Recovering realities 05

05.

Dying to live
Jesus made it absolutely clear; “Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone.” Dying is a must to secure proper avenues for life to manifest. The cross denies us the right to live our lives on our own terms. Rulings and regulations of another sort apply for the life in Christ; the ways of the world find an end at the cross. The cross denies us the right to formulate a framework for Christian living. Each and everyone who approach the Lord must be prepared to go through this extraordinary, non-negotiable reduction which opens for the things which are settled and safeguarded by the Law of the Spirit of Life. The cross denies us access to these things, as we continue horizoned by our own views, in the same incorruptible manner as the first couple was denied re-entry into the Garden of Eden – there, angles with swords, here an old rugged cross.

The cross, the preaching of the cross, is the power of God unto salvation. But we are engaged in producing system upon system which to some degree rest on theological scholarship but each of these constructions are aiming at warding off the necessity of experiencing the cross of Christ in practical living. The reality of its power is somehow denied or located to a spiritual level to which none of us need to enter – grace, they conclude, allows us to refuse the quest for fullness. A true revelation of grace, however, comes with the discovery of the necessity of thorough repentance and formation.
Meddlesome efforts of this kind have introduced a reduction of what salvation is at its root; the law of grain of wheat does not apply anymore, a dying to be able to take part of the resurrected life is simply not needed as a means to saintliness. The right to a living according to self is re-established in the name of salvation. As a result of this process, the saint to-be suffers great loss in regards to that which is so much greater – the resurrected life in Christ, a life which truly pleases both God and men. The resurrection-side of the cross is defined as “Christ in us, the hope of Glory.” The resurrection-side of the cross is defined as a walk in newness of life. The cross denies us the right to try to undertake such a walk in our own power. Capturing or emulating a resurrected life on the basis of soulish capacities is nothing but a humanistic initiative. Nothing is gained or enforced but a continuation of the rule of the flesh.

Man captured by the attraction and resourcefulness of the cross views the world together with its influences as an absolute enemy. He becomes aware, soberingly aware of the impact and tension pressed into the words of James: “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.” Jas 4:4. To live in, and to stay alive amidst this intense tension takes an ongoing experience of the cross of Christ. The cross invites us into a fellowship which lasts through conflicts. The cross creates opportunities for reconciliation. The cross gives us a sound mind, a godly mind which expresses goodness even when thoughts and views diverge. Its common approach is summarised in “newness of life”. It creates a new mind, a different approach.

The cross is indeed suited to purpose, practical and sufficient, inescapable and attractive. Its definite aim is to annihilate every structure opposed to the dynamics of the resurrection life. The final results of its workings bring us to a richness and fullness which can not be obtained by any other means. Man positioned outside its influence will be deceived by the theological influences designed to re-instate flesh as common rule and denominator. Herein we find the perennial conflict between that which is authentic and its counterfeits.
Many are they who find themselves in opposition regarding the necessity of the cross of Christ. But none of us are able to live and serve in our own strength – the cross is a must if salvation and saintliness has become our goal. No other truth causes opposition of any measure: A Christian lives his life on the basis of the death of Christ – “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me.” This is the hope of Glory, this is resurrection expressed as a reality.
For the re-establishment of this reality among Christians we pray.
For thorough experiences of the cross we pray.
A praying for these things shows the cross already at work.
A praying of this kind secures salvation and saintliness among us all.

Lars Widerberg

Recovering realities 04

¨

 

Praying forth a recovering of the realities of the cross of Christ

 

04.

 

In later years the Christian life has turned into something rather glamorous. The Spirit thinks differently. Heaven thinks differently. Jesus Christ offered himself without blemish, by the eternal Spirit, for the provision of a salvation to the uttermost from sin and defilement. The attitude and viewpoint which the author and perfecter of our faith holds does not contain any glamorous elements. The kind of overcoming which he points out, when he urges John to write to the seven churches, excludes half-heartedness and double-mindedness; it rejects a love which has grown cold and it refuses compromise. A martyr’s heart is pleasing to him, a heart which is set to endure under greatest pressure, a heart which does not follow common trends even in the face of friends who flips from friendliness to haughty scorn.

 

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. Heb 12:1-3.

 

The cross stands as an absolute necessity in the work of salvation. It brings us back to reality. It provides heavenly perspective. The cross orders our common reality into strictly divided classes, sections and segments with abrupt lines of division. In the thought of the old Romans a cross was disastrously definite. A man on his way to the place of execution, carrying a cross, was not to be seen returning from his journey. The work of the cross is an unquestionable imperative in the process of the bringing forth of life and peace. But the glamorous Christianity reduces the cross to a symbol without practical value, to an item of adornment or a tool to be used by a superstitious mind to ward off evil.

 

The cross which is waiting for us is as disastrous in its efficiency as the executioner’s, but it brings life – a life which is fundamentally different from anything produced in and by the world. Our part of the cross of Christ includes a part in his death, but it also includes a part in his life and his peace. In the same manner as Abraham, the father of faith, travelled away from Babylonian territory and Babylonian influence purposely searching for the city which God builds, so the cross works an “away from” in the life of the Christian. The work of God in our days consists of a bringing of his people out and away from every expression of half-heartedness – lukewarm love, shallow worship, self-centered praying and works of benevolence which temporarily silences a bad conscience. The cross draws a strict, a definite borderline between the glory of God and a worldly setting.

 

The cross at work will be seen and solidified by a steady inclination towards the things of Heaven. A person who has been touched by its reality begins to seek after something in the outer world which corresponds to the rare product hidden in his innermost being. His disposition has changed, his longings go in a different direction, his mentality is reformed.

The prayer in his heart is simple: “I want to become all that which the cross can do in a man. The things which you, Father, have prepared through the cross must find its proper expression in me. I am willing to be crucified to the wisdom and the value-system which the world and its powers represent.”

“Lord, I would like to see your word come to fullness in me: By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” “Sanctify, work according to the cross, make it work in full power, allow life and peace come as is intended in the coming of your kingdom.”

 

Lars W.

Recovering realities 03

¨

 

Praying forth a recovering of the realities of the cross of Christ

The realm of prophetic stature

 

03.

 

”Ye are my witnesses.” Isa 43:10.

Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses – a living testimony, showing forth the crucified life.

 

Christian men and women, young and old, as individuals and as committed companies will herein find the greatest and most tangible challenge produced for days ahead. All our praying should reflect this vocational purpose, finding form and expression before God in a manner which would provide access for the Holy Spirit into all parts of our common reality to establish and consolidate a living testimony.

The revelation of the crucified life, a life lived before God, in God, the life which comes from God, tells every man about the great divide between the two realities, between what is marked by the presence of God and a life solely based on human resources and its repeated affronts and attacks on fellow men.

 

The kind of prayer and intercession which lifts the Church into its role as bearer of a heavenly testimony dares to prioritize the revelation of the Lamb, prioritize the mind of Christ. A life lived before God is filled, even fulfilled, by reflections of the eternal glory – which is the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world, a sacrifice securing the essence of godliness. The strength to live a godly, God-fearing, life may in all parts and at all times be gathered from the work of the Cross.

 

God is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him. God is indeed God at the end of times – He judges the cause of the poor and needy, is not this to know hem? Blessed are all they that wait for him. A restoration, a full recovering lies ready for them that has learned to wait for him – a waiting which is crucifixion, a crucifying which is as real as any other.

 

The final restoration includes deliverance from the necessity to assert oneself, to vindicate ones own cause, to secure position and reputation – the practical value of the cross of Christ becomes more that evident in this realm of human affairs.

The wisdom of God will in all its parts be determined and defined by the cross of Christ. The wisdom of God is brought to the forefront and demonstrated by the Lamb, by the Son who gives his life as the final sacrifice of reconciliation, by the Son who offers each and every man to take part in his sacrificial life. This wisdom is God’s testimony in a praying community where every member share this view – it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me.

 

Lars Widerberg

Recovering realities 02

¨

 

Praying forth a recovering of the realities of the cross of Christ

 

 

02.

 

The praying and the intercession which will benefit the modern society is a praying which is crying out for the cross of Christ to be displayed, expressed and demonstrated. The praying and the intercession which will benefit the modern man is a praying which prepares an environment for the glory of Christ. The return of Jesus Christ, the coming of the Lord confronts every living creature with the glory which belongs to Christ, to Christ only. This is the glory which belongs to and should rest with the people of the Lord. This is the glory which the Lord Jesus asked the Father to give to him to be clothed in – Joh 17:5.

 

The glory of Jesus Christ is the glory which the cross alone can create. The Lamb, the Lamb slaughtered is the very center of Heaven around whom everything gathers in eternal worship. It is this very glory which, at the return of Christ, is hailed in a joyous recognition; it causes a stinging, non-reducible pain to those who refused Him when time for repentance was granted. But, all men will recognize it, acknowledge it and bow before its reality. The praying and the intercession which will benefit us all is a praying which cries out for the glory of the cross.

 

“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Through the work of the cross, in the power of the Spirit of Christ, this glory will be demonstrated among the people of God in sacrificial every-day-living, in conflict resolving founded in the atonement, in togetherness characterized by rest, in continuous supportiveness covered by intercession.

 

“As thou didst send me into the world, even so send I them into the world.” The sending and the proper mindset are critical criteria which defines discipleship and the authenticity of the life of the Church. The history of the cross had its beginning somewhere, at some point, in eternity. The life of the Lamb, its factualness, its legitimacy, its glory, were seen, recognized, and worshipped even before its disclosure on Earth. The cross was a part of the heavenly reality before time, before the foundation of the world. The Lord said:” I manifested thy name unto the men.” He showed us through his sacrificial life what God is like at all times, even in eternity. The cross, the sacrificial living, the perfect love, belongs perfectly to the character of God. That is what his name is like, that is what his heart is like.

 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.” James 1:17. Every good gift has its root in the reality of the cross. Every good gift has its origin in the heart of God, in the manifested correspondence and agreement which exists beyond time between the three – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Commission and sending is but an expression in time of a character anchored in eternity. When he returns one of these days, he returns as assigned to the same mission, in the same glory – as a Lamb slaughtered, as ruler over all. When he comes, he comes with this mind, this never changing mind, the eternal sacrificial Spirit. When he comes, he comes to pitch his tent and establish his throne for the sake of fellowship with those who has been led to walk along the ways of the cross. As the cross resides in the nature of God, it will in the same manner reside in men who dare to carry its testimony.

 

“The glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” Joh 17:22. The nature of the Lamb, its glory, its life, establishes the environment in which real togetherness prospers. The sacrificial mindset of Christ stands as a central expression in Heaven of the nature of God, of his attitude and of his course of action. This sacrificial Spirit, this consistent flow of life, this undeterred will to serve demands a sharply defined cross for its existence. The cross is in all its aspects a considerable part of the glory of Heaven. It makes us all partakers of every good gift and every perfect gift which comes down from the Father of lights. The realization of the word, “have this mind in you”, will only come true through the work of the cross. A “have this mind in you” is the fulfilment of “every perfect gift”.

 

The exhortation forwarded regarding the mind of Christ lies at the heart of the kind of intercession which will serve the modern man. This exhortation establishes and consolidates a praying which will allow for a returning of the central reality of our Christian faith.

 

Praying and prayers which will benefit us all as a gift from above is a praying which endeavours to establish the fellowship of the cross.

 

We must in our prayers and praying watch over our unity and common character to correspond to the unity which prevails in Heaven.

 

Our prayers and praying must reach out for a rich understanding and a detailed manifestation of every good gift and every perfect gift from above, from the Father of lights.

 

Our prayer fellowship must reflect the greatest measure of availability in giving the Spirit of the Lamb its proper place.

 

Our praying and prayers must take on as its goal to prepare for every man a revelation of the glory which follows the presence of the cross.

 

L. Widerberg

Recover realities 01

¨

Praying forth a recovering of the realities of the cross of Christ

The realm of prophetic stature

 

 

01.

 

Andrew Murray, the South African pastor who wrote so many things, with warmth and simplicity like few others, begins without hesitation his thirty-one small pieces on the Secret of the Cross by declaring a state of emergency, begins by describing critical conditions. He pinpoints and defines man’s position, man’s point of departure and God’s immediate response.

The cross of Christ, the redeeming work of God, is rooted and established in the realm of eternal things. The cross, God’s instrument designed for complete salvation and thorough restoration, this cross reflects the very nature of God. The cross teaches us what God is like. The cross stands erected in the eternal realm to touch Earth and its inhabitants. The cross stands erected amidst earthliness to make room for eternal values.

 

The cross defines critical conditions – every human undertaking touched by earthliness, by a fundamental curse. The cross defines each man’s position; declares resources, knowledge, strength, humanity itself of no value. A bitter revelation, an insight meant for chastening, an insight meant to invite the powers of Eternity. The cross bluntly defines each man’s way ahead; death and resurrection in Christ to be made able to bear fruit. Our condition is indeed critical, because most of us do not care even for a minimum of insight into this death in Christ. Our condition is indeed critical because we continue without practical experience regarding being crucified with Christ, and we allow the best we can produce within the realm of earthliness to stand as counterfeit, fleshly prowess manoeuvring among us as the power of resurrection.

 

The cross is God’s eternal provision for a life in godliness and truth. The cross takes hold of each one of us to bring us away from ourselves into a life lived in Christ before God. It is here in this climate of grace – yes, the work of the cross is grace indeed, grace in its most effective form – it is here in this climate we will find a testimony to be formed within of a quality which is powerful enough to offer reality, undefiled reality. A whole world hungers after such. The cross stands alone, naked, it declares a divesting of earthliness, it invites each man to a journey of holiness, it stands provokingly real in every situation, it welcomes each one of us into communion among saints. “The word of the cross, the testimony of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.” It is truly the power unto salvation. The word and the preaching of the cross create critical conditions, conditions of repentance, regeneration and restoration.

 

The word of the cross, a true testimony of the cross causes reaction. No one is able to defend himself properly against the godliness which is moulded in its presence. No one is able to defend himself properly against its reality. No one is able to defend himself against God crucified. We all try to defend ourselves from its absoluteness and as a result we loose the vitality that only Heaven can bring. We all try to hide from its powerful arsenal only to bring ourselves back under the rule of vanity. But the cross is the eternal method of God unto salvation.

 

A ‘praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit’ must be arranged for, for the sake of revival, a praying which majors on bringing the people of God back to the realities of the cross.

‘With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit’ for the sake of defending the truth among the people of God, pray for a recovering of true holiness – a people ‘determined not to know anything, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.’

 

‘Pray ye, with all prayers and supplications, in spirit, at all times’ for the sake of repentance and spiritual growth, pray for a preaching of the cross to be learnt and to be presented by brave preachers and pastors.

‘Through every prayer and petition, praying in every season in the Spirit’ engage in preparing for true light to be shed on the comprehensiveness and totality of redemption, much light to be shed on the comprehensiveness and totality of the cross.

 

Lars Widerberg