My consciousness is what I am aware of, what I see.
And that is precisely what I experience. I can have either a human consciousness or a God consciousness—coming either from the carnal mind (which is no mind at all, but rather false beliefs in good and evil and in separation from God) or the Christ mind (which everyone has but may not be aware of). In the Christ mind is the expectation of only that which is harmonious and wonderful. Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Jesus calls it abundant life:
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
While Paul says that
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Jesus calls the human consciousness (or the carnal mind) the devil, the father of lies.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Paul makes it clear that this death
which results from carnal mindedness came in with the law—the belief that I must do or not do something to earn God’s favor.
Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Paul refers to that law as the ministration of death
2Corinthians 3:7 and the ministration of condemnation
v 9 while he calls spiritual mindedness the ministration of the spirit
v 8 and the ministration of righteousness
v 9.
But because God Himself came in the form of Jesus, making Himself subject to that law
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
and destroyed the carnal mind (our humanity) which had the power of death
Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
we are now free from that law
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
once we are aware of it, once we can see it because we have entered the God consciousness—letting the mind of Christ operate in us
Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
In our orthodox Christianity we have thought that this death of the cross
was God’s sacrifice of His Son so that we might go to heaven when we die, but we read in Hebrews 2:14-15 that this death
that Jesus experienced was to destroy His own humanity (which resulted from being made of a woman, made under the law
) and ours. His purpose as stated in v 15 was to deliver us from the bondage we’ve been in our whole life (as a human) coming from our fear of death.
In Galatians Paul again states the purpose of the death of the cross
:
Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
I’ve seen all too clearly the bondage
(lack of freedom) I’ve experienced for a lifetime
while living in this present evil world
—all resulting from fear. I’ve seen it in the fear of judgment after I die (though, in truth, I can never die). I’ve seen it in the fear of failure in anything I’ve undertaken—from failure to be able to write to failure to be a good mother to the most trivial failures (making a new recipe, playing a card game). Because I fear failure, I see myself failing and consequently experience what I am aware of—what is in my consciousness. Likewise, because I fear ill health, I am constantly aware of illness and consequently experience it.
Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind [of Christ] I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh [carnal mind] the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
In Romans Paul speaks of two laws—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
which has made us free from the law of sin and death.
In the latter law, we attempt to do something to get the desired result (which is to bring satisfaction to our humanity) while in the former we know that it is finished
(whatever the will of God is for our true identity}, and it is always good:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
1Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
and all we need do is walk after the Spirit
—do nothing except listen and obey, knowing that the righteousness of the law
has already been fulfilled in us and that we don’t have to do or not do anything to become righteous before God. Indeed, we were CREATED in righteousness and TRUE holiness,
Ephesians 4:24 (not the holiness we attempt to achieve by doing the right thing). We just stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord 2Chronicles 20:17; Psalms 98:3; Isaiah 52:10; Luke 3:6, judging not by what we see with our physical eyes:
John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Just as Jesus spoke to the people of His day in parables of everyday life, He still speaks the same way to us, if we have ears to hear. Our everyday life is a parable through which God is always speaking. I was able to hear this yesterday when my husband and I were playing a card game with my brother and sister. I didn’t see it when it was happening, but it became alarmingly clear to me later in the evening.
My sister and I were partners. Both she and I spent all our time attempting to figure out what we had done wrong and how to correct it. We were both making statements like I did that wrong,
I do everything wrong,
We may as well stop playing now; they’ve won already,
Next time we should do thus and so,
What a stupid move!,
We won’t do that next time.
Our loss was so great that we didn’t even bother to tally the score.
Of course the card game itself was of no importance per se, but it was a huge revelation to me about the two laws Paul refers to. I realized that we were indeed, as Paul says, serving the law of sin
Romans 7:25. We had a consciousness of failure, were seeing ourselves as failures, and attempting to change that failure into success by doing something (which of course was to satisfy our human desire to win the game)—the very definition of the law of sin and death.
Had we been serving the law of God
Romans 7:25 or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
Romans 8:2, we would have known that God performs that which is given us to do Job 23:14, that the card game was finished before it began, and we could have stayed in the God consciousness (or the kingdom of God where we would have experienced only righteousness, peace and joy Romans 14:17, whatever the outcome of the card game). That (not concerning ourselves with whether or not we won the game) is, of course, the definition of success in our true identity. When we know that we are the beloved child of the living God, joint heirs with Christ, that we are one with our Father and that nothing can separate us from His love, we don’t need to serve our humanity (which is already dead anyway, but we have to reckon
it so) by winning
at anything. We are winners before we begin the game.
Our fear of death
that Jesus died to deliver us from becomes much more serious when it comes to bodily illness, the experience by which almost everyone departs this realm and enters the next dimension. We are told in Hebrews 2:14-15 that we have already been delivered from the lifetime of bondage brought on by this fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Again, it is the carnal mind that is the culprit, the carnal mind (the devil) that was destroyed by Jesus on the cross. But I still serve
that mind as long as I believe that this personality and physical body have any reality. According to Paul, I have to be absent from the body
in order to be present with the Lord
2Corinthians 5:8. Or I could turn that around and say that until I ascend beyond this body (or human) consciousness, I cannot enter the God consciousness where there is no death to be afraid of. I can continually tell myself that Jesus delivered me from the fear of death; but as long as I believe illness and death to be a reality, I will fear it and remain in bondage. I will always see
myself as sick and dying; and that will be my experience.
This is so obvious that there is no denying it. The more we hear about any disease, the more we see
it and the more people get it. Or, once again to turn it around, when I’ve been told I have a particular ailment, everything I hear and read speaks of that ailment—because we create what we become aware of.
We cannot get something out of our awareness (consciousness) by attempting to do so. It’s like telling someone that they can think of anything at all except red monkeys. Here’s where we have to accept the sacrifice of Jesus, not as a blood sacrifice by God of His Son that we might go to heaven, but rather accepting that
2Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Jesus sacrificed His Hebrew humanity, and in that sacrifice, our humanity was also sacrificed—went to the death.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; 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.
I need not be always reminding myself that this persona and physical body are not my true identity because, in doing so, I am again being aware of that which is not reality. And, remember, what I am aware of is what I experience. Nor do I need to be always thinking about what my experience might be or what this body might look or feel like if I did ascend out of this human consciousness into a God consciousness. That just reinforces my sense of lack. It’s rather like those who try to visualize what house or car they would like to own in the attempt to make it materialize. And sometimes they do, but it is not spiritual. It’s merely the result of positive thinking (which is of course much better than negative thinking); but it is still an activity of the mind (or brain), not of the Spirit. Our minds are for the purpose of becoming aware of what already is, not for creating either good or evil.
Rather than becoming aware of my body (or anyone else’s), I want to keep my mind stayed on (or be constantly aware of) the Life (God) which animates that body—causes it to see and walk and digest its food and, yes, even enables it to think.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
This Life is Light in which there is no darkness at all
:
1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
From this Life comes only that which is good
and perfect
:
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
This Life is incapable of manifesting disease, pain, jealousy, malice, strife, etc. (any work of the flesh
—Galatians 5:19ff) or anything other than perfection. No, I
(the one created in God’s likeness and image and given dominion but then became afraid and had a sense of separation)—I
do all these things Isaiah 45:7 with the human consciousness which believes in two powers, that there is God and powers opposed to God (such as disease), that God is not really omnipotent.
The more my attention is stayed on those opposing powers
(which are no powers at all but are being manifested by my using my God power), the more I experience the evil
that I am creating, but which has no reality but that which I give it by believing in it.
And the more my attention is focused on the Life animating every expression of God, the more I see
the harmony and perfection that comes from that Life (the more I have entered my God consciousness—being absent from the body and present with the Lord) and will consequently experience what I am seeing.
If I can but stand still and SEE the salvation of the Lord
Exodus 14:13; 2Chronicles 20:17, I will indeed experience that salvation.