and in the future – He is our hope, the hope of glory. And now He is in us and we are hidden with Him in God.
How much do you understand, that now that Christ is in you and you are hidden with Him in God? These are simple words, very simple, but they show us the mystery. Just look through all these thesis, beginning from the fact, that He is the image of God, to the fact that we are hidden with Him in God.
Just meditate about all these theses, despite that for you it is not news: such portion, which is an image of God; it is the incarnation of God; and it is First in the creature, and it is Firstborn from the dead, and all creature exists in Him; and He is the head of the Body, and He is all in all in a new man, and today He is our life and in future – He is the hope of glory, and now He is inside of us and we are hidden with Him in God!
By word of mouth, it is simple, but what about experience? What about the experience? We know all these theses about Christ and doctrines from Bible. But I would like to ask you, - what about experience? What about experiencing that?! The experience concluded just in these few words, in the words that are said – as Christ was received, as you received Christ, so walk in Him, you walk in Him! And do not think that this small phrase – “in Him” is so simple. Think, how do you walk in Him? I do not speak about doctrines, we already know a lot of doctrines. That is very serious, think, - how do you walk in Christ?! Try to answer this question for yourself, before God.
There are such words in Bible – “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him”. I like these two verbs: received Christ and then walk in Him. Do not walk with Him, do not walk according to Him, but walk in Him. What does that mean!? Let us reason about this issue, considering the fact, that Christ Himself is our surroundings.
But first of all, we must understand what means the word “walk” – to live, to act, to move, to dwell, and to do everything. That is the real meaning of this Greek word. I.e., what does it mean to walk? That means to live, to work, to do everything, to move, to dwell. We know that is easy to explain. To explain the meaning of some words is very easy. But what does it mean – in Him? To walk in Him!? What does it mean, to walk in Him!? And there is also something else. In Col. 2:7 it is said: “Having been rooted and being built up in Him” – again, “in Him”, “been rooted and being built up in Him”. I am not trying to give you more knowledge, I have only one goal – to share with us practically, how is it possible to walk in Him; how is it possible to move, live and dwell in Him, and to be as much possible rooted in Him; and how it is possible to be built up in Him. That must be a reality!
In the first chapter, Apostle Paul says something else. He says that he teaches people, reasoning them, and presents people mature in Him. He presents people fully grown in Him. What does it all mean? And how all this could become real for us? Brothers and sisters, based on your experience, could you tell, me how do you walk in Christ? How do you live in Christ? How do you move in Christ?
More or less, we have dealt regarding the Epistle to Colossians. Now we come to the first Epistle to Corinthians. You know, that in 1 Corinthians 1:30, it is said, that we are in Christ and that is from God. We are in Christ – that is from God! What does it mean? What does it mean that we are in Christ!? And then it is said: He became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.
The righteousness – it is our salvation itself, including the revival of Spirit in the past. It is something that happened in the past. Something that took place. Salvation, including the revival of spirit – is in the past.
The second thing is sanctification. That is something, connected with the present time. That is the conversion of the soul. Conversion of the soul – that is sanctification itself. The sanctification – that is something, that happens in the present time, that is the sanctification of the soul.
And finally, the last thing, a redemption – the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23), that is transformation (Phil. 3:21). The redemption is connected with the future.
What is that – this transformation of the body? You see, in the past, our spirit was revived. That happens through God’s righteousness, that is, through Christ Himself. But now we are in the process of transformation of the soul – in the present, and in the future – our body would be transformed. That is what Christ became for us from God.
The Christ today is the Spirit Himself, the Last Adam, who became a life-giving Spirit. He is the Savior, and He is Lord, and He is also a Spirit. If He is not a Spirit, then He cannot be subjective to us. We can never realize Him, we can never live by Him, enjoy with Him. Christ today – is living Spirit. That is not about “Who is He”, that is about “What is He?”. Christ – is the life-giving Spirit. That is attached to what He is. He is a Spirit! He is a life-giving Spirit! If we want to live and enjoy with Christ, if we want to experience Christ practically, really, we must know and understand, that Christ – is a Spirit. He is a Spirit! And this Spirit is waiting for us. He is waiting for us! He waits for us, to touch Him! He is regularly waiting, He is waiting for you, to touch Him in our human spirit! He is in our spirit like a Spirit and He longs that we would be in spirit.
In the First Epistle to Corinthians, on the one hand, it is said, that God made Christ's wisdom for us, which includes righteousness in the past, sanctification in the present time, and redemption in the future. On the other hand, it is said in the same epistle, that Chris became a life-giving Spirit. And also it is said: he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. He is always a living soul, who is waiting, so you would touch Him. Touch Him not with some other part of your being, but just with your spirit. He is the life-giving Spirit and you have a human spirit inside of you – revived, cleansed, revived with Holy Spirit, and cleansed with the precious blood. So now you have a spirit, with which you may touch a life-giving Spirit.
My words are not just for you, to get some knowledge, but I hope that I can show you a simple way, a practical way, how you may touch, enjoy, and experience Christ always, day by day. Let me illustrate that. Let us assume that you have certain weaknesses. How can you live and enjoy Christ and overcome your weakness? Let us assume, you have some weak points, maybe you easily lose your temper, and that is your weak point. How can you enjoy Christ and overcome your weakness?
On the one hand, you understand that you are one with Christ. And besides that, you understand that you were created not to act or react to external circumstances, despite Him (Rom. 5:19; 6:22). But everything happens upside down - you react independently from Him. As soon as you become independent from Him, you are just out of spirit and your temper comes out. It proves that you are out of Christ. You are out of Christ, and that is why you get such a problem, some weakness – “a weak point”. If you would dwell in Christ, there would be no such problem. In Epistles to Galatians, chapter 5:16, Paul says: “Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh”. And in verses 19-21, the works of the flesh are shown: “And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, Envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these”. Reading this passage we see, that if we don’t walk with Spirit, we automatically do the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:16-23). It is also may be said, that if works of flesh, our so-called “weaknesses” are expressed through us, that shows that we are not in spirit, we are not in Him. We are not in Christ. We are not in the area of Christ, we are in the flesh.
How is it possible to overcome your so-called weakness – just by staying in Him. You don’t have to pray, so He would help you to overcome some weaknesses, no, nothing would happen like this. But you have to be always vigilant and pray, to be able to stay in Christ. How? How – very simple – always apply to spirit. That is very simple. Apply to Spirit in your spirit. If you don’t want to do works of flesh, you have to stay regularly in your spirit, touching the Spirit. When you are in spirit, you are united with Christ. When you are in spirit, you are one spirit with God. Just stay in spirit. Always stay in spirit. That is why in New Testament, especially in the Scriptures, it is told us many times, that we must walk in spirit, live in spirit, pray in spirit, do everything in spirit, and always stay in spirit. That does not just to be in Holy Spirit, that means in our human spirit. We must always stay in spirit. The problem is that we are trying to do something, being outside of our spirit. We always are trying to do something outside of our spirit. When you stay in the spirit, you look at something, and it looks not the way it seemed to you before. If you are not in spirit, and you are looking at some particular thing, then you understand it certainly. Apply to the spirit and stay in the spirit, look at the same thing again, and you will get a different understanding of this thing.
What does it mean – to walk in Him? That just means to walk in the spirit. When you walk in the spirit, when you live in spirit, when you do everything in spirit when you move and stay in spirit, all your life changes. And you don’t have to correct yourself, you don’t have to improve your behavior, no, you don’t have to do that. Just stay in the spirit, you will see a change in your life, an automatical change. A change, which you do even not realize. If you will stay in the spirit, the change will happen. And do not pay attention to weaknesses, do not pay attention to any weakness, just forget about your weakness. Forget about your circumstances, about things that surround you, just don’t think about all these things.
Let's say, there is a brother or sister, who needs just some rest, some peace, some calmness. Tell me – how such brother or sister may enjoy Christ as their peace, as their calmness and rest? How Christ becomes our peace, calmness, and rest? Usually, we are told, that we have to trust Lord, yes? We have to trust Lord, to pray to God and we have to ask God to calm us down, to give us inner peace. I would not say that it is wrong, but I say, the secret is not in that. The secret is in staying in spirit. Just learn to stay in spirit. Be watchful and pray. Be watchful and pray, to stay in the spirit, and then you will have peace. Be watchful and pray! When you are in spirit, you are calm, so just stay in spirit and you will be calm. Let us assume, that you are in a difficult situation, you need peace, you need rest and you are trying to enjoy and live with Christ, as your peace, but very often it does not work, but why? Because you try to enjoy with Christ, being outside spirit. And that is wrong. Stay in spirit, and then you will have peace. You will be in peace. That is simple.
Another thing is guidance, all need guidance. Where from you get guidance? You know, if I am out of my spirit, I am just wandering. I don’t know where to go. When I am in my mind, you know what is happening – the more I am in my mind, the more I confuse. I speak about a mind, which was not renewed. (Rom. 12:2), which is directed to the flesh (Rom. 8:6). The more I meditate, the more I think, about which way would be more correct for me, what is right, what is wrong, the more I think about all these things, the more I will throw myself from one side to another. But it is necessary just to forget about guidance, it is necessary to forget – which way to choose, you just have to be watchful and pray, and stay in spirit. And it would be absolutely clear to me, where to go. Just stay in spirit, and you will know, which way to choose.
The problem is, that it is very easy for us to be outside of spirit. We don’t have to come out of spirit already, because we are already outside of spirit. Look at your daily actions. Which part of your daily life takes place in the spirit, day by day, from the morning to the evening? How much your life flows in spirit? How much?! I would say, that mainly, almost all the time, it happens outside of the spirit.
When our mind is not directed to spirit, we have no peace, we have no guidance, we are in darkness, and we don’t have Christ’s presence. But if we only direct our mind to spirit, if we only get back to spirit, immediately everything becomes clear for us, we get the guidance, we get peace, we get an inner anointing, we get Christ’s presence. And you already don’t have to ask anything. Check it, test it. That is very simple. But we do that so difficult. We don’t want to apply to spirit, and we begin to ask God, that He would do this or that for us. We all have to apply to spirit all the time, that is our only way.
Let's assume, I am going to solve some arguable issues with my wife or I am going to say something to my brothers. Don’t try to find out the right way to argue with your wife, apply to the spirit and you would already know, how you should talk with kids, and how you should talk with brothers. If your mind is directed to the flesh, then you have one viewpoint. When the mind is directed to the spirit, then you have another viewpoint. You get another viewpoint about the same person, same thing, same situation.
But today I want to speak not about this subject, I wanted to say that the practical way of enjoying and living with Christ is very simple. Just always apply to spirit, stay there, and touch Lord. Apply to spirit, stay there, and touch Lord, and you will not have to ask Him to help you, to do something for you… Just touch Him, look at Him, thank Him, glorify Him, adore Him, and worship Him. Forget about your problems, forget about your weaknesses. Forget about things that surround you, forget about anything else. Just stay in spirit and touch Him. Look at Him, thank Him, glorify Him, adore Him, and worship Him. And you will feel the difference! And you will feel the difference, you will feel the difference, brothers! Learn to do the only thing – regularly apply to spirit, stay in spirit, and touch Lord. And you will see that He will become for you so much! You will see that He will become for you so much, He will become everything you need! If you need peace, He will become peace for you. If you need guidance, He will become a guidance for you. If you need wisdom, He will become the wisdom for you. Everything you need, He will become for you in spirit. Just learn that. Again I say to you, the problem is that we are not always in spirit, that is our mind is directed to flesh.
Even if we have to ask God about something, we just need to proclaim to Him all day long: “Lord, help me, to stay in spirit. Help me to stay and dwell in spirit, help me, Lord. Help me, teach me to direct my mind to spirit”.
Lord is very rich, He is unlimitedly rich, but we never could enjoy Him, if we are not in spirit. There is only one way how we can enjoy Him. Here is that way - we are applying to spirit, stay there, and touch Him all the time. Not just rarely, but regularly, from the morning till the evening. Pray right now.
