Christ in You

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”[1]

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.[2]

 

 

Walking along the beach this evening, listening to The Voice while the background music of crashing waves  brought an other-worldly intensity to the Words…a glimmer of light broke through.  It is amazing how a simple concept can become a soul-shaking epiphany when it breaks out of the limitations of mind and bursts into the heart with a reality of knowing that eclipses the best efforts of intellect. Such a marvelous thing has happened and it seems almost paradoxical to try and re-conceptualize for the sake of explanation, for the mind would undoubtedly declare it’s mastery over this simple truth… yet beyond the words lies the targeted reality, which when seen and lived, allows the Living to breathe the very breath of God.

 

For years as a Christian, I had been a seeker of Truth, not for the sake of knowing per se, but with a mind to be a follower in the footsteps of Christ, manifesting the same power as unveiled in His own life.  In a physical world plagued by sickness and poverty of every sort, there was no shortage of people hoping I would be able to manifest this Life for their benefit in the form of healing and financial abundance. I am not alone in my feelings of disappointment that so few were really helped . In my heart, if I could have healed them I would have. If I could have given them abundant wealth, I would have gladly. Yet after years of studying and teaching every conceivable method and approach to getting the truth to work for those supposedly under my care, I was forced to admit that I was helpless. I was hopelessly void of anything that would alleviate the suffering of people, and yet a living truth testified within me that, in the Christ, everything that I had imagined as possible was indeed so.

 

For years my mind had been engaged in the process of learning how to use the power of God to heal and provide money, direction, wisdom, joy ad infinitum.  Of course it never dawned on me the true meaning of the admonition to die to self and be not double-minded for that double minded man received nothing from God.  I was still coming from the view-point that God was an entity separate from myself who required that I learn the right combination of concepts to unlock the treasure chest of spiritual bounty…keys to the Kingdom.  If I could just get my “hands” or mind on those keys, healing would flow like a river!  Yet out of the fires of frustration, disillusionment and helplessness has come an answer so simple that it almost needs no words to convey.  My mind could not, and will not ever produce Life. No concept learned, even when combined with a seemingly appropriate practice will ever produce Life. While the mind is capable of reflecting upon a Divine thought intended for its illumination, the purpose of that illumination is to bring the mind to a place of the acceptance, recognition and practical cooperation with the flow of Life already present as resident potential in the House of the Lord. You! 

 

Unfortunately, when truths about the healing power of God are taught, the sense ruled mind believes that it can add to its anemic sense of identity (EGO) by absorbing the knowledge of these ideas and trying to perform them. All over the world we have folks who gave up an egoic identity as a sinner for another egoic identity as “spirit-filled Christian”. If information was power in the spiritual sense, the western church should be living in a virtual heaven on earth. Safe to say it is not and the rhetoric as to why the church is powerless is as prolific as the endless stream of HOW-TO’S that claim to solve the so-called “problem”.  

 

Jesus said “⁵Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. [3]

 

There is no doubt that a child looks at life from a different viewpoint than an adult. Adults have agendas to fulfill, goals to meet and results to be obtained. They spend a lot of time planning and “thinking things through”, assessing, worrying and processing information all with the hope of getting to a greater place of fulfillment that the one they are in. Success lies in a future moment under different circumstances. Looking at this practically, a Christian named John Smith who sees himself as in a financial pickle looks to the word of God for the supposed  “principles of prosperity” to solve his problem. Certainly his efforts to apply the do’s and don’ts of what he reads will testify of his faith and God will move on his behalf to fix everything.  John Smith in his adult way of looking at things, has started with a problem as truth, and then attempted to fix the problem through the adopting of a certain belief structure and its commensurate practice. He is convinced that if he holds fast to the belief in the principle that one day in the “future” the problem will be removed. This mental practice is not just the classic endeavor of Christianity, it is the under-girding “factor of failure” in all religions and sects that have completely obscured the essence of truth they may have been given with the mind stuff that promises much and yields little. The old testament says that you sow  much and reap little and you collect water in cisterns with holes. This sounds like the familiar activity of the church world as it goes about trying to get healed, trying to overcome the burden of limited finances, and trying to live a life that is even a vague shadow of the Power displayed in the Life of Jesus Christ?  Do you think it may be time to try something else? To see things through the eyes of a child and understand that in there is a Life available that is above  the vacillating polarities of sickness and health, poverty and abundance. It is my adult mind that sees the “poverty problem” and desires abundance someday.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be so childlike that thoughts of future needs never crossed your mind?  You see children don’t worry too much about tomorrow. You don’t find a 5 years old coming to you to ask if you are setting aside money for college, or if your retirement plans are in order. They’re not worried about dinner next week or next month’s rent. They are just “Being” in the moment, fully absorbed and given to the endeavor at hand. What comes into their field of awareness is given full attention for whatever time is needed to experience the moment fully. For sure there is no concept of time, future need or past lack that will cast a shadow of concern over the sheer enjoyment of the new experience. There is a childlike acceptance in the goodness of Life and the certainty of provision in all that is needed. An unlearned acceptance that needs no cultivation, but seems to be birthed in full bloom.  It is not until the child grows up and learns of the debilitating effects of lack and disease that he forsakes the “lilies of the field” simplicity of Truth and, in his new identity as an adult, depends upon himself to solve his problems.

 

Yet the words of Jesus are so simple that only a child can identify with their magnificent truth. Jesus said that His words were Spirit and Life, not just healing and prosperity. A child lives in a world of Life that flows through him like a river. If you ever doubt that, just look into their eyes….you will see Life in it’s pristine splendor! Wouldn’t it be marvelous if there were a realm truly above the polarized realms of  sickness and healing, poverty and abundance? Would you rather be healed only to become sick again later, or would you rather have a river of life flowing through you that included divine health as the by-product. Is it possible that a River of Living Water really can flow from the Temple of God flooding the desert and bring forth Life? You might discover that as the river of LIFE flows through you, there is no more need for personal healing or remedial provision, for whatever the river touches springs to Life and abundance. This is the Abundant Life Jesus spoke of that transcends temporal healing and provision.  What if this glorious flow of Life simply awaits your childlike recognition, encouraging you to cease from your own adult mental labors for the sake of dependent rest?  Would you consider the sacrifice of giving up worry, mind schemes, concern over the future and actually living the admonition of Jesus to take no thought about tomorrow? How would it feel to ask for your daily bread as a child asks for breakfast, knowing that there really is no chance of being denied?  What if you quite naturally knew that it was the Nature of God to be Good and that in Goodness, God was mindful of your every need. Would it not be natural then that you ask for what you need knowing that it would have already been provided for in the “Name or nature” of that Goodness.  “Well” you say, “I can do that, I’ll just start thinking like that and God will answer my prayers!”

 

Not if it’s you the adult doing it! “But am I to enter my mother’s womb and be a new born child again?” What needs to be awakened in a New Birth of consciousness is your awareness that the CHILD YOU WERE  is still present as the CHRIST IN YOU. It is that Christ Child in you that recognizes that You and God are really ONE, that you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you, and that you have all things in Christ Jesus, which is that place of union of the heavenly and material worlds.  You in your identity as John Smith will never produce anything because mind doesn’t produce life, but the Christ Child, who is your true identity, is the one through whom the River of Life flows unto a desert of human degradation bringing resurrection to all it touches. The Christ child in you, who is the real You, is the one who will cause the adult mind to rest from its labor of intellectual problem solving, and settle into its original function as the simple conduit of Spiritual  Life into visible expression. In other words, the mind simply gets the body into the position of ushering  LIFE into visibility. Whether it is Life in the form of a healing, a book, a concerto, a dance or a painting, the Christ Child you are performs the work of Life. Can you see it?  Are you willing to give your mind a permanent rest from trying to produce what it was never intended to produce?  Can you begin to allow the recognition of the Christ Child to rise within your consciousness?  Are you ready to have the image of  you as the semi-omnipotent adult replaced by that of the Christ Child who makes no attempt to fix problems because he doesn’t know they exist. This means living a Life of the Spirit which is as Jesus described, like a wind that blows through and you feel the effects of it, but you don’t “KNOW” where it comes from or where it goes. This Life of the Spirit is beyond the knowing of the mind and can only be pointed to through words, never fully embodied by them. It is the sacred secret, the key to the Kingdom and the mystery of Paul the Apostle, Christ in You, the hope of Glory.  The Christ in You will lead you there and provide all that is needed for You to confirm that which already is…..Life. 

 

So what does this mean?  Well it means that my sense ruled mind is no longer responsible for learning and applying principles in the attempt to produce Life, hence it is on permanent vacation from worry, a false sense of responsibility and from a general misguided Lordship over my Life.  

 

Secondly, it means that if I am awakening out of my role as an adult master-mind problem solver, I am becoming increasingly aware of the presence of the Christ in me, my true identity, who is characterized by a childlikeness untouched by the fear of future, full of creative genius and omnipotence and able to conduct the world-changing symphonic flow of Life with great ease. In this scene, the mind’s role as Lord, with his false Adult Identity is abandoned for the peaceful and submissive role of translation….translating Divine thought into visible tangibility.

 

Thirdly, it means that as the Christ Child, I am standing with the polarity of this world under my feet and living from the Flow of Life that flows unrestrained by time-bound thought, concern, worry and fear. It means I am seated in Christ in Heavenly places far above the principles and powers, where Life has no equal or opposite.

Lastly, this Christ Child I am is the confirmation of Love Itself.  Given as the manifestation of Divine Nature, all goodness flows from it exclusively and it’s Life cannot be counterfeited by the devices of mind. The Life of the Christ is incomparable indeed, and much like Jesus in the manger, is best viewed when framed in the contrast of a simple childlike earthen vessel.      

 

[1]The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.

[2]The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

[3]1901 American Standard Version, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1994.