...so... how did Jesus do it?

Now... let's move on to the good stuff...

You see, as I have stated often... we are just like Jesus. The very second we had enough faith to accept Jesus into our hearts... we became identical to Him.

The Spirit of Christ that flowed through Jesus now entered our bodies. Adam forfeited it through belief in a lie... We receive it back through belief in Jesus. Not because of our works.... not so long as we stay good enough.... not so long as we fulfill our purpose...... but because we Believe.

PERIOD.

I don't understand this. I don't even pretend to. In fact... I propose that it's impossible for the carnal mind to ever understand this. It defies every thing we have learned in the physical realm. It is what the apostle Paul describes as the Mystery of the Gospel:

Col 1:26-29

This Mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this:

CHRIST IS IN YOU...

so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic.

CHRIST.... NO MORE... NO LESS!

You are Christ. It is your identity. It has always been Man's true identity. It is God's intention for Christ to be expressed uniquely in each of us through our personality. It was firstly expressed through Jesus, and is offered to each of us through our belief in Him and what He has accomplished on our behalf.

Jesus' name is roughly translated as Jehovah the Saviour. It represents the coming Messiah that had been prophesied throughout history... the Human manifestation of God.... God in the Flesh.

The name Christ is translated as the Annointed of God. God's very Essence and Being. His Spirit.


You see... Jesus didn't just know this. He was not born with this knowledge. He had to learn who He was just like us. He lived on this earth EXACTLY the way you and I do. He did not walk around with some sort of advantage over you and I. He did not operate as GOD on this Earth in any way that is unavailable to us.

I offer the following excerpt from Dr. Jim Richard's book "Leadership that Builds People":

"We must see that the Son of God actually became a little baby. He was not omniscient. He did not operate from the innate power of God. He did all that He did as a man full of the Spirit of God, covered over with the grace of God. In other words, He operated exactly as we do, by faith and grace.

He did not know all there was to know about God, ministry or Himself. He learned what He needed to know. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 2:52). Not only does the Scripture say that He grew in wisdom; He also grew in favor with God. If He grew in favor, that means He did not have all the favor of God. If He grew in wisdom, that means He did not have all wisdom."


Now... personally, this is where I have spent much of my time meditating.

The Bible hints at how Jesus went about learning of His true identity, but does not give us an exact blueprint. I think this is intentional. If the Bible told us exactly how much time Jesus spent reading scripture... how much time he spent in prayer... how much time he spent worshiping God.... we would simply try and copy it.

I have pondered often of how Jesus spent his time in worship.... sitting on top of a mountain enjoying the sunset.... lying in his favorite spot to watch the stars.... enjoying that natural symmetry of the created world around him... the world that the Bible says was created through the Spirit of Christ that filled His every cell....

I could go on and on.... this time of meditation on the simple fact that Jesus got to know God the same way I get to know Him... through personal revelation... has been the biggest source of inspiration for me. It is a source of Hope for me like none other....

You see... God created us each infinitely unique.... and how we experience Him is equally unique. It must be upheld by the Word of God, but our revelation of Him will be ours. We were created to Worship our Father, and that experience is as unique and individual as our fingerprints are. There are no formulas...

The bottom line is this. Jesus had to have a personal revelation of God as Father. He most certainly was told this by his family... very convincingly, I'm sure. I have pondered what His mother, Mary, must have been like when she told Jesus of his identity. I mean, if there was any one on earth completely convinced that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God... it was Mary. She was a virgin, and yet conceived a child supernaturally. I'm sure that her testimony was full of much passion and conviction.

But this is my point.... no matter how convincing a story that Jesus was told about who He was... that alone did not give Him the ability to live the miraculous life that was His Mission. He also had to see what the Scriptures (God's Word) said about Him.

He had to develop His heart in exactly the same way you and I do. He listened to the people he trusted.... he read from God's word...

...He spent time worshiping God....

...and He believed.

Here is another quote from Dr. Jim Richard's book:

"Jesus' revelation of His identity was not complete by what His parents taught Him... He went to the Word of God to affirm and establish His identity... He did not read the Word to try and become the Son of God; He read the Word to determine what it meant about Him... After believing what the Word had to say about Him, Jesus had an experience with the Father, an experience so powerful that it launched Him into His public ministry...

...When we start believing, then we will start experiencing. But if we need an experience to make us believe it will never happen....

...The Spirit coming upon Jesus, no doubt, gave Him the power to heal and deliver the people. We all have that same Spirit. He came into us when we were born again, but the confidence to use that power comes from knowing your identity and the approval of God."

In closing, I hope to inspire you to pursue your true identity. So far, you have been told by a confused world who you are... what you are capable of... and what the limits of your experience in this life will be...

Jesus has shown us, very simply, that there is more....

much, much more...

Your Father in Heaven... your REAL Father... has much to tell you about who you are and what you are capable of. He is madly and passionately in Love with you.... and you can't ever change that. It is through this revelation of your complete acceptance... with all your baggage... that you begin the journey with Jesus into Real Living...