Dwelling continually in Him and He in you is being ‘intimate' with God. We were created in His image: spirit, soul, and body. And God has provided for His creation. When you look at the intimate aspect of communion it keeps it from becoming commonplace even if you take it every day or multiple times a day.

We are a ‘triune' being. We are spirit; we have a soul; and we live in a body. All three benefit from the atonement. The church today readily accepts the atonement of the shed blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sin. We become ‘born again'. It was our spirit that was dead in sin and by accepting Jesus' sacrifice it is alive again. Then we discover in God's Word that we are to ‘renew' our minds and that healing for our bodies has also been provided for.

When the Lord God delivered the Hebrew nation out of Egypt the Lord's passover was established. The blood of the lamb was placed on the door posts of each house which saved them from the destruction of the plague. Then the lamb was roasted and all of it eaten. This was a representation of God's provision for their minds and bodies. Psalms 105 verse 37 reads: He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. It is estimated that there were well over 3 million that were brought out of Egypt. This complete atonement is still available for us today when we ‘know the truth' and receive it from God with intimate communion by the New Covenant that Jesus established.

Jesus said as recorded in the eighth chapter of John... "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".

When the apostle Paul was speaking to the Corinthians he said..."For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified". (I Corinthians 2:2) All his learning and his vast education could not be compared to the lessons learned in the atoning death of Christ on the cross. Paul would later urge Timothy, ... O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. (I Timothy 6:20-21) He was warning that faith and science would come into conflict with each other and when they do, he must hold onto faith. Earlier in his letter to Timothy he said... Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (I Timothy 4:1).

This is where it gets tough. How are we seduced? Who would believe a doctrine of devils? This is why Paul stated to the Corinthians that he counted all his previous religious studies and science ‘dung'! Only Christ and His atoning death on the cross provides the answers for us today!

Are we in opposition to science or do we readily embrace it and its cures. Are we intimate with God, or science? Do we have an answer for everything just like the Corinthians? Our souls are our minds, will, and emotions. Are we embracing God's provision for our souls in the New Covenant or are we turning to science? Once upon a time the only thing that was bipolar in the earth was the earth. Now everyone knows someone who's been diagnosed by science as bipolar. I hesitate to even mention the tragedy of A.D.D. Adults and children alike are confined to altered states of existence by science and its pharmaceutical laboratories. I have wept for A.D.D. children! Did you know the word "tragedy" actually means: "song of the goat"? Pharmaceutical means: "to practice witchcraft". Can you start to see what it means to be in opposition to science?

In Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3-5 we read: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Jesus suffered rejection and oppression for us. He calls us to cast all our care upon Him and exchanges it for peace!

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 7)

This is the mental part of the atonement. We don't need to go for analysis and dig up our past. Just as we can't list every sin we've ever committed we accept the fact that Jesus' blood covers ALL our sins. We couldn't spend all our time worrying about listing them all. We accept by faith that Jesus' atonement washes all our sins away. This is the same way we have to look at the ‘mental atonement' and healing for our bodies.

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5 : 10 - 14)

"...And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".
Won't you join with me today and take communion? Let the faith of God arise in your hearts!

In His Love, Pastor Herb