ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: UNDERSTANDING OUR RIGHTS, Part 2

Another Coffee Break:

Understanding Our Rights, Part 2

Greetings, felicitations and blessings to all of you!

I really want to get right to our discussion today, so let's dive in!

We shared this in the previous Coffee Break, but let's go back and re-read the passage from Genesis 15 which contains such a stupendous revelation of this covenant the Lord was making with Abraham.

"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

Because of the impossibility of Abraham being able to keep this covenant in the natural, God had to perform both His part of the covenant AND Abraham's! That meant that He had to put Abraham to sleep -- and in fact a very deep sleep. The Hebrew text here uses the word, tardeòmaòh, to describe a trance or a vision. What was taking place was supernatural, and Abraham had to be experiencing this in a vision in order to understand and perceive what God was accomplishing.

Notice the following:And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. Abraham saw the Lord fulfilling both parts of the covenant -- God's part and his part -- in the form of the smoking furnace and a burning lamp. Here's the part I've been getting to. The Lord was walking up and down -- or back and forth -- in the blood that had been shed. The furnace represented the consuming of the sacrifice, meaning that the sacrifice and the shed blood had been accepted and the covenant ratified.

Abraham wasn't going to get to see the fulfillment of this covenant in his lifetime, but he had an inviolable guarantee that his descendants would, and that they would inherit a land which -- in his lifetime -- was filled with a people whose entire existence opposed everything that represented the Lord. The land was filled with a people who were covenant and truce-breakers. God was not only promising Abraham and his descendants all those lands, He was promising him that his seed would have victory over those enemies of the Lord.

In order to accomplish this, of course, Abraham's youth had to be restored so that he could once again procreate. Sarah would have to be restored to her youthful body and reproductive capability. We know that this indeed took place because even while Sarah was pregnant with Isaac, the Philistine king, Abimelech, saw her beauty and thought to take her unto himself as his wife.

So, what am I getting at, and what does all this have to do with understanding our rights? Just this!

We have an even better covenant than Abraham! Abraham was in a very real spiritual sense the father of our faith. He believed God. He believed that the Lord would accomplish the impossible with him and began to confess it from that day forward.

Abraham became the recipient of restored youth and restored health because of the covenant God made AND KEPT with him! Abraham became one of the wealthiest men on the planet. He ceased to be a Chaldean. His residency became the land of promise. His home became the Kingdom of God.

The apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:9-12: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable."

The covenant we have with Father God through Jesus Christ provides all of this and more. It remains for us to receive it all utilizing that same faith that Abraham exercised.

Faith is not complicated. Faith comes by hearing the Word of the Lord. So how do we hear the Word of the Lord? We simply open up our spirits to receive from Holy Spirit. It isn't difficult, really! We have to get the clogs out of the way, however -- the noise and the thoughts and the imaginations that bombard our minds with such repetitiousness and rapidity that we find ourselves in a mental fog. Faith comes easily to minds that are stayed on the things of God.

I know I've shared this before, but when you are immersed in negative thoughts, thoughts about your family, thoughts about your work, thoughts about your responsibilities, thoughts about your financial situation, thoughts about business -- and how about thoughts about some stupid movie or TV program you are either watching, or have watched -- thoughts about your physical condition, the aches and pains and/or diseases and infirmities you are fighting, you can't simply screw up your will power screw and try to change your thoughts. It doesn't work that way.

Thoughts don't chase away thoughts. Words chase away thoughts! You don't try to think your way out of a hole, you speak to it!

And.....you can't just get angry and say, "Get lost!" The Word of God gives us everything we need to deal with any situation! Are you in need of healing? Are you fighting with some kind of physical infirmity? Then why not speak the Word of God over it! There are a host of Scriptures which make it abundantly clear that our healing and our physical health have already been paid for by the Blood of Jesus Christ. How about I Peter 2:24? How about III John, vs. 2? How about Isaiah 53:5?

There is nothing we have need of that Jesus didn't already pay for by his suffering, death and resurrection! Got it? It doesn't matter what your situation is, Jesus already paid for the answer, the healing, the deliverance, the provision IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE!!! And, folks, He deserves to get what He paid for!

Let me take a bit of a side-trip here for just a minute.

Ask yourself the question. WHY did Jesus pay for all of this? Why did He pay for our healing? Why did He pay for our deliverance from every affliction of the flesh and every affliction of the spirit? Why did the apostle Paul write the following?

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

And, NO, the phraseology in the Greek text CAN'T be translated "spiritually rich." That's not what Paul was talking about! The word is "plouteo" and it means exactly what it says: rich, increased in goods, materially prosperous, "loaded" (colloq.)

Let's take it another step. Why does Matthew record the following?

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

All right. One more. Why does Mark record the following?

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

To recap, why does Paul record what he recorded (and I've only touched on a microscopic drop in a ten-gallon bucket); why does Matthew record what Jesus said; why does Mark record what Jesus said to His followers?

Folks, the answer is obvious, and the answer is simple! Pay attention, now!

BECAUSE IT IS OUR LEGAL RIGHT!

OK. for everyone who raised their eyebrows, let me take it the next step. Why is this our legal right? Ready?

BECAUSE IT IS JESUS' LEGAL RIGHT FOR US TO LIVE AND FUNCTION LIKE THAT!

Hello. Ever stop to think about the fact that salvation is not about getting to Heaven? Salvation, deliverance, health, healing, long life, safety, peace of mind, provision for every need -- all these were a part of the way we were first created! We were created for fellowship with the Lord God in the first place. He created us for His pleasure! That's first and foremost! The fact that we get pleasure out of that place of relationship is a natural byproduct of being created in His image and likeness! Heaven is only a byproduct of our loving relationship with the Lord.

The fact that we are entitled to all these things is a natural part of the Law of Reciprocity. OK, don't grimace like that. Let me explain. The Law of Reciprocity means that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Clear? Then let me put it another way. There are consequences for good or for bad for every action we take or reaction to God's Word!

Go back to the Garden. What was it that God said to Adam? "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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."

Adam and Eve were entitled to eat of the Tree of Life as a natural part of their existence in the Garden. With the fruit of that Tree came healing, health, long life, provision for every need, painless and sorrow-less labor and a work-ethic filled with joy and peace. There was a consequence that followed the eating of that tree, and that consequence is quickly expressed in the Law of Reciprocity.

The same was true if they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were never designed to acquire knowledge of good or of evil by their own mental prowess, experiences or academic study. Knowledge (and wisdom) was a natural byproduct of their walk with -- and fellowship with -- the Lord God. They were warned, therefore, that if they deviated from their created design and existence and fellowship with God that a very destructive consequence would follow.

That consequence was a reciprocal action: the removal of their access to eternity, the decay and ultimate destruction of the genetic makeup they were given at creation resulting in eventual death, along with disease, sickness, painful and sorrowful labor just to survive, and the loss of peace in their lives.

Consider, then, the redemptive work that Jesus did on our behalf. His objective was to (as Luke so carefully put it) "seek and to save (sozo -- to restore, to make whole, to deliver, etc.) that which was lost." While the word, "save," has become the byword of so many preachers, and so many sermons throughout hundreds of years, the true focus of "salvation" has often been overlooked or missed completely. Salvation has been over-generalized as being "saved from sin" while the real concept of sin has gotten lost in the fog.

What Adam and Eve did epitomized "sin." While sin has been categorized as lying, stealing, bearing false witness against someone, cheating, committing fornication or adultery, committing murder, etc., all those things are really nothing more than the symptoms of sin. Lying, cheating, stealing, etc., all take place almost automatically when a person decides that he/she is as smart (or smarter) than God and fully capable of making his or her own decisions -- never mind what God is saying, or has said, concerning the act or acts he or she wants to take.

When an individual takes matters into their own hands irrespective of what the Word of God is, they've just done the very same thing and thought -- whether consciously or subconsciously -- in exactly the same manner that Lucifer did when he arrogantly rose up against God, considering himself to be God's equal or superior and deciding to thrust God out of His place as Supreme Ruler of the universe. (See Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28)

Lucifer was not the Creator, he was a created being. The end of his pomposity and arrogance Isaiah prophesied as Hell. He was removed from his place as an Archangel in Heaven and thrown out, along with all those who took his side. He became the epitome of sin. He was/is the architect of all lies and arrogance against God.

OK, sort of got a bit off-track there, but I wanted to get to the root of what Jesus came to save us from. Jesus' objective was to not only restore us to the place of fellowship and intimacy with

Father, with Himself and with Holy Spirit, it was to once again make possible, make accessible, and put into practical living the naturally supernatural life we were originally created for.

Let's get this discussion down to some brass tacks. If we attend church, warm a pew, put our checks in the offering basket and/or teach a Sunday School class, none of these things will make the rights of citizenship in the Kingdom of God accessible. We can pray for the sick, preach wonderful sermons, visit the widows and orphans and minister to the needy and still not have access to our rights as sons of the Kingdom. Notice the phrase, "sons of the Kingdom."

It is possible to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons and still die and make it to Heaven as diapered babies in need of pabulum and milk bottles. Consider the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Or, let's take it another step. Consider something that Jesus said in His "Sermon on the Mount." (See Matthew 7:22-23)

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

When Jesus says, "I never knew you," the Greek word ginoskoappears here. What He is saying is, "You and I have never had a real relationship. I've never known your love and affection, your faithfulness to Me or to My Word."

It becomes even clearer in the very next statement when He says, "Depart from me, you that work anomia -- illegally, lawlessly." What is Jesus saying? I think the best illustration of this comes from Acts 19:13-16 where the seven sons of Sceva, a Chief Priest, thought to use the name of Jesus, and the name of Paul in casting out demons. They were attempting to use the name of Jesus as a formula. They were not casting out demons IN the name -- the onoma: the character, the essence, the makeup -- of Jesus! They were working anomia-- illegally, lawlessly!

There are many professing Christians doing the same today. They don't have a personal relationship with the Lord. They are not operating IN Him, and He is not IN them.

This is the crux of all of our rights in Christ Jesus. And this is what we need to understand. If we will dwell IN Him and have our beings as a place He wants to dwell in, there is absolutely NOTHING withheld from us. Whenever we ask something of Him, we will be asking it IN His onoma. He will hear us. We will KNOW that He hears us. And we will have whatever -- whatsoever-- we ask, and He will give it liberally!

Here's the catch. Whatever we ask for of Father, whatever we demand of Satan, whatever we require, we do according to and IN the will of God! One doesn't have to second-guess or wonder if we are "in the will of God." Let me describe the relationship like this.

Della and I have a place of relationship in love and trust that she doesn't need to ask me if doing something is OK with me. She may do it anyway, but by virtue of the Spirit of God we have become One being! She knows my thoughts. She knows how I will think or how I will choose in virtually any and every circumstance. By the same token, I know how she will choose, how she will think in a given situation or circumstance, and what she will decide. We still ask or discuss things with each other out of common courtesy and love, but our choices and desires are no surprise to each other. She knows my will, and I know her will! It just goes with the territory!

That's how it is supposed to be between us and the Lord. The more we press into Him, the more we focus our minds, our thoughts and the words that come out of our mouths on Him, the greater the sense of intimacy between us. It is a rare instance that I have to ask the Lord what His will is concerning a decision or needed action. The ongoing communication between us in the realm of the Spirit functions 24 hours a day.

This is the place we must live in order to understand and to access all of our rights as sons of the Kingdom, as sons and daughters of The Most High! It isn't hard to live here, but it takes diligence and commitment on our part. And I'll share one more thing with you before I quit.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit receive the greatest of pleasure in us when we live our lives focused on His pleasure, on His receiving His inheritance, and on His right to that inheritance. That, my friends, is when we have full and complete access to all of our rights in Christ Jesus! These are covenant rights-- the same covenant rights He restored with His suffering, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection from the dead.

Sorry, but I still haven't completely arrived, folks!! (Grin!) I'm still learning. And I'm having the time of my life in the process! Wouldn't trade this for anything! As I more and more have access and see these things manifested in my life, it only whets my appetite for more!

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

709 South 7^thStreet
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
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