I beg you in the name of God, take a moment and watch this clip.
“If you ever think that Christian or Muslim or any of the 371 tribes is the problem of Nigeria, I’m here today to let you know that you are living in an illusion that has been created to divide Nigeria.”
The past tense of God's word and our present-day realities.
There is a term used, which the first is our position in Christ, and the second is the condition of our lives.
Our position in Christ reflects the things that God wrought for us in Christ without our own participation or even knowledge. It speaks to the rights and privileges we entered into by reason of our birth into the family of God when we got born again. Our condition is the present state of our lives on the earth, which is a reflection of our souls and also of our bodies.
The Holy Spirit was sent to bridge the gap between our position and the condition of our lives. Largely, the message of grace is about the workings of the Spirit within to produce that.
This is why we will see in scripture Paul state something as ours in Christ using past tense, but then we will find him praying for the same thing that it be fulfilled in us.
The prayer is not a denial of the provision we have in Christ but the acknowledgement of it and then the appropriation of it into our condition.
A person can be born again and positionally be healed by the stripes of Jesus, yet an ailment they contaminated remains still in their bodies after spiritual birth. A deep-seated character flaw like anger and unforgivenes can still remain in the soul.
When scriptures are taught to us, we accept the truth, but acceptance doesn't mean we have "received" it. It is through faith the prayer of faith that which the Bible calls mixing the word heard with faith that causes the profit (spiritual advantage) in the word to appear before all.
Between acceptance and receiving, where it has become an integral part of our lives at subconscious levels, is where spiritual warfare occurs. Fighting the good fight of faith.
To be cont"d