PART #27 THE STAFF AND SWORD MINISTRY MARCH 2009

MANIFESTING CHRIST

THE OVERCOMING LIFE

NOT CHANGED B UT EXCHANGED

by Nancy-TONI Younglirandt

Wow -- it has been 6 years since I first had the leading and insight to write about"Manifesting Christ." In some ways these articles are an extension or continuation of theFiery Trials" articles written to help believers know what to expect in your walk and how

to have a closer walk in and with Jesus Christ. In these "Manifesting Christ" articles I havebeen led to share and teach on subjects that also would help in your walk in Christ in thehopes and to ends of making ourselves ready and available to Manifest Christ, the verySpirit ofChrist Himself, in our daily lives and to others that God's Will be done in thisearthas it is done in Heaven.

As for "Manifesting Christ" itself and what that means to me, I see it on multiple levels.On a basic level it means not just having salvation through Jesus Christ but having that giftbecomes real in our hearts and in the very core of our being, to where we manifest and showforth 1-Iis Love. peace, patience. forgiveness and all ofthe other fruits to all those we meetand relate to in our lives. On another level, I see how as we yield to Jesus all that is withinus and we give up our self-life, that we begin to operate in and manifest our new life inChrist and we really become who God made us to be. This is not an instant change but rathera gradual one where over time Jesus shines more and more through us to others. Then thereis the ultimate level, when I believe God Himself will quicken Christ to manifest within Hisprepared people to where the Light of Christ shines forth for all to see. This would be themanifestation ofthe sons ofGod. However, this third level will only collie by the SovereignWill of God, for His purposes and in His Time, and I believe this is a part oF.lesus' SecondComing — in His people.

In the meantime, we, who love Jesus and seek Hite with all of our heart, have to be asthose faithful virgins who remained read y and alert for when the bridegroom comes. Afterall. Jesus will come for a bride, a body, that is without spot or wrinkle; He will come to

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those saints who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and have been clothed in whitelinen. There is obviously work yet to be done in the Body of Christ for us to be prepared toreceive our Savior as our groom.

Perhaps the word work' isn't the right word because if anyone does the work' ofpreparing God's people it is certainly God Himself by His Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. Forus, however, if there is a work, it is of letting go, of denying self and taking up our cross andallowing the Spirit of God to take from the sinful, former life and receiving His new lifewhich He has for us. As the Christian Watchman Nee wrote, the meaning of this life whichChrist Jesus has for us, this overcoming life, is that it is NOT A CHANGED LIFE BUT ANEXCHANGED LIFE.

NOT A CHANGED LIFE BUT AN EXCHANGED LIFE

Jesus made it plain in Scripture that we have to give up our old life to gain our new life.We can't just fix up the old life with a little `glue and duck tape,' we have to trade it all infor our new life in Christ. In Matthew 916-17 Jesus used the example of that in order toreceive of the new wine, we must have a new wineskin to put it in because the old wineskinswill only leak and break. Likewise Jesus taught us that you can't put a new patch on an oldlinen garment for the garment will wear out further and eventually tear away from the patch.

It is all too easy to think that while salvation is free, somehow we must work to changeourselves into the Christian Jesus calls us to be. And yet no where does Jesus actually saywe are to do the changing ourselves, but rather the point is made that He, Jesus Christ, hasdone it all for us and that it is there waiting for us if we will give up our life to gain His lifefor us.

We have heard from a few intercessors who are having a tough time lately with depressionor just dealing with issues which make them feel a bit depressed or down on themselves.One individual even admitted there were times when he wished Chuck-JGHNEL could justtake his staff and 'bop' him on the head, so to speak, to get his act in order.

In praying about this, while the reasons and causes of depression can be as varied as theindividual experiencing it, when it comes to feeling depressed about the seeming lack ofchange in ourselves and our apparent inability to snake a lasting change in certain areas ofourselves, we often feel frustrated and down because while we may be praying in Jesus'Name to conquer certain aspects of our nature such as anger or fear, the truth is that we arehanging onto the very thing we are trying to change. The very idea of change means thatwe must work and endure certain things until we eventually effect a change. However, wemust come to the realization that we cannot trul y change ourselves in any deep, significant

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NOT A CHANGED LIFE BUT AN EXCHANGED LIFE continued

way spiritually; we cannot and are not to use our own soul power and might to make

ourselves more like Jesus. Only Jesus Christ can make us more like Jesus Christ. Jesus

Christ has no sin within Him and took on our sin and died for us so we don't have to literally

die to have victory over sin. Jesus did it all for us. So, instead of trying to change ourselvesinto Christ's image, all we really have to do is EXCHANGE our life for His Life.

This also goes the same for a Christian who is perhaps not struggling with any obvious sinor difficulty such as an ill-temper, being covetous or any other number of sins of the flesh.Regardless of whether you would be perceived or even perceive yourself as being a bad'Christian or a good' Christian, it is still Christ that is your righteousness and thereforeChrist that is to overcome in you and not you overcoming yourself. You, even in Christ'sauthority and power, can only overcome yourself up to a point and you must let go and letJesus overcome that which is within you because as much as you might see and be awareof, you can't see it all and you can't deal with it all. There can only be one master on thethrone seat of our hearts, either it is our self that is sitting there or it is Christ - we cannotserve two masters.

Only God is good. Even Jesus said that when someone tried to call Him good while Hewalked the earth. It is important and helpful for you to meditate on that in prayer to wherethat becomes a reality and a truth in your heart. Why? Because it takes the pressure off ofyou! You don't have to make yourself perfect - wow! Jesus Christ by the Holy Spiritworking in you will do that - the work will be done for you!! How liberating that should beLo you spiritually-speaking.

THE OVERCOMING LIFE - A GIFT, NOT A REWARD

For now, I am going to borrow some of the ideas/insights that Watchman Nee shared inhis book, THE OVERCOMING LIFE (The Basis For The Normal Christian Life),published by Living Stream Ministry. 1835 W. Ball Road. Anaheim. CA 92804/ Pa Box 2121.

Anaheim. CA 92814. (1 highly recommend this book.)

In his book, Watchman wrote further in the chapter entitled "The Characteristics of theOvercoming Life" that the principle of an overcoming life, a victorious life, is that it is first,last and always a GIFT, NOT A REWARD.

This is an important distinction because we cannot look at Christ's overcoming life withinus as a reward for anything we have done. We cannot sa y that salvation is a free gift but thevictory is the result of our own effort or from anything we did 'right.' To think that we haveany credit in experiencing victory in Christ in our lives is to diminish all that Jesus did for

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THE OVERCOMING LIFE - A GIFT Z NOT A REWARD continuedus on the cross. We can't just think that Jesus gets us through the door to Heaven but thatwe can take it from there. Instead, we have to realize that all we have of Christ in our livesis because of Christ and it is a gift from God not because we earned it, or are worth it butjust because God loves us.

In James 1:17 it says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and connethdown from the Father of lights,...

A further concordance study reveals that the Holy Ghost is a gift, that righteousness is agift, salvation is a gift, and grace is a gift. With all these gifts, what more cou]d we need?For your edification and abiding meditation, here is what Scripture says on this subject:

Acts 2:38 : "Then Peter said unto them. Repent, and be baptized every one ofyou inthe name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift o theHoly Ghost. "

Romans 5:.17, JS : For if by one man's offence death reigned by one: much morethey which receive abundance ofgrace and of the gift o righteousness shall reign inlife by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as b y the offence of one judgment came upon allmen to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the , free gift came upon allmen unto justification of life. "

Ephesians 4:7: "But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measureofthe gift of Christ.

And Iast but not least, we have Ephesians 2:8 -10 that perhaps most applies to ourdiscussion here. It says:

"For 1?3y grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which

God hath before obtained that we should walk in them. "

Here we see the importance of knowing within ourselves our limitations and that all thatis good within us, all which saves us and brings us closer to Jesus and into His overcominolife is also from God through Jesus Christ and is not from anything of our own making.Works alone do not save us, works alone do not make us more holy or righteous — it isthrough Jesus Christ that we are counted as Holy and are made righteous only because it is

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THE OVERCOMING LIFE - A GIFT, NOT A REWARD continuedHis Righteousness that we are walking in.

Why is this distinction so important? The reason for this is: "lest any man should boast."You see, our self-nature is and can be very deceptive and self-serving. It is more thanwilling to take credit where it can and the appeal of salvation through works is very strongto that self-nature because it makes us feel ]ike we have done something to earn or deservethat which is freely given. We like to think and even boast within ourselves that we havedone something `good' or `right'. However, in truth, only God is good and all that is goodwithin us really comes from Him. That is what is meant by us being the result of Hisworkmanship and that we are created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works — goodArks that originate and come from God. In other words, just as Jesus is the author andfinisher of our faith, so God the Father is the author and creator of good works, not us. Sothe more we come to terms with that, the easier it is for us in our walk in Christ.

THE WAY TO RECEIVE THIS LIFE --OBTAINED NOT ATTAINED

In Watchman Nee's book, he next qualifies that "the overcoming life is something that isobtained; it is not attained." He then explains that to obtain is to acquire something and toattain is to go through a long journey. And to attain "one has to advance gradually, and there

is no assurance of when he will arrive."

This brought to mind an analogy he used in the book where he likened people's view orapproach to salvation as being either a life preserver or a lifeboat. He points out thatsalvation and all Jesus has done for us is meant to be a lifeboat, however, too many of God'speople only see it as a life preserver. So, you may ask, what is wrong with that? Well, I seeit this way...

Before we saved, life in this world can feel a bit like being lost at sea. To my soul withoutJesus, being in the world was kind of like being in the sea at the mercy of currents andwaves with strong undertows and creatures every threatening to pull me down. Sin, thefallen nature, wounds and demonic influence in our lives seem to have such strength andweight in our lives that to liken them to the sea or ocean seems quite accurate. Then Jesuscomes along and offers us salvation from our sea of troubles and Iife of sin. The questionis then: do you see salvation as a life preserver or a lifeboat? The life preserver is a help, noquestion about it, but it doesn't actually get you out of the water does it? It only helps youstay afloat until some else pulls you out or you actually use your strength and might to swimto shore. This choice still leaves you at the mercy and vulnerable to the currents, waves and

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THE WAY TO RECEIVE THIS LIFE — OBTAINED, NOT ATTAINED continuedundertow of the sea (world); this choice will make overcoming seem about impossiblebecause the individual is still in the sea of this world while trying to rise above it. With thisapproach the individual is seeking to attain salvation through a long journey with noassurance of arriving at the desired destination.

On the other hand, the lifeboat is there to be obtained; it is there to be received and enteredinto with minimal effort on our part. Jesus is that lifeboat. He is there to take our soul outof our sea of sin and trouble altogether, and take us to shore and safety. With Him, ourlifeboat, we no longer have to be swept about by sin and troubles of this life for He takenus out of that sea and with Him we can even walk on the water. This is not to say thattroubles won't arise for even in a lifeboat at sea, waves and storms will arise, some themeven trying to knock us overboard. But how we respond to them is the key. Do we let themsweep us overboard and into the sea or do we look to Jesus and get back out of the waterand back on board the lifeboat as soon as we are able? His lifeboat is there for every onewho is willing to come on board so reach out to Him and He will bring you out of the seaand into His boat of life and victory over the power of the sea.

THE RECEIVING OF THIS LIFE - A MIRACLE

Perhaps at this point you are thinking that this sounds great but inwardly you just despairthat Jesus would really do that for you. Or maybe you think God does one thing for oneperson, but He does not operate that way with you. Then there are others who probably donot feel their failures and don't see how hopeless they trul y are. Others yet have given upaltogether that they will ever overcome unless God performs a miracle. Well folks, God isin the miracle business, as they say. As Watchman Nee writes, '`Man's way is to suppresssin. But God's way is to perform a miracle by removing the old man and cleansing the heartaltogether. If you realize the meaning of God's victory, you will he overjoyed." Amen tothat!

In his book, Watchman Nee goes onto give examples where God performed a miracle inthe form of the overcoming life. One lady had been Christian for several years but still hada hot temper. Her whole household lived in fear of her exploding temper. Then one day shereceived the Lord Jesus as her victory, woke up the next day and came downstairs a newperson. Even her husband saw the difference in her right away and proclaimed, "This isindeed a miracle! What a miracle! Thank and praise the Lord! This is a miracle."

The point here is that miracles aren't just reserved for the healing of the sick,multiplication of food and other such miracles but Jesus wants to do a miracle in your lifetoday — He wants to give you the overcoming life!!

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THE RECEIVING OF THIS LIFE — A MIRACLE continued

After the story of the woman with the temper, Watchman Nee shares a story witnessed byMr. C. G. Trumbull, the founder of the Sunday School Times Company, and a personexperienced in the spiritual life. He too had realized that the overcoming life was a miracleand "testified to an elder that after he received Lord Jesus as his life, not only was his tempergone, but even his desire to lose his temper disappeared." The elder then asked if that meantthat all of our sins can be removed? To which Mr. Trumbull replied "yes". The elder thenresponded by saying that he believed that was real for Mr. Trumbull because he believedhim but that such a thing could never happen to him. Later, Mr. Trumbull invited this elderfor a time of prayer at which time the elder also "RECEIVED THIS FACT." Some timelater, Mr. Trumbull met the elder again, and he told Mr. Trumbull, "I have neverexperienced in my life what I experienced on that evening. It was a miracle! There is nostruggling and no striving. The cravings are gone, even the desire for sin is gone. This inindeed wonderful. It is a miracle." 4

What great news! To know that there is victory over the sin and fallen nature within us!Praise the Lord!

This in turn may lead you to wonder how you might go about obtaining the miracle thatwaits for you? Well, I believe the key in the story of the elder and Mr. Trumbull when theyspent a long time in prayer together and the elder finally "RECEIVED THIS FACT." Yousee, he had heard the story of Mr. Trumbull and believed that God would and had done sucha thing for him, but the elder had not received the fact that God would do such a thing forhim. He might even had read all the Scriptures and yet still had not received the fact into hisheart. But once he finally did receive into his heart through a time of prayer that God hada gift for him and that God would overcome in the elder and give him the overcoming life.then he obtained it.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

When it comes to obtaining or receiving anything from God, it begins first withinourselves. I believe the best wa y to teach on this is with the Parable of the Sower in theBible. In this parable we see the best example of what we should be doing but also what weshouldn't be doing when it comes to the words, revelations and promises of God. As arefresher, the Scriptures go like this:

"A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sawed, some fell by the waryside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And somefell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it

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THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER continued

"lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sp rang lip withit, and choked it. And other_ fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruitan hundred fold. And when he had said these things, lie cried, He that hath earsto hear, let him hear....

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way sideare they that hear; then coin eth the devil, and taketh away the word out of theirhearts, lest they should believe and he saved. They on the rock are they, which,when they hear, they receive the word with joy; and these have no root, whichfor a while they believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which,fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and arechoked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth no fruitto pemfection.

But they on the good ground are they, which inn an honest and good heart,having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. "

(Jesus in Luke 8:5-8,11 . 15 )

Here we see that the seed is the word of God. From what the Holy Spirit has shown me,that seed is ANY word from God whether it is a personal prophecy, a promise in Scripture,a vision, or a revelation by the Spirit of God. Each one is a seed that is given unto to us. Sowhat the parable is revealing are the consequences of what we do with that seed. The firstexample is when the seed is sown but some falls by the way side and it is trodden down andthe fowl of the air devour it up. This happen to those who may hear the word of God butthey give it little attention and certainly don't care to take the seed within the good groundof their heart so the enemy of our souls easily comes in and takes that seed away lest it finda way to take root after all.

Chuck-JUHNEL has certainly seen this, especially in his early year-s when he worked to

be submitted to Jesus in his local church group. He saw how on one day they could prophesy

by the Spirit of God one thing and then the next day or so later, deny they ever said such a

thing. When reminded of what they had prophesied by the Spirit of God, they would

remember for a brief moment and then go right back to denying that God was Ieading

Chuck-JOHNEL. Here it can be seen that while the word came from God to those

individuals, it did not take root and the enemy was able to quickly take it away.

Also in this category might be those that hear a word of prophecy and say that when it

comes to pass, then we'll know if it is of God or not. Then when it does come to pass, they

still don't believe. These just have not and will not receive a word from God within

themselves.

The next group are those seeds that fall upon rock and as soon as it is sprung up, it is

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THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER continuedwithered away because it lacks moisture, and, I would add, good soil. Jesus explains thatthese are those that when they hear the word of God, they receive it with joy and theybelieve for a while but since it does not take root in themselves, in a time of temptation orpersecution it withers up and they fall away. This is a sad thing to see and go throughbecause we have seen it-all too often. We too have seen how some receive the materialsfrom this ministry with joy but it is often more exaggerated than normal and they are super-eager to receive everything they can. This certainly isn't necessarily a problem as we havemany who receive our newsletters with joy and have been in the ministry for many years andwill continue to be a part for many years to come. However, there are those which are over-the-top eager but soon burn out and move on to something else. Or when they arechallenged, persecuted or tempted in some area of their life, they blame the ministry andquit. The word that they had received through this ministry which brought them such joy intheir lives suddenly is blamed for the current problems in their lives which are no doubtinstigated by the enemy of our souls for the very purpose of driving them away. Again, thesehave not taken the word of God into the good ground of their heart yielded to God in prayer.

Next we see that some seeds fall among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked outthe out. Jesus explains that these which fell among thorns are those which when they haveheard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bringforth no fruit to perfection. These thorns are often unresolved areas in our heart that wehave failed to give over to God. These thorns are often wounds, hurts and resolves in whichunforgiveness, fear. pride, resentment, anger and whole host ofthorny issues. To have "goodground" your heart, these things need to be taken to the Lord in prayer, put under the Bloodof Jesus, and yielded to the Holy Spirit. An example of how this may work, is wheresomeone received the word to move to a green pasture area and was provided the place andthe move was made — "they have heard and go forth." But then everything seems go wrong.Suddenly the enormity of what needs to be done begins to sink in. Where is the money goingto come from? How am I going to do that? I don't know haw to raise animals! I don't knowhow to grow a garden! ...and so on. The cares of this life j ust seem rise up arid choke out anyfaith in God, any seed that God had planted is overgrown with fears, desires, the need formoney, doubts, and so on. These issues can rise up even before any such move has beenmade. Just praying about moving can stir up these thorns in one's heart and prevent theword from even being received at all. So what is one to do? How can they receive the wordof God into the `good ground' so they may obtain the things God has for them and live anovercoming life walking in faith?

RECEIVE. PROVE. ACCEPT AND LIVE

Since there are so many sources out there professing to be giving a word from God, it isas important as ever to first be sure that the word your receiving into yourself is indeed a

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RECEIVE, PROVE. ACCEPT AND LIVE continuedword from God and not out of someone's own soul or even from the enemy. ThereforeChuck-JOHNEL and I suggest taking this approach to a word which has come your way.First of all, RECEIVE the word which you are hearing or reading. That means that youmentally receive it as a possible word from God and you begin to open your heart to Godin that word.

Then you PROVE the word to find out if it is indeed of God for you or not. To prove itmeans that you take it to God in prayer. You give the word up to God and pray that He willconfirm it or give you a knowing if this word is from Him or not. You could even ask Godto take the word from you if it is not of Him but if it is, let it take root and be fulfilled withinyou according to His Will.

Next, once you know if the word is of God or not, then if it is not of God you can justdismiss it. But, if it is from God, then you must then ACCEPT the word of God into yourheart. Let it become a part of you. Open your heart and yield it to God and His Word.

Another way of expressing this is to internalize what God has given you. Take the wordinto your heart and mind, and seek the Lord as to whether there is any more He would haveyou do. You can think and pray about the word, exploring the possibilities of what it alightmean or how it may manifest. In the end however, you are waiting on the direction andmove of the Spirit of God to fulfill the word within you.

Then you can begin to LIVE the word, to walk in the word of God. You don't have totrouble yourself about how you are going to do what God's word has said or how God isgoing to bring it to pass. Instead, as you continue to set your heart on Jesus, take up yourcross and follow Him, He will lead you to do all that He wants you to do.

And like a seed that has taken root in the ground, you may not see any sprouts right away,but you can rest in faith knowing that God is working deep within you and it will bear fruitbecause it is God doing the work in you. As it says in Romans 4:21,

"And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised,He was able also to per form."