“A Voice for the Gathering Saints”
Duane Stewart
www.avoiceforthegatheringsaints.org
“Are We Willing to Become God’s Fullness?”
“Fullness” a word meaning “a full number, full complement, full measure, copiousness, plenitude, that which has been completed”. When referring to the things of God, it speaks of a complete infilling with the fullness of God. This points us to a part of God’s character called love. In Him, you find a love that is higher and deeper than you can imagine. Through the Holy Spirit, you can begin to know this love and in knowing and experiencing it, you will know of God’s fullness. Eph. 3:19, “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”. It is for this cause that God created man, to be His kingdom agent, to rule and subdue the rest of creation and to defeat the carnal forces that desire to control and rule over it. It is through this characteristic of love that all God’s enemies will be defeated.
Love for God becomes the gate, when opened, which puts man upon the pathway to God’s fullness. Unto the vessel that willingly forsakes all that hinders such a life of love, God, with all the host of heaven, will give their support to bring about this opened gate accomplishment. With man being distinct from the rest of creation, according to God’s purpose, he was not only spiritual but he also has a soul and body. Man became a mortal being whose intelligence, perception, and self-determination far exceeds that of any other earthly being. Mans capacity and ability constitute accountability and responsibility, so therefore mankind should never be pleased to dwell on a level of existence lower than that on which God has made it possible for him to dwell. Meaning that we should strive to reach the highest levels of life we can reach. (Read Psalms 8:4-8). Along with God creating man in His own image and likeness, the command came for man “to have dominion”. This speaks of a design that has the right to “be filled” with the fullness of God while having dominion over God’s creation. This dominion explains the will and purpose for the creating of man who because of the first Adams rebellion against God’s purpose, he awakened in himself and his offspring the appetites of the outward body that lust after the natural material things of God’s creation. However, the last Adam, Christ Jesus, ushered in for humanity a new birth that desires a life that seems foreign, undesirable and unattractive to the fallen man. Matt. 7:14, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”.
In Christ, we find the pathway of love that enables each vessel, those yielding to God’s love, to receive a power source and a desire to live in God’s purpose and will in all things. This love generates a desire and a knowing that God will work in every situation, hardship and suffering to fulfill his purpose in each one as they humble themselves before Him. Rom. 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”. “Purpose” a word suggesting a deliberate plan, intention and a design. A personal salvation, well planned as God demonstrates His abiding faithfulness in awaiting the consummation of His plan.
God’s plan even now awaits the desire of men who long for the ways of God above all else. The requirement needed is one that reveals commitment to God and His will alone. This meaning is that the light, the life of God, must influence the whole of man’s makeup. This light, this life is to consume the whole man spirit, soul and body until the man begins to manifest the nature of God in all things. Matt. 6:22, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light”. A good eye is one whose intent is to serve God and not mammon, which indicates the whole system of materialism. A good eye sees who God is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Unto those who diligently seek Him, they have the promise of eternal life. In eternal life, we glorify God even as Jesus Himself prayed that He might glorify the Father, the purpose, to make God known. Becoming our Savior through His atoning death, we, as believers in Him, will know God and thus possess eternal life. Therefore, by knowing Him, we have eternal life. John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”.
Eternal life speaks of receiving that which God is. A coming into the fullness of God is the results of loving Him. The fullness of God speaks of coming to and dwelling within the kingdom of God, for this is that for which God purposed for humanity before the world was. This is that for which God now makes available to all who are willing to identify with His death, burial and resurrection that they might be born again. This is a dying to one kingdom and a birthing into another. Without this new birth, we will not be able to see nor enter the kingdom of God. John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. As man enters into the “new birth”, he begins to see the kingdom of God. God’s word, by revelation as believed and experienced as the Holy Spirit’s works and we enter into a new realm wherein God’s kingdom order exists. This new birth is more than just being “saved from passed sins” but is a requalifying experience that opens up the supernatural dimension of life in God’s kingdom order. Man should realize that the entrance into this kingdom of God is available to take place while in the earth, before physical death. We should realize that coming forth into the kingdom of God before physical death speaks of doing the greater works in which Christ spoke. John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father”. These greater works are not speaking of greater in value or significance, but rather they are greater in scope and number. In the body of Christ, we shall know resurrection manifestations as the Christ reigns from within.
The entering into and the coming forth of the kingdom of God in the earth speaks of a changing of orders. That which remains but a revelation in word only is passing away as the first-fruit people began to move in the power of the revelation, the revealed Word of God. God’s kingdom is the manifestation of the reign of Christ through the lives of the believers. It is a display of the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power”. What a dwelling place, knowing and fulfilling the will and purpose of God according to His preordained will and purpose. Preparing the world for that great harvest that is to come, that every eye might behold Christ and see Him as He is. In this place of spiritual activity, a people began to enter into His rest. This is speaking of ceasing from the works of the natural flesh man while entering into that order of complete obedience to God. This people are doing all things in the Father and are doing nothing in the first Adam man. Matt. 11:28, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. “Rest” a word that means, “To make to cease”. Speaking of a cessation from fleshly toil, a time of refreshing.
The coming of God’s fullness within man includes a “healing”, a restoration of health, tranquility, deliverance and a refreshing. This fullness is God’s rescue of the entire person and the complete repair of that person. Christ, the son of righteousness, is as visible radiant beams of sunlight streaming outward in all directions. From each of these beams of glorious light, healing flows. Malachi 4:2-3, “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts”. God’s invitation now extended unto all those who stand willing to detach themselves from the deceptive influences that permeate today’s Christian community is available. A community that seemingly is willing to settle for less than Gods will and purpose. Isa. 55:1, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price”. In this God reminds us that His ways and thoughts are beyond ours. Isa. 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. (Read Isa. 55:1-13). When standing with the whole body full of light, let us remember that light is more powerful than darkness. Truth is stronger than error. Grace is stronger than sin. Know that there is more power in the Holy Spirit than the power of all carnal forces. The blood of Jesus can cleanse the deepest of stains that result from man’s sins. As Daniel declares in Dan. 12:10, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand”. Dan. 12:3, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever”.
While many, who by the religious systems of this world are deceived, these continue to rob the people from knowing the true realities of the resurrected Christ. Meanwhile, God has set aside for Himself those in whom He calls the elect. These elect are the remnant, the sons who shall rise up to take their inheritance while the religious world continues to dwell in their places of deception. Religious deceptions that seek to rob the elect through doctrines, traditions and a philosophy that puts God at a distance, at a far off position. Instead of a God far off, these elect know the present-tense God of the now, fulfilling His word and imparting His fullness during this season of election. Matt. 24:24, “For false Christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect”. Are you willing to believe and trust in God, a God who wills and purposes for a people to come forth to manifest that which He is? Has this not been God’s plan from before the world was? Yes, and for this purpose, the Holy Spirit comes to call, He justifies and He glorifies. Rom. 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God”. A Spirit led people who are willing to do, to speak and to go only as God would lead them. Herein lives a people who are standing upon the platform of obedience instead of religions principles, a spirit-filled people who are of the fullness of God. Matt. 16:19, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.
These keys are the power to move beyond words and fleshly works only, but a moving into the revelation of the in-Christ ones who move in the manifested power of God. These keys identify this people as being the sons of God who are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Rom. 8:17, “and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”. We are living in a time, even now, when those justified ones shall put on the dimension of glorification with Him. We are speaking of an overcoming people who dare to become God’s fullness in the earth. In overcoming, a place of complete deliverance from the first Adam is theirs as they put on of the last Adam. Overcoming and putting on Christ that we might take our place with Him in His throne-room. Rev. 3:21, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”. Is this possible, yes to those who are willing to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church? Are you willing to open the door to enjoy intimate fellowship with the Lord? In this, the Holy Spirit reveals to man that he might truly see Christ as He is and not what man says He is. 1 John 3:2 tell us, that in seeing Him as He is, we become like Him. What do you see? Are we becoming like Him? Again, are we willing to become God’s fullness?