NO LONGER I

 Many run, few run well. There would be many who would run in vain. It is not because they’re not running it is simply because they are not running well. They’re not running according to rule. They run according to their own rule but not according to the rule of the Kingdom, run heavy rather than light.

They run with shackles on their feet.They run blind.They runs with heavy burdens of religion rather than the easy yoke and light burdens of Christ. In their minds they think running well means running heavily yoked. They’re run with out of the lane They have no relationship with Christ. But they have so much religion. Even those who have come to know Christ are returning again to build what they have destroyed. With faith in Christ, you’ve destroyed empty religiosity. There’s only one true religion left in the New Covenant. James calls it pure and undefined religion. To take care of orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being pulled by the world. Refusing to let the world corrupt you. God is inviting us to a relationship. Take my yoke upon you, Jesus says. Not your yoke, but my yoke. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Yoke of religion is not easy. It is cumbersome and confusing. It weighs so heavily on your soul you can hardly stand under it. So many rules and regulations for which man has absolutely no ability to keep. We must not succumb to the temptation of serving God in our flesh. No flesh can survive that. It is only Christ that is able to fully and truly satisfy the desires of the Father. It is only in Him that He is well pleased. Outside of Christ is nothing pleasing to the Lord. This I, can not please God. I, the self, on the Cross was therefore sentenced to death. The Cross exposes the weakness of the flesh. It is the greatest shame the flesh ever wants to suffer. To hang on the cross naked. The hands are nailed, the feet too. On the Cross the flesh is helplessly nailed. Unlike in the garden of Eden when flesh first came alive apart from the Spirit of God, ever since the eyes of the flesh was opened. He should forever hide in shame behind the things his own hands have made to cover up. Man began to hide his nakedness ever since. Living in hypocrisy. Hoping he will satisfy God’s desires. But no, unless the Lord covers man, he is still exposed. But on the Cross those hands are held fast with nails, he cannot reach for anything for the cover. There he feels the deep shame from which he has been forever hiding. Until he was no longer ashamed.Until he lost consciousness of himself.Until he would give up his ghost to the one who is able to keep it from shame.Until he feels a dare need of the Father, in that moment of desperate desire for the Lord, he cried ABBA! Eloi eloi lama Sabac thani. The flesh is now totally dead. No longer ashamed. He is dead to himself, dead to sin and dead to the mockery of the world or the praises of men. Because unto the Father, now had he fully yielded his Spirit and await his resurrection. Now raised to life he would no longer be the same. He’s forever changed. He’s a new creature. A brand new man. I no longer lives. The life he now lives is the life the risen Christ now lives in him. He doesn’t try to love. It is Christ who now loves in him. Christ is trapped in him now, and now vents through him. He is alive unto God. Unto righteousness. He is now a body totally surrendered as God’s instrument by which He executes righteousness and justice in the earth. The Spirit of Christ is the spirit in Him. The will of Christ is now his will. The desires of Christ are now his desires. He’s truly yoked with Christ, his heart is now burdened with the burdens of Christ. He wants nothing but to do his will. For him now to live is Christ and death for him is now his gain. His members are mortified in the cross. All he has now are the members of Christ. His body is now the body of Christ. He is not afraid of sin. To him, sin is no longer a factor.

For nothing shall separate him now. He has tasted of the heavenly gifts, lives now and forever in Christ. He lives now, not by laws of men or the rules and regulations of religion that weighs him down, he now lives by the faith of Christ. Not just the faith in Christ but the faith of Christ. Every faith that Christ had by which he pleased the Father, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. The love of Christ for him now compels him so he would never frustrate this great undeserved grace. The grace to be untied with Christ, the grace to be loved by Christ, the love by which Christ gave himself for him, he will never forget.

There’s no more shame, it is no longer I.

There’s no more guilt, it is no longer I. There’s no struggling to please God, it is no longer I. Just surrender. No more trying just trusting. The new I is identified by a new name, it is called Christ. When you see me, you see Jesus. I now have no desires to be seen or applauded by men. Only that Christ in him may be seen and glorified. I am his image. His bodily form. I am fashioned after his likeness. It is no longer I. I am crucified with Christ. The life I now live, I allow Christ to live his life through my yielded body, soul and spirit. I have yielded my all to him, mind, will, emotions, thoughts, intellects and desires; they’re all of Christ who have himself and died for all so that now, all may live for Him.