Jesus Lived in the Cloud – True Victorious Christianity

There is much said about the cloud these days—photos in the cloud, backup to the cloud, music service from the cloud, books in the cloud. It seems everyone wants you to access your stuff from the cloud. You know, Jesus lived in the cloud, too. This is not the “so heavenly minded that He was no earthly good” head-in-the-clouds cloud, but the cloud of the Father’s Glory. And I am supposed to live there continually too, in true victorious Christianity! Imagine, cloud-supported living beyond just my digital media and data.

While swimming today, I heard on my waterproof iPod a snippet of a message Martha did from the Mystery of the Gospel audio series. I remember this series as being amazingly dynamic, but what I heard today gives me an urgency to listen to it again. The words are so very crucial for victorious Christianity! Here is what Martha said:

Present your body – Victorious Christianity

“Norman Grubb said, ‘All of the commands of the New Testament are to Christ in you.’ This takes the entire burden off of you. All you have to do, and the only thing you can do, is to present your body.

“When I first stepped into this I had a stack of mail on my desk. I couldn’t answer them; I’m just not good at answering letters. But I said, ‘Lord, You have some letters on Your desk, and when You’re ready to answer Your mail, my body is available.’ And in the easiest way it was done in a week.

“Jesus is the fulfillment of my destiny and He is the fulfillment of yours. He is your role! He is your motherhood. He is your sisterhood, your daughterhood, your sonship, your role as a wife, and your role as a husband. He performs all these roles and He must be the one living them. Success is Jesus living your life.

“There is only one Life in the universe that conquered the test of the wilderness. There’s only one Life in whom God is pleased. And that Life can live in you every minute that you allow Him the privilege to do so.

“In Romans 12:1, when it says present your body, I understand in the Greek that it is speaking of a one-time offering. And I think it’s true that there is a first time offering of your body. But I have to be reminded constantly that this IS the solution to life—letting Him do it. This is the mystery of the gospel! You let Christ live in your life, in your body, and He will take you into His glory.

“One day the Lord asked me to do something and I obeyed Him and then I was just in such bliss. I said, ‘Oh Lord, I would just love to live here!’ It was such joy and bliss, just like a cloud. And He said, “You’re not in your bliss, you’re in Mine!” He had bliss and joy on this earth living in the Father – in the cloud. Jesus lived in the cloud! And when you will let Him BE, He will take you up into that glory. You can experience it in this life. Glory is a gift that He wants us to experience in this life!

“We’ve experienced glory (in this body). Carole’s mentioned to you about Sue reading Psalm 25 some years ago in a little tiny-framed church in Alabama. And the glory of God fell because of that verse. And everyone was in absolute bliss. There were like seven or eight of us. And God’s glory fell and we didn’t have any idea what it was. But do you know what that verse was about? It was about the covenant, and I was teaching the meaning of the covenant. The covenant is God doing it all for you and that’s where the glory is. Letting God do all for you. Letting Him be your character. Letting Him be your love. There is only one person in the universe who ever loved—that’s Jesus! There is only one Person who ever pleased God—JESUS!”

The Cloud – Mystery of the Gospel

WOW! This is the mystery of the Gospel! True, victorious Christianity is Jesus living my life, not me—His own Life, His own will, His own character, His own purity, and His own love. Living continually in the cloud of His glory is to experience His very Life as my life. Imagine, not imitation, or effort, or goodness, or pretending. Living constantly in the cloud of His glory, in the beams of His smiling pleasure, is letting Him express His life through me. My job is only to present my body to Him for His Life-filling joy. This is my reasonable service and act of worship. Why reasonable? Because my efforts have never resulted in victorious Christianity. It’s reasonable because if I’ve had everything provided for me, why would I try to break and trek a new trail? Yet still I have to be continually reminded. Do you?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1 NKJV