An experience with saints

Kevin Connor
The following is a repost from a believer who contacted me privately and is being drawn into God's rest and thereby introduced to exactly what it is to "abide" in Christ. I have their permission to share this with all the saints in the hope that there are many who are in exactly the same place, spiritually, and therefore could benefit from another body member's experiences.
The Way for ALL saints is only One, Christ. But the circumstances by which we are all brought to the Truth is innumerable as there are individual body members. Since the principles remain the same for all (just as we all had to pass through the ONE DOOR, we all must all learn how to walk in the ONE Way, Christ.
So I am reposting this with permission in the hope that someone else could be edified in the reading of it and be encouraged and built up. I apologize for the length, I believed posting it in its entirety was essential in participating in the whole conversation, instead of picking it apart. So be blessed and pray...
Good morning, it's 7:27am over here. Grace and peace be multiplied to you. Please I need
insight on ABIDING. That word have been in my spirit for a while now, I have been asking what does it really mean to abide. I will need your input. Two days ago this words drop in my spirit, there is a way that seemeth right, I checked it up it was in pro. 14 Vs 12. I felt the Lord was showing me there are ways we are currently on, that seems to be right but it not right. The Holy spirit dealt more on that yesterday. He showed more light on the fact that there is only one way to Zion
That no one knows the way except He that ordained the way and walk in it. And He is the one who brings us in and shows us how to walk in it
Please. Does this have any thing to do with abiding?
7:31am
Dearest in Christ. Everything you just wrote is part of a believer being brought to the way. Our heavenly Father knows our heart and He is the One who calls. He is bringing you, by His Spirit to the way. Abiding is related to resting in God. None of us enter into His "rest" willingly. We think we want it, we even pray asking for it or deceive ourselves into believing we are already "resting" because of the knowledge we have accumulated, head knowledge. This is not resting.
Ok
Resting is first abiding follows
Abiding is the result of us resting
Ok
Entering His rest in Hebrews is essential to a believer "knowing Him"!
But first we MUST be brought to the end of our attempts at establishing our own righteousness
This is that in Hebrews which states,"make every effort"! Why must we first be brought to the end our "self effort"?
Knowing Him is acknowledging one failure and surrendering all to Him?
Yes but WE cannot. He must brings us
Salvation is of the Lord
It is HIS WORK
Yes
Not ours
We will not believe this Truth even though mentally we agree with it
It is ALWAYS a matter of the heart not the head
And He holds your heart in His hands!
Hmm
He is bringing you into His Light
It is evidence that you have been made uncomfortable and have been praying, seeking Him
He put this upon your heart to do so
It is the EXACT same way He brought you to Himself to be born again!
We did not seek Him He sought us
True
He is still working in that way
My spirit bore witness as soon as I read your message. I got a huge AMEN!
Amen
After a while, you can hear Him in what others say, when He is speaking through them. Like Jesus did with Peter
There is ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE Lord, One baptism. He is drawing us up into abiding in His Son so that Christ may be ALL and in ALL!
Ok
Remember when Paul told us to "work out our own salvation in Philippians?
Yes
What is the next verse?
It starts with."FOR"
In fear and trembling
keep going the Greek word for "because"
For it is God...
working IN YOU both to WILL and to DO...
Both to will and to do
Ok
If it is God in you both WILLING AND DOING
What is our position?
Ok
in all of that?
To yield
close
Ok
to receive it
Hmm
The work of the Gospel is a FINISHED WORK
Ok
That is why it is "good news"
Christ is our righteousness
sanctification
redemption
Yes
He is the I AM
But we in ourselves, are full of Satan's "I WILL"
our flesh is saturated with it
It goes through our entire being
True
All of the struggle in the universe is between those two opposing positions
Either I can do righteous deeds or I cannot at all
When you believed into Him, what did you do to receive Him?
Nothing just receive
It is the same now and forever
Amen
You are definitely being brought to Him in the same way...
Amen
Colossians 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
It is still the same
process if you will
No one believes into the Lord, they must be brought to the Lord, through life, circumstances, etc. But eventually, they BREAK (yeildedness) and then they believe!
That process never changes
The difference now is that you ARE in Him and not outside being brought to Him
Hmm. Very true
Please pray and ask Him if this is Him bringing you to Himself. You will find the Spirit bearing witness that it is
Ok
Remember, He is the great surgeon, not us. He is doing the circumcision of our heart
Hmm
He is DIVIDING OUR SOUL FROM OUR SPIRIT
So that we may walk in newness of Life
The old self (soul or bushel) must die and we must learn to walk IN our spirit
Since now we are spiritual people
Amen
but we have brought the Gospel down to earth and we "adjust" our soul to look religious by dressing it up in religious clothing but it is still our soul attempting to establish its own righteousness
This is the Way.....Not I but Christ!
Christ in your spirit IS your new self
The old self has to be crucified
Romans 6:5 For if we have become [a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [b]in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old [c]self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be [d]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is [e]freed from sin.
No one can crucify themselves
Hmm
As a matter of fact, when you believed INTO Him, YOU DID DIE.
Ok
So that whatever happened to Him happened to you!
We have to be brought to realize this
We have to be convinced!
The definition of TO BELIEVE is,TO BE CONVINCED
And that, my dear sister, is EXACTLY what He is in the process of doing
Bringing you to realize what you are ALREADY in Christ
Amen
When mankind fell, his spirit died.
Yes
Up until that day, man's spirit ruled him
And he was in constant contact with God through his spirit. Because God is spirit and is the only way to know Him is through spirit
Hmm
But He told Adam that the day he eats of the fruit he shall surely die!
And his spirit did die. Cur Him off from fellowhship with God
When that happened, man's soul rose to occupy the place of his spirit
His soul in a position it was never designed to be in
became "puffed up"
And it has been that way since the beginning
Now Christ came as "a LIFEGIVING SPIRIT"
Ezekiel 36:I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
With that new spirit and a heart of flesh and the Holy Spirit that abides in us, that same Spirit is working to restore in us God's proper order...spirit then soul then body in that order
But NOT our old soul. THat is beyond repair
It is being replaced with the NEW SELF (which is Christ in our spirit. We are now SPIRITUAL BEINGS
The third component, our bodies, will eventually be replaced with a SPIRITUAL body, not unlike His
So we will be forever with Him
Amen
Now, in this lifetime, we are set out in the wilderness, to be convinced of what we ALREADY have by our new birth!
Ok
That is why, in scriptures we read in one place that I am BEING sanctified while in another place we read that I am already sanctiified
Both are true but seen from two different positions
Regarding faith IT IS ALWAYS historical, never future
Why?
BECAUSE IT IS A FINISHED WORK, AMEN!
We simply must be "convinced" (believe)
That is the Way you are being brought to
Amen
What you are experiencing is the same for all believers, just as there is only one way to become a christian there is only one way to abide as a christian
Ok
And He is faithful. That "good work" that He started in you He will do it!
Amen
faith seeing and made substance (Christ) is this process of being convinced, believing!
Just as you KNOW His voice when He speaks to you, in other words you "believe" when He speaks
so you will become convinced of everything else He will reveal to you by that same faith
You are EXACTLY where you need to be
Hmmm
Remember the verse...Be STILL and know that I am God.
Yes
the Hebrew word for STILL do you know what it means?
LET GO
Hmmm
Wow
That's awesome
But in ourselves we will not
Let go
Glory
I have a verse for you
Ok
Isaiah 30:15 15 For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said this,
“In returning [to Me] and rest you shall be saved,
In quietness and confident trust is your strength.”
His rest MEANS salvation for our soul
Hallelujah
Amen!!!!
Do you remember Jesus telling us that in order to save our soul we must first lose it?
Yes
How is it that I am told that in order to save my soul I must first lose my soul?
How can I find what I am told to lose?
Its like a riddle
I will post the verse OK?
Ok
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say NO to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 25 All who want to save their lives (souls) will lose them. But all who lose their lives (souls) because of me will find them.
Hmmm
The Greek word for lives is soul
Ok
We are told that in order to save our soul we must first lose it. He who denies it (says no to their soul) will find it (the new self in the spirit) but if anyone attempts to save their own soul will lose it.
Our old man the old soul of our being is corrupt and beyond repair
It is only good for the cross, death
But we have a new self (which is Christ) in our spirit, being conformed to Him
This is what is referred to in scriptures as "the mind of Christ"
Paul told the Philippians, "LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU".
We are being remade in the image of our creator!
Paul described it, I (self...ego in the Greek) have been CRUCIFIED with Christ! Nevertheless I live, yet NOT I BUT CHRIST lives in me!
Hallelujah. Please reread Colossians, there are many references to this process
Ok
He is already working on your mind and how you think
Your questions testify to this
There is a Psalms which says,"In your light we see light. That verse is this process
It's one books God is giving me much understanding in. Colossians
Even more so now that He is illuminating you with Himself
Everything changes in this "dividing" spoken about in Hebrews. It is a deep and sometimes painful process.
We are VERY attached to who we think we are in our self
As He brings you to the cross in order that these things may die you will suffer pain
The pain is relative to your attachment of those things, the more attached we are, the more pain is the dying
Ok
You may even feel that you are winking out of existence. Psalms Though there be tears in the night, there is joy in the morning
Hmmm
Jesus told us,"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone"
Our soul is like a glove for the spirit as our body is a glove for the soul
Until the hard outer crust of the soul is put to death, the light of Christ in our spirit cannot shine through.
May I ask you for a favor? Without naming you do I have your permission to repost our conversation on Watchman Nee page? I am convinced that there are many saints in the same place you are and your honesty in your searching may help others in a similar place.
Ok, without name please
Absolutely. No name. Thank you. I believe that this will minister to many who are also being dealt with by God!
Thanks alot
Truly appreciate your time
Anytime.
You are so blessed