WORSHIPING A GOD>>THE SPIRIT (TRUE SELF)
JN 3: 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Do we believe this? Here is an area where many just don’t understand. Let me paraphrase what Jesus told his religious friend- that which is born of the flesh IS FLESH that which is born of the spirit IS SPIRIT. So which are YOU? Are you flesh? Are you spirit? Some honestly believe they are both, and this is where we can get into trouble. James called this condition being “double-minded.” Our mind is caught in the middle between the world of flesh and the reality of the spirit. In truth, we are all spirits from God, but we haven’t come to realize or accept it yet.
I only know of only one man who fully realized this and his name is Jesus the Christ. I believe that many of us are beginning to awaken to this truth, but many others have little or no desire to accept who they truly are. The great deception of the devil is convincing us that we are flesh and not spirit. Jesus came to realize that he was from God and therefore spirit. He realized that he wasn’t the “temple” but that he lived in his temple! He realized that he wasn’t “from this world,” but was from “above.” Yes, we are spirits that has fallen in consciousness. Because of fear we wrapped ourselves in skin, but now the time has come to lose our disguise.
LAYERS-
COL 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Taking off the old self is our ultimate goal in this world. How we see our self determines our self-image. Sounds simple enough, but actually convincing the mind to believe is the difficult part. Yes, as we have read, we are saved by grace through faith. We must believe who God says we are. God says we are His image. God’s image is Christ. If we peel off the carnal layer, we will see that “new self” being renewed even resurrected in Christ.
As we spiritually mature, we begin to see our self as more than just a personality or mind and certainly more than just a body. We come to see our true existence is something higher. A kind of spiritual harmony is attained when we realize that the body’s purpose is to serve and house the mind, or consciousness. In turn, our mind (consciousness) is to serve and house our spirit, or true self. Our life is at the center of our being. Hiding our mind’s eye from seeing this is the ego saying, “You are I” and “I am you.” The ego says, “There is no God to serve, but ME. I am your life.”
The devil ego is clever and deceptive because it does not want to die. It lives as a product of the natural mind hiding behind personalities and facades of the world. It will make the mind believe that it is in control, but it is not. The real you is not the ego. That is the deception of the devil. Any who follow the ego follow the devil. Christ comes to destroy the ego and its works. When the ego is made nothing, then the real YOU can be known.
PHP 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing.
Jesus is our example. Jesus is our forerunner. Jesus in the spirit of Christ made his old self nothing, so the true self, being God, could be seen by the world. We are called to do the same. Again the outer you is personality and ego hiding in the shadows of the mind. This outer person is of the world, desires the world and wants to be God. This outer person is like the beasts of the field- natural. This outer you loves the world and flesh and feels very much at home there. The outer you finds pleasure through the body because it can lord over it. Peel off this outer you like dead skin and see the inner you! The inner you is your spirit alive in Christ, our True Lord!
I AM-
EX 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.' "
I am. Is there anything more true or pure than this statement? Many years ago when my mind was much darker and my pride much greater, I believed that those “New Agers” who went around saying “I AM” were a bunch of evil idiots. Well, I guess I owe them an apology. I am learning not to scoff so easily because truth is found everywhere if we have the eyes to see it. They like so many other “religions” have truth in them, but keeping this truth from the corruption of the natural mind is the hard part. Even so, there is great truth in the statement, “I AM.” The Eastern religions long ago discovered this truth, so Moses wasn’t the only one.
Moses came into the presence of God, and God’s name was I AM. What does “I AM” mean? Well, among other possibilities, it means I exist. It means there is no name that is sufficient for “I.” Who is this “I?” The “I” is the true self- your spirit from God. This “I” does not change, but simply reaches higher and higher realizations as consciousness increases. This is what Jesus did. Jesus came to realize that he wasn’t the man of flesh the world called Jesus.
JN 8:58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am.”
Jesus became aware that he was truly spirit from God, so he existed before his body of flesh did. The prophet Jeremiah said that God knew him before he was in the womb. So the real Jesus didn’t come into being in Mary’s womb, but exists eternally in the mind of God as we all do. He existed before Mary gave him the name Jesus. He existed before the world taught him to be Jewish. He existed before and after his body was crucified. Jesus knew that he wasn’t flesh or soul, which can both be destroyed in this world. Jesus realized that “I” is his true, spiritual self from God. Remember that born of flesh is flesh and will die. That born of God is spirit and cannot die. So who am “I”?
Many times we will say things like, “I am hungry” or “I am short.” However, the truth is my body is hungry and my body is short. “I” am not a body of flesh. Jesus said the flesh counts for nothing because the spirit gives life. “I” use my body to move through this world, but it is no more who I AM than the car I drive. So, I am not my body.
It is the same with the mind “I” use. If I say, “I am angry!” It is really our mind that feels this feeling. “I am” above my mind. I can change my mind, so that I am not angry. The mind is something I have- a helper. Adam was given Eve as a helper, so the spirit is given the mind. Yet, my mind is not who I am. The mind can fall into state of depression for little or no reason, but “I” can override the mind and choose to be happy. This “I” is the true, higher self. This is who I am.
The world will also try to tell me who I am with labels. The world will say I am an American, but I know better. The world will try to tell me I am a white man, but I know better. The world will try to tell me that I am funny, or skinny, or short or intelligent, but I know better. The world labels the outer you while God calls the inner you his child. Again, peel off the layers the world wraps us in. I am not a Christian. If “I” were born in another place would “I” be a Hindu? No, “I” am the same person, but with different layers given by the world. The world of shadows cannot tell us who we are. God tells us who we are.
PS 82:6 “I said, ‘You are Gods. You are all sons of the Most High!’”
God calls us his OFFSPRING, and so we are this and nothing less. When Paul says there is not male or female in Christ, don’t we believe him? When he says there are no labels of any kind in Christ, don’t we believe him?
COL 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
So if we are in Christ, then we are not any of these things, but simply part of the Body of Christ. If we are the Body of Christ, then we have the spirit of Christ- the spirit of sonship! We are the Sons of God coming to this world to do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven!
So the true self is the Son of God. The false self is called the son of the devil. I have the choice to serve either. While our ego and carnal mind may deceive us for a time, the power and light of Christ grows stronger each day. The day is coming when our will and Christ’s will be one. The time draws nearer when the voice we used to call God’s is accepted as our very own.
THE VOICE-
REV 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Here I AM! I am here and I am now! “I” stand at the door of your consciousness knocking. This is sometimes called the “still, small voice” within us that reveals God’s will to us. This voice speaks God’s will hence it is God’s Word- the voice of Christ. It is not an audible voice, but one that can sometime be heard so clearly as if we were hearing it. Some may call it their “conscience” that guides them to do the right thing. I believe this is very close to the truth. The voice, if we can accept it, is our own- our higher voice.
When we first hear this voice in our hearts we feel like the voice is separate from us and above us, so we worship it as a higher power. We even say it is God, and it is! How does God tell us his will? Should we follow some religion the world might teach us? Is this God’s will? Should we sacrifice animals at an altar? Is this God’s will? How does man know God’s will? Every soul must learn to listen for the voice. Again do you believe you have the mind of Christ? Then if that mind of Christ is yours and the spirit of Christ is yours, who’s voice are you hearing? We have trouble accepting that higher voice as being our own because we are still believing the deception of the ego. We believe we are flesh even though God says we are born of the spirit and are spirit. God is revealing the mystery kept hidden from man since the Tree of Life was banned from us.
COL 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Again it all goes back to where our mind is- the level of consciousness. Is our mind clinging to this physical world and the body for life? If so, then we will not hear that voice of the Shepherd, but suffer the wages of sin. If our mind is seeking a higher life, then it is able to hear our higher self, who is Christ. Remember, the one (Christ, true self) in you is greater than the one (ego, false self) in the world.