Colossians 3 v 1 - 4: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."
A Christian is one who is risen with Christ. When we come up from the waters of baptism we are no longer "only human" we are a newly created being made in the likeness of Jesus. We are seated in Him in heavenly places. Our spirit is alive in Him in Heaven and nowhere else. It's time to become more heavenly minded so we can do some good on Earth.
For we are dead to the world. Dead to all the allure of the enemy. Dead to his suggestions and temptations and lies. We are resurrected with Jesus as soon as we are born again and baptized. This is not some religious ritual, this is a life-changing event.
Our life is hid with Christ in God. That's where our life is lived now. When Christ who is our life....we need to totally know that Jesus Christ inhabits our body and soul here on Earth. The Spirit of Jesus is alive in us but we are dead here and alive in Heaven.
He is in us to do an extreme makeover. Everything the enemy did to our souls and flesh before we were born as humans can only be truly rectified, healed, straightened, mind-cleansed, emotionally restored, and our true purpose revealed. We were born sinners and spiritually dead before we ever breathed. Little ones have to be taught to be good and trained in obedience.
We have the Holy Spirit as our Teacher who communicates through our spirit in Heaven to who we are down here, guiding us into truth and right living. It's a lifelong process and our free will either hinders it by clinging to the world, or speeds it up by total submission to the Lord.
It's like the Hebrews in Exodus who murmured against Moses and turned back to the fleshpots of Egypt instead of going into the Promised Land. They were never seen again. The Hebrews had to go through many battles to reach Israel forty years later and none of the original people who left Egypt ever went into it. Moses saw it from a mountain top where he died and his body was never found.
All the children of the original Hebrew people who left Egypt, went in and conquered the tribes who were living there. God commanded them to remove them all. He does the same with us spiritually.
He brought us out of the world (Egypt) through the Red Sea (The Blood of Jesus), He gave us the Law, (The Word of God), He fed us and gave us water in the wilderness (Bread of Heaven and Living Water). He is leading us to the Promised Land (Eternity in Heaven).
We will go through trials and tribulations as the evil desires of our enemy are brought into the Light of Jesus. He allows certain events that we may think are bad, to reveal the damage done to us. Little by little He will drive them out from us. He doesn't want to hurt us, He just wants us clean and holy vessels that match tissue perfect with His Body. The Gentiles, non-Jewish believers, are the Body of Christ, the Bridegroom. The Bride is Israel .... John the Baptist rejoiced that Israel was hearing the Bridegroom's voice.
John 3 v 27 - 29: "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."
From what I have managed to discover, the preacher who said the church is the Bride of Christ was William Branham, an American man who died in a car crash in 1963. His followers waited by his grave for three days and nights because he told them he would be resurrected like Jesus. He also admitted that everything he did in his meetings was on instructions given to him by an angel. In the 1970's the charismatic church was flooded with the teachings of Branham, and many false doctrines can be traced back to him.
Back in the world, those who are furthest from God populate prisons, asylums, terrorist groups, hard gangs, drug cartels, sex slavery and corrupt governments. Through them anarchy will follow when democracy fails.
When we break through the mental blocks of sin, doubt and unbelief into the realm of God's kingdom it is an awesome life full of treasure, adventure, miracles and like-minded people. It's a time of praise, worship and prayer, of being in His presence and enjoying fellowship with Him.
It may sound unbelievable but in this exalted realm believing is seeing. It is the complete opposite of the ways of the world. God's promises are real but to receive them we must know that we have been translated into His Kingdom.
Colossians 1 v 9 - 13: "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:"
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we long with all our hearts for everything You have for us, and whatever You need us to do, we are willing. We can never be too holy, too righteous, too faithful to You. Forgive us for not knowing that we are dead in sin but alive to God. In Jesus' name. Amen.