Free-will

“But ‘IF’ we [really] are living and walking in the Light, ‘AS’ He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].”  I John 1:7  Amp

The word ‘as’ is a commonly used word and we use it so often that we can forget what it really means.   Webster defines ‘as’:  “equally to, in the same manner, to the same amount or degree.”

Which means we CAN walk in the Light AS Jesus walked, we can live on earth as it is in heaven because the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us as He did Jesus.

A few nights ago while at a meeting this verse (above) was given to me to speak on that had the beginning foundation set out of I Cor. 15:33-34.   I was unable to share this part of the word from the Holy Spirit and it has been burning in my spirit so I will share it today.

We must not let our view of heaven and hell become blurred by believing that they are only future.  I have always been taught that heaven and hell are locations, which is true, but not altogether true.  

They are also relationships and that is where the qualities of both existences can be experienced now.

Paul says, “The widow who lives for pleasure [self-indulgence] IS dead even while she lives” (I Tim. 5:6 NIV).  That means if my will is out of harmony with God, a miniature hell is set up in my heart. 

Horace Fenton, former director of the Latin American Mission says, “Hell is God giving to men what they have wanted all their lives----freedom from Him.”

If so, then to the extent any person----even a Christian----pulls away from God to his/her own way, to that extent he/she sips the misery of the one who will be forever and completely independent of God.

But heaven also can be mine now, at least partially and in foretaste.   To say, “Lord, They will be done” is to transplant heaven to earth, from a location to an experience.  It is to make what is normal in heaven normal for me on earth, thus producing a taste of its joys before time. 

The Christian who longs for heaven, who cannot wait for it, is missing a valuable opportunity to enjoy it now.   I can walk with heaven’s attraction (Jesus), think heaven’s thoughts, do heaven’s bidding, and sing heaven’s praises now.

The materials that produce a heaven atmosphere are already at my disposal; I need not wait till I get there to use them.

Lord, teach me how to walk the “enveloped” life, enveloped by the perfume of heaven in the midst of this contaminated world.  For that is what God has promised me: a taste “of the world to come” (Heb. 6:5 KJV).