Shalom, dear and beloved saints, righteous in Christ Jesus!

I want to share with you some thoughts that, I believe, the Lord has put in my heart.

I have noticed that today the devil has managed to turn believers’ eyes away from the most important thing the church is built on — from Christ Himself — and to turn our eyes to things that at first glance look very right.

Righteousness, Faith, Grace, Holiness, Salvation, Peace, Healing, Wisdom and even the name of Christ Himself… Sadly, ever since the church of the first apostles, all this has turned into some vague, abstract definitions and concepts.

I studied at a Bible college and at a missionary institute, and back then it seemed to me such a blessing; I thought that in this way I was preparing to serve God. Remembering those times now, I feel emptiness: lots of theory, rules, methods of Bible study and so on — what could be better for a Christian, you might think? But it was simply acquiring knowledge, and that was all!!! I remember that it was precisely at college that many lost the desire to read the Bible on their own: first, why bother, since we were studying it anyway; second, we were obliged to read it according to a plan: no fewer than so many chapters a day. The same happened with personal fellowship with God. And although we were told that we needed it, it all became a duty. We were taught definitions of faith, grace and so on, but all this crowded out a living relationship with God. Back then we simply couldn’t understand what was happening to us: it seemed we were all supposed to be so spiritual, but in fact everything was completely joyless. (Understand me rightly: I am not against Bible schools, but only if they teach the Truth!) But only now, having received the revelation of Christ’s finished work, have I not only understood but felt with all my heart that knowledge puffs up [1 Cor.8:1], and the strength of sin is the law [1 Cor.15:56] (for when we are obliged and forced to read the Bible, pray, serve, go to church, give offerings, evangelise — the list could go on forever — it moves from being prompted by the Holy Spirit into the category of law).

Now, a year and a half after God began to reveal to me the fullness of His grace and made me able to receive revelations of Christ’s finished work on the cross, I have noticed what I wrote at the very beginning:

Righteousness, Faith, Grace, Holiness, Salvation, Wisdom, Peace, Healing and even Christ Himself: in the understanding of many of us Christians today, all this has turned into some vague, abstract definitions and concepts.

But in reality none of this is mere definitions; all this is alive, all this is the Living Christ Himself! And by giving it the status of definitions and concepts we diminish the significance of Christ and deprive ourselves of His power in our life.

I have also noticed that even Christ Himself has become something abstract. We say that Christ saved us from our sins, but we don’t always realise what that actually means, because right afterwards we start fighting our sins in our own strength. We say and sing that Jesus has given us the victory, and right after that we organise breakthrough prayer services and all-night prayer meetings, we defeat the devil, although Scripture clearly tells us that the devil has ALREADY been judged and stripped of power, and God gives us the victory in Christ [1 Cor.15:57]. The same can be said about faith: we try to squeeze it out of ourselves, forgetting that He is the Author (the Greek word comes from a word meaning founder, originator, first cause, creator, leader, chief) and Finisher of faith [Heb.12:2], and we live not by our own faith, but by His.

“…yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” [Gal.2:20 KJV]

Yes, He Himself is Faith. It is the same with Righteousness, Holiness and everything else. Jesus is inseparable from what He accomplished on the cross! He is inseparable from His death for us and His resurrection, for in Him our old, sinful man died [Rom.6:6], and together with Him the new man rose [Rom.6:5], created according to God in true Righteousness and Holiness [Eph.4:24] (I have written these words with capital letters because all this is HE, CHRIST), a new creation [2 Cor.5:17] that has the righteous nature of Christ Himself [2 Pet.1:4]! Separate this revelation from the name of Jesus, and you will get a wise teacher, a righteous and good man and even God, but not the Mighty Christ who conquered death, put away sin [Heb.9:26] and gave us eternal LIFE [Jhn.6:47] more abundantly [Jhn.10:10], grace and the power not to sin [Rom.5:17; Rom.6:6]!

Remember the names of God: Jehovah (Yahweh), Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah-Nissi and many others. They all have a meaning, but the most important one is Jehovah, which means I Am, the One who is, or in modern language I Exist [Exd.3:14].

We were taught what these names mean. I won’t mention them all now, but I will give one of them as an example, just to show the point. Let’s take the name of God Jehovah-Rapha. Wherever God’s names were discussed, I always heard that the meaning of this name is God the healer, or the God who heals [Exd.15:26]. But recently the Lord revealed to me that He is not just the One who heals, but He Himself IS HEALING, because everything has already been accomplished!!! [Heb.4:3] says that His works were finished (completed, ended) from the foundation of the world. And verse 4 says: “… And God rested on the seventh day from all His works…” Notice the highlighted words. God is no longer doing anything! And remember what Jesus cried out on the cross the last time? IT IS FINISHED (completed, ended)! Simply by knowing Him more and more intimately and closely, we see more and more of what He has already accomplished.

In the epistle to the Ephesians, in the place in chapter 1 where the apostle Paul prays for believers, there are these words:

17. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge (επιγνώσει) of Him,
18. the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know (ειδέναι) what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19. and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20. which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…
–Ephesians 1:17-20

Notice the two highlighted words in verses 17 and 18. In translation both come out as “knowledge” and “know”. Now look at the Greek words in brackets. Even without knowing the Greek language or alphabet, you can clearly see that these are 2 different words. And they differ in meaning.

The first, epignosei, means a close, intimate relationship such as a husband and wife have with each other. And the second word, eidenai, means to see, to experience for oneself, to feel.

I’ll say it again: simply by knowing HIM we experience for ourselves EVERYTHING He is and everything He has already done!

From this it is clear that God does not heal; He Himself is Healing, and besides that, He Is our Health! He does not save; He Himself is Salvation [Exd.15:2]; He does not make us righteous — He has already done so and HIMSELF Is our Righteousness and Holiness. He does not give us wisdom; Christ Is our wisdom from God [1 Cor.1:30]!!!

In chapter 6 of the Gospel of John Jesus says of Himself that He is the living Bread that came down from heaven, and His flesh and blood are true food, true drink and life [Jhn.6:35,48,51,55,57].

Perhaps someone will object: what difference does it make? It is written, for example, “ask for wisdom”, or something of that kind, so what is the point? I think the point is how far each of us has grown in our relationship with God and how we see Him. As Paul wrote: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things” [1 Cor.13:11]. All of us, when we respond to Christ’s call and begin to trust Him, speak and think like children. And it is no great secret that little children, though very sincere, are still rather selfish. And even as we grow in Christ, I think our own selfishness is something we will keep running into until the very day we leave our earthly bodies. So when we are only beginning our walk in Christ, it is quite natural that we want what Christ has. But as we grow in the knowledge of Him, coming to know more and more of His love and grace, receiving more and more revelations about Himself and what He accomplished for us on the cross, we want more of Him Himself, understanding that He is EVERYTHING else.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Christ), and all these things (blessings, and everything we want or need) shall be added to you.” [Mat.6:33]

And perhaps someone else may say: we started by talking about God the Father, so why are we now talking about Christ? Because He Himself said of Himself: “…Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” [Jhn.8:58], and “I and My Father are one” [Jhn.10:30].

How I love this revelation! We Have Christ, and He is EVERYTHING for us, in us, and we are in Him!

I hope that something new has opened up for you too, dear saints, and that you have come to know Christ and His endless love and grace even more!

With love in Christ, sister Nina :)