OBEDIENCE - PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE

2 Peter 1:1-3

1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

God’s divine power has already given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. How? Through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue. These things He has given us are manifested when we come into the knowledge of Him. This is where we see the manifestation and begin to walk in things He has given us. There are belief systems and doctrines that are contrary to this and we have deceived ourselves relative to the above scripture.

God has already given us everything that provides us with life and godliness through the knowledge of God. We manifest what we have received from God when the Word comes to identify it. The Word is going to identify the lifestyle of godliness. The Word tells us how to live, and tells us about God. It teaches us who He is, how to understand Him and gives us His heart and mind. The Word comes to tell us what is expected of us. When this Word comes and informs us as to what God requires of us, according to Peter we have already received everything we need to manifest it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Peter 1:4

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We have been given the divine nature. This means we are the Sons of God. We have taken on His nature. We are of God. Remember when God manifested Himself to Moses? God told Moses that He was going to send him back to Egypt to lead the people out of bondage. Moses asked God who should he say sent him and God answered:

Exodus 3:14

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

If God is an “I AM,” then we are an “I AM,” because we have His divine nature. So, whatever He is, we are.

Isaiah 11:1

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

The rod is Jesus and the branch is the church. The branch comes out of His roots, so whatever He is, that is what the branch is. We are of the root. We came forth from the root, so, we are whatever the tree is.

THE NEW CREATURE HAS SPIRITUAL SENSES

Isaiah 11:2-4

2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Divine – 1.a. Being or having the nature of a deity. b. Of, relating to, emanating from , or being the expression of a deity. c. Inspired by or devoted to a deity. 2.a. Godlike: perfect. b. Supremely pleasing (Webster’s Dictionary).

3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

In the second verse, we see the spiritual senses of this creature. In the natural, we have five senses: hearing, tasting, smelling, touch and sight. But, the spiritual creature has spiritual senses too. These senses came by His Spirit. They are inside His Spirit. In the Spirit of the Lord is the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. All of that is in the Holy Ghost. So, when we became children, we became children of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. When we took on the divine nature, whatever He is, that is what we became.

WE HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED EVERYTHING THAT WE ARE AND ARE TO BE. For example, when you take an apple seed, the whole tree is in the seed; the branches, the root, the leaves and the fruit. You cannot see all of this when you look at the seed, but all of these things are in the seed. After the seed is placed in the soil, it is nurtured and it begins to grow, then you begin to see what is in the seed that you planted.

THE GREAT DECEPTION

At this moment, we are everything that pertains to godliness. We have received so much Word over the years, yet when we look around, we see people who are not walking in that Word. There is very little manifestation of this truth we have received. But, the scripture says that we have become partakers of His divine nature. That means that everything that God is, we are right now. The reason we do not believe this is because we see the Word in a different location from our spiritual location.

Our Six Spiritual Senses are the Spirit of: 1. Wisdom 2. Understanding 3. Counsel 4. Might 5. Knowledge and 6. The Fear of the Lord

When we took on the divine nature, whatever He is, that is what we became. We are everything that pertains to godliness.

Spiritual Location – The disposition of our mind in every circumstance, situation or relationship and will reflect how we now deal and respond (spiritual), or react (carnal), Banks’ Expository.

God sends His Word and we see His Word as the standard we are supposed to reach. This is deception and opens the door for failure, because we feel we have to try to walk to get to the standard. We will get to a point, then press and fail trying to get to the mark of the Word. When this is happening, our testimony is that we are not there yet. But this is not true. We would fall and get up, because we saw ourselves trying to get to that mark of the Word. So, if we fall, we are still getting up and pressing. Many are becoming frustrated, because it seems that no matter how hard we try, we cannot get to the standard the Word has set for us.

The truth of the matter is that we never moved from the first spiritual location. We were falling and getting up in the same place. We have not moved from that location. The devil made us rejoice in a saying that God is going to carry us to the next level. We tell ourselves that it is His responsibility to take us higher. This is not true! When we do this, WE ARE TAKING THE EVIL OUT OF OUR SIN, AND TAKING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OUR SIN OFF US AND PUTTING IT ON GOD.

We are making God responsible for our movement. But He is not. When we were falling and getting up, our vision got distorted. When the Word came, it came where we were. Every message that we have ever received from God met us right where we were. If an individual gets saved today, whatever we preach, he can walk in it. Why? Because when he receives salvation, he has the nature of God and has received all things that pertain to godliness and godliness is lifestyle. We choose to walk in the Spirit or otherwise.

OBEDIENCE TAKES US TO THE NEXT LOCATION

The reason we have been falling and getting up, but not moving is because when the Word came we did not obey. This is the bottom line, simple disobedience. The devil or a demon has nothing to do with it. In our own minds we sift from the Word what we are going to do and what we are not going to do. The scripture says that the godliness we received in the divine nature is through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue. The Word of God comes to tell us who we are and what we do. So, when the Word comes, if we obey it, we become the Word. We manifest the thing that we are, because the Word comes to identify what and who we are. The Word talks about who we are, and instructs us to do those things we were born to do. The Word comes to instruct the new creature; how to walk, what to do and how to do it. Now if He obeys the Word, everyone will see godliness. This new creature does not fall because He:

2 Peter 1:5-10

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

All of this falling and getting up is nothing more than a spirit of procrastination. It is carrying us to hell. We have not decided to obey the Word. When the Word comes and when we obey the Word, the obedience to the Word carries us to the next location. God does not have us at one point and have the Word at a much further point that we cannot reach. God takes His Word and meets us where we are. God said the day we hear His voice, for us to harden not our heart, but just obey Him.

Obey – 1. To carry out or yield to the command, authority, or instruction of. 2. To carry out or comply with (Webster’s Dictionary).

1 Samuel 15:22

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

When we do this we are manifesting Godliness. Obedience to the Word manifests the creature we are. We are holy. We have wisdom and understanding. We have the fear of the Lord. We are a mystery. We are the power of God. We can manifest God, because we are who He is. We are already holy. We do not have to become holy. WE HAVE TO MANIFEST WHO WE ARE.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO FALL

When we walk with the Word and a trial comes, we do not have to fall. A trial is an occasion to fall, but we do not have to fall. The trials are put in our lives to manifest who we are. This is when the scripture is fulfilled through the knowledge of God. If we leave the Word behind us, we will fall because we are not in obedience. But, if we walk into our trials in the Word of God, we cannot and will not fall.

We have to stop justifying staying in sin. Right now we can manifest God. All we have to do is obey His Word. When we fall and get up, we take the power out of the Word. But if we obey the Word, there is nothing that can stop us from going to the next level. There is nothing that can stop us when we are walking in obedience. When we keep falling and justifying it, we are taking the power out of the Word. We feel we need some prayer, fasting, laying on of hands or something supernatural to move us, but God has already given us everything He is going to give us to walk in who we are. Everything God tells us to do, we are capable of doing it. God has given us everything we need to obey Him.

Many feel they have time to continue to fall and get up. But what are they going to do if they die in their sins? Many have gotten comfortable falling and they justify it because they keep getting up. What signal are we sending to ourselves and others? When we feel that as long as we are in the flesh, and at some point we are going to fall, we are sending a bad signal. We are saying we cannot walk holy and that it is alright because we get up.

WE ARE VERY CHRIST

We can live holy, because God has already given us everything we need to walk holy. We make a choice to sin. Sin should not be a temptation or a struggle to those who are born again.

Romans 6:11-14

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Sin should not be a temptation to those who are born again. We have to see that we are very much Christ. We have to stop seeing Jesus and then us. There is no Jesus in the form of the Holy Ghost trying to teach us to be like Him. We have to see we are Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh. Jesus took our spirit (life) and hid it in Him. So, the two became one and Christ is still living in our old body that was made new through the circumcision of the flesh, an operation done by God at salvation. Our body is now the body of Christ. The scripture says that our body belongs to God. This is literal. Jesus died and paid the price for our body. We have to accept what happened at salvation.

St.John 17:22

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Jesus asked the Father to make us one as He and God are one. So, in the same way Jesus is one with God, we are one with God. We are the divine nature of God. It does not appear what we are, because we do not walk in obedience. This is the only difference in Jesus and us. He always walked in obedience. We do not always walk in obedience. This is why there is a separation and a difference between Jesus and us.

Jesus had no other agenda than that which the Father wanted. Jesus knew who He was. We do not know who we are. We do not accept who we are. Right now we are the righteousness of God. We do not have to become righteousness. We were created holy. We just have to walk in obedience so that who we are is manifested. We need to see what we give up by not obeying. When we do not obey and cannot manifest God, we have to look for a reason why. We feel that the apostles and Jesus had something we do not have. They had obedience. Many are just not ready to stop what they are doing. Before they will stop they will walk around and get counsel. They believe if they are being counseled that this will say to others they are trying. This gives them a license to keep falling. This is a game we play, but our soul is the prize.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We must obey God in all things. Many are about to die and go to hell because of their disobedience. We are coming under judgment for what we have already heard. We do not have long, all our sin must stop. We will never manifest the Jesus ministry until we obey Him in all things.

God bless you,

Apostle Mary Banks