The Agent of change in the world is the wonderful Holy Spirit. His heart is to bring us into union with Christ. A full merger a blending of lives and a possession of purity a full corporate merger.

We are described as “New Creatures” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17

This new creation is an invasion and overtaking of our old man a merging of our spirit with the spirit of God like when God breathed into Adams nostrils and made a living spirit, So God has breathed upon us in salvation to create a totally new man. This new man can never revert to the old again its like, when you mix yellow & blue together you get green and you can never have yellow or blue again because the old has passed away.

Once he is in us we become pilgrims with him. Religion has pilgrims but they work towards a goal. Like going to a place to get something. Whereas in Christ our goal is already in us and we are walking together with Him not towards Him.

Not your gifts Lord but you!

Our longing for God can be summed up in several ways according to our motivation and these are the motivations that inhabit the house of God

1)      A desire for natural blessings

2)      A desire for spiritual blessing

3)      A desire for the Lord Himself.

True union is when we have bypassed the longing or need for the first two and go for the third prize which is God himself.

Remember the old country song “Lord wont you buy me a Mercedes Benz” well that’s where most of the Church is at. In gaining all of these things including spiritual blessings our hunger is still unsatisfied and for this reason there is a famine in the Church. 

The fear in Church and its valid is this. That in seeking no 3, that is going hard after the Lord  the ministry of the Church is somehow diminished and its seekers become contemplative and sterile in ministry expression.

There is a balance of leading new people to Christ, teaching them the ways of God and becoming totally contemplative in our expression. This balance is called government.

But what we require is Gods government not the counsel of men and this is where the balance has always come unhinged in our awakenings and renewals

The awakenings help us we see the Lord for who he is and we awake like sleepers, In past moves we have failed to move the government that can carry the Glory and so the moves have split between the contemplative & the governors and stewards of the move.

Gods government v Mans

Let me use the example of David going down to Abu Gush to get the Ark in 2 Samuel 6. In his enthusiasm for the Lord and his presence David didn’t set up the correct way to carry the ark, He put it on a cart so in doing that he did it mans way and it ended in the death of Uzzah when he reached out his hand to steady the ark. The second time David went down he carried the ark according to the pattern given, poles on the shoulders of the priests. Here’s the clue, “The government shall be on His (Jesus) shoulders” according to Isaiah, so the correct way to carry the presence and see it restored is to carry it on His shoulders and in His government. This brings us into conflict with the current trend to look for church growth methods or even ways to bring a revival which we institute in our churches. If this isn’t coming from the government of God for our Church, city or nation then the end will be disaster.

The ways of God are both contemplative & governmental, contemplative on its own becomes infertile and unproductive, and Governmental on its own becomes legalistic, religious and barren. So if our emphasis is one or the other then the result is no Children.

Our understanding of the concept of union with Christ has been coloured by our desire for experience. There are times in our union where he breaks through and the power of his majesty overwhelms us. I love these times. But in our union there are also times where our commitment is the only thing we have, the feelings are few and far between and without an understanding of who we are governmentally we flounder and seek and do unnecessary things in order to try and gain his attention.  When we understand who we are because of our position with Christ we can be drawn again into the contemplation of our love affair. But if our experience is just contemplation without the government then works overtake us in order to please him and try and gain something that is already ours.

So the call is for a corporate merger and a joint pilgrimage towards establishing the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. This merger of wills is instituted by the wonderful Holy Spirit. He comes to us, He presents Christ to us, He indwells us and confirms our hearts desires and in the process causes us to be possessed by Jesus Christ.

Possessed and therefore owned by Jesus and yet this ownership is by mutual consent, the possession is only to the level that we want to lay aside our own government for his. In embracing this government we are overwhelmed by desire for full and total union. He is the blue & you are his yellow and together you become a new and wonderful colour that the divine artist the Holy Spirit can capture a canvas with.

 IAN JOHNSON  www.hisamazinggloryministries.org