But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Galatians 6:14

The freedom from this life is the freedom from all of its desires, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  Yet, this is not asceticism, or the simply turning away from the things of the world, as if to nothing, but it is turning to a greater thing, a thing of true worth, and a thing of lasting enjoyment.

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When all is stripped away, and nothing else remains, you can trust in His love.  His love remains, when everything else is shaken (Romans 8:37-39), and by it, we live without fear (1 John 4:18).

Into His love we commend ourselves each day.  Further into His glory, His goodness, His mercy.

All we need is His love.  Our only true possession in this life is this place of union.

The life of the flesh doesn’t matter in the end.  What matters is Eternity.  According to Isaiah 40, all of man’s pomp and pride fall away into the dust and ashes they came from, and all that remains is faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

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You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Matthew 23:26

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  Once we have purified our souls by obeying the truth unto the point where we can love for real, we should love each other fervently, as we ought to (1 Peter 1:22).

This is the point of the Gospel.  This is the work of the cross and the path of life.  If your gospel is not aimed at producing this life here and now, a life that is demonstrated by a visible, recognizable love (John 13:35), that does not tolerate sin so much to eat with an immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:11), what are you living?

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Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

This is part of the good news Jesus came to bring.  If we ask for it, He will bring it.  If we look for it, we will find it.  If we keep knocking at the door, eventually, it will open for us.  This is Kingdom 101 quite often, and, whether it is accepted as such or dismissed from there, it can often get little investigation later.  However, as with many of Jesus’ sayings, they apply to multiple levels.

For instance, take the phrase “Seek and you will find.”  This, of course, applies to the Kingdom of Heaven, to God the Father, and to Jesus.  This of course applies to answers and deliverances and other such burdens we offer towards heaven.  But, let’s look at this another way for a moment.

Jesus ministered on the Earth in the power of the Spirit.  The gifts were evident yet not on display.  The Spirit was present, and the gifts were promised, but the primary focus of the teaching was directed towards the Father’s will.

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 In his last days old Dr. Bressee [the founder of the Nazarene church] would preach from church to church one message: “Keep the glory down.” Why? He knew that if they ever lost it they were finished.

–R T Kendall, The Anointing

Probably every genuine move of God was birthed in something special.  In every move, there was something Beyond the text of the written Word, Beyond the meetings, Beyond the men, that made a difference.

If we understood that the Gospel is more than words on a page, that it is more than a natural man can understand (John 3:3-5), that it is the unseen, spiritual realm that makes a difference (Colossians 1:16), we would be much closer to the glorious overcoming church of Ephesians 4:13.

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