November '09 Newsletter by Bob Yarbrough

Dear “Light-points” of Christ,

You may recall President Bush, ’41 calling for “a thousand “points of light” to serve the common good. The Lord has called and appointed many thousands to be “the light of the world,” to pierce the night of each generation until the dawning of the Day when His Bright Appearing dispels the present darkness.

To early Christians Paul spoke of God at work in them as they lived in “a crooked and depraved generation.” He assured them that they were shining like “stars in the universe” as they focused the “word of life” through the prism of their individual persons. [Phil. 2:14-16].

Part of the privilege of our high calling in this generation is be points in which the Light of Christ radiates from us through the spiritual frequency of prayer. In the Old Covenant era, they saw Christ’s Light from afar. Yet of them, like John the Baptist [even though Jesus called him the greatest prophet of that time], it was written: “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light – the true light that gives light…” [John 1:8,9]

In glorious contrast, consider the revelation of our state recorded in Ephesians 5:8-20: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Note that through our union with Christ we don’t just witness light, but we are Light! This spiritual revelation is the basis for the kind of life God means for us to manifest. “Live as children of Light!” is God’s command. If we do, the “fruit of Light” will be produced by the Spirit who is in us: “goodness, righteousness and truth.”

What follows in these verses describes the prayerful life under the New Covenant: By transparent lives that focus on “Christ in us”, we “…find out what pleases the Lord.” This causes us to break fellowship “with the fruitless deeds of darkness.” Our very lives expose the lie of evil. By conscious awareness of the Living Christ in us we reflect heaven.

The constant admonition to our soul is this:

“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.” [v. 14]

If we live in this continual awareness of our union with Christ we will be “wise” as we “understand what the Lord’s will is.” The community of such “Spirit-filled” hearts will be joyful, thankful and mutually submissive to Christ in one another [based on verses 15-21].

The deepest desire of my ministry is to help everyone understand that under the New Covenant, prayer is abiding in the conscious awareness of our present union with Christ in the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit of Truth that is in you quicken this to your hearts as you meditate on the two lessons on prayer of last month and this month. As the Lord’s face “shines on you” I believe three things will happen in your life:

You will become who you are.

I trust you have believed all that the Word tells us about our standing “in Christ.” We are what He says we are: We are “Light in the Lord.” As we resist the Father of Lies who tells us we are “only poor lost sinners” and begin to “put on Christ” you will begin to see a wonderful transformation as you “put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and be made new in the attitude of your minds, and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness [Ephesians 4:22-24]. You really are a “new creation” – let it be!

You will understand what you know.

As a New Covenant person you have truth in you by the Holy Spirit. John insists, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” Let the Word become flesh in you!

You will “do what you do.”

This phrase is often spoken by gifted athletes. You are gifted by the Spirit to do whatever Christ has called you to do. Just “stop stopping it.” Let it flow! He guides, He oversees, and He rewards!
Shine, Jesus, Shine - in all your servants!

Bob Yarbrough

NEW CREATION PRAYING – CALLING WHAT IS IN HEAVEN TO MANIFEST ON EARTH

“…What counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule…”

In our last lesson we wrote of the contrast of New Covenant prayer with previous understandings of prayer. We sought to show how our prayer flows out of an intimate relationship of Father and Son as we realize our union with Christ in the Spiritual realm – “heavenly places.” In this present teaching we want to encourage our hearts to understand how this prayer proceeds from heaven to affect the earth in a redemptive way. Isaiah prophesied about earth-changing prayer when he wrote:

Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth…. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice in what I will create…” Isaiah 65:16-18.

The striking contrast of New Creation prayer centers around forgetting “the former things” and beholding what God promises “I will create…” The “former things” are things that appear to be real in the natural dimension. Most “praying” is absorbed with these things so that we are often overcome by what we see with the natural eye and believe with the natural mind. So, our “prayers” are about sin, sickness and strife, and we languish “under the circumstances,” ever ‘burdened with a load of care.”

In preparing our hearts to pray New Creation prayers we must first “…humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand,…cast all our anxiety on him who cares for us,…be self-controlled and alert…, and resist our enemy, the devil, by standing firm in the faith…” [1 Peter 5: 6-9]. Then, as we wait patiently on the Lord, the “veil” of the illusion of mere appearances is taken away, and we begin to “…reflect the Lord’s glory…being transformed into his likeness…” [2 Cor. 3:18]. And Then, a door in our consciousness opens and “the voice…[says] “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” In that Spiritual dimension, beholding “the kingdom prepared for us since the creation of the world” [Matt. 25:14], and praying in the Spirit, we call forth the will of God to be done on earth as we have seen it in heaven!

Having prayed in this way, we turn again to the earthly scene empowered “…to live holy and godly lives, as we look forward to the day of God …[and] in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” [2 Peter 3:11-13]. Though in the natural realm “…at present we do not see everything subject of to him…we do see Jesus” [Heb. 2:8,9], Having become “heavenly minded” we are used by the Lord for “earthly good” as we let the Light of Christ shine through us to the darkness of our world.

Meditate upon the spiritual implication of the prophetic call found in Isaiah 42:8,9 and 43:18,19:
“See, the former thing have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

Can you perceive it? Do you know that this New Creation has come? You are the first-fruits and the promise of what is to come. The kingdom of God is within you now and will come forth in the fullness of time! Receive my witness of the Word that comes out of the Silence to encourage our souls:

From the barren desert, the blossoming Rose - the new thing- springs up. Such “offspring” are about their Father’s business, released from earthly ties to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Though the Dragon seeks to devour them as soon as they are born, they will be hidden in the secret place of the Most High for their appointed destiny. Because they call no man ‘father,’ and their Mother is the Jerusalem that is above, they are in the world but not of it, spiritual but not religious.

Because they are begotten by and for the Eternal One, the Father gives himself freely to them. They are becoming springs in the desert and the thirsty are finding refreshing for their souls.

The God of the kingdom of “Was” is gone, forgotten. The Holy Presence of Christ in the eternal “Now” has come. Awake, sleeping ones, rise from your grave, for the light of Christ’s new day shines on you.

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” [2 Cor. 5:16-18]

[Rejoice, Blessed ones in the New Covenant as you pray New Creation prayers; more to follow, God willing. BRY]