Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:11

The greatest journey of this life is the journey home to the Father.  It isn’t a long way from the hand to the foot, and it’s even less from the head to the heart, but the distance of a breath has separated much of mankind for an Eternity.

In the prayer of Jesus before going home, He asked that His disciples be kept, and that they be made partakers of His glory.

To be one with God is to do the acts of God.  In order to do the acts of God, one must have the mind, thoughts, and heart of God.  In order to have these, one must walk in continual, perpetual fellowship, union, with God.  Where one begins and one ends is the same, which is Christ, yet the way is so narrow that one must lose all to gain.

Oneness with God is possible, because it was Jesus’ prayer.

To be one with God is to be tabernacled with Him.  Even as Jesus was, and as He walked, doing only what He saw the Father doing, speaking only the words of the Father, and thinking only His thoughts, and being the manifestation of His glory upon the Earth, He is the doorway into this for all of us.

When He spoke of this, this was not to be something afar off.  No, He invited us in, and called us to come.  For sure, the way is hard.  The stubborn streaks in all of us make it a difficult journey for us to follow on the way.  But, as we make every effort to enter into the narrow gate, He makes a way for each of us.

What is the way?  It is spelled out in the Tabernacle.  You enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise.  You come through The Way into the place of sacrifice, of slaughter, and of death.  Your life is crucified upon the altar of burning, and everyone around you in the body can see.  You are washed with the Word and brought into the fellowship of the redeemed.

What is the Truth?  It is the door into the Holy Place.  It is the place where this life is no longer in view.  You remember, but you go deeper.  Here, only the Spirit can guide you.  While there may be priests about, it is only as you operate in the light from the tree of life burning that you can see.  It is here that the congregations are kept waiting.

But, it is not merely some hidden reality and some secret place, for every false cult of the Earth can espouse that.  But, it is life.  In the place where no one ministers except Him who is above, and His light radiates inward and outward and Beyond.

What is the Life?  It is Him.

When the whole being is surrendered to the Master, the whole body is made to light.  When the eyes are on one thing, the body begins to get bright.  We can submit ourselves, body, will, and emotions, to the Maker, who was and is and ever more will be, to remain fixed in Him, unmoving.

The position changes, not just in heart, but in mind, while we seek Him, we are in Him, even as Christ was in Him.

It is from the place of unity that we see the greatest works abound.  We cannot move in any other way, for any length of stay, except we be in step with Him in His heart.  Unless we move when He moves, and step as He steps, we will be out of step when it comes.  Unless we belong in this place, and remain where we are, we will always be moved by something.

His words are sure, and they are a place, to be put and held in space.  If we belong in Him, we don’t move from Him, and we always see His face.

 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.

Matthew 26:39 NASB

Even Jesus had to submit Himself to the Father’s will.  Even He had to wrestle with His own motives and His heart to keep it pure.  Even He had to come to place of honesty that He didn’t want to do it in His flesh, but He was willing because the Father wanted.  He required the unity with His Father that much.

Every man, person, creature, must come to this decision at some level in their heart.  It happens at first conception, when the seed of the Word of the Kingdom enters into the heart, and it grows.  It was true from the very start, but as it grows, and the Father allows greater and greater responsibility for the Word upon the believer, the believer must stand in the victory of the Faith of Christ.

We may be sinless because of the blood shed on the cross, but it was Jesus’ blood that made us sinless, and He had to pray to keep Himself pure.  If it was true for Him, that He had to wrestle, how much more is it true of us?  And, while we may say that the enemy was defeated upon that cross, and he was, we must also say that we must stay in Christ, in the way He walked, in order to abide in that victory.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

John 14:23-24

For, even as John the apostle wrote, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4).

Holding onto nothing, we embrace Jesus.  We become purified, sanctified, and holy through belief, and we enter into His rest through faith.  Through the living and holy way, we enter into a new life, and into the Eternal Holy of Holies, and take on the nature and personality of God, the Almighty.   And, as we come to understand and believe it, we give ourselves completely, whole body, soul, and being, to the one, the only, the Master and Father of creation, in love.

As we give ourselves through complete obedience, in love, we come to recognize with Jesus that all of His commands lead to life, and we come to trust Him, whether sooner or later.  And, as we embrace Him, we leave this world behind.

Though being in it, this world, we are not of it.  That is, we are physically seen as possessing bodies upon this Earth, but we are no longer here.  We may converse and interact, and we eat and drink while under this canopy, but there is nothing here in it for us.  Every pleasure, every sense, and every delight that it may have once had is a worthless idol to us now, and we enjoy His Kingdom above our chiefest pursuit.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Psalm 137:5-6

That is, not the Earthly Jerusalem primarily for us as the church, but that heavenly one.  It is not primarily that earthly Mt. Zion, although God is not done with that, but that heavenly, Eternal one, where we celebrate with myriads of heavenly hosts in joyful assembly (Hebrews 12:22).

Giving ourselves fully, we enter into life, unguarded, unashamed, and totally free.