OUR EXALTED POSITION (a series)

Our Exalted Position – Introduction

Praise God for this glorious gospel of GRACE through faith in Jesus Christ! Almighty God Himself lives within our innermost being, empowering us individually just as He empowered Jesus of Nazareth to speak only what He is speaking, and to do only what He is doing! [I]t is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Phil. 2:13 NIV).

Far beyond that, though, God empowers us to accomplish His will corporately, for He has made us one new man in Christ (Eph. 2:15). Jesus is the Head, and we are the members of this blessed Body of Christ, and all the fullness of the deity lives in [this] bodily form, and [we] have been given fullness in Christ (Col. 2:9-10a).

Oh, my heartfelt prayer is that the Body of Christ know and apprehend our exalted position here and now in the heavenly realms, hidden with Christ in God!

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photo: Ricardo La Piettra

I pray that the Church truly receive the NT revelation given us primarily via Paul of the great mystery of our UNITY with God in Spirit as “the Christ”! This is what the Greek actually says in multiple NT Scriptures referring to “the mystery” such as Eph. 3:4, Eph. 3:8, and Col. 2:2: it says “the Christ” (see the literal translations, such as Young’s [YLT]).

This is exceedingly meaningful! It is vital that we understand this truth, and, by faith in God’s all-powerful word, receive the exceedingly abundant grace available to make it our corporate reality here and now. The objective truth of what God has made us in Christ becomes our subjective reality as we KNOW the truth, BELIEVE it, and SPEAK IT FORTH / ACT IT OUT in accordance with the Holy Spirit.

This series of articles is being written so that we, the Church saints, may know and apprehend the tremendous ways in which we are blessed, that we may fulfill the high calling to which we are uniquely called. The purposes God has for the Church saints pertaining to the end-times are unique to us: neither the OT Jewish saints nor the so-called “Tribulation saints” – referring to those who will come to Christ and be conquered by the beast during the Tribulation (e.g. Rev. 13:7, 15) – are destined for the blessed purposes God has for us.

To understand the exceptional calling and destiny of the Church, we will be going primarily to Paul’s writings at the beginning of the series, for it is there that we get the clearest revelation from God of what His Church is. Of course, Peter and John also saw the calling and destiny of the Church, but it was through the self-proclaimed Hebrew of Hebrews who persecuted Jesus / His Church (Phil. 3:5-6) that God chose to express “the mystery” He had kept hidden throughout the OT and even through the gospels.

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It is quite important to realize how Paul first saw the Church. The great apostle who considered everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, [his] Lord (Phil. 3:8) first saw the Church as he was destroy[ing] it (Acts 8:1-3), persecuting the followers of the Way to their death (22:4). (Note that the Church was seen as those belonging to the Way, capitol “W”, for He is a person.) While on the road to persecute the saints in Damascus, he was blinded (midday, mind you!) with a bright light from heaven, blazing brighter than the sun; Jesus appeared to him and asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (8:3-4; 22:6-7; and 26:13-18, with most detail being in the third account).

Note that Paul’s first understanding of the Church was that those he persecuted were an intimate part of Christ Himself; this was foundational to the progressive revelation Jesus gave His suffering servant over the years about the glorious destiny of His Church. This revelation of “the mystery” is seen to develop throughout the Paulean epistles, and reaches its zenith in the great prison epistle called Ephesians.

Jesus revealed to Paul that He and His Church are one body. The Church is the corporate embodiment of Jesus Christ, and He is the Head: …we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians‬ ‭4:15-16‬ ‭NASB‬)

Link to Part 1: Three Distinct Groups of People

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deanna reynolds

On fire for our Lord Jesus Christ, I have been called out of practicing medicine to give my attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (see Acts 6:4; Col. 1:28-29; Eph. 4:11-13,15)

20 thoughts on “Our Exalted Position – Introduction”

  1. Ah, such a great topic! When I was working with our community of believers, we dropped our denominational boundaries, to seek unity as we prayed for the youth in our county. And what helps the youth? The family, employment for parents (we lived in a relatively poor rural county); strengthening the influence of the Church; Wisdom for the school administrators and teachers; and we prayed for businesses and owners-also for wisdom since businesses are going under and unemployment going up; and finally for the (elected) leaders in the county and again for Wisdom. Most of them are born again believers! We had at least 20 churches represented by prayer warriors. Sounds great, right? Oh how we met resistance from the church leadership in the churches who choose to not participate!!!! So as I read and re-read your post, I asked “Why is there resistance to unity?” My answer, EGO. Praying for this series!

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    1. Hello dear Deb! Thank you SO much for sharing this beautiful testimony of the Church doing its kingdom work – wow! Absolutely beautiful! Jesus at work in His humbled repentant people, the Body of Christ ministering to its parts, coming to maturity – the FULLNESS of Christ! And regarding the resistance we encounter, “if they persecuted Me, they will persecute you…” These oh-so-revealing words of Jesus also come to mind: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.” (‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:49-52‬ ‭NIV‬‬).
      Your prayers for this series are GREATLY appreciated! The Lord continue to bless you, mighty warrior!

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  3. Hi Deanna how very true this word is! If we understood who we are in Christ and His Grace we would truly be a blessing to others and our sisters and brothers in Christ. So many Christians are still trying to live according to Law! Not realizing the Saint’s of old could not, that’s why God through Christ made a better way Hallelujah!
    Love you Sister keep up the work God gives you 💞💗💗💞

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    1. Amen! My heart breaks that so many of us haven’t passed through that critical liberating step of realizing “Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18). Thanks so much for taking time to share that. Love you too – Jesus sure emanates through you!!

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  5. Finally getting around to start reading your series! The words that struck me were ‘intimate with Jesus Christ’…… how this is so true! I love the intimacy with Christ for He knows everything about me and sometimes Deanna I am bowled over with this. Going to read some more ….. God Bless x

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  7. Reblogged this on The Lord Is With Us and commented:

    Hello there dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Sorry it’s been a while since Part 7 of the series “Our Exalted Position” was released, but the Lord has had me doing other things (you all know how we may consider them “detours” but they really are an important part of His plan). 😊 He has put on my heart to re-blog the series to date so that it will all be fresh on our minds & hearts when Part 8 comes. May He bless us all with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation as we set time aside to delve into His word on our exalted position as His blessed Church. Amen. So very much love in Christ, your sister deanna

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  8. Well here I go again Deanna reading it again and checking every verse. So this is my bible study! Two questions? 1. What does Jesus mean when he tells Paul of his ‘kicking against the goads’? 2. So the church is Jesus yes? Have I got this right? 3. Why do then Christians hurt other Christians or put them down Deanna who are less able? This so confuses me if they belong to Christ. ……. jacky xx

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    1. Hello Jacky! Jesus was essentially telling Paul not to resist Him (goads were used to prod the yoked beasts forward, and kicking against the goads only hurt them and slowed the work down). The Church is one Body with Jesus Christ, but as the Head He alone is the deity. As to your last question, it is because we have not all let the death of Jesus work in us so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal bodies (~ 2 Cor. 4:11). As Watchman Nee pointed out, there is NOTHING good in us, otherwise God would not have crucified us with Christ! That already crucified old self must decrease, and our new self one with Christ must increase. God is glorified as we continue denying self and choosing Him every step of our sanctification, our progressing salvation. I hope this is helpful. 😊

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      1. I know this sounds a simple question but I will ask it anyway just so it goes a little deeper. So Christ HAD to die so that we also HAD to die in order to be resurrected up into life with Him as He rose from the dead. It’s not just a question of believing He rose from the dead, which of course I do, but the spiritual implications of having to die and taking on within us the person of Christ. I’m trying to get my head around this as I’ve never heard it explained this way not ever. xx

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        1. I am unable to encapsulate it myself, but yes, I believe you have it! We learn this especially via Paul in Romans 6-8 and 2 Cor. 4:7-18 (so very dear to my heart). Perhaps reading some of these may be of help (let the Lord lead you):
          https://thelordiswithus.com/2015/06/26/overcoming-self-in-christ-2/
          https://thelordiswithus.com/2015/06/26/by-myself-i-can-do-nothing/
          https://thelordiswithus.com/2015/06/26/becoming-weak-in-order-that-gods-power-and-glory-be-manifested-in-us/
          https://thelordiswithus.com/2015/07/21/if-it-dies-it-produces-many-seeds/

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