From Gregory Nazianzen

“We needed an Incarnate God, a God put to death, that we might live.  We were put to death together with Him, that we might be cleansed; we rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him; we were glorified with Him, because we rose again with Him,” Gregory Nazianzen, A Select Library, The Second Oration on Easter,” XXVIII.

Union

Union. Union. Union!  Anything less than the true, real, and personal union of Jesus Christ—the Father's eternal Son incarnate, anointed in the Holy Spirit—with the fallen human race is unworthy of the word 'salvation.'

Words from Ancient Warriors for Truth

“For this was the very end and purpose of His Incarnation, that our human nature might in His Person obtain and receive whatever it could not otherwise have obtained, and that we might be partakers both of the same nature and of the same blessings within Him...  It was necessary, therefore, that God and man should be personally united, in order that human nature might be invested with power and exalted to glory” The Orations of St. Athanasius Against the Arians (London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh), IV.6; cf. III.34, and II.70.



“As, on the one hand, we could not have been redeemed from sin and the curse, unless the flesh and nature, which the Word took upon Him had been truly ours (for we should have had no interest by his assumption of any foreign nature); so also man could not have been united to the Divine nature, unless that Word, which was made flesh, had not been, in essence and nature, the Word and Son of God.  For that was the very purpose and end of our Lord’s Incarnation, that He should join what is man by nature to Him who is by nature God, that so man might enjoy His salvation and His union with God without any fear of its failing or decrease” The Orations of St. Athanasius Against the Arians (London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh), II.70; cf. III.34, and IV.6.



 “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.  If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole,” Gregory Nazianzen, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, second series, vol. VII (Edinburgh: T&T Clark), Ep. CI.

A Prayer

For the past several months I have had the privilege of getting to know CMSgt (Ret) Paul Lavelle of Operation Restored Warrior (http://www.operationrestoredwarrior.org).  He and his team are involved in the most daring, and astonishing mission, restoring the hearts of warriors.  Nearly 500 men have been through their program Operation Drop Zone, and every one of these men—men who were suicidal, suffering from PTSD, and CSD, and other profound and terrible issues—have been healed.  Their mission is simple and beautiful and powerful.  Lavelle and his team believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, his oneness with his Father in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has led these men to understand how He has united himself with us all, and how He heals our broken souls. I have been honored to be part of the conversation among ORW's team.  I am more honored that I have been given a place in the next Operation Drop Zone (Oct. 21-26), and asked to speak at the reunion to follow.

Over the last several years the Holy Spirit has been revealing himself to me in profoundly personal ways, awakening me, loving me, revealing to me who I am in Jesus, and encouraging my heart.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, I will have more please.  Brothers and sisters we are in a war.  We have an enemy, cowardly as he is.  He knows he has been defeated in Jesus, and he knows that we don't know much of Jesus' victory.  The enemy deceives us, and then hides his deception, so that we don't know that we have made agreements with him and his darkness. As we get hints of his schemes we are attacked with accusations and assaults.  The picture that the Hoy Spirit has given to me is of a beaver dam, with hundreds of limbs and twigs interwoven on top of large logs at the bottom.  This beaver dam is formed by the agreements we have made with darkness throughout our lives. (Simply ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the agreements that you have made, and then break them in the name of Jesus).  This beaver dam holds back the river of living water, the great, overflowing fountain of the trinitarian life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is already at the core of our beings because of Jesus' union with us.

So, daily I have been asking about my agreements, and the Holy Spirit has been faithful to reveal them to me, often to my shock and horror.  As I break them in the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give me a new agreement to make with the Father, Son and Spirit to replace the old one that I had made with wicked one.  

This morning, as I finished praying through the ORW prayer, the prayer below rose in my heart.  It is my honor to pass it along to you, in the hope and joy of our liberation together (Col. 1:27; John 14:20).        

Lord Jesus Christ, beloved and eternal Son of the Father, Homoousios to Patri, Anointed of the Holy Spirit, incarnate, crucified, resurrected and ascended Lord of all creation, I believe in you.  With great joy, with the praise of my whole heart I acknowledge and agree that you have found me in my darkness and sin, laid hold of me and taken me down in your death, freed me from sin and evil, quickened me with new life in your resurrection, and lifted me up into your Father’s arms in your ascension.  All of me, and mine, every war-torn fragment, every fearful, unbelieving, shame-riddled, broken part is in you, in your Father, in the Holy Spirit.  I rest in you, Jesus, lover of my soul, my Savior, my Salvation, my Saving Act, my King, my Liberator, healer of my broken heart, the author and finisher of my faith. You have included me in all that you are and have in your union and face-to-face communion with your Father, and you have included me in your own anointing in the Holy Spirit.  You have included me in your victory over evil and wickedness, and in your session at the Father’s right hand, above all rule and authority in heaven and on earth.  Nothing can separate me from you, your Father, and the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, blessed brother, Lord Jesus.  You became what I am to bring me to be what you are in your life with your Father in the Holy Spirit.  I hear you speak my name, and with the freedom of your heart, and mind, I turn toward your Father to see him with your eyes.  I receive the witness of the Spirit of Adoption.  I hear you Lord Jesus, and your “Abba! Father!” inside my own soul.  I receive your Father’s everlasting love, and give myself, all of me, to your Father’s embrace, and to the healing and restoration of the Holy Spirit’s communion.

Lord Jesus, in your courage, in the comfort of the personal presence of the Holy Spirit, and in the unearthly assurance of your Father’s arms, I pledge all of me to your service, to participate in your ministry of liberation of our brothers and sisters.  Reveal to me the agreements that I have made with evil and darkness, that I may break these agreements in your name, and that I may walk in every way in the glorious freedom of the children of God, in full agreement with the Holy Spirit, and in all the Holy Spirit’s gifts. 

I take my stand in you, Lord Jesus, and in your name and authority I bind and banish from my life, my body, my humanity, my family, my sphere of influence, my kingdom, my ministry, and my properties every foul thing, every spirit, power, and art, every prayer, curse, covering, idea, and desire that are directed towards me, and mine, that are not in full submission to you, your Father, and the Holy Spirit.  In your name, and by your authority, Lord Jesus, I summon the holy and faithful angels and command them to destroy the kingdom of darkness throughout my kingdom, and to establish the kingdom of the blessed Trinity throughout my domain.

Worthy are you blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Father’s Son, Homoousios to Patri, Anointed One, Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, Victorious Warrior, worthy are you of all praise and adoration and worship, now and forever.  Thank you for being my Savior, my Good Shepherd, my High Priest, my True and Faithful witness, my Alpha and Omega, the Captain of my salvation, and the Healer of my soul.  I rest in you, and await your Word to me today. Amen