An interjection by me!

There are a lot of other cool things I have been learning that I wanted to share. First of all there are two types of righteousness. 1) Imputed righteousness --righteousness given to us on the basis of our salvation when we became "the righteousness of God" (2Cor. 5:21). 2) Imparted righteousness -- the fleshing out or expression of the righteousness we have received in Christ, the Holy Spirit's righteousness applied to the soul. This is the difference between owning the royal robe and actually wearing it!

All of our own righteousness is filthy rags; there is absolutely nothing good in us. That is why we need to come to terms with the fact that we are dead so that Christ can fill us up.

This is out of another book I was reading that I thought was very inspirational. It is about the tabernacle in the wilderness, and when you get to the part where the priests would enter into the holy place, the first thing they would see, was the lampstand. It was beaten out of pure gold, to look something like the above picture. The branches were hollow and the priests had to keep them filled with oil so that the lamp burned continually. She says, "We are the heavenly lampstands of this age to show Jesus to a dark world. He is no less present when we hide our lamp, but, when we do this, we make it harder for those walking in darkness to see. . . The brightness of our flame entirely depends on how much oil (the Holy Spirit) we allow Christ to pour on us. God's entire being unites to produce in you the brightest possible flame. . . The Son came bearing the light to any who will receive it. The Holy Spirit came to fuel it perpetually. If we do not burn with a passionate flame, it is because we have limited God, who prepared us for victory. Paul warns us: "Do not put out the Spirit's fire" (I Thess. 5:19). . . When we are filled with the Spirit, another chain reaction takes place. We produce the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22-23)! . . . When we allow the Holy Spirit to flow freely through our purified vessels, His personality takes over and we display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How often we wear ourselves out praying for more patience, faith, joy, or peace. All of these are the supernatural response of a Spirit-filled believer! A more appropriate prayer is "Lord, purify me and make me a fit vessel for Your presence. Then fill me to overflowing with Your precious Holy Spirit." The fruit will supernaturally and automatically be produced. . . Persevere. Your light may be the one God uses to illuminate Himself in the midst of your dark surroundings. Fire seems much brighter against the backdrop of darkness. . . God's first recorded words were, "Let there be light: and there was light." Hear Him whisper those same words to you every morning when you open your eyes: "Today, My precious child, let there be light." And at the end of the day, when He tucks you tenderly into your bed, may He delight to say, "There was light.""

Wow! Awesome stuff! Isn't it exciting to think of just totally living in the reality of "Christ in you, the hope of glory." I'm living it, and I can tell you, it's so much better than the way I was before. It's a little scary completely letting go, but I'm learning more and more everyday and it's so much better to let go. There's a story Marty likes to tell about these people in a raft. They go over a waterfall, the boat flips over and gets stuck in the strong under current of the waterfall. So the people are all holding on to the boat for dear life. Finally, one man lets go and gets sucked down, but a minute later he reemerges 30 yards downstream. So he yells at everyone to just let go. One by one they let go, but there is one lady who is too frightened and won't let go. The letting go is scary, and at first I felt like I was in the sucked under and holding my breath stage, but it's exciting, because I know that now that I've reemerged, nothing will every be the same; in a good way. In a way that can't be explained. Like Marty says, "I feel like I've been born again, again!" Thanks for listening, back to The School of Christ.