Trying to Dance with Her Grave Clothes On

And she's tripping and looking pretty foolish. The Bride trying to dance with her rags of death is not a pretty sight. She longs to dance gracefully with her Bridegroom and show off her mysterious beauty. She knows how to dance but she's clumsy and so frustrated with those death sheets around her ankles that she decides to just sit out the song....Who will come along and remove her from her shame? Some say the grave clothe represent her shame and not choosing to be righteous? Really? The BRIDE is made clean...totally pure, white and holy as the Spirit of Christ has come to reside in her. So she could not **BE** the Bride if she was filled with shame. No these rags are residual of her memory of her old dead sin nature. She is still clinging to them because someone has told her they belong to her. It's not WHO she is.....It's not Christ. It's a wrong mind set.

This was the image that the Holy Spirit showed me today about the frustration of the Church. She is a New and Glorious Creation because of the supernatural exchange of Christ becoming sin so that we His Bride could become righteous. It is a mystery! It's supernatural! The Good News that Jesus came and paid the complete price for sin, sorrow, sickness and any lack ***IS*** the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. But it seems the preachers and teachers believe this is not a fact that we exchanged the old nature for a new one in Christ. The old sin nature was crucified with Christ was buried and now we are risen with Him seated in our heavenly place with Christ at the right hand of the Father. (Eph 2:6)

Paul encourages the believer in Hebrews 12 "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." It seems this image is like tripping in your grave clothes. If it were an internal heart issue then an image of being cleansed would be in order. Running a race required us to be free from anything heavy or burdensome. I have been dragging around so much stuff and believing that it is part of me. If I just realize I can run or dance with my Bridegroom then I would not believe that I own these rags! Paul also said, "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." NEW SELF. If I see myself as an old creation being fixed up then I will continually think there is one more thing to be fixed before I can DANCE!!!! If I believe that I'm a Brand New CREATION then I can dance or run today.

And keep in mind that my dancing is not going to look like your dancing. Just keeping my eyes fixed on my Savior and my steps will be sure.

A New Wineskin for the New Wine.

It's been about 5 years since my doctor strongly suggested I be admitted to the pysch ward for observation and to balance my meds. That week in December of '06 I went into the doctor's office with confusion, severe anxiety and I had not been able to sleep for days due to my depression being out of control. My hands felt thick and clumsy and it was hard to walk straight. I knew I really needed to see a doctor when I was asked to sign a form and for several seconds I could not make my brain and hand remember how to sign my name. All hell had broke loose in my body and fear had viciously attacked my mind. It was months later that my doctor was able to get me stable with a medication that would not make my condition worse.

One could be certain that I had walked through not just a valley but a season of darkness. Strange as it may sound, I had no doubt that my Savior was holding my hand through this whole ordeal. I wish I could have seen the excitement on my Savior's face awaiting the day that I would discover who I really was in Christ. I was ignorant to the fact that the bondage I was in was doomed and no weapon formed against this woman of God would be prosperous. The gates of hell would not prevail. I learned after this season of darkness that I was the one in charge of the gates that would try to unleash hell against my life. The enemy had duped me into thinking that he was in charge and I was blind to the fact that the Spirit within me was more powerful than all the demons that hell could throw my direction.

Jesus explained to his disciples that a new season was upon them and it was vital that they stop viewing God as One who insisted they must keep the laws of Moses. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 That's so revolutionary....the people must have said, "Huh? We don't keep the law anymore?" So they either thought Jesus was crazy or truly the Messiah to say such a thing.

Jesus came to present to the people a new and living way. No more keeping the law to be right with God. No more doing things to be accepted. He would be the perfect Lamb Who paid for all debts of sin. All would be fulfilled on the Cross and when He rose again a celebration of victory because death, hell and the grave would be defeated for eternity. A covenant now fulfilled between the Son and Father God so that we can't mess it up by breaking laws. Hallelujah! A shout must come forth from within you when you understand the amazing truth about God's grace and goodness for us! If you put your trust in what Christ accomplished then nothing can mess up your relationship with your Heavenly Father!

In Christ we are complete. And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:10

In the Old Covenant one would have to keep the law or be under a curse. Be good to get good and if you are not good then you expected punishment.....but the New Covenant is not a hybrid of the Old. The New Covenant is life in our Savior. We are told that as we put our trust in what Jesus had done then we are made new creations.....old has passed away and new is the rule. If we see ourselves as our old sinful nature that God is trying to fix up then it was be a severe hinderance to our relationship with our Savior.

This mixture or hybrid covenant of old and new was exactly what I was believing when I was walking through decades long season of sickness and depression. I was beleiving that my Savior wanted to purge to old nature out of me and make me a new thing.....like tearing down an old house little by little and replacing the old stuff with brand new stuff and eventually I would be all new. But the problem with that analogy is that we are like the parable that Jesus told of the new wine being put into old wineskins..... My belief of doing good to get good or God fixing me up and making me new with a foundation of the old was just like the parable that Jesus spoke of. It is a dysfunctional gospel to put new wine into old wineskins.

I was of an old wineskin mentality. The idea that God was wanting me to do good to get good was an old covenant thought process.....wilderness thinking. We can't enter the Promised Land with wilderness thinking. Just like we can't have the new wine in the old wineskin.

The New and Living way is to believe! Sounds too simple, right? It is delightfully simply but our minds have been so entrenched in this world and the religious notions of generations of well-meaning religious leaderes that the message of the Cross has been reduced to the story we hear at Easter evey year. It's not just a wonderful story that Jesus died for us and rose again and will take us to heaven when we die. Although that is some really good news but the Gospel is really the power of God unto salvation for every aspect of our life. This power is manefested in the lives of those who put their trust in what Christ did for us in every situation of life. Romans 1:17 says that through our Savior righteousness was revealed to us and we live not by keeping the law but only by faith in what He has DONE.

This amazing grace and salvation is not only intended for getting us to heaven but for getting the kingdom of heaven to earth through us!!! That's so exciting.

So ask yourself a few questions.... What am I doing to try to please my Heavenly Father? Then ask yourself do I believe that Jesus pleased the Father for me? If I still think that I need to keep paying for my sin or doing something to deserve the benefits of a child of God then I still have an old wineskin and the new wine will not be available. Just rest in what your Savior has done and start seeing the supernatural transformation that you read about in your Bible

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