4.2 A Biblical Experience

The greatest gift I have ever received was from Sam Fife when I was twenty and twenty-one. Sam Fife gave me the keys to know my Bible.

The first key was John 6:63, that the meaning of the Bible is Spirit and Life, not mental ideas, and that it is the Spirit who causes us to know. The second key was that much of Nicene Christian thinking was contrary to what God actually says in the gospel, thus freeing me from all limitation of God and refusal of His Word. The third key was the patterns of God, their meanings, and how God uses them to show us what He is doing and about to do in us, His Church.

The Keys of the Gospel. But the fourth key was the most precious. And that wondrous key was that I could believe God for the fulfillment in my life of all the BIG and MIGHTY verses of the gospel, that none of it was for “heaven someday,” but all of it is for us right now in our present today, and that we could apprehend these things through faith. Then, the fifth key was that the Word of God is living and energeoing, that it enters into us as Seed from God in order to form and bring forth Christ from inside of us.

My knowledge of these keys of the gospel was not at all what it is now, but I can accurately say that before my twenty-second birthday, I possessed them in full. The covenant I made with God in April of 1979 was fully out from these keys and this Word planted in me.

The Reasons of My Life. The sixth key comes out from the fourth key, and that is that hidden all through the Bible is a reference to something so glorious, so complete, so God-in-and-through-us. It’s there, most definitely, but only those who know by the Spirit can see it. But it is the seventh key that makes all the difference. The seventh key is stated by Jesus, that those who desire to fulfill God’s desire will know the truth. Yet this seventh key is found in one place only; it is found inside the Church, inside Christ Community; it is proven out inside your interactions daily with your brethren. – What do you want?

And at every point from then until now, that seventh key has been the reason for my every choice in life. I want to know my God out from my Bible, and I want to walk with a people who know God and His Word.

The Keys of the Kingdom. I want to say that I don’t mean anything by the numbering of these “keys”; I had no idea that there would be seven when I began. Yet when I look back across them again, I see that they match perfectly with the seven churches and the seven steps of overcoming in John’s vision. I am not afraid to say that these are the keys of the kingdom, and when I look across the pattern of my life story, I am also able to say that Sam Fife placed all seven of these keys into my knowing before I was twenty-two, and that they have governed all my desire from then until now.

I have set before you a third experience in God, equal to and greater than being born again and being filled with the Spirit, an experience of completion. Now I must show you the Bible evidence of such an experience.

Bible Evidence. The Bible evidence for an experience of completion comes out from Key 6, but it is proven only out from Key 7. Let’s start with the most visible verse of Key 6 and the strongest verse of Key 7.

Until we all come down to the unity of the faith and acknowledgement of the Son of God, into being a complete or perfect man, into the measurement of the maturity of the fullness or completion of Christ [that is, the Church].

Christ—out from Whom the whole body, being joined together and being held together through every joint of its supply or provision, according to the energeia inside the sharing from every part, causes growth of the body into the construction of itself inside of love (Ephesians 4:13 & 16).

Hidden in Plain Sight. Reduce these two verses to their essence and here is what you have. – Come down into the completion of Christ – out from the sharing from every member. Ephesians 4:13 is hidden in plain sight, mostly because of the Calvinist translation “perfect.” – Can’t be here; can’t be you.

But what is this completion of Christ inside of us? It is evidently both an individual experience and a together experience. Then we have “seized into God and into His throne,” “the unveiling of the sons of God,” the “two anointed ones” and “the golden oil flowing into the lampstand.” And MANY more. Having the seven keys, we place these things before God and say, “How can I be part of this and how is it fulfilled in my life?” Yet we hear screaming from every direction – “Not here! Not now! And certainly NOT you.”

Christ Formed in You. But then we read, “To him who overcomes” and our hearts are caught inside a Determination that never lets go. That is the story, and God is known only through our personal stories. But let’s set that aside and lay out exactly what this experience of completion is and means, from the Scripture.

Paul said in Galatians 4, until Christ is formed in you. The experience of being born again is simple – Christ Jesus has entered into me. The experience of being immersed into the Spirit, then, is the experience of this process of Christ being formed in us. Then, the experience of completion is KNOWING that Christ is now fully formed in me – AND in us.

Through Faith Alone. In Galatians 3, Paul says, “I wish to learn this from you – did you receive the Spirit out of works of law or out of hearing with faith? You are so foolish! Having begun in Spirit, now are you accomplishing completion in flesh, that is, by human ability and effort? And in Galatians 5:6 he says, “For inside of Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor not circumcision [outward show and human performance] has any power, but only faith energeoing all the way through love.”

And so I assert that, just as we received Jesus only through faith, and just as we know the Spirit forming Christ in us only through faith, so we know the completion of Christ only through faith, but faith that energeoes through love, that is, us together, the sharing from every part.

A Miracle of God. Christians who shout, “Not here, not now, not you,” also shout, “Prove it by outward show.” But God knows only our certainty that He is telling us the truth, that Christ is fully formed in us as members together, regardless of the absence of outward appearance.

And so the essence of our knowing the completion of Christ inside of us is this – FULL ASSURANCE of faith. The miracle is full assurance of faith that God is True.

Now, it is evident that those who cry “for someday ONLY,” are hearing and seeing Christ completely wrong. And when we ourselves still refused to believe because we had not “earned it,” we thought in very similar ways.

The Normal Christian Life. For us now, then, as we receive from God the miraculous experience of believing that He is telling us the truth, it is no surprise to us that we now see everything completely different. Nothing means “super.” Everything is true inside our humanity as we are right now. Everything is just the goodness of God and the Words of our Savior. What could be more natural?

Being the completion of Christ through full assurance of faith is the normal Christian life. It’s the normal human life. Everything of the fulness of Christ was true the very moment we asked Jesus into our hearts. The experience of completion that is a miraculous interaction with God, God entering into our knowing, is CERTAINTY, the certain knowing that God is True.

Calling to Me. Through all the years I have poured over my Bible, I have sensed this completion calling to me in the depths of my spirit. Let me give just two examples, two of many.

And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. – who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you (Deuteronomy 4 & 8).

And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it” (Ezekiel 9:4).

All the Evidence We Need. I perceived in these words something far beyond, something real out from Christ inside of me, and I wept before my God, for I did not know what it meant, nor how I could ever be part of such a thing. But that’s story again, let’s pull back to Bible evidence.

As I look through my lists of the verses containing the words complete and fulfill/made full, I count more than 120 key New Testament verses, each one of which gives a massive witness concerning completion inside the intentions of God. All of them together make an overwhelming New Testament teaching that completion is the only thing the gospel is about. – That you might be FILLED with ALL the FULNESS of GOD! – And that one verse, Ephesians 3:19, is all the evidence we need.

Certainty. Yet, as I have said, the experience with God is certainty. It is for that reason that this experience of completion is something that unfolded in my own life over a nine-month period. It was certainty built on certainty, built on certainty.

You are part of Christ IF INDEED you are confident that you are part of Christ (Hebrews 3 – paraphrased). And our two verses of confidence from Hebrews 3 are also completion verses – stand upon FIRM unto all completion. The greatest miracle and the most profound experience any human could ever receive from God is to believe that God is telling us the truth.

What then are the “hidden” truths God has already made part of our lives?

What We Are Doing Now. Seized into God and into His throne – is practicing the Mercy Seat for the sake of our brothers and sisters. The two anointed ones and the golden oil flowing through – is our wondrous enjoyment of a Personal Living Spirit Word flowing through us into the lives of many. The Elijah to come – is our joyous task of giving ourselves to the Father, that He might come freely through us into our world, a highway for our God. The two witnesses – is Jesus, our Savior and our Life, proving Himself faithful and true through us together. Weeping over the church – is what we will do through the next two chapters of this text, weeping, yes, but also winning.

Blessed Are Those Who Believe. Here is something I wrote some years ago, now. – “The difference between the manifest sons of God and you and me right now is that they believe that God is telling us the truth and we do not.” The experience of Completion is God moving us out from the “do not” and into the “believe.”

Consider this profound statement of Jesus in John 20. “Blessed are those who believe without having seen.” The experience of Completion is to believe without having seen, contrary to all opposition. As Peter said, “Set your hope fully upon God’s enabling presence carrying you inside of the unveiling of Jesus Christ.”

The Purpose of Completion. The purpose of this experience of Completion, then, is that we might walk through the next few years of time inside the UTTER certainty that every Word God speaks concerning Christ fulfilled is fully and absolutely true of us right now, though we see, not just nothing outwardly, but all opposition. It is out from this certainty, brought to a completion for us in December of 2022, that I am posting this word on Facebook inside of a very different way of seeing than ever in the past.

Let me give you the specifics of my certainty as I know it now.
1. I am certain that God my Father shares every moment of my life with me and that I share every moment of His life with Him.
2. I am certain that my every next step comes out from this life I share with God.

I Am Certain.
3. I am certain that the Blood of Jesus Christ, now my life as well, eliminates from me all thought of disconnection from God.
4. I am certain that the Cross of Jesus Christ has become His Love for me keeping me safe from all death and making me always devoted to my Father.
5. I am certain that the Word now flowing through me is a Pure and Personal, Living Spirit Word flowing out from God Himself, as every Word He speaks, and as His knowledge into every place.
6. I am certain that this Word now flowing through me becomes a fiery stream to many, but also a river of life to many. Some are consumed by that fire, and some enter into the joy of their Lord.

I Am Certain.
7. I am certain that all the verses of my Bible, precious to me, sing now for joy inside the treasures of His Word written all through the pathways of my heart.
8. I am certain that every time I place my agony and my human frailty into God, expecting that He and I turn our every moment into goodness and blessing for others, that the Devoted Spirit is doing just that right now in the lives of many, regardless of my tiny smallness.
9. I am certain that my Christian brethren all across the earth, regardless of their unbelief and all their pretending, are carried by Jesus inside Himself and are as the Lord Jesus to me.
10. I am certain that every single believer in Jesus loves me with the Love of God outpoured, beyond what they or I could know.

I Am Certain.
11. I am certain that the Church on this earth is the fulness of Christ, that Jesus fills each one with all of Himself.
12. I am certain that Jesus walks this earth today inside His Church, inside of me.
13. I am certain that God comes through me, and through my brethren together into our world to be known by all as our Love.
14. I am certain that the Age of Tabernacles has begun and that we are directing its unfolding through the authority of Christ inside of us.
15. I am certain that I know God, and that I walk with a people who know God. I am certain that the gathering together of Christ Community into which God has appointed me is happening right now. I am certain that Jerusalem is my home.

If You Are Willing. Now, every experience of God comes first through a few, but the moment it enters into the human experience, it is freely available to all. Jesus’ disciples were the first to be born again in the upper room, right after Jesus’ resurrection, when Jesus breathed the Devoted Spirit into them. Now anyone can be born again if they are willing.

In our present times, immersion in the Spirit came through much travail right at the beginning of 1900 through a small group of people. Now anyone can be filled with the Spirit if they are willing. The same is true for completion.

A Prayer of Completion. Are you willing to receive completion in all that it means? It will cost you everything, for completion REQUIRES two things of you. Completion requires all honesty, and it requires you to take your brother and sister with you as out from God. But if you are willing, then pray this simple prayer with us together, and in praying, believe that you have received until you KNOW.

“God, my Father, I ask You to give me a third experience in knowing You. In my first experience of knowing You, You sent Jesus into my heart that I might be conceived of Your incorruptible Word. In my second experience of knowing You, You immersed me into Your Devoted Spirit, sending Your Spirit into every part of my human soul, that I might know that Your Word is true.

“In this third experience in knowing You, Oh God, I ask that You seal me forever into LIFE and into the Completion of all Salvation and of all that You speak. Father, cause me to KNOW that You share every part of my daily life with me. Cause me to KNOW that I synergeo with You turning every single next step and moment and circumstance into all goodness as our dwelling place.

“God our Father, save me forever from any thought that You might be separate from me, that You might not be sharing my life with me. Save me forever from any thought that You and I together do not turn all things towards goodness for the sake of others.

“Seal me into my commitment to You, Oh God, into the full equality of friendship with You, face to Face and heart to Heart, even as You are first committed to me. Let the completion of Your Word flow out of me as my entire human person joined with You in all familiar companionship. Let the ability of Your Son cause You and me to know one another in intimate participation together.

“God, seal me right now into Your Glorious Salvation, into all completion of every Word You speak, into the full knowledge of Your intimate friendship with me, into all honesty and into no need of any sufficiency in myself. Seal me into the River of our precious Devoted Spirit flowing out from our persons together, setting creation free.

“I ask for this experience from You, Oh God, my Father, inside of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He might be proven faithful and true in all that You speak. And in asking I believe with full assurance of faith that I have received all that I have asked. And in believing that I have already received, I wait upon You in confident expectation that this experience of being sealed into Your Completion, into all the fullness of LIFE, will arise from inside of me, inside of my knowing of myself and of You with me, that I am forever just like the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I give You all thanks, my Father, and I wait in confident expectation upon Your arising in me every moment.”

– Be the completion of Christ Jesus; be a member of His Church.