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FILLED TO OVERFLOWING

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be IN you! (John 14:17)

We can apprehend Christ fully only when we are filled and overflowing with the Spirit of God.
Smith Wigglesworth

One of my favorite things to eat is a blueberry pancake. So if I go out to eat somewhere that serves blueberry pancakes I always ask the server, “Do these blueberry pancakes just have blueberries poured on them or are the blueberries cooked in them?” Once you have had blueberry pancakes with the blueberries cooked in them, you don’t want to eat them any other way. When I eat blueberry pancakes I want the blueberries cooked in the batter. I want to hit a blueberry in every bite.

In the Old Testament, they just had blueberries (the Holy Spirit) on them. In the New Testament, the blueberries were cooked right in the batter. In other words, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, nothing in life can take a bite out of you without hitting a blueberry. When the devil takes a bite out of you, you can say, “Ha, ha, ha, devil, you just hit a blueberry! You just hit the Holy Ghost living on the inside of me!”

Confession: I am filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing! He dwells with me and He is IN me!

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BLESSED IN CHRIST

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

Every blessing that heaven itself enjoys is ours right now.
Mark Hankins

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. We are seated in heavenly places. We are blessed with the same blessings Jesus has right now in the presence of God. We have the blessing of the Lord upon our lives.

Everywhere you go, the triumph and the smell of victory on you is greater than whatever is around you. The triumph of Christ in you and the smell of that triumph comes out of you and has an effect on the atmosphere wherever you go.

We do not have to wait until we get to heaven in order to enjoy the blessings that heaven itself enjoys. We are already blessed with the same life, righteousness, joy, peace, and love. We can climb up in that rock of who we are in Christ and get up there in the glory of heaven!

Confession: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
(2 Corinthians 2:14)

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IN-CHRISTED

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)

You can never be more righteous than the day you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord.
Mark Hankins

The moment you get born again, you are in Christ. You have been “in Christ-ed.” Whatever is in Him flows into you. You are literally put in union with Christ. How does that happen? Where does that happen? It happens through the miracle of the new birth of your spirit.

When you get born again, you have not been repaired or fixed somehow. God has not just changed you a little bit. You have not added going to church to your weekly schedule. In Christ, you are the workmanship or the handiwork of God, created in Christ. You cannot be defeated because God does not make failures.

Man’s condition in Adam before the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is found in Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” This no longer applies to you once you are born again. You are not in Adam anymore; you are in Christ. Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Confession: I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

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A NEW CREATURE

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

You look a whole lot better in Christ than you do outside of Christ.
Mark Hankins

When you get born again, you become a brand-new creation in Christ Jesus. You are re-created. In the new birth you are not just a forgiven sinner, but a brand-new creation in several ways.

First, your spirit has been re-created with the very life and nature of God on the inside of you. Second, you are not a Jew, and you are not a Gentile. You are a new nationality, a new species of being. You are in Christ Jesus, so you are blessed with Abraham’s blessing. You are a new creation.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man BE in Christ, he is…” We often talk about what we are trying to be, needing to be, struggling to be, or going to someday be, but nobody ever told us what we “be.” We should be talking about who and what you are — every good thing that is in you now. This is something that is already yours the moment you are in Christ Jesus because of the grace of God.

Confession: I am a new creature in Christ! I am not trying to be — I AM NOW! Every good thing that is in Christ is now in me!

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THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we’re all dead. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

Jesus was not a martyr; He was a substitute, one man who died for every man.
Mark Hankins

Jesus took our place. He took our curse and died our death. He took our condition so that we could have His condition. He was identified with us. We were there in His death and resurrection, because He died for us, we died with Him. Because He was raised for us, we were raised with Him. Everything Jesus did, He did for us and it is credited to our account as if we did it. Substitution progresses to identification and union with Christ.

In the four Gospels, a disproportionate amount of space is given to the actual events of the death and resurrection of Christ. Every sermon in the book of Acts and all of Paul’s epistles center on what happened in the death and resurrection of Christ. You can get anything you need from this event. Healing, prosperity, joy, victory — whatever you need — you can get from the fact that, “I was crucified with Christ. He took my place because He was my substitute. He took my condition.”

Confession: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

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