The-epistle

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Dear Beloved,

This epistle comes to you from the heart of God. Oh, yes! This is a teaching. But the Spirit wants this
epistle (letter) to be personal. He desires that His message rings out from His heart strings to you and
yours. He really wants all mankind to have this revelation. It is our prayer Beloved, that you walk away
with clarity and a strong conviction to do something about your walk in and for the Lord!

The title of your epistle of which your reading today, may have startled you. The title may have even
frightened you a bit. Perhaps, it was not so much of the title, as much as it had been the words, “You
Gotta Die!“ That’s the thing, Beloved. Many fear dying. Many don’t want to die. Many want to continue
on living forever if they could. But here is the key, they can live forever and they will! That is the soul, that
will continue to live. For the spirit will return to God (Ecc.12:7) However, it is a matter of where their soul
will spend eternity. But one thing is for sure, we are all going to live forever, whether it be in the torments
of Hell or in the promise of Heaven’s Paradise!

Well, you may ask: “What do I do to escape Hell?…What can I do to gain a seat in the Kingdom?”
Here’s your nugget--You Gotta Die! The world does not know it, nor will they be able to comprehend
this….But in order for you to live, you must die now! “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (Jn12:24) Jesus
gave the parable of the “Good Seed.” That Good Seed was He Himself. He sowed the greatest seed
when He sowed His very own life…..And didn’t He yield much fruit thereafter His death?

We have to be totally dissolved, swallowed up in Him and by Him (2Cor5:4) until we exists no more. The
Apostle Paul says it like this: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20) We have to go through death to self in order for us to be like Him…And
if Christ is to be in us, the body is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness
(Rom 8:10)…..and as He is, so are we to be in this world! (1Jn 4:17)

You see, we may all be walking about, doing our own thing. But if we do not have Christ, and have not
accepted Him, we pretty much commit spiritual suicide. We remain like the “walking dead!” I know this
does not sound good. But the word tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! (Jn.14:6)…..And if
Jesus is the life, and we never receive Him, or better yet, accept Him, we are literally the “walking dead.”

You see, one thing you must understand, until we receive Christ, we are still players in this so called world
in which we have become accustomed to. We live, act, and react to the dictates of this world. We are
carnal--meaning, we still rely on our human nature, our fleshly desires, passions, man’s wisdom amongst
a host of other things. (read 1Cor 2:1-13;3:19) When we are carnal, we cannot please God. For one,
flesh cannot please Him (Rom 8:8). Your bible even declares, that a carnal mind is enmity against God
(Rom 8:7)….And what does a carnal mind do? The carnal mind is selfish, it thinks of ways to satisfy and
gratify self….It seeks its own…It thrives on the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh….
(1Jn 2:16)…And except a man be born again, the Bible says (Jn.3:3), he cannot see the Kingdom of God
(i.e. God’s way of doing things).

Beloved, I learned that the ways of the Kingdom of God is totally opposed to the ways of this world in
which we live. The world tells us to live it up! Go for the gusto…take it all…so you can have it all! The way
of the Lord is, give, give, give, deny yourself, and take up your cross! The world tells us the only way to go
is “up!” The Kingdom way is to remain low and humble where He can exalt you. The world tells us that
we should have a “high-esteem.” (Phil 2:3-4))The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “For I say, through the
grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Rom.12:
3)
The word tells us to mortify the deeds of our flesh (Rom 8:13;Col 3:5) Look at the following scripture: And
they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal 5:24).

Ephesians 4:7:10 reads as followed:
v.7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
v.8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto
men.
v.9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
v.10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all
things.)

The above scriptures specifically uses these two words, “ascended” and “descended.” Of course the
passage is referring to Jesus’ trip to Hell (to take back all what we lost) and His ascension back to the
Father to make our enemy His footstool! We lost our rights of dominion, authority, power, and life. But
when we accept and make Christ the Prophet, Priest, King, and Lord over everything, we then give Him
liberty to rule, to teach, and to save us! Along the benefits of being ruled by the King of kings, we regain
our dominion and authority. We get back to our original status to being able to call things that be not as
though they were (Rom4:17; 2 Cor.4:18).

Beloved, “There’s a Higher Ground!” Surely this ground is fertile! It’s waiting for you to take a dive! You’
re the seed that God entrusted to His Son, that you might bring forth fruit!….. But again, the catch is…
YOU MUST DIE! Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is…(Eph5:17)
…Be filled with the Spirit. 2Corinthians 4:10 tells us of the manner in which we always bear about in our
body, the dying of the Lord Jesus. What does this mean? It means that if Christ was crucified for the
sins of the world, bore our sicknesses in His body, we ought to reward Him with our very own life, by
denying ourselves likewise….that the life of Christ might be made manifest in our body
(see 2Cor 4:11,12,14). I call this “Bearing the Mark of Christ!” If we are to suffer persecution, slandering,
and the like, let it be for Christ’s righteousness sake. That we may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death (Phil 3:10;see
also: 1Cor.10:13; Gal. 6:17).

(see also Phil1:29; 1 Pet 3:14-15)….

Beloved, we must truly die to self. There is no getting around it. Christ did it….So must we! Forasmuch
then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, (we must) arm ourselves likewise with the same mind: for
he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in
the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God (1Pet.4:1-2). Nevertheless, if Christ put His flesh to
death, laid down his life, royal crown, became sin ( see Rom. 8:3-4;2 Cor.5:21), condemned it…..then
guess what? WE GOT TO!

If we look at the life of Christ, we find Him desiring and fulfilling the plan of the Father…which had been to
Glorify the Father. So, He was determined to “descend” in order that He “ascend” back to the Father in
Glory! We’re to be no different…. Because as He is, so are we to be! (1Jn.4:17).

Romans 8:13 tells us that if we live after the flesh, we shall die; but if we through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, we shall live. Colossians 3:5 says, “Therefore, mortify your members which are upon
the earth. Know this, he that is dead is freed from sin! (see Rom. 6:7) Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin
once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that
ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. (Rom 6:9-13; 2 Cor 4:12)…..And if Christ be in you (Rom8:10)
the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (see again 2 Cor 5:21).

God wants us to get to the point where Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is manifested in us and
through us. He bore our grievances, sicknesses, and iniquities in His body. Therefore, we that are “in
this tabernacle” do groan, being
earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed,
we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to
be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life [swallowed up by His life and
His resurrection power]. (2 Cor.5:1-4)

Beloved, all I am trying to tell you is that we don’t belong to the earth. We belong to a Higher, but spiritual
order! We groan over everything that literally binds us from being loosed from the world. We must hold
every earthly relationship at a distance… For it’s as natural to have earthly associations as it is to live.
But they can bind and tie you… leaving you so disconnected from God the Father and Christ the Son.
People and things must never have such a powerful and influential persuasion and influence over us….
Take a glance at Jesus, when He pronounced: “Who is my mother?…Who are my brothers? (Mt. 12:48-
50) You just can’t get into this Higher Ground except through death to self!

To sum it all up, we must be willing to deny ourselves “everything” to receive the revelation of God’s truth
and to receive the fullness of the Spirit. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1Jn 2:16).

Beloved, you have been chosen of the Father, to be Holy. He chose you out of the world to be preserved
for and unto only Himself…IT’S TIME TO LIVE LIKE IT! DIE NOW, SO YOU CAN LIVE THE
GLORIOUS LIFE LATER! And if you were of the world, the world would love his own [you]: but because
you’re not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (Jn.15:19)

Paul writes: see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand (Gal 6:11)…. But we say,
we write it because we love you and we care!

Remaining,

In The Gap Ministry
In The Gap Ministry & Missions Staff

“For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”
(1 Pet 3:17)

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption.
(1Cor. 15:49-50)

There Is A Higher Ground:
But You Gotta Die!