The God Kind of Life I
whittoNot all life is the same. There’s a hierarchy of lives. Not every living thing is living the same nature of life. For example, a plant is alive, but your life and the life of a plant are different.
Life is not just generic; there’s a hierarchy in living. If you were to make a list of the hierarchy, the lowest would be the plant life, followed by animal life (because an animal life is more expressive; they can move, build houses), followed by human life. A chicken has a lower life form than a human being. The life of a human being is higher in value than that of a chicken.
After human life, we have the angelic life. When you talk about the human life, you talk about the triune life; spirit, soul, and body. A human being lives in a double plane; terrestrial and spiritual.
Angelic life is higher than human life. That’s why in the Bible, when people met angels, they fell down; for example, when Daniel met an angel. All life forms that exist have a beginning. The highest life form in existence is the life of God. It’s called Zoe. It is the life form that created all other life forms. The universe was intelligently designed by the highest life form. Every life form subscribes their existence from the highest life form.
Zoe
Angels
Human beings
Animals
Plants
Other life forms that are not living, like stones and wind, etc.
When you get born again, it is not really behaviour modification. What happens is that God takes His life form and injects it into a human being. The human being moves from being number three life to number one. You who is born again and another human who is not born again are two different creatures.
You and a person who is not born again are not the same. God designed man that he would carry His life. The original purpose for which God created man was so that man could carry God. God did not desire to be worshipped in buildings. The building of God is man; man is the housing of God.
God’s desire is to walk on two legs and be visible; to live in a human being.
God sent Jesus so that angels, for the very first time, could see God. The first time angels saw God was when Jesus was born, and they started singing everywhere. In heaven, God is a bright unapproachable light.
1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV
“who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”
Angels long to see God again, but the way God operates is He does things once. He’s a God of systems.
1 Peter 1:12 NKJV
“To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.”
Angels long to look at the mystery of Christ.
God does something once then creates a system that produces that thing over and over. It replicates what He has done and replaces Him.
For example, for God to bring people to earth, He created Adam out of the dust of the ground and Eve out of Adam. For you and me, God didn’t have to touch dust. He used the system that replaced Him to create you and me through this system. It’s called the reproductive system.
God gave the power of creating a human being to a human being. You have the power to create a human being. The system is so effective you don’t have to pray and fast.
The same way God walked on two legs and angels saw Him; if He wants to walk on two legs again, He doesn’t have to send Jesus again. He has a system that allows Him to walk on two legs again. That system is called salvation.
John 1:1–4 NKJV
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
The Word became flesh. If you want Zoe, it’s in the Word of God. The same way the Word of God became flesh in Jesus, when you get born again, the Word becomes flesh again.
When you’re born again, the seed of the Word of God enters you and you become a spiritual baby. And now you begin to grow. When you get born again, it is the Word of God that comes into your world and the Word begins to grow. It starts as a baby; so you are a baby Christian. The Word is in you, but it hasn’t grown, it has not taken over you, so it has to grow.
The first thing we need to learn in operating the Word of God is to learn who we are. If you’re unskilled in the word of righteousness, you’re a baby.
Hebrews 5:13 NKJV
“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.”
A baby Christian has not internalized that they’re God’s righteousness. They are unskilled in the word of righteousness. When the Word of God enters you, the first thing it does is to make you righteous. You are righteous now.
If you’re righteous now, it means it’s not because of what you have done. For you to be useful in the kingdom of God, the foundation you must establish is righteousness.
Being a baby naturally is not like being a baby spiritually, because your body grows as the years go by. But in order to grow spiritually, you must be intentional. You can be in Christ for many years but still be a baby. If you don’t grow spiritually, you remain a baby.
Righteousness is a position. God places you there when you’re born again. You cannot place yourself there. When you accept and acknowledge it, then now your walk with God starts there. Righteousness is a position where God places you as a gift. It’s a position where you acknowledge that there is nothing you can do that will please God, but as a believer, there is nothing I can do to displease God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
From a human point of view, there are 3 positions of righteousness:
- No righteousness
- Self-righteousness
- God-righteousness
As a believer, you are in God-righteousness. The difference between Christianity and any other belief system is: every other belief system seeks to have you achieve self-righteousness through a list of some actions—for example, washing yourself, participating in certain fasting periods, etc. It’s a system that tries to climb the righteousness ladder. The problem with such a belief system is that the rules do not remain the same—they are always changing.
A lot of Christians are on the ladder of self-righteousness. They’re trying to please God by what they do and don’t do. You know you’re in this when your heart condemns people.
Jesus gave an example of two people, and one was comparing the other one, saying he doesn’t know how to pray. The fellow who saw himself better than the other; God rejected him.
When you understand God-righteousness, you can never condemn another because you know you also received mercy.
There’s a law called the law of leprosy.
Leviticus 13:12–13 NKJV
“And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the one who has the sore, from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks, then the priest shall consider; and indeed if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. It has all turned white. He is clean.”
Because the man who has total leprosy has accepted his condition, but the man who has leprosy on some parts of his body is not clean; because he is trying to survive through self-righteousness.
When your whole body is sin, then you’re willing to discard all of it and embrace the Word of Jesus.
God in the Garden of Eden told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Your good and evil; the source is the same. You cannot take it to God because any good or evil you do comes from the same tree. You cannot go to God on the basis of: I pray a lot, or give a lot, or fast a lot; and because of that, you think He must listen. The one who thinks like this and someone who murders people is the same before God.
Your good and evil come from the same tree. God rejects them both and gives you the gift of righteousness. I need just to show up and receive it and thank God for it.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Jesus did not sin but became sin. Somebody who has never sinned can be made to be sin. It’s possible to become total sin without committing any sin.
One person who has never sinned can become sin without sinning. If one is possible, then the other is possible. Somebody who is not righteous can be made righteous. You cannot believe one and reject the other.
It is possible for you and me to be made righteous without a single act of righteousness.
The most difficult thing for a believer to believe is this; because our inner workings as humans want us to have something to boast about.
In religion, if you say you’re righteous, you’ll be chased out of 90% of churches.
If you want to walk with God, you must agree with Him. And God says because Jesus was made sin, you were made righteous.
Amos 3:3 NKJV
“Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”
Righteousness is not behavior modification; behavior modification is a consequence of being righteous.
When babies are growing up, they don’t know the difference between male and female. Before one understands the word of righteousness, they behave like babies.
In the spirit world, you are righteous, but if you don’t understand that, your behaviour won’t reflect it. If your behaviour and your understanding don’t reflect that you are righteous, then you’re a baby. So long as you’re a child, you’re put under rulers and tutors. Things press you down because you do not understand you are righteous.
You’re not only righteous, you’re the righteousness of God.
Your prayer life, faith life, and your walk should reflect that you understand that you’re as righteous as God is. When you internalize this, then the way you handle yourself changes because you become a prince in the spirit.
God’s righteousness is a rulership mantle in the spirit world. If you understand that you’re the righteousness of God, you begin to rule in every area of your life. You begin to reign over every situation. You speak and you expect it to come to pass.
Romans 5:17 NKJV
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
If you’re righteous, you’re the foundation of God’s throne.
Jesus said unless one’s righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you shall not see the kingdom of God. Your righteousness has exceeded that of the Pharisees. You have been turned into the righteousness of God. You’re a walking pillar of righteousness.
When righteousness speaks, the whole of the universe must listen.
When you understand righteousness, it is no longer about faith or no faith. The question of faith arises because you don’t understand righteousness.
Romans 3:10 NKJV
“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one;’”
Isaiah 64:6 NKJV
“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
The word filthy rags means a used menstrual pad. For God to dominate the earth, He doesn’t have to come here. Each believer is an extension of God’s righteousness. God has condemned all righteousness on earth as not sufficient. When you accept Jesus, you have accepted God’s righteousness. The righteousness of God means a person with rights.
Hebrews 10:22 NKJV
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
If your conscience condemns you, you cannot connect with the righteousness that God has given you.
The main weapon of the devil is accusation. The word Satan means accuser. The devil accuses you that you’re not righteous enough to deserve this thing you’re asking for.
The job of the Holy Spirit is to convict you:
Before you get born again – to convict you to believe in Jesus.
The conviction of the Holy Spirit to a non-believer is to get them to believe in Jesus.
To a believer, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is not sin, but righteousness. He has to counter what the devil is telling you. The propensity of a believer when you are not righteous is to run away from God to clean yourself. This is pride because you think you have the capacity to get yourself clean enough to enter God’s presence.
John 16:8-10 NKJV
“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;”
The Holy Spirit does not convict the believer of sin, but the world. The Holy Spirit takes the conviction of sin to the world. You’re not the world; you’re the Church, His body.
John 16:11 NKJV
“Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
This is the power in the gospel. Gospel means good news.
The power of the gospel was shown to us by the Apostle Paul.
Romans 1:16 NKJV
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
If you understand you’re God’s righteousness, that will be the beginning of you having faith. If you don’t understand this, your faith will be shaky. Your faith will be dependent on how much you prayed in the morning. You will always be outsourcing prayers.
How is the gospel of God for anyone who believes? For inside the gospel, it shows me the way to access righteousness without following the law; by faith.
Romans 1:17 AMP
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, ‘The just and upright shall live by faith.’” [Hab 2:4]
God, in the gospel, shows me a way to access righteousness that doesn’t involve the law.
You are not designed to follow law.
You think in images, and what you see is what you do. Because you think in images or pictures, what you see is what you do. You cannot process a negative statement. Anything in negative will have you do the opposite.
The job of the law is to awaken the desire to do that which it said you should not do, so that you can run to Christ and receive the gift of righteousness.
Because you have received the gift of righteousness, your prayer becomes effective.
Romans 7:15 NKJV
“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
James 5:16 AMP
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].”
You found God’s righteousness, and as a result found His Kingdom; all these other things shall be added unto you. God’s desire is that you be established in righteousness.
Isaiah 54:14 NKJV
“In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.”
Isaiah 54:17 NKJV
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.”
When you establish that your righteousness is of God, nobody can condemn or accuse you because you are operating in God’s righteousness.
