The Jesus Secret

The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27).

"The Jesus Secret" is just another way to say "the mystery of Christ." By "the Jesus Secret," I mean entirely Christ in you, the hope of glory.

My family and I began to attend Lakewood Church with Joel and Victoria Osteen in July of 2006. Sometime in August 2006 I heard Pastor Joel say, "Speak what God says you are."

In that moment a light exploded inside of me. It was as if my entire life was one long and detailed preparation for that moment and for that word. I could not have been more excited, for I knew that God had given me the key I had been searching for, the key that would unlock the entrance into all the fullness of Christ.

I rushed home and did what I always do, for I HAD TO KNOW exactly what God actually says I am in His word. I pulled out my Bible, opened to Matthew 1, and began to write out verses.

You see, the moment I heard those words, "Speak what God says you are," they were as a seed planted upon well-tilled ground. And I could know those words only out from 1 John 3:2 - we shall be JUST LIKE Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

If I am to speak what God says I am, then I must speak Jesus, for God says I am just like Him in my completed state.

I had no idea then, of course, just how much the New Testament teaches us to speak Christ our only life, for I had never heard of such a thing in all the Christian teaching and preaching and writing which I had known. Nonetheless, I sat down that afternoon with the book of Matthew and began to write these words:

I follow Jesus. I am a fisher of men.
I am blessed because I am poor in spirit; heaven’s kingdom is mine.
I am blessed because I mourn (with those who mourn); I am comforted.
I am blessed because I am meek; the earth is my inheritance.
I am blessed because I hunger and thirst for righteousness; I am filled.
I am blessed because I am merciful; I receive mercy. I am blessed because my heart is pure; I see God.

If my finished state is to be just like Jesus, then to speak what God says I am is to speak all these things as if they are true.

I continued on through the entire New Testament in this manner and then began to expand on these confessions of faith as I understood them then. When I had finished, I had the rough copy of The Jesus Secret: Who I Am, covering the confessions of faith from Matthew through 2 Corinthians.

When I wrote out the confessions of faith for Colossians, I wrote these words: "Christ is all there is in me." I did not realize it at the time, but in writing those words, something changed inside of me. And what that change meant has been an ongoing discovery of joy that has not stopped increasing and will not forever.

When I first wrote The Jesus Secret, I wrote out from my understanding of God and His word at that time. This present word that I share, however, did not fully begin for me until I sent out the first Christ Our Life letter in November of 2008, two years later. Mostly, since then, my understanding has grown, but on a few things, it has changed completely. For that reason, I went back in and changed how I said things in a number of places. 

Although there is little that I would "correct" now, my understanding of speaking what God says we are at the present time would direct me to write the second volume of The Jesus Secret from an entirely different approach to the first. Part of that difference is that I hope to use from The Jesus Secret version of the New Testament. Another part is that I would draw my understanding out from knowing the most important verses of the Bible just a bit better as reflected in my present book, Knowing Jesus as He Is.

You will find a downloadable copy of The Jesus Secret: Who I Am in PDF form by clicking on the Jesus Secret I button to the right. I have provided the verses from Galatians to Revelation as I originally wrote them out - find them by clicking on the Jesus Secret II button. And you will discover my present rough copies of the Jesus Secret Version of selected New Testament Books by clicking on The Jesus Secret Version button.

I love God's word. And I love that word becoming Christ Jesus inside of me.