When God created man, Adam lived directly under the rule of God exercising mainly the intuition and the fellowship functions of the spirit.
Man was a living soul with the spirit as an organ, and the conscience was not activated yet in a negative way because there was no sin. In simplicity, man only knew God and was under the direct rule of God through the fellowship and intuition of the spirit.
Man’s fall and God’s recovery
When man fell, the conscience was activated to represent God and to enable man to rule himself.
There was no human government – there was a time when the human beings were supposed to rule themselves according to their conscience (man was to be moral, ethical, treat one another humanly, etc).
But violence filled the earth and only a few were righteous before God. After the flood, in order for God to maintain some peace among man for the accomplishing of His purpose, God established the human government – man ruling over other men.
Even this matter has degraded and was spoiled in such a way that man has no more respect for the law or for authority today.
In the Lord’s recovery of us, through the divine life saving us and reigning in us, we must retrace these steps.
Yes, we need to be right with human government and respect it, but in the way of life after we deal with the past, after we consecrate ourselves, after we deal with the sin – we deal with our conscience, which is a necessary and crucial step.
We are recovered to self-rule, we rule ourselves, we confess our sins to the Lord, we make things right according to the sense in our conscience. This is a life-long exercise even as Paul testified (a good conscience before God and man).
Being brought back under the direct rule of God
If we stop here, we will not be real God-men but ethical, moral, even religious, pious or “spiritual” persons, those who deal with their conscience all the time.
History shows that you can be one who deals with his conscience, yet still rise up in rebellion against the Lord and what He is doing today!
The kind of man God wants – He wants a man directly under His rule in life! Yes, the conscience is keen and sensitive, but it affirms the fact that we live directly under God’s presence through our fellowship and intuition, and we are under the reigning of His life!
This is why daily we need to enthrone the Lord in our being and seek to be organically one with Him by calling on His name, praying over His Word, and allowing the divine life in us to rule and reign in us.
We need to really be in the kingdom and live the kingdom life with all of its delight, pleasantness, righteousness, peace, and joy – and this is not a mere behavior but having the Lord enthroned in our heart!
It is not our opinion or spiritual knowledge that rules but Christ rules in us in the way of life, and we are under the rule of the divine life.
being under the rule of the divine life
In us who are in the kingdom of God as a realm of life, the divine life should be able to move into our mind, our thinking, our imagination, our memory, our reasoning, our thoughts, our emotions (what is stored, buried, accumulated there? What anger, what feelings, what pains are suppressed there?).
The river of water of life needs to go into every part so that it will bring life to our soul, until every part of our inner being would be alive with this river. And then life will rule, govern, and reign in us, so that the divine life may accomplish its purpose! This realm of life is the kingdom.
[sharing inspired from message 6 given in the recent ITERO by brother Ron, as quoted partially in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery..]
O, Lord, fully recover us to living under the rule of the divine life. Save us from merely dealing with our conscience and being right with God and right with man. Lord, may the divine life spread in every part of our inner being, filling every part with life. O, Lord, life our mind, emotion, and will! We enthrone You in our being, Lord, in every little thing. Recover us fully to living in our spirit according to the fellowship and the intuition, under Your direct rule.
About aGodMan
And now I'm walking by the Spirit
Step by step, day by day,
O Lord, I love You.
You're the precious One to me.
As I do this and that
Lord, remind me where You're at;
You're in my spirit,
Dispensing grace to me
Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/ns/283#ixzz1gQC7s0…
Based on hymns #942 and the sharing from the brother who gave this message, here are some sweet points concerning being brought directly under God's rule in the divine life:
# God's kingdom is Christ Himself to rule and reign. Christ Himself is different than you yourself – you trying to rule your disposition, your temper, etc, but what a difference it is when Christ Himself in us, as the life-giving Spirit, rules and reigns!
# His life with His authority enthrones Him now within our hearts – Lord, as of right now, are You TRULY enthroned in my heart and all my inward parts in all their intentions? Lord, I repent and look to You, subdue me and spread in me!
# the Lord enthroned within our hearts establishes His kingdom there. It is not to someone who did an outward lawlessness contrary to God, but to a teacher in Israel the Lord Jesus said, You must be born again of water and of spirit in order to see the kingdom of God! Here we see that there are two ways of living – one is at best a James (a moral, ethical man, but leading a division!) and the other a pattern to us (a God-man, one under God's rule, who never reacted in himself to all the provocations!)
# when we take Him as Lord and King, His wealth satisfies our being! Under the self rule there's no satisfaction – you are not happy nor are the ones around you! Can you say that your soul is a watered garden? Can the Lord say that you are a gardened enclosed with spices and fruits? The Kingdom in this sense satisfies our inner being! There is a situation where there's no encouragement anywhere – only pain and disappointment! In Isa. 53 we see Christ as a root out of a dry ground – nothing in His environment was sustaining Him…
# when His inner kingdom rules, His Body is blessed and edified! – the church where you serve will be blessed and edified simply by your living in the kingdom in this way! Our being here causes the Body to be blessed and built up!
# God's kingdom on the earth now is His sovereign rule within – it is in the Lord's heart to see that the church as the kingdom is a group of people on the ground of oneness living under the Lord's direct rule in life. These ones live in the kingdom of the Son of God's love, a delightful realm. We are not ruled in fear but in love and life under light. Our being is satisfied here. We have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Here the divine life is free to flow, ever more deeply, until it really is waters to swim in!
[inspired from brother Ron's sharing in the message]
Based on hymns #942 and the sharing from the brother who gave this message, here are some sweet points concerning being brought directly under God’s rule in the divine life:
# God’s kingdom is Christ Himself to rule and reign. Christ Himself is different than you yourself – you trying to rule your disposition, your temper, etc, but what a difference it is when Christ Himself in us, as the life-giving Spirit, rules and reigns!
# His life with His authority enthrones Him now within our hearts – Lord, as of right now, are You TRULY enthroned in my heart and all my inward parts in all their intentions? Lord, I repent and look to You, subdue me and spread in me!
# the Lord enthroned within our hearts establishes His kingdom there. It is not to someone who did an outward lawlessness contrary to God, but to a teacher in Israel the Lord Jesus said, You must be born again of water and of spirit in order to see the kingdom of God! Here we see that there are two ways of living – one is at best a James (a moral, ethical man, but leading a division!) and the other a pattern to us (a God-man, one under God’s rule, who never reacted in himself to all the provocations!)
# when we take Him as Lord and King, His wealth satisfies our being! Under the self rule there’s no satisfaction – you are not happy nor are the ones around you! Can you say that your soul is a watered garden? Can the Lord say that you are a gardened enclosed with spices and fruits? The Kingdom in this sense satisfies our inner being! There is a situation where there’s no encouragement anywhere – only pain and disappointment! In Isa. 53 we see Christ as a root out of a dry ground – nothing in His environment was sustaining Him…
# when His inner kingdom rules, His Body is blessed and edified! – the church where you serve will be blessed and edified simply by your living in the kingdom in this way! Our being here causes the Body to be blessed and built up!
# God’s kingdom on the earth now is His sovereign rule within – it is in the Lord’s heart to see that the church as the kingdom is a group of people on the ground of oneness living under the Lord’s direct rule in life. These ones live in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, a delightful realm. We are not ruled in fear but in love and life under light. Our being is satisfied here. We have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Here the divine life is free to flow, ever more deeply, until it really is waters to swim in!
[inspired from brother Ron’s sharing in the message]
Amen, Lord, You are doing a mighty work in Your people. Thank You for being a faithful God. Amen.
Praise the Lord! Amen
Amen! OLJ!