9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Since the beginning, we can see the existence of the Determinate Counsel of God. The scriptures testify of the trinity stating: 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
The Godhead is made up of three - the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. These three bear the record of the events and plan of God that took place in Eternity before the world was formed. With foreknowledge, God has the ability to predetermine or orchestrate beforehand the events that will take place in time. Simply put, He can plan ahead.
Acts 2:23
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
It was God’s will to use wicked hands to crucify Christ. This plan was devised before he ever created the world. The Godhead determined, according to His preference, every detail concerning Christ’s death. The word “counsel” used in the scripture above, means advice, or purpose. Who is it that is able to advise the Lord? Seeing that he is all knowledge and wisdom? Any outside influence must be according to his will and eternal purpose. Thus the word “counsel” here, is also indicative of the word “council”, which speaks to the trinity.
1 Peter 1:2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Ephesians 1:4-5
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Apparently, it was the will of the counsel that God would beget sons by Jesus Christ. He determined this to be so before the earth ever was. This plan brought Him pleasure; therefore, He set out to accomplish it, by creating everything necessary to do so - this took him six days. Since those six days, the earth and its inhabitants were sold to the enemy, by the sin of Adam. This, however, was no surprise to a foreknowing God; testifying, For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. (Isaiah 57:16). Seeing that it was foreseen that man would fall, it was pencilled into the plan of God that this fall would be the route through which He would receive Children. Therefore, by the sending of mercy by Jesus Christ, all can know the love of God.
The Godhead Bodily
We discussed earlier that it was determined by the Counsel of God that He would receive sons. Now let’s consider how this was achieved.
Colossians 2:8-9
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Bodily - Relating to a person’s body, especially as opposed to their spirit, i.e. having a body.
Listen to the scriptures define Christ. Christ is defined by the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form, or simply put the Godhead within a body. However, let us not forget that our bodies are now the temples of the living God. This explains why the scriptures describe our souls as being “in Christ”
2 Corinthians 5:17 : “Therefore if any man [soul] be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”.
The soul is in the Godhead and the Godhead is in a human body. This being is a new creature. The verse that follows confirms this.
Colossians 2:10
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Yes, we have been baptized into Christ. At salvation, our souls were joint/merged/dissolved inside of the Holy Spirit. Thus we became one with God (1 Corinthians 6:17). This is a truth that we cannot deny. We have been made one Spirit by being baptized into the Godhead. This creature is an altogether different creature than that of a human being. This creature is of God.
Truly the sons of God are one with God. They have been baptized into the Determinate Counsel which is the Godhead. Seeing that they are now inside of the Godhead, i.e. family of God, could it possibly be that it was the desire of God that the Church have a say so, in the determining of events here on the earth? Consider the scriptures below:
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
John 16:23
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Though there was a point wherein the whole world was in sin, it was the desire of the Father to have fellowship. He desired beings of His kind who could both comprehend and appreciate the thoughts of His heart. Yes, the Father desired to communicate with us. If our petitions and supplications are according to His will, then we too, would have the power to determine events on the earth. The Old Testament is our schoolmaster in this.
Exodus 32:9-14
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
This is such a profound scripture. Let us not forget that Moses was foreordained to be resurrected in Christ. Here we can clearly see the prayers of Moses, thwarting an event which God purposed to bring upon the people of Israel.
Isaiah 40:13-14
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
This is why in order for us to have a say in what God will perform on the earth, we had to be baptized into His Spirit. We had to be made one with Him. We had to become members of His Counsel.
1 Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Our baptism into the Godhead has allowed us to perceive the things of the Spirit. It has allowed us to know the mind and heart of God. The sons of God are the only creatures in existence that can know the will of God. They have this ability because of their part in the Godhead. What then is our role in the Determinate Counsel?
Thy Will Be Done
When we consider the fact that God is omniscient, having the ability to foresee, and foreknow all things, what purpose could we have in the counsel of God seeing that we know in part, and see through a glass darkly? This question is answered in the Lord’s prayer. When Jesus taught us how to pray, he gave us an outline on some things to consider and to mention in fellowship. One of those things is “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” We mentioned earlier, that the Determinate Counsel was able to predetermine the events on earth. Concerning those events that happened in eternity the scripture says, That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. (Ecclesiastes 3:15). This goes hand in hand with what Jesus told us to pray in the Lord’s prayer. Through fellowship, God will reveal the secret things of His heart to us.
As members of the Godhead, we are entitled to know in part the things that God has prepared for us, and has planned to happen on the earth. It is interesting, however, that the Lord would instruct us to pray that His will be done. Why would we need to pray that the will of God be done on earth, if it has already been accomplished or decided in eternity? What is the purpose of prayer if the will of God will happen anyway? It is because prayer and prophecy are the channels through which the things of eternity are brought into manifestation on earth.
As I was writing this lesson the Lord said to me, “I will always have my will in the mouth of one of my servants. His voice will I harken to.” The scripture below confirms this word.
Amos 3:7
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
God does absolutely nothing in the earth without first revealing it to the Church and His Prophets. Whenever, something is revealed to the Prophet, it is then reciprocated with intense prayer and intercession upon that thing revealed. For example, If the Lord speaks a word saying “I will turn the ear of the church to the truth”, the Prophet will in turn, begin to pray according to what he has heard. He prophesies that word to the people. It was by the word of God that the worlds were formed. His word caused those things that were in His heart to be manifested in the earth. Likewise, prayer and prophecy causes the will of God to be manifested/accomplished in the earth. God reveals the mystery of His will and it is then declared by His servants.
Job 22:28
Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
God reveals to His Prophets those things that He desires to accomplish on the earth, and they declare it, thus establishing it. I am reminded of the prophet Balaam, when He sought to go against the will of God in proclaiming Israel cursed, when they ought to have been blessed. As he rode upon his donkey, he became an antagonist to the will of God, and the consequence for that would have been the loss of his life. However, He humbled himself, declaring Israel blessed forever.
This is the fulfilment of our role in the Determinate Counsel, that we pray and prophecy that the will of God until it is accomplished. Our unction both to pray and prophesy are by the Spirit of the Lord. Our inner man is stirred as revelation is poured into it by the Spirit of Truth. The reception of revelation is a manifestation that we are baptized into the Determinate Counsel of God. Whatever is revealed to our Spirit is then prayed and prophesied, thus establishing it. Oftentimes we are unsure of how to pray, for this cause the Holy Spirit will help our infirmities through prayer in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). When we pray in the Spirit, Jesus is praying through us in a language we do not know. However, though it has not yet been revealed to us, He is, through us, establishing the will of God in the earth.
1 Corinthians 14:2
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
Prayer and Eternity
Let us not forget that the Determinate Counsel predetermined all the events that will take place on the earth, before the earth ever was. Seeing that we share a role in this counsel, it is fair to believe that we too had a part to play in the decision-making before the earth was. But how? The answer is simple. Ecclesiastes 3:15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; The prayers that we pray in time, have already been heard and considered in eternity. The prayers we pray now, were considered when God was designing and orchestrating His plan and actions upon the earth.
Luke 18:1-7
1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
The scriptures encourage us to pray. God will move upon our prayers that fall within His will. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (1 John 5:14-15). Saints, let us continue to pray, so that the will of God may be accomplished on the earth.
