Time cannot define you only express you.

It is wonderful to note that God knows us way before we were born. He refers to us way beyond time. It is in this context that we have to see ourselves. We have an association in him that goes beyond time. Eph 1:4 states "...that he chose(associated) us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless..."

God had to look at himself first before he made us and that is our true identity. Not even the failure of Adam could cancel what God knew about us. He saw us in Christ way before man could identify himself with Adam.

It has the solution to so many problems in our day and age in which man struggles to find identity in the sense realm (time). We have become bound by the definition of our experiences, instead of being liberated by the truth of our real origin in God. Being the offspring of God and being created in his image and likeness. We need to return to our place of birth, our Heavenly Fathers heart. We are a product of His imagination. We were created for His pleasure.

For all things exist for him. Everything has its origin in Him that includes you and me. From Him , for Him and to Him are all things. We were created for His pleasure to express him in the earth. So that eternity can be revealed in time, the word made flesh. God in a human body. We carry his likeness and image to accurately reveal him. His love has been poured into our hearts.

Celebrate Christ in You!

We just had one amazing weekend of rich fellowship in West Sussex, England.

Effective Fellowship
"I pray that the communication of your faith may become effective through the understanding/acknowledgement of every good thing we have in Christ." Phil1:6

If Christ in us, is not enough what will be? Christ in us the Hope of glory! If Christ in us is enough anything else will loose it's attraction and hold on us, but it is so glorious when we can recognise him in each other. He is bigger than man's opinion, bigger than your past. He is the eternal truth of your life. God chose you in Him before time began. Eph1:4

The weekend just reminded us what Jesus came to restore in us and desires to reveal in and through us. He no longer lives in temples made with hands. God’s strategy is Christ revealed in the individual. People relate to people. The nations await the revelation of their true identity reflected in us, God in a human body, the word becoming flesh in us.

I am reminded of the song: "I see Jesus in your eyes and it makes me love Him, I feel Jesus in your touch and I know He cares, I hear Jesus in your voice and it makes me listen and I trust you with my life because you're His, I see Him in you", what a revelation.

The gospel is the revelation of the now.
"The righteousness that comes by faith does NOT say: who will go up to heaven to bring Christ down or who will go down to the abyss? To bring Christ up from the dead, but what does it say: Near you IS the word, in Your heart and in Your mouth. "Flesh-bibles" Rom10: 6-8
Enjoy the Now of the gospel. If the enemy can keep you waiting for a future event, you will miss the now of experiencing and expressing your Father intimately. He is our exceedingly great reward.
John who once said; Look at the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world was deceived into believing this lie. He sends His disciples to Jesus to ask him the question: Are you the One who is to come or shall we expect some other?( Luke7: 17-21) Don't let the enemy keep you busy with a futuristic gospel.

Discover the today of your salvation of God's favourable opinion of you.”
Jesus said; “today when you hear my voice." You are so complete in Him.( Col 2:10) No experience positive or negative can abolish the finished work of Christ on your behalf. All God has done in Christ was complete and enough to satisfy the Father, once and for all. He saw the fruit of His travail and was satisfied. God entered His rest concerning you. God is not fooling himself when He looks at you. He sees Himself reflected in you. You are born from above. You are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. When God looked at man He entered His rest in silent satisfaction. He beheld, His image and likeness.

To appreciate what God appreciates is the greatest act of praise and worship we can give him. To believe what He believes is what will liberate and transform you. Have the faith OF God.

“I have been crucified with Christ: the life that I now live is not for myself; but the life which Christ lives in me; and my present life is lived by faith in the Son of God; who loved me and sacrificed himself for me.” Gal2:20 NEB

What a joy to know that Christ is so at home in us, He is our very identity.(1John 4:17-18)
Read this passage until God gives you a revelation of this truth.

God is hopelessly in love with us. Enjoy His embrace.

Love

Tans and Portia

Living Epistles

Have you ever noticed that if you spend time around people who have strong personalities, you will automatically be affected by them? You'll find yourself doing the things they do. Their mannerisms will rub off on you. You can't help it. They just influence you, because you find yourself with them all the time. After a while you can even think what they think or what they would have said about a certain issue. You become so intimately intertwined with that person.

The same thing is true in your relationship with God. If you spend enough time with Him, being so aware of His opinion of you, that He's going to rub off on you! His thoughts will become your thoughts and His ways will become your ways. Hang around His Word and feed the real you, the spirit man. Before you know it, you'll begin to notice yourself changing. You'll find your character becoming more like His. You'll begin to think like He thinks and talk like He does and even act like He does. His image will begin to shine forth in you! 2 Corinthians 3:5-18; Gal 2:20

This is exactly what Jesus did in His relationship with the Father. Just to remind you. We already discovered in our previous study that faith has everything to do with our identity in Christ. (2 Cor13:5) . See what He says"The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" –John 8:29

Jesus lived by faith. Did you know that? Some people don't seem to realize that. They think that because He was the Son of God, He just floated through life with some mystical, supernatural power we could never have. But Jesus Himself said that the Father hadn't left Him alone and that He always did those things that please His Father. Jesus walked by faith - and He got that faith the same way we get it. Hebrews11:6 “for without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ" (Romans 10:17)

Jesus had always lived by faith. He was living by faith when He was just a young boy of 12 years old saying, "I have to be about My Father's business." Who told Him God was his father? He said, "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things" (John 8:28). Jesus had to be taught. Year by year, He kept growing in faith, just as He grew physically. How was He taught? By the Holy Spirit through the written Word! Luke 4:16 says that when Jesus came to Nazareth, "as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Jesus was a Bible reader! That was His custom. He studied. He meditated. He continued in the Word of God. He preached the Word of God. The Father's opinion soon became His meditation.

We simply cannot afford to cast aside our Bibles and go skipping off after signs and wonders. No! Our Father needs us to grow up in Him. He needs those who will dare to stand on the Word and develop their faith so that instead of seeking miracles at the hands of others, they will become the hands that deliver those miracles. And that is the day we're living in. Jesus did and you are His disciple.

But what does the Word reveal? It reveals the awesome desire of the living God.
"For those whom He foreknew--of whom He was aware and loved beforehand--He also destined from the beginning...to be moulded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness]." (Romans 8:29, The Amplified Bible) Gal 1:15 The Father's desires to reveal himself in and through us. The Word of God needs to be interpreted in the light of this truth. His Word is spirit and life. The Bible will become so precious to you if you can discover God’s immense desire to reveal Him in you. The Word is all about Jesus and Jesus is the revelation of your life. He successfully redeemed you to fully express Him. Read John 2:1-11, Psalm17:15, James1:19-23, the Bible is a mirror.

As a believer, you're destined to be moulded into the image of Jesus, to grow in spirit until you look just like Him, outwardly. We are already like Him in this world. The Word says as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John4:17) You were changed on the inside. How successful you are in allowing this change to progress to the outer man is mostly up to you. We grow up spiritually just like we grow up physically. True discipleship is about mirroring - model the life - be imitators of Christ; Living epistles.

Religion has tried to reduce the gospel to a sermon or message when God had a life in mind. The message merely contains the revelation of the life within. That’s why Jesus could say: "today the scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing." The manual points to Immanuel, God with us, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Act 17:11 “...The Jews received Paul's message with enthusiasm and met with him daily, examining the Scriptures to see if they supported what he said”. God spoke to us through His Son. All God ever wanted to say to the human race, He said through His Son. Hebr1:1-3 Jesus is the exact representation of the Father and all about you at the same time. In His light we see light. You cannot become more than what God already made you to be but you can walk in a greater awareness and appreciation of your true identity in Christ as you fellowship with Him through His Word. Be willing to live by the spirit and not the senses, so He can guide you, teach you and live His life through you.

I pray that God will give you a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of the glory of God (Glory, Greek doxa = Opinion), in the face of Christ Jesus. 2 Cor4:4-7

You’re about to enter one of the most exciting and fulfilling times of your life, because He chose and designed you to be an expression of Himself. That, my friend, is the greatest thrill of all.

Love you guys,
Tanswell and Portia

Can it be? As He Is So Are We!

I am so thrilled by this one verse: Look at the tenses in the verse.
1John4:17 "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world"

Do you think right now Jesus is worried, afraid, hopeless, depressed, concerned about the future, in sin, sick, lack conscious, feel distant from His Father, I don’t think so, do you?

In the light of this question I would like to bring to your attention the b-part of this verse.

"As He is (right now, not 2000 years ago) are you in this world" Give it a bit of thought, ponder on it. You need to KNOW AND DISCOVER THE REAL YOU. Jesus is all about you. He came to reveal the true you, in Himself. He is the light of your life. He's life awakens the light to your true identity. John1:4

Is there more to you than just the meat box and the looks, the background, history, the bank balance, feelings and emotions?

If nobody ever told you, you are just like Him; you just heard the best news of your life. Could it be that someone lied to you concerning your true identity or that you believed a lie about yourself.

As He is so are we in this world. Don't settle for any lessor opinion. You carry His label, His inscription. He is your true origin. That's why Jesus is not ashamed to call you his brother, because you come from the same Father. Heb 2:11. You have the same origin. The Pharisees came to Jesus to test Him out. Shall we pay taxes? He replied: "Bring me a coin whose portrait or inscription is on it? Caesar’s they reply, now render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and render to God what belongs to God." You were created for His pleasure. Eph 2:10 says you are His workmanship. When you esteem the new creation you are esteeming the Creator. To belittle the creation is to belittle the Creator. You are His workmanship.

Eternity knew us long before time could define us.
God has a bigger claim to our lives than our past, our genealogy, organisation, the devil or any person for that matters. Gal 1:15 “…we were set apart from our mother's womb (natural identity) to reveal Christ in us and to preach Him in the nations” The secret of our lives is our union with Him. The secret to the success of our lives is our consciousness of our union with Him. We are the dream of God realised. We are not a mere experiment of man’s desire or aspirations. Our identity was sealed in Christ Jesus and whenever Jesus is revealed we are co-revealed with Him. Col3:1-4; 2 Cor13:5; Col 1:26;27.

In this day and days to come, purpose to walk in an awareness and consciousness of the living Christ that indwells you. It takes an agreement on your part to believe what He thinks of you. See how your life will be transformed when you believe and awake to this truth.

Your faith has everything to do with your identity.
What do you believe, if God is convinced you are just as Jesus is, right now? HAVE THE FAITH OF GOD! The only faith worth pursuing is what God believes. Gal 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

Paul realised that only God’s faith and opinion of Him has a lasting impact that results in true freedom and liberty. Look into the perfect law of liberty and see yourself in the mirror of His Word. Only those who are willing to gaze deeply into the mirror of His Word will enjoy the fruitfulness of what the gospel reveals in Christ. Deception is merely adhering and agreeing to a foreign identity. As He is so are we in this world and anything less is to walk in deception and to fail the test of what faith came to reveal.

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Cor 13:5

Awake, o sleeper and let Christ arise and shine in and through you.

Love you guys!

God's View and Claim Over London

The events of yesterday was really evident on the faces of every person in the city of London this morning. I travelled on the underground at the same time yesterday when the first bomb went off, but on another line. London is shaken and very nervy! People are asking the life questions, this morning. It 's almost if I can hear they call out within them "what am I worth?

I thought this morning on my way to work, ... if fear has this impact on a city, imagine what faith will have?
It was is if the Spirit of the living God was welling up within me to capture the imagination of God. The word says: "our faith already overcame". God has chosen His "ecclessia" (church) to make known His manifold wisdom. Just such a wonderful opportunity to share the living Christ with people.What a joy and honour to reveal Christ in us and to preach Him in the nations. How valuable every person is to Him. He valued us with His own life, when He died for us. We are Jesus worth to Him. HALLELUJAH!

Two people came to our door yesterday to warn us of the end-times. After 1hour, Portia had the joy to share with them the present reality of the living Christ within. Don't be fooled into believing in a historical Jesus or a future event that can somehow bring you to a closer experience with your Maker. Tears rolled down their cheeks as the Spirit of the living God convicted them of His great favour and love. How great is this mystery, Christ WITHIN YOU the hope of glory. The revelation of God's opinion of them was so overwhelming that they insisted that they want to come and see us again. "One size fits all"

I thank God that this gospel is bigger than any label man want to associate himself with. The substance belongs to Christ, because in Him all men are included and in Him all men discover their true value and identity. Any other opinion lacks substance.
"It is this love that defines your value. You have a value that far exceeds your current wealth plus your earning power plus your achievements. It is not that your achievements are worthless or that your titles mean nothing, it’s just that measuring your value by them can’t do justice to your true value.

What title can compare to: ‘son of God’.
What position can compare to being seated with Christ in heavenly places?
What heritage can compare to being born of God?
What status can compare to being called His friend and personal representative?

He values you beyond your greatest achievement. He values you even if your only achievement is failure. He can see the truth about you, the reality of your worth, even if no one else (including yourself) can. He invites you to see YOU from His point of view.

There was an event in history in which God was required to place a value on man. Man was up for sale (redeem means to buy back) and nothing but the exact price would do. He made a calculation and came to a definite answer: Man is worth as much as I. He gave Himself as a ransom for you." (Andre Rabe - a piece from one of his articles)

In our hearts we are very excited and are aware of His powerful working in us. Those who know their God will do great and mighty exploits. This is the time to anticipate and expect God to confirm His word with signs and wonders. To see God reveal Himself IN US, not one day in the future,but now in this present day. Do not say another four months and then the HARVEST, look, see, they are ripe unto harvest!

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you WHATEVER you ask in my name.John 15:16

"Arise, shine, for your light HAS come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon YOU.
2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon YOU and his glory appears over YOU.
3 Nations will come to YOUR light, and kings to the brightness of YOUR dawn.
4 "Lift up your eyes and look about YOU: All assemble and come to YOU; YOUR sons come from afar, and YOUR daughters are carried on the arm.
5 Then YOU will look and be radiant, YOUR heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to YOU, to YOU the riches of the nations will come.

If God can't lie and He said it, praise God, I believe it. We about to see the revealing of the sons of God(YOU) who dare to believe what He believes, concerning YOU. The only faith worth pursuing is what He believes, CONCERNING YOU.

Live a Large Life in God. It's the greatest thrill and adventure you can imagine.
Love you guys! Tanswell and Portia

The Lord provided us with a Mini-bus to be given as a gift to our friends Leon and Jacobi who are missionaries in the Ukraine for the last 9 years. The mini-bus will make a huge difference in the lives of the people they share Jesus with.

From the 15-28 August we will be driving the mini-bus over to the Ukraine and visit Leon and Jacobi. We will be driving via the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and down to Odessa in the Ukraine, close to the Black Sea.We trust God for amazing favour and time for fruitful labour with Leon and Jacobi. Should you wish to help us financially to cover our expenses to get the mini-bus to the Ukraine please contact us or donate online.

Please pray with us for this very important project and should you wish to help us financially to cover our expenses to get the mini-bus to the Ukraine please contact us or donate online. .

Who's opinion dictates your life?

It is a wonderful thing to know that we can live free from man's opinion. There is a reference to our lives that gives God a claim to our life that is greater than my past history or geneology. The opinion God has of us is so far superior to what the world may give you through status, man's applause or personal achievement. Not even your biggest failure can demolish His esteem of you.

Our origin.
God included us in Christ, before the fall of man. Man's biggest dissapointment couldn't erase our origin. Eternity defined us before time could. God chose us in Christ before the foundation(fall of man) of the world to be holy (set apart) for God exclusively. Eph1:4 The word used chose in verse four in the original text, refers to the thought of association. The word associate implies that it is impossible to think of one person without having to think of the other at the same time. eg. If I walk in the room, my friends would immediately ask me how my wife is doing, if she is not present, because of our association. When they see me they think of her and when they see her they think of me.

Jesus came to the earth to reveal to man His true identity. Jesus Christ carried in Him the blueprint of our design. God knew us way before we could define ourselves through the limitations of the senses. Jesus is the true light of every man, he came to His own and they did not receive Him. John1:9;11 He needed no one to enlighten Him to the testimony of man, for He knew what was in man. John2:25

What gives our lives definition is reflected in His face. In His light do we see light (the light of our true identity), this is the voice of faith. Our faith is not some attempt on our part to get God to move on our part. Our faith finds its expression in our identity. Paul writes in Romans chapter 10. This is what our faith says; "it does not say who will go into heaven as to bring Him down or will go in the the abyss as to bring Him up; but near you is the word in your heart and in your mouth". In 2 Cor13:5 Paul appeals to the Corinthians to examine themselves accurately and to test and see if they are in the faith; do you not realise Christ within you. The conclusion of faith is to see yourself so clearly reflected in Christ that no contradiction or lie of the enemy will be big enough to steal your identity in Christ.

"For if we believe the testimony of man, God's testimony is greater than any other testimony". 1 John5:9 This testimony is not just a "feel good factor" to somehow help us feel better about ourselves or from the circumstances we may face, but it is the revelation of the knowledge of the indwelling Christ. We have the testimony of Christ confirmed in us. 1Cor1:6 What gives our lives substance is Christ revealed in us.

You are the God kind. When God sees Jesus, He sees you. When He sees you, He sees Jesus.
"... As he is so are we in This World..." 1John 4:17-19

Consider your worth!
The value of any product is reflected in the price you have to pay for it. God knew that the only price big enough for mankind to redeem him back to himself, was God himself. You are bought with a precious price, Jesus himself, because that is what you are worth, silver and gold and all the wealth of the world combined was not enough. God identifies you with the last Adam (Jesus), the firstborn among many brethren. To make the first Adam your reference is to walk in error. He abolished the first to establish the new.

The only opinion worthy of your full attention is what God believes concerning you. You are His love dream fullfilled!