Message notes for Friday, January 15th, 2016:

We Are Becoming Vitally United Into Him

His Word- His Voice- speaks and causes us to become clean, and also joins us to Him as we receive it by faith:

John 15:1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. 2 Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. 3 You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you]. 4 Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. 6 If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.

Ø  EXB:     3 You are already ·clean [or pruned] because of the words I have spoken to you.

Ø  VOICE: 3 already you are clean because you have heard My voice.

Ø  Rev 3:  6 He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).

Our spiritual capacity to hear and to receive Him is left up to us to develop. God will not do this for us, but as we ask Him to enlarge our capacity to know Him, then this will also determine the degree of union that we can develop with/in Him. The more He can prune/clean us, the closer we draw to/into Him. The more we cry out to know Him, the more He will respond to us!

Ephesians 2:4 But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, 5 Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). 6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

There are different levels of union.

Knowing about Him

Knowing Him

Given to Him

Joined to Him

One with Him

Possessed or controlled by Him

Owned by Him

Clothed with Him

Colossians 2:9 For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; 10 so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power. 11 When you came to Christ, he set you free from your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of your souls.

Ø  Acts 2:4 And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].

Ø  Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled [throughout their souls] with joy and the Holy Spirit.

 The Baptism of Fire purges our soul, and transforms it into union with the heart and mind of Christ, which then can conform us more into His Image and likeness.

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit.

Romans 8:4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

1 Corinthians 8:3 But if one loves God truly [with affectionate reverence, prompt obedience, and grateful recognition of His blessing], he is known by God [recognized as worthy of His intimacy and love, and he is owned by Him].

Galatians 3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ.

We are to be continually driving our spiritual roots down deeper into a deeper union with and in Christ.

Colossians 2:5 For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your [standing shoulder to shoulder in such] orderly array and the firmness and the solid front and steadfastness of your faith in Christ [that leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness]. 6 As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him. 7 Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.

Power flows through Union:

Ephesians 6:10 In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

Psalms 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory. 5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.

Isaiah 42:21 It was the Lord’s pleasure for His righteousness’ sake [in accordance with a steadfast and consistent purpose] to magnify instruction and revelation and glorify them.

Philippians 3:10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] 11 That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

It must be our determined purpose to seek Him till He is fully found, and then to move on further until we become one with Him, so that we can become like Him, even into the Glorification Process of His Body, becoming one within us!

-        Susan O’Marra

-        01-14-16