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the gospel of Jesus Christ!
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Greetings!
There is a distinction that you have where God now calls you his elect. When the Bible tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, or put on the new man, what it means is that we are to recognize a place we now hold in God as his elect, where we stand out as the best of his creation in the order and class of being that he made us to be.
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THE ELECT
ACTING IN THE INTEREST OF THE BEST OF OUR KIND |
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering..."
Colossians 3:12
In Genesis chapter one, verse twenty-six, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." If you read through this first chapter, you will find that everything God created he made after its own kind. When he made man in his image, after his likeness, he was doing the same thing. He was creating man after his kind. In other words, man was created in God's class of being. Does that mean he was equal with God? Not at all! Not in the sense that he was as superior and supreme as God. Ephesians tells us, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:4-6). The God of the universe, the creator of all things, is and always shall be above all! However, his being "above all" did not diminish his purpose for man. For instance, a father is called the head of his own household. He is above all, but that doesn't make him any more human than his sons and daughters! The fact that man was made in God's class of being is not a reference to being the same as; otherwise, there would have been no need to add: "and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth...." (Gen. 1:26).
In other words, if he was the same as God, there would be no need to make such a decree. All the power and dominion needed would have automatically come with him being equal to God. But God made that decree because man wasn't equal. Psalm eight says, "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels" (Psa. 8:5). The Hebrew word for angels is ELOYHIM, which by interpretation means the Godhead. One translation actually reads: "For thou hast caused him to stand but a little behind God." Man was created under God with God-like qualities. Dominion was decreed over man by God to act in his stead just like one human would act in behalf of another human; unlike a horse, a fish or a plant could do in acting on man's behalf.
WHO SHALL LAY ANYTHING AGAINST THE CHARGE OF GOD'S ELECT!
When sin entered into this world it affected man's spirit to such a degree that it reduced his level of existence within his spirit class of being to a state of impotency. He became alienated from the life of God. His mind and intellect were darkened. He had to learn how to live by his lower nature, cut off from the ruling class of being God made him to be. When Jesus redeems a man, suddenly his spirit becomes recreated after the image of him who created him (Col. 3:10). In essence, when we became born again we were made into a new man, one which was made after the likeness of God (Eph. 4:24). Now that there has been a reconnection to the God class of being, we are called by God his "Elect." One of the definitions for the word "elect" is to be chosen as one who is the best of its kind or class. God looks down over creation and sees man in his fallen state. He sees his impotence and looks upon him as only half the man he made him to be. However, when he looks down upon his new creation man he sees something entirely different. He sees a God-man with all the rights and privileges bestowed upon him to now act within God's class of being. We don't call ourselves better than the world, but that is exactly how God sees us. We are called the sons of God! A distinction unlike any other in all of creation! |
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PRAYER
Father, I just want to thank you today that I am your child. You made me to live and to dwell within the same sphere of existence that you yourself live. You made me a spirit being. Now that you have restored life to my spirit, I can now act within this realm of existence with all the rights and privileges appertaining to. So Father, today, I choose to be more conscious of who I am in Christ, partaking of all that you have made available to me as your own elect. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen. |
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CONFESSION
I am made in the same class of being as God. I have his attributes. I have his nature. I dwell in the Light as he is in the Light. I am select, chosen, and hand-picked as his Elect. I put on as the elect of God, all that I now possess within this new creation man. I have his dominion. I have his power. I have his love. I have his likeness, and I will live today as I ought to live, in all that I am in him. |
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DEFINING MOMENTS...
Peter called us a "chosen generation." That means we are God's elect. As the elect of God we have been chosen for a specific purpose and destiny. If we are to be called the best of our kind, we must live above the lower nature. We must rise above the ways of man. We must think like a God-man. This is what it means when it refers to us having an "upward" calling. If we continue to live on this lower stratum, with a mind ruled by the lower nature, we will never take our place as the best of our kind.
In His Grace,
Pastor David
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The Revelation of Righteousness