In 1970, when I was seventeen, I had an experience that changed my life forever. I experienced a high I will never forget. Earlier that year, I was arrested and put in jail. I repented and dedicated my life to God one more time, but this time, something was different. God sent me a friend, Leon Stump, who was radically saved around that same time. He had just returned from California to West Columbia, Texas, to serve in my dad's church. He was cool, played the guitar, and was really turned on to God.
Every Friday night, Leon would get some of us guys together at the church. We would study the Bible and sing songs about being in Christ. I will never forget the night we began meditating on Ephesians 2:4-6. I didn't just read it, but I meditated on it. I breathed in those life-giving words, and for the first time they registered in my heart.
Wow! Those words hit my head. It reminds me of the first time I ate sushi. Someone showed me how to take that green stuff called wasabi and mix it in soy sauce. They warned me that it was hot. I told them I was from Texas, and we eat jalapeños, so I wasn’t afraid of wasabi! I dipped my sushi in a double portion of wasabi and within a couple seconds that wasabi hit my head. I had never experienced anything like that before!
That's how I felt when I meditated on the Ephesians 2:4-6 (AMPC):
But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him]...And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
Wow! Wasabi! I experienced revelation knowledge for the first time! The Holy Spirit communicated the truth that set me free. This was not a religious experience but an encounter with the living God.
All religions give lessons, but only Jesus Christ gives life, eternal Life or the the God-kind of life. Many religions have good teachings, morals, and practices, but there is something that sets Christianity apart from those religions. It is the divine substance called eternal life. It is the "controlled substance" that's in God and can only be found in Him. McLeod Campbell said, "Ordinary religion is so much a struggle to secure an unknown future happiness, instead of being the meditation on and welcoming of the present gift of eternal life."
Eternal life is life as God has it. It is out flowing from the love of God: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
The crowning achievement of the plan of redemption was for man to receive the gift of eternal life. "He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the SAME NEW LIFE with which He quickened Him.” Ephesians 2:5 (AMPC)
That life is the resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead and will also give resurrection life to all who believe in Him. Eternal life means more than the endless continuation of life after death and a home in heaven. This is included in the New Testament usage of the term, but it is much more than that. The New Testament speaks of eternal life, sometimes called life or everlasting life, as a present possession of the believer 89 times and as a future hope 26 times.
According to W.E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Greek New Testament Words, there are five words translated as life in the New Testament. One is bios, meaning lifetime or livelihood; psuche, which means natural life or personality; agoge and anastrophe, which means manner of life, behavior, or conduct. But there is another word translated as life, used alone or with aionios, which is translated as eternal, everlasting. It is zoe (pronounced "zo-ay").
W.E. Vine said, “Zoe is used in the New Testament of life as a principle, life in the absolute sense, as God has it, that which the Father has in Himself and which the Son manifested in the world. From that life man has become alienated in consequence of the Fall, and of this life men become partakers through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to all such as trust Him, for the Life He gives, He maintains. Eternal life is the present actual possession of the believer...and that it will one day extend its domain to the sphere of the body is assured by the resurrection of Christ.”
I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—Life in its fullness until you overflow! John 10:10 (TPT)
PARTNERS IN CHRIST
This month we want to offer you our book and the 4 CD set, The God-Kind of Life. You can also listen to these messages on our MHM app anytime. We believe these resources will help you tap into the life of God that is in you now!
We also want to invite you to our 2024 Campmeeting in Alexandria, LA June 25-27, 2024. It is always a great time in the presence of God for the whole family.
Thank you for your partnership with us as we distribute this message of LIFE to the nations. We declare to you, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
In Christ,
Mark and Trina