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In previous editions of the Overflow, we examined abundance and overflow.
Now we come to the root of it all: Fullness! Fullness is the third word
quickened to me by the Lord for our attention and apprehension in a manner
greater than we have ever attained to before. The Greek rendering of
fullness is "something put in, to fill up," or "to make complete" which is
reflected in The Amplified Bible's translation of Ephesians 1:22-23 where
we read that Christ is, "...the universal and supreme Head of the church.
Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that
body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who
fills everything everywhere with Himself]."
This pertains to our daily living, in that
it is by becoming full of Christ, and continuing to draw from Him that
overflow and abundance become possible. We will reproduce what and who we
are, even as seed does after its own kind. We must be diligent to maintain
our connection to the Vine !
Stay in relationship with me as I will with you. Just as no offshoot from
the vine can produce fruit by itself, neither can you unless you stay in
an open relationship with me. I am the vine; you are the offshoots from
me.... A person who does not stay in relationship with me will wither and
will eventually be cut off the vine. My Father is fulfilled when you
produce the life I have produced in you.
John 15:4,6,8a Ben Campbell Johnson's Luke and John
God is not looking for you to give a theological dissertation on some
grand level beyond your life in Him. This simply means that we are to bear
witness to that which God has done in us. Pour out the life that He has
poured into you!
The word "wither" got my attention.
Consider that a rose in bloom, full of beauty and splendor, when cut from
the vine and put in a vase of water will eventually wither. When it
withers, death is manifested, but it really began to die as soon as it was
cut from the bush.
As the withering process takes place, you see
death. As Christians, if we do not stay deliberately in the vine which is
Christ Jesus, our lives begin to wither. When this happens, that which God
has called us to do begins to wither and it shows evidences of drying up
gradually becoming less and less and less until death comes because it*s
vital life-giving flow is absent. That is the time we can so easily
substitute man-made forms, traditions, and programs for the True and
Living God, unaware we have strayed, raising up others who know no
different.
His Presence is a seed within our beings, as
pictured in the parable of the seed sower and the soil. As we water,
guard, and esteem Him, (as we are admonished to "Guard your heart with all
diligence, for out of it flow the very issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23), we
find that whatever seed is planted will produce after its kind, according
to laws set forth in Genesis! Something I find profitable to meditate on
is this question, "Would I like to see what I am reproduced in someone
else?"
This productivity will demonstrate your relationship to
me. I have loved you in the same way that my Father has loved me; and you
must keep on loving. As you flesh out the teachings which I have given
you, you will keep on loving as I have loved you. I have fleshed out my
Father's directives, and I remain in his love.
John 15:8b-10 Ben Campbell Johnson's Luke and John
"Flesh out," take God's Word and apply it to your life ~ love the
unlovable, believe God when everything is screaming for you not to. Take
the Word of God and make your flesh come into divine agreement with it.
Make yourself do what the Word says and flesh will die, your spirit will
come forth in greater and greater measure by the grace, anointing, and
help of Almighty God. Just as Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh, in our
day and time, God wants us to come into the Word of God so much that His
Word is made flesh in us.
God has more for us! I set my face like a flint
before Him, that He would show me whenever He wants to what is productive
and what is not productive.
God is the inspector of the fruit. He said, "If I look upon My people and
see they are producing fruit, I pull out the pruning shears. But if I look
and they are not doing anything, I leave them alone."
The easy way is not the best way. When we feel
the sword of the Spirit going in, working on us, we can thank Him, and
know that we must be producing fruit and He is pruning to get the best out
of us ~ refining us, to cut more of us away and cause more of Himself to
spring forth in our lives.
Vinedressers in California cut vines back to the nub
annually, to the point that you think nothing can ever be produced from
that plant again, but seven months later it is awesome to see the
abundance that is produced!
I believe that a pivotal point of maturity in our
lives ~ a key to peace, joy and God-birthed productivity is to be as Paul,
who said, "I have learned how to be content in all things, I have learned
how to be abased and how to abound." He was content no matter what
was going on, and look at what he did! He wrote 13 books of the Bible.
Awesome accomplishments flowed out of his life!
True productivity does not flow from our striving in
our own strength, but in responding to our God, knowing His voice and
yielding to His Lordship over the seasons of our lives.
I said, "Lord, when are Christians going to come to the
place where they simply enjoy You?" Simply enjoy being a Christian!
When we get to this point, that is the pivotal point of maturity - when
God has really settled in and He is deep down in our being, becoming our
hope of glory.
Then it matters not what circumstance happens, or who
spits in our faces, nor who is for us and who is against us ~ because He
is become our all-in-all, and we are completely satisfied in Him! How
blessed I am when something anointed is going on, but I am content. The
Lord Himself is my portion and I enjoy Him! Will anything happen until we
start enjoying God?
The Lord declares in Jeremiah 31:14 that He will, "...satiate the soul of
the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my
goodness...." The Lord cries out to us today, "You get satisfied
with Me in you, and get satisfied with what I am doing in your lives right
now. It is finished!" Have we come to believe that if someone is not
prophesying over us, or laying hands on us, then we haven't got an
anointing flowing and the presence of God is not active? No, saints! The
presence of God is not limited in that way!
God is trying to bring us back to being satisfied with
God, whether or not we have the "things," but we are seeking the kingdom
of God and His righteousness first and as the rest comes, it comes. What
does it mean, if we are rich and increased with goods but have no need of
Him? We would indeed be the most pitiable of all people.
When we receive Jesus Christ in all of His
fullness we will have abundance. We must understand this pertains not only
to Christ dwelling within an individual in greater and greater measure,
but simultaneously we must be increasing together as His Body.
Fullness is attained through the
simultaneous pursuit of both an individual relationship with God, and
relationships with one another. The lack of either individual relationship
or proper corporate fellowship hinders true, Christ-like abundant life.
We are knit together corporately, growing
up into the fullness of His stature each one of us as a living stone and
part of the whole.
...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus
himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined
together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being
built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:20-22 The English Standard Version
It has always been in the heart of God that He
alone would be the builder of the tabernacle. He says in Psalm 127, "If I
don't build it, it is built in vain" (paraphrased). Because we have the
same creative ability in us that God has (since we are created in His
image), we want to build, we want to accomplish and do something, which is
good ~ but it must be directed aright. In Genesis 11 the creativity and
accomplishment was done in the wrong way, to exalt man that he might say
of himself, "Look at what I have done."
When I saw that, I remembered something God told
me in Sweden many years ago. That church seats 7,200 in country where the
average church is maxed out at 25. On the last night the glory moved in so
beautifully. Everyone either fell out of their chairs, came forward, or
knelt. I stood there holding onto the pulpit as long as I could, and then
I slipped down to the floor as well. As I basked in the glory, I heard
God's voice as if He were pleading and saying, "I want to heal - I want
to!" I could feel the heart-cry of my Father Who wants to heal spirit,
soul, and body.
I wondered at the sense I had, as I heard Him, of God
being hindered from healing, and wondered what manner of hindrance was
preventing God? He ministered to me that even medical science will tell
you that the human body heals itself ~ medical intervention assists, but
is not the healing source. God said to me in that moment, "If the human
body is created by Me to heal itself, how much more is the Body of Christ
created within itself to heal itself?"
That was such a powerful revelation! We must hold one
another in a place of honor and respect. It is His call to us to open up
our hearts and allow what is within us of this river to flow freely to one
another, to share and to bless each other in the anointing. I have seen
God release miracles of healings when He had me to instruct during a
meeting for the people to hold hands and pray one for another.
The devil wants us to be at each other's throats, or to
think that we can go it alone, do it alone! Ephesians 4:15b-16 tells us
that:
...we
are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from
whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it
is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so
that it builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:15b-16 The English Standard Version
We must know Christ personally and corporately ~ know Him as He is
expressed in the fellowship of the saints. It is as His people gather
together as one that His fullness is truly brought forth!
I thought about the transition that the Church is
in, and how vitally important it is to be fashioned by His hand, filled
with His life in this hour. What we are becoming must be authored by God
and not born out of our own imaginations because of the lack of His
imprint upon us due to our neglect of so great a salvation.
We are the most privileged people in all the
earth, for it has been given unto us to know the mysteries of God and the
secrets of God that have been hidden and are now revealed in Christ. We
have to give ourselves a check up! Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians
13, "You'd better examine yourselves to see that you are still in the
faith." We must take the time to seek Him. We must be filled with Christ
in Word, in Spirit, and in deed, producing fruit in relation to others in
our appointed places within the Body of Christ.
As we began our journey with abundance, we have
now come full circle to find that true abundance is produced by full
acceptance of Christ, Himself and of one another as the Body of Christ,
which then begins to create an overflow which issues forth from our lives.
May we get so FULL that we OVERFLOW in greater measure than we have ever
known. May the overflow explode into ABUNDANCE !
Jesus has filled His Church Body with all kinds of
gifts and abilities. Abundance includes an abundance of experiential
knowledge of our Abba, Father; abundance in our relationships with one
another; abundance of the expression of the gifts and anointings of the
Holy Spirit released through believers; and abundance in the harvest of
souls.
Abundance begins and ends with: growing in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ~ rooted and grounded in
love springing forth into maturity as we grow together into the fullness
of the stature of our Lord! May it be so with us now and forevermore.
Amen. So be it.
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