Life hidden with Christ in God

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory

'When CHRIST who is OUR LIFE.'

Is Christ YOUR life?

Do you LIVE for CHRIST?

We are supposed to die. When I say that I'm not talking a physical death, these are things spiritual, things of God. We are supposed to die to living for our self. When we live for ourselves we are not living for Christ. When our focus is self we are not living for Christ. We are given this amazing ritual of baptism to signify the death we are supposed to believe is taking place in our lives.  If we don't truly believe a part of us- a spiritual part of us- dies then how can we live in Christ, for Christ?

For Christ to live in us there has to be room for Him, there has to be a place for Him. He wants to live in us, He wants to be our life making it possible for all of us to live with Him in GLORY. We have to let Him, this is our choice to make.

When the water flows over us and we are submerged we signify the burying of the OLD person we once were, and rising up out of the water we rise up to NEW life, to that 'born again' spiritual life. Our old spirit which was only immersed in ourselves and living for ourselves has to die. Unfortunately way too many people love to resurrect that old life, Satan wants us to resurrect that old life and will give us many opportunities to do so. We have daily choices that reveal what spirit is truly reigning in us.

Some say that part taking of the bread and wine is a form of renewed baptism and we need to do it often, not just on special occasions.

We ARE NOT to partake of the bread and wine symbolically representing our Lord's death and life if we haven't repented of our sins.

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Our Lord's death is symbolized in the taking of the bread and cup. When we are baptized we die to self and are raised in Christ. Our Lord died and rose again. We cannot forget this, we cannot take this lightly.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory

Our life is hid with God when we are dead to self and alive to Him. 

Only when we are dead to self, only when we've put of the old man and put on the new in Christ will we appear with Him in glory.  In baptism first and then in the taking of the bread and cup symbolizing the death and life of our risen Savior- we continuously will die to self- it's a lifelong process not a once in a lifetime happenstance.

Living in Christ is a decision we must make all the time, not once in a while.

By the GRACE and MERCY of our LORD may we die to self and hid our life with Christ in God so that when Christ appears we will ALSO appear with HIM in GLORY, HIS GLORY!

All through HIM, always! His LOVE.

Set your affection on things above, not on thing on the earth

Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Are you risen with Christ?

You can say yes, if you've been buried with Him.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

We must be buried with Christ by baptism.

Christ was baptized.

Mat 3:13  Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
Mat 3:14  But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
Mat 3:15  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Mat 3:16  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

John forbade Him. John didn't want to baptize Jesus, why? Because He knew there was no sin in Jesus, He knew that He had no need of repentance. In fact John knew he needed to be baptized BY Jesus.  But Jesus said.. 'Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.'  

Suffer it to be for now-  do it because it will fulfill something that needs to be fulfilled for all righteousness. 

An example was given to us, and not only that, once He was baptized what happened? Something special happened.

Mat 3:16 … the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased

Jesus was anointed.  Jesus was confirmed. It was a sign and done to be for a sign. This was the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  For 30 years He lived without taking on the full ministry He was born into the world to take on. He'd reached full maturity, He'd reached the age of full manhood, of wisdom. He was declared by God to be His Son and an acceptable son, pleasing God the Father. This declaration was important, without it our Savior could not have received the power of the Holy Spirit in full to do all that His ministry required of Him.

We like to believe that Jesus couldn't have failed.  But if that were true then what did He really accomplish? Putting on a show for the peasant humans? If He didn't feel our pain, if He didn't suffer our temptations, if He didn't live as we live how could He warrant being able to save us? He didn't have to put on a show if He were going to use special God powers of His own to save us. He suffered, truly suffered our humanity. He grew up with normal growing pains of life. He suffered temptations even as He was growing up, from birth to age 30, we ALL know there are a multitude of temptations in life. Jesus kept from sinning, but He wasn't kept from being tempted.  There was NO need for Him to have been born as a human/God child if He were born with magical powers to keep Him from sinning, it makes NO sense at all whatsoever. Why go to all the trouble of being born that way if it really was just for show? Couldn't God have manufactured an adult human body and entered it? Yes. He entered a woman's womb as a seed to grow into an infant.  So, yes, it could have been done differently, but it wasn't because Jesus needed to live the life we live so He could save us as we are. 

We all know and can truly appreciate when we've gone through something very trying- someone being able to tell us they've gone through the same thing. We appreciate the knowledge that what we are going through is something we can survive.  Sure, no people experience something exactly the same, but there are enough similarities to make us truly grateful to know that others understand even in some small way because they've experienced something similar.

Our Savior had to experience HUMANITY in order to save humanity.

If He didn't do things the way He did you can just imagine Satan jumping up and down shouting that Jesus only did it because He had special powers, He had a special edge, He saved humanity not because He loved humanity but because He cheated and only proved He could step in with His overwhelming dictator's power and sacrificed nothing because He couldn't even feel like a REAL human can feel. If He used His special powers, His Creator powers, then what did He really prove other than what He'd already proven at Creation?

Our Savior relied upon God for ALL things, just as we are to rely upon God for ALL things.

When He was baptized there was no dispute over His worthiness up to that point. He was declared acceptable, approved, well pleasing to the Father God.

If Satan were going to denounce His worthiness right then would have been the perfect time, but He remained silent. In fact as soon as the declaration was made Satan determined to test Jesus to the fullest extent when Jesus was suffering from lack of food as He fasted in the wilderness. Right after His baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness and we know He was put to the test by the Evil One who claimed God was unjust. That test was passed by our SAVIOR, who is truly WORTHY.

He was baptized, His old life gone, His new life begun. In His case the new life He was beginning was His ministry, the revelation of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all.

When we are baptized we are killing the old man in us, the flesh man. We are dying to self and rising to live in CHRIST.

Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

We are RISEN with Christ and we have to SEEK - we have to live- for those things which are above- where our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST sits on the right hand of God.

We must live for Christ and when we live for Christ we are living for the Gospel of the Kingdom- heavenly things, not earthly things.  We have a new life, a spiritual life.

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Do you?

Do you set your affections on things above? On things that are not on earth?

Think about it, because there are way too many who love to preach prosperity here and now, too many deceivers that teach we are to desire earthly treasures.  Too many deceivers that encourage earthly treasures into their own coffers while teaching others to give up theirs- deceivers whose example speaks so much louder than their words.

When we die to self as we are baptized and raised to a new spiritual life when we come up from that watery grave, we are to live for our Savior who is in heaven, setting our affections truly on heavenly things desiring Him above all, above everything upon earth.

All through His grace and mercy may this be possible in US, all through HIM, through HIS LOVE!

Let NO MAN beguile you

Col 2:18  Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19  And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

So many people are incredibly puffed up by their fleshly minds. They expound on things they have no business expounding on and they  do so in order to lead people FROM the true worship of our SAVIOR the one and only Head of the body that is HIS, His people.  This is where a lot of our ordinances, a lot of our rituals of worship come into play. We make it so difficult by clouding the truth with men's ideas. To be Christ's was never to be caught up in the truth of MEN. Men who claim we are to worship things other than God when no where are we told to worship those things, NO WHERE.  We are to worship God and God alone.  Why is it dangerous to worship anything other than God? Because Satan has his hand in so many other things. We cannot worship another human being no matter how wonderful they've seemed to live their lives. We aren't to worship any of the Apostles, there isn't a scripture in the Bible telling us to worship them, in fact they'd have been the first to tell others NOT to worship them, not living and certainly not dead.

Act 14:11  And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
Act 14:12  And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Act 14:13  Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Act 14:14  Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
Act 14:15  And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? WE ALSO ARE MEN OF LIKE PASSIONS WITH YOU, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein

They were just men. God's chosen apostles, yes, but still just men and NOT worthy of worship. They were men who pointed to the RISEN CHRIST, they were men who pointed to the LIVING GOD- the maker of heaven, earth, sea, and all in them.  We are not to worship any others and yet we have many, many religions whose teachings not only advocate the worshipping of those men, but demand such worship.

There is no wondering why we are told NOT to let men beguile us.   We are told this because they WILL BEGUILE US if we let them, if we aren't strong in the truth of God.

We are ONLY nourished in Christ and if we are finding our spiritual sustenance in any other we are deceived, we are beguiled.


Col 2:20  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Col 2:21  (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Col 2:22  Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Col 2:23  Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

The commandments and doctrines of men are such that will lead us FROM God not closer to HIM, all the while we will be deceived into believing we are truly getting closer to God. Such deception, such powerful deception and all who do not truly desire the truth in Christ WILL be allowed the deception. We decide, and when we decide we have NO one to blame for our decision. If we choose men and their teachings over God and His teachings then we will have to answer for that. We can blame another all we want and yes, the deceivers will get their deserved punishment, but that will NOT make you any less guilty of choosing to believe their deceitful ways rather than the truth of God.

The commandments and doctrines of men- do you know whether or not the doctrines and commandments you are following are of God or of men? Can you truly say you are following Christ when you are following a lot of church doctrines that are not given by Christ at all?

All too often when people are told they are following the commandments of men and not the commandments of God they shake their heads and think the person telling them are crazy. They don't want to study to show themselves approved unto God, a workmen rightly dividing the word of truth.  (2Ti 2:15) They would rather study man's reasoning not God's. They would rather holdfast to traditions handed down from generation to generation than holdfast to God's traditions handed down from the creation of the world. They would rather do this because to do otherwise would upset their whole belief system, it would require a sacrifice of beliefs that were once held very dear and thought to be true. 

God or man? We will be asked to choose between the two and the man will be cleverly disguised as God, but those who sincerely desire truth will be able to tell the difference between the false and the true.

May God help us to be among those desiring ONLY the TRUTH, not among those who would rather be deceived. Please LORD, help us to be truly YOURS and only YOURS.

All through Christ and HIS righteousness, HIS love.

The body is of Christ

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

The handwriting of ordinances- nailed to the cross of our Savior.
Principalities and powers- spoiled, triumphed over.
We CANNOT JUDGE- in ANYTHING- especially in anything related to the ordinances.

The ORDINANCES pointed to our SAVIOR.

To hold fast to that which points towards something, once that something has arrived is contrary to it all, isn't it? A woman still acting pregnant after the babe  has arrived would be considered looney, wouldn't she? Waiting for a package that has already arrived in the mail would be ludicrous.  When something you wait for arrives and passes, you do NOT continue to behave as if it hasn't arrived, it's that simple.

The Messiah came as predicted and ALL that pointed to Him within the SANCTUARY service was no longer valid because the entire sanctuary service pointed towards the coming of our Messiah. The ORDINANCES were NAILED to the cross- NOT THE TEN MORAL COMMANDMENTS! This is a huge mistake  many people make. The CEREMONIAL LAW was fulfilled and NAILED to the cross because the ceremonial law pointed to the ultimate SACRIFICE our SAVIOR.

A shadow of the coming SAVIOR.

The moral law was NEVER a shadow, not ever.

Our Savior embodied and embodies the ten MORAL laws.

NEVER will there exist a time when any of the ten moral laws will be okay to break, never. The LOVE they were created out of will exist for all time.  Even in the NEW heavens and earth they will be lived because we will ALL keep them automatically in the pure love of CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR.

Our Savior is our EVERYTHING, not our something, not our part- but our ALL.

The body is of CHRIST.

We find our life in CHRIST.

We LIVE in CHRIST.

We can't live as if He didn't come, as if He didn't live, as if He wasn't our Savior, as if He wasn't the Son of God. They have movies and books all about the good man Jesus was, the prophet He was, but then they deny His Godhood. Then you have those who try to make Jesus into one who could NEVER have ever sinned, ruining the sacrifice He made in taking on our flesh to prove that keeping God's laws, keeping his moral ten commandments in full, was possible.

The truth is in God's Word, the truth is in the Son of God. The body truly is of CHRIST and no other.

In HIS LOVE.

Risen with him through the faith

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses

We are truly buried WITH Christ in baptism.

Baptism signifies the death of our UNCONVERTED life.  Beneath the water that symbolic death, that drowning takes place. The true believer in Christ understands this. The dip in the water isn't for fun, it isn't for anyone's amusement, it isn't done on a whim.  It isn't done lightly without fore thought. We are to acknowledge WHY we are choosing to be baptized, because it is that, a choice. If you get baptized because someone tells you that you should but you don't have the real conviction of it yourself then it means nothing. If you do it lightly without forethought, if you do it to follow the crowd then it is done for no reason at all, it's completely ineffective.

Our lives before we accept our Savior are lost in sin. Once we accept our Savior we bury that old life, the life that did not choose to be saved. We put off the old man. We ask for forgiveness for ALL our past sins, and trust in God to forgive us as we truly repent, truly hate that we sinned and in that sin warranted a death sentence. We hate that our sins caused the torture and death of God's Son. We desire to walk in the new life with CHRIST JESUS as our SAVIOR.

Read the following...

Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22  That ye PUT OFF concerning the former conversation the OLD MAN, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the NEW MAN, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8  But now ye also PUT OFF all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have PUT OFF the OLD MAN WITH HIS DEEDS;
Col 3:10  And have PUT ON THE NEW MAN, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses

We are truly burying our old life in the depths of the water we sink under. And just as we are burying that old life we are given a NEW life, we rise in CHRIST through the faith of God the Father who raised His son from the dead.

We who were dead in our sins without any hope. We who were uncircumcised in the flesh are brought to LIFE with CHRIST because HE FORGIVES us ALL our SINS!

We must believe this, we MUST have hope in CHRIST.

We have to believe the REALITY of our old life dying.
We have to believe the REALITY of our new life in Christ.

These are truths we cannot ignore, truths we cannot afford to ever forget. We must live in the new life with Christ as our HOPE, with the HOLY SPIRIT as our promised comforter.

Please LORD help us to comprehend Your WILL for us.

All through YOUR LOVE!
Your MERCY!

And please, comfort my relatives up north who are mourning the loss of a beloved, young man--  son, grandson, nephew, brother-- 25 year old Michael Paul, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident this morning. Please let them take comfort in YOU as Michael sleeps now, and by YOUR grace awakens when YOU return for YOUR people very soon.

Thank you LORD, for your merciful love and for giving us the hope of a new, better life found only IN YOU.

Amen.

Circumcision made without hands

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ

Circumcision that rite given to Abraham by God to seal the covenant He was making with the Israelites. A rite that would stand for God's chosen people. If a man were circumcised this proved he belonged to those who belonged to God. A babe, a male child circumcised eight days after the child's birth- this rite was a dedication of that child to God's chosen family, by those who were already established to be God's.  Now when Abraham was first given this sign of the covenant it was really rather gruesome for adult males to suffer though but they did it to prove they were God's chosen. Such a sign was NOT readily visible to others, it was a private sign between God and His. It wasn't meant to be shown off, it wasn't meant to be put on display.  This covenant sign was truly an amazing sign, not barbaric, not unnecessary, not the sign of a blood thirsty God. 

Man continued to disobey God even after their near total annihilation in the flood.  Yet God found one man worthy to carry on the human race and he did so. The blood line of those who truly dedicate themselves to God was continued and ultimately as time went on and the human race multiplied, it was time for God to separate His people from those who did not want to be His people. Abraham was found worthy just as Noah had been. Abraham declared His allegiance to God, and while the sacrifice of animals was indicative of the ultimate sacrifice of the innocent Lamb of God, the sacrifice of his own was necessary, a personal sacrifice.  This sacrifice was made in circumcision.

Why was a sacrifice necessary? Because sin separate man from God and all the signs and covenants made from that moment on were those looking towards the ULTIMATE sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's  Only Begotten son.  The covenant were put in place to reveal God to man through those covenants and what those faulty covenants couldn't do fully, Christ did in His life, His death, and His life again.

We are called to live for Christ, for the ultimate Sacrifice that was made, past tense. We are not looking to the future for a sacrifice to be made, but we are looking for the results of that Sacrifice to come to pass.

The new covenant in our SAVIOR did away with the old ceremonial covenant that pointed to our SAVIOR'S life, death, and life once more.

The Apostles had a big to do over whether or not the covenant sign of circumcision should be continued, ultimately it was decided that the hidden covenant symbol was no longer necessary because a man's LIFE would symbolize the Savior's and the new covenant in HIM.

Man's life! No tiny symbolic gesture was needed because that symbolic circumcision did NOT guarantee a man was keeping the covenant he was called to keep. His flesh may have been cut as a child, but the choices he would make in his life would determine his faith in God.

Read this--

Rom 2:25  For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Rom 2:27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

A circumcised man is made UNCIRCUMSIZED if he breaks the law. Does that grow back the cut flesh? No. But the heart flesh that was to go hand in hand with the symbolic gesture was absent. A life dedicated to God- flesh cut or not- if a life was dedicated to God and then that person betrays all the truths of God's moral law, then that person is NOT God's.

If a man who is uncircumcised kept the righteousness of God's moral law then He in his heart was circumcised,  dedicated to God.

The law of God, the covenant of God the two were to go hand in hand- the covenant of circumcision did NOT automatically guarantee a man righteousness towards God. It was however - a symbolic gesture that would forever be a reminder of His covenant to God made by His ancestors back to Abraham.  Even if he decided to disobey God, to transgress God's law, that circumcised flesh would forever remind Him of where he was supposed to be in relationship to God.

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ

A circumcision made without hands- NO human cutting the flesh of another.
The circumcision made without hands- cutting off the sins in our lives- the body of sins of the flesh- by the circumcision of Christ.

Through Christ we are all circumcised from the sin in our lives. We must put off the sins in our lives through CHRIST. We must allow HIM to work in us to rid us of the sins in our lives.

Please Lord may we all receive the circumcision made without hands.

All through YOU! All in YOUR LOVE!

Complete ONLY in HIM

Col 2:8  ... Christ.
Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

The fullness of the Godhead bodily.

God in the flesh.

Our Savior was born into the flesh of humanity, divesting Himself of His divinity to take on our flesh inclined towards sin. He lived a perfect, sinless life devoted to the Father in heaven, relying on the Father for ALL things, doing NOTHING without Him.

Luk 10:22  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Joh 12:49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

Joh 12:50  And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

In our SAVIOR the FULNESS of the GODHEAD was born into flesh. Our Savior showed us the FATHER through HIS own life. You could NOT see our Savior and NOT see God the Father in all that He was doing. It was all by the will of GOD. 

If our Savior had taken on the flesh as God with all God's power to overcome sin, using special ways to defeat Satan then He would NOT have proven that we can overcome sin through HIM. He took on our flesh to PROVE that sin could be overcome by complete and total reliance upon God the Father and He succeeded.  Once He succeeded He was RAISED from the dead uncorrupted brought back to life given back the breath - given back the spirit breath that left Him when He died upon the cross. He did DIE. He wasn't in a coma, He wasn't in some special sort of sleep death reserved only for God. He died JUST LIKE YOU AND I DIE. He tasted death for US. Real death as a human being, a PERFECT, SINLESS human being, the Son of GOD who came to redeem us to HIM by living such a life and suffering so much.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

He was raised up and set at the right hand of His Father. He was raised up and forever able to live as God with God, only He retains His flesh- the incorruptible flesh that we too will receive one day if we have faith in Him and His love, His righteousness, His forgiveness. 

Our Savior in a body of flesh lived in PERFECT harmony with the FATHER, with that FULNESS that was God and is God and has always been God. 

Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

We are COMPLETE only in HIM and NO OTHER!

Our Savior the head of all principality and power. In Him is LIFE now and LIFE everlasting.

We might suffer now, and we are told we will suffer and we do suffer just by being human beings born into sinful flesh- that alone causes us to suffer. We will suffer now and yet we live with the full assurance of salvation found in our SAVIOR.  We suffer and as we suffer we KNOW that we have HOPE in GOD, a very real HOPE. We have FAITH, a very real FAITH that will be realized one day and all this suffering from the worst possible suffering there is to the least possible suffering will be gone forever!

We can be complete in CHRIST and only in CHRIST. We are NEVER complete in just ourselves, never. And most people on some level know this. They realize that there is an emptiness, a longing, a need to hope that this is NOT all there is to life. When that hope is allowed to flourish and Christ is allowed to come into our lives through the Holy Spirit, we begin to live, really live knowing one day everything will change. When we don't let that hope live, when we crush that hope and kill it, we deprive ourselves of life everlasting.

Living with HOPE is life. That is, living with the HOPE of JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and SAVIOR, is LIFE now and LIFE EVERLASTING.

We are complete in CHRIST.

Please Lord, live in US, the Hope of glory, the Hope of salvation, the Hope, the only real Hope we have.

PRAISE GOD!

All glory to God!