One with God

Jesus prayed this prayer for us:

John 17:11-21  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. … That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

How do I go about allowing Jesus’ prayer to be answered in my life? We see how Paul did, as we hear him cry out, That I may know Him! (Philippians 3:10), all the while maintaining that there was nothing he wouldn’t let go of in order to know Him.

Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

What am I prepared to let go of in order to know God? When my security is in anything other than God alone, I must let go of whatever that is if I am to know God —just as Paul did.

Jesus knew that He had no identity apart from God, that He was so inextricably one with His Father that there could be no separation; and His prayer in John was that we would know that too. His proclamation of this truth was what got Him crucified by the Pharisees.

John 5:18

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

John 10:33

The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Matthew 23:9

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

There is no way the natural mind can take this in. We have to be still and let this mind of Christ operate in us. If I am to have Jesus’ prayer answered in my life, I must learn to trust the Holy Spirit in me. This doesn’t mean I cannot receive from other vessels, but it does mean I must learn to rely on the Holy Spirit in me to bear witness to what is truth (though it may appear to be doctrinally incorrect) and what is not truth (even when it sounds doctrinally correct —according to the way I have been instructed to interpret Scripture). The Pharisees could not accept Jesus’ teaching because it appeared to them to be doctrinally unsound (healing on the Sabbath, for example) according to the doctors of the law. But the prostitutes and sinners had no difficulty because they were uneducated and unlearned —having only the witness inside to testify to the truth of His words and actions.

We can get so obsessed with being doctrinally correct (as the Pharisees were) that we can miss experiencing God (Life) when it is right in front of us (as they did). And, like them, we judge everyone around us and know nothing of what it means to dwell in love —which is what Jesus told us is of utmost importance in our lives:

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

We learn from John that we are just fooling ourselves when we think we know God, but don’t experience love for Him or for our neighbor.

1John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1John 4:12

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1John 4:16

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1John 4:20

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

John also tells us that perfect love casts out all fear:

1John 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

And Paul told Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2Timothy 1:7).

Soundness of mind comes from knowing that I am loved, that, indeed, love (or God) is my very identity —is who I am in reality— while fear is a result of doubting that truth. Adam’s first words to God after engaging in carnal thinking were, I was afraid (Genesis 3:10), indicating that he had begun to doubt the truth that God was his identity and that nothing could separate him from that perfect love. He was already feeling alienated from God.

Let’s look at what is known as Adam and Eve’s temptation and fall in the Garden. What was the temptation? Was it not to think that they had to do something to become like God? Isn’t to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil to think that I must decide what is good and what is evil (judge) and choose the good over the evil to become loved, accepted, and approved by God —to close the gap between me and God?

Paul tells us that it is only in our MINDS that we are alienated from God.

Colossians 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.

God told Adam and Eve that when they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would die. (Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.) Paul tells us that to be carnally minded is death (Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.) and that the wages of sin (carnal mindedness) is death. (Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.)

Then he made these interesting statements:

Romans 7:9

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Romans 4:15

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

1Corinthians 15:56

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

What I want you to see from these Scriptures is that it is not until I think that there is a gap between me and God which I must do something (must obey some law or commandment) to close that I am carnally minded and dead in sin (having eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil). Before that I was alive.

To pass from death (carnal mindedness) unto life (spiritual mindedness), to be resurrected from this death into life, I must be born again. (John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:7-1 (KJV) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 1Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. John 5:24-1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 1John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.)

I must be transformed (metamorphosis) into a new creation by renewing my mind to the truth of who I am in reality —by letting the same mind (mind of Christ) be in me that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)–by waking up to who I am.

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed [Strong 3339 and 3445: to transform (literally or figuratively, metamorphose); change, transfigure, transform] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

As I become aware of my true identity, I exchange the sin consciousness (thinking I am separated from God) for a righteousness consciousness (knowing that nothing can separate me from the love of God). (2Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Romans 4:6-8 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.)

When I awake to righteousness (to the knowledge of God —that I am righteous or in right standing with God— one with Him and not in any way separated from Him), that is resurrection from the dead (carnal mindedness) —or passing from death to life (spiritual mindedness).

1Corinthians 15:34

Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

Ephesians 5:14

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

I awake to the truth of my being.

Acts 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

I now know my origin, that God is my Father and always has been, even before the foundation of the world.

Matthew 23:9

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Ephesians 1:4

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

I know that there is no separation between me and God, that we are one Spirit —for there is only One. (1Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.)

We are also one body, though a many-membered one. (Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.) God (Christ) is living His life through all these members or expressions of that one Life —for there is only one Life. (John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 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. 2Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?)

I realize with Paul that it is the sin (carnal thinking that I am separated from God) that is the problem.

Romans 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

And with Paul I also realize the solution —to understand that I am in Christ, not separate from Him, to stop thinking carnally and become spiritual minded. This knowledge that I am already free is the truth that will make me free.

Romans 8:1-2

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.

John 8:32

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.