With and In

With and In

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14:16-17‬ ‭KJV‬‬

At Bethlehem God united with His creation to redeem it. Jesus is God but also henceforth forever man. On the day of Pentecost man united with God, henceforth forever a new creature. God moved into hearts. No more WITH: separated but trying to get along.

IN!

Receiving Jesus Christ is not merely nodding acceptance from afar. It is inviting Him …IN. In to be Lord, to rule, guide, teach, correct, and caress. We are His because He lives in and through us. He has free access to enlighten every room and to add and subtract. The old man is dead. It died on the cross with Him. What we live now is an entirely new life. We still carry the enemy shell from the first Adam but someday very soon will exchange it for a vehicle suited to carry the new spirit within …without opposition.

Our task now is to walk out our present phase under His Lordship and reckon the old man dead. We need to feel about the ways of unredeemed flesh as one would with the smell of a putrefying dead body. Few things compare to the repelling revulsion experienced by that smell. Exercised spiritual senses detect death and Life.

Life smells like the Rose of Sharon and our redeemed spirit revels in it. New Jerusalem contains no death or the smell of the fallen nature. What fragrant air we shall breathe, real love, real peace, real joy, real life…in the presence of our Lord God Almighty!