Salvation Belongs to the LORD!

Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people. Selah (Psalm 3:8 HNV)

The last few years have been, to say the least, very trying. It started with a quintuplet heart bypass operation. The next year found me with gangrene on the forth toe of my right foot. It soon resulted in the need for its amputation, followed by the removal of three more toes and several more surgeries to open up blood flow to that area of my body. The following years found half of my right foot removed and now my left foot has suffered the loss of its big toe and is still healing from a deep ulcer in the heel that almost cost me the loss of the foot.

Friends close to me have been diagnosed with stage four cancers and it appears that we are helpless to realize any options but traditional medicine if we wish to survive. These last two years have provided me with ample time to ponder this situation. A few days ago while praying for a dear sister who was undergoing chemotherapy I was moved deeply from what I can only describe as the feelings of our Lord about such things. As I wept, He said, “I am tired of seeing my bride suffer so many things at the hands of physicians.” I immediately thought of the woman with the issue of blood. But, I said, “Lord you had a physician write two books in the Bible, shouldn’t we defer to their expertise?” Don't get me wrong, I believe that God uses doctors , but His response was, “All they can do is try and restore the bodies balance through their chemicals, prescriptions and treatment regimens. If that doesn’t work then they cut it out or off.” He went on, “ I made the body and I alone am the great physician, I will heal myself.” I suddenly saw the importance of being a part of His body like never before. It would be worth it to truly surrender my independence to become a part in the body of Christ.

In 1992 Dr. Winter, the president of William Carey Universit--Center for World missions, was considered one of the foremost authorities on New Testament Greek in the world. One morning as as he was speaking he made an astounding statement. "There are no accurate translations of the New Testament in English." When queried as to which one was the closest he said, "none." He went on to cite as the major flaw, the individuality the translators placed on the work of salvation.

Recently, in a men’s prayer meeting this theme came up. We all began to acknowledge somewhat of a cavalier attitude concerning our understanding of salvation. More and more we realized and accepted that we cannot live as though what we do or don’t do has little affect on each other. Like Achan (Joshua 7:1), our sin will affect those we are relating to in the body of Christ.

On the other hand, the benefit of surrendering our independence is far greater than we could ever realize. Actually, it is not an option, but a command as we will see later. Knowing that we actually share the same life force began to help us to see how it was truly possible to love each another with fervent love. Peter said that we should do this above all things. The Holy Spirit began to impress me with the fact that salvation doesn't belong to me I belong to Salvation. I was the one who was purchased.

Could it be that we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to do what He came to do? When I used to teach on the baptism of the Holy Spirit I would stress that we would become witnesses after the Holy Spirit came upon us. I would say that the word witness in Greek was the word martus from which we get the word martyr. This section of Scripture found in Acts, chapter one starts out with, He, Jesus, COMMANDED them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the PROMISE of the Father. You don't need to command someone to receive a gift. But you do need to command someone to die unless they are suicidal. Jesus knew in order for His disciples to become the new creatures He came and died to make them into, they would likewise have to die, or come to an end of life lived for themselves. The power of the Holy Spirit spoken of here is given to use to be able to do this, not to make us more self-centered and "greater" men and women of God! (See: What Is The Gospel?).

The PROMISE (Holy Spirit) comes to end our lives so that He can graft us into the body of the Lord Jesus. John the Baptist said it this way, “I must decrease and He must increase.” I must decrease so that He can increase might say it best. When I look back over my 30 + years as a Christian, I allowed a cavalier, selfish, self-centered and Individualistic salvation to thrive. When instead I should have died so that Jesus Christ could thrive. He alone is the one who does the works of God and until we allow Him to have His way we will never truly see the power of God flowing through us on any consistant basis. In reality isn't that what we really want?
We are not not totaly to blame. It is partly because of our distorted understanding of the Gospel. What Gospel have you received? Have you entered into Jesus or are you still trying to get God to bless your life or ministry? Do you see yourself as somehow separate from others in the Body of Christ, or as a part of a greater whole?

Just like our natural bodies will muster all its resources to send aide to an ailing part, so it is in Christ’s body. Those in the Body of Christ are privy to the unimaginable resources that can be found in His indomitable life. I think that miracles and healings should be almost exclusively for those who have not yet entered into this incredible everlasting covenant. The divine Blood of the Lamb of God has not only washed us form all our sins, but has gained us full access to our unlimited inheritance found in the everlasting covenant of life. The problem is if we are allowing our own self-life to live on it has a way of blocking the flow of His blood and so our wounds, natural or spiritual are so very slow to heal.

Those that have allowed the Holy Spirit to martyr them may now bask forever in His glorious manifested presence where there is life forevermore, not just in Heaven or the age to come, but also in the here and now!

Jesus is longing for His bride to enter into His rest. I can see Him with His outstretched hand holding her by the hand, trying to get her to get up from her knees. With His other hand under her chin He is trying to raise her lowered gaze so that she can look directly into His eyes without shame. In His eyes she will find a burning and consuming love for her. Jesus wants her to come and stand by His side where He can protect her and provide for her every need. He wants to take His cloak and wrap it around her. Won’t you come, and surrender to this Gospel and enter into this freedom from the devastation of independence today.

Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven