Ron:

Welcome to Live Behind the Veil. I'm Ron, your host, and today as we explore a deeper walk with God and what it means to live in the reality of His kingdom, the family dives into a powerful truth revealed in Romans chapter eight, that God's purpose for His people was established long ago and is moving towards this fulfillment today.

What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Christ in spirit, soul, and body? And how does God bring that fulfillment through a corporate body of believers walking together in faith and in love? As the discussion unfolds, the family challenges us to shake ourselves loose from spiritual ruts and press into the presence of the Lord with a determination that refuses to settle for anything less than His fullness.

Mike:

One of the things we need to remember is the Kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. So sometimes we just gotta shake ourselves loose in the spirit and go after things in the Lord, driving into something of a new area, getting out of a rut, but we shake ourselves loose to be in His presence.

To rise up to new levels where the Lord is. He says His Father has many dwelling places, and He says that where I am, you may be also. And if He's in the presence of the Father and in the heart of the Father, He wants us to be right there with Him.

Trisha:

We are predestined from Romans eight to be conformed to the image of Christ, and the image of Christ, in my book, is spirit, soul, and body. And we're not to walk around all bent over with pain. Is that a great witness when we're like that? How about a witness where we're running around like calves jumping around? It says you'll be like a calf out of the stall. How about that? Time for You to be glorified in our spirits and our souls and our bodies, and we're to be conformed to His image.

Roger:

This comes a time when it's gonna happen in somebody because it's right there in the Scriptures. So there's a faith in us collectively that we can take this step in seeing not only the redemption and purification of our spirits, but also soul and body. It's a collective faith. In the past, everything was focused on one man to break through to something, and God has seen fit that none of us are, quote unquote, spiritual giants the way things were in the past, that we can walk together in the love of God.

See something finally fulfilled. It could not be fulfilled with the emphasis upon just one person. It cannot be fulfilled except in a family of people who really have given their lives one to another, to love each other, and I think that's the atmosphere, honestly, that God has been waiting for a couple thousand years, not just in a man or a woman here or there, but a body of people who can really lay aside self to love each other, to serve each other.

That's the thing that pleases the Lord, and I sense His good pleasure upon such a mindset. So we can go ahead and take these final steps into the completion of what the Scriptures have prophesied, that you may be made complete spirit, soul, and body. He is coming in us as a people. We together can have the faith.

Not just to talk about it, but to really take this step into completion, something of the life of Christ, of the life of God that can quicken us into this next step that we're taking. The only way it's gonna work is that we take this step together.

Lord, we're looking for the hope of Your coming, and that coming is being completed in us. Like the widow that kept coming to the unjust judge, we just keep badgering Him and hitting Him under the eye until His Word is manifested, 'cause He is the One that spoke it. We're not just making up stuff and hoping it happens. God has spoken these things, and where we're lacking, one is lacking faith that's made up for by somebody else's faith, that we can go on into the fullness of God. This step we're taking now.

Ken:

This is a part of the violence of spirit, that we refuse to live on a lesser plane, a lesser level, but we insist on being in the level where God is bringing forth the people that will be the essence of the Lord, that will be the Lord in the earth.

Trisha:

It's a body participation. He's creating it in the body. It's not gonna be done as individuals. It's all in the body, and it's spread out to the whole body of Christ.

Roger:

You remember the blind man that came, and they said, who sinned, him or his mother, that he should be blind? Jesus said neither, but he was born this way for the glory of God, God's glory to be manifested in him. And of course he was healed. And I think this has to be true too, that the afflictions and things goes beyond just being old. There's something that God has allowed that He may be glorified. God was glorified in that blind man being able to see.

Mike:

And when you sense and understand the greatness of the Kingdom of God and the fact that it's dawning through us, His sons, then you realize the battle that's been on us to prevent us from getting this revelation, to prevent us from knowing who we are, completely going after this thing with a whole heart and a violence of spirit like we've been talking about.

This is the time of fruitfulness. This is the time where things are starting to happen, if nothing else, to break us free from any ruts or any concepts, anything that is hindering us in seeing ourselves as God sees us and desires us to be, walking in all the things He put us here in our destiny to walk in.

I see that when I read Romans eight. Realize what you're reading. There is past tense. These things that you read in Romans eight, talking about all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

And then it goes on to say, for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom He predestined, these He also called, and whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Do you notice that's all past tense?

Then you get over here and you read verse 20. It says, for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. If we've been glorified, then creation is set free to come into the glory of the sons of God. It's happening right now.

Ron: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Live Behind the Veil. Today's discussion reminds us that God's purpose is not simply about individual growth, but about a people being formed together, conform to the image of Christ and moving toward the fullness of his life. As believers step into the identity, God has spoken over them, the glory of God begins to be revealed through his people, and even creation waits for that revealing of the sons of God.

The journey from predestined to glorified is not something we walk alone. It unfolds as the body of Christ moves together and faith, love, and unity. If this message has encouraged you, be sure to share it with others who are hungry for a deeper walk with the Lord. And until next time, keep pressing in into his presence and living behind the veil.