TEACH US TO PRAY (Part 2)
by Doug Fortune
Our FatherI said all that to say this, Our Heavenly FATHER has NO grandchildren! It is a good thing if I have godly and Fatherly influences in my life, people that express the Life and ministry of THE Father, thus pointing me to THE Heavenly Father. However, if I believe that I am somehow an extra generation removed from our Heavenly Father, then I do not understand my spiritual origin. We are all siblings, we are all equal. Yes, some are older brothers and sisters with more maturity and different functions than the younger siblings, yet still siblings, still equal.
"Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?"(1 Corinthians 1:12-13) "So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours, Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death, or the immediate and threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future--all are yours, And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:21-23 Amplified Bible) Christ Jesus is the true Elder Brother that points us to THE Father.
Whether we realize it or not and whether we act like it or not, we are ONE... we are the "OUR" of our Father! "For as the body is ONE, and hath many members, and all the members of that ONE body, being many, are ONE body: SO ALSO IS Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:12) Using the analogy of the human body with many members in ONE body, the Scripture declares, "SO ALSO IS CHRIST!" It is clear to see that the "OUR" of our Father is really Christ, expressed as a many-membered body. Indeed, this is the HOUR to experience the "OUR" of our Father!
Our FATHER... Let that word stir within you for a while... FATHER. Not our CREATOR or MASTER, although He certainly IS our Creator and Master... our FATHER. Not Elohim, Adonai, Jehovah, El-Shaddi, or a host of other names- but our FATHER. In one word, He instantly takes the emphasis OFF of Father's FUNCTION or title, and redirects our thinking to another level. A son does not address his father by title, function or name, but by RELATIONSHIP. He's my Dad!
In only the second word of His instruction, Jesus introduces a concept in prayer that is totally new and radical to the religious thinking of His day- our FATHER.
The Originator and Transmitter of Anything
The word translated as "Father" is pater in Greek. It meanings include- generator or male ancestor; metaphorically it means- the originator and transmitter of anything, the authors of a family or society of persons animated by the same spirit as himself, one who has infused his own spirit into others, one who actuates and governs their minds.
Indeed our heavenly Father is the Author of a family of persons animated by the same Spirit as Himself;"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6) Indeed our heavenly Father is the One who has infused His own Spirit into US, the One who actuates and governs our minds;"A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put MY Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them."(Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Friend, we have our FATHER'S DNA now! No longer are we of the DNA of the first man Adam. We are even free from the DNA of our earthly fathers. We are infused with the DNA (Divine Nature Attributes) of our heavenly Father; "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)
We also have the prophetic declaration of Jesus Christ, the Firstborn, our spiritual Elder Brother, working on our behalf as he prophesied, "Be ye therefore perfect (complete, mature), even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)Contained within those words He spoke over us is the spiritual substance and faith to bring it to pass! I love the way the Amplified Bible states Matthew 5:48, "You, therefore, MUST BE perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect."
In the natural, it is the father that determines the blood-type of a child. So it is in the spiritual sense, it is our Heavenly Father that determines our blood-type. We are now of royal blood, we are of the blood-line of the King of kings and Lord of lords. "For the life of the FLESH is in the BLOOD: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your SOULS: for it is the BLOOD that maketh an atonement for the SOUL." (Leviticus 17:11) We can see clearly from Scripture that the "life" that is in the blood is the "soul-life" or the "life of the flesh." This is the "life" that was sacrificed and died on the cross of Jesus. Jesus SOUL was the offering for sin, not His Spirit."Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His SOUL an offering for sin... He shall see of the travail of His SOUL... because He hath poured out His SOUL unto death..." (Isaiah 53:10-12)
It is the BLOOD of Jesus Christ that made the atonement for our SOUL. Jesus "blood-type" came from His Heavenly Father. His shedding of that "divine blood" was not just substitutionary punishment to provide escape for us. The pouring out of His SOUL unto death was to redeem our "life of the flesh." As long as we are living in this earthly realm, we all have a "life of the flesh." I'm not speaking of the life originating from the fleshly carnal nature. I am speaking of our everyday natural life on planet earth- the "life of the flesh" that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 10:3; "For though we WALK IN THE FLESH, we do not war after the flesh.." He is not speaking of walking AFTER the flesh, but walking IN a flesh body as a human being.
I said all that to say this- the type of "blood" we identify with will determine the type of "life of the flesh" that we live. If we believe that we are still of the bloodline of the first man Adam, then our "life of the flesh" will be as his was, eating of the Tree of Knowledge and reaping death. If we believe that Jesus Christ has truly poured out His SOUL unto death to redeem our "life of the flesh" and that we now have His "divine blood" coursing through our veins, then our "life of the flesh" will be as kings and priests... this is the power of an endless life- eternal life. The "life" that is in the blood of the resurrected Christ that is living in and through us is ETERNAL life. ETERNAL life is not merely our life extended for an indefinite period of time. ETERNAL life is a different quality of life originating from a different Source, and that Source is none other than Christ, the Ever-Living One. Eternal life does not begin somewhere in the sweet by and by. Eternal life is NOW for those who choose to enter into it. "And this is life eternal, that they might KNOW THEE the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."(John 17:3)
I love the way that the Weymouth New Testament states that verse in John 17, as I believe it really captures the heart of what eternal life is; "And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Eternal Life is really the LIFE OF THE AGES. It is a LIFE that has always been... it is the ever existent Christ-Life. THAT, my friend is that Life we are called to step into. THAT is that Life that steps into US."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." (Galatians 2:20)
Indeed, the Father determines the blood-type and the "blood" we identify with will determine the "life of the flesh" that we live! May our "life of the flesh" truly be HIS Life. (To be continued...)
by Doug Fortune
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