"[...] There is a successive and progressive process when it comes to our life in Christ which requires us to grow from within. Our inward growth is one which affords us joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness and the merciful kindness by which God exerts His holy influence upon souls …"

Brethren, be not children in understanding: yet in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 1 Corinthians 14:20 Webster Bible

When we speak of GROWTH, there is maturing, and transformation involved: As it is with the various stages of life to adulthood, our spiritual growth is made up of several stages and the end result is that we come to the MANIFESTATION of our sonship in Christ. We move from just hearing the Word without digesting it to understanding its implications and allowing the Word to influence our choices. We become conscious that as sons, we have RESPONSIBILITIES and there is a consciousness that we need to have, to come to the full measure of the stature of Christ, having our thinking trained. We become children in malice (evil), but we grow in understanding (perceiving and judging), giving way to the Lord to have His way in and through us.

 
Our Father is the God of all GRACES. He wants us to live a life of abundance, relying on His supply. The supply that He gives is the same SUPPLY for all, but it is manifested multi-dimensionally in each one, based on our AWARENESS. When we draw from God’s supply within us, we realize that there is less stress and there is more harmony in the way we do things, such that Grace is seen. Whatever we do brings sweetness, joy, and His HOLY INFLUENCE upon souls. In this Podcast episode, Dr Annie Smith presents Grace as God's supply in all things. Growing in grace means that you are exercising the holy influence of God over souls with ease. You do all things with joy, knowing that you are representing Him, and there is a giving away of God through you to others.

"[...] As a believer in Christ, you either live in the awareness of what is effectually at work in you, which is what has been wrought in the finished work of Christ or you live based on external information…"

Every believer is a minister, to WITNESS the things seen in Christ. Seeing here refers to our perception, which is the opening of the faculty of the mind to come to the awareness of what is already GIVEN to the believer. Your perception of self has consequences on your perception of Christ because we hear the Gospel the way we are. To perceive ourselves accurately as Christ sees us: glorified in Him, requires that we undergo a radical transformation from within to turn from darkness; the ignorance of the Divine to LIGHT. Perception is therefore an activity of the spirit.

After the resurrection, we do not see things the way they seem to be, but we see them the way Christ has revealed them to be. The PURPOSE of what Christ has accomplished is that we should receive the revelation of Christ (who He is and who we are in Him), and be the representative of what we have received of Him as revelation.

In this podcast episode, we are re-appraising the goodness of God and the perfection of the work in Christ. We see ourselves in Him, and no longer live as ourselves but we live as Christ because Christ lives His life in us. Enjoy and rediscover what it means to be crucified with Christ.

Leadings and perceptions start by us examining for ourselves if what comes out of our heart is in the Faith, if we are thinking in the Son.  It requires a certain level of maturity  to yield to instruction and accept direction. It requires discipline to quiet  one’s own mind, voice and intentions to LISTEN to God's intention. To receive His intention, our minds need to be ready to yield to hear Him and walk before Him. Leading and perception starts by examining for ourselves if what comes out of our heart is in the FAITH, is circumscribed by the purpose of God, is focused on God’s own way of seeing. We cannot speak about leadings and perceptions without examining for ourselves to see and acknowledge that we are in the Faith and not about the faith.  

 
In this Podcast Episode, Dr Annie Smith reminds us that God wants to quicken and sharpen our hearing and understanding so we receive wisdom by His Spirit and live fruitful lives. Get ready to be renewed as you heed to this Word of Life.

"[...] The man of God has taught us about the threefold cord of prosperity. And this cord is not based on anything monetary nor material…"

This statement is not surprising because the value of a thing does not depend on the thing itself but on the quantity and quality of joy it brings into one's life. If someone spends his life, accumulating wealth in a bank account or acquiring for himself material assets, he is the poorest man on earth because he never enjoys these external resources. Prosperity is therefore about what we ENJOY and not about material things.  And if prosperity is all about what we enjoy then the resources that are meant to be enjoyed are IN US; WITHIN our spirit man.

Until what we have is converted and put into the plan of God, we will live our whole lives without ever BEING joyful or finding our true fulfilment.  This is because any monetary value that is not attached to the joy that we have in our heart, which converts it into something permanent and coherent, has no value.  Understanding God's plan and walking in it, brings a never-ending joy that makes the whole course of our life enjoyable.

Proverbs 10: 22 (AMP) says that "The blessing of the Lord brings [true] riches, And He adds no sorrow to it [for it comes as a blessing from God]."  This implies that RICHES come from the blessing of the Lord,  not from something we work for day and night, nor from something we try to build ourselves. The Father Himself adds nothing sorrowful to what the blessing has brought in our lives, but He sustains and backs up  what the blessing has covered in our lives. In this excerpt, Dr Annie Smith reminds us that once we understand that it is blessing that causes the OVERFLOW of resources in our lives, we can make the most of it in furthering the Father's plan for His creation. 

"[...] Every believer is a saint, every saint is a minister... We are made sons of God once, we are sanctified once, we are made His righteousness once, but we undergo the process of being made a minister."

A steward is one who administrates  the mystery revealed. The word "administration" comes from the Greek word "Oikonomos" and it speaks of an economy; the manner in which resources are distributed for the functioning of a government. Paul explains this term "administration" in Colossians 1 as a dispensation of the mystery.  TO BE an administrator of the mystery, one is to UNDERSTAND some key cardinal points highlighted in the following writings of Paul to the Ephesians:
 
"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the [a] dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,"  Ephesians 3:1-3 NKJV

When Paul says that he was made a prisoner of Christ, he is speaking about his unwavering commitment to take quality time to explain the mystery revealed everywhere he went so that all Men come to the understanding  of that which was PROVIDED in Christ. Paul's entire life, mandate, message, and race was to minister Christ to the Gentiles. He understood the benefits that come with the Gospel which are hope and peace. The Hope of the Gospel is a manner of living that SUPERSEDES the five physical senses. As long as our life on this physical sphere is still dictated by our five physical senses, we won't EXPERIENCE the benefits  that come with the Gospel, nor the untold experience in terms of expressing Christ  to others.  

In this Podcast episode, Dr Annie Smith reminds us of our sonship vocation which is to reveal the Son in us. To be made a minister requires a predisposition of the heart to learn by experience what it means to be a prisoner of Christ in this dispensation of the grace of God. In our maturing process in the understanding of the mystery revealed in the saints, we learn that the liberty that we obtain from Christ comes with responsibility and the rendering of account so much so that our lives can no longer be led according to our needs or physical senses. 

" I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all [a] utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed [b] in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Corinthians 1:4-8 (NKJV)

A testimony is interpreted by many as an experience of a thing, place, or person; an account that is given in a court of law. This subjective understanding leads to God being presented as the God of our experiences whereas HE IS not.  The testimony of Christ  in our lives is not related to our experiences with the gospel. To believe so, will imply that God is only God because of His dealings in our lives. What makes His testimony perfect  through the mouth of an imperfect Man is when we see Him as the ULTIMATE such that our witness of Him is no longer based on personal experiences.

The testimony of Christ is related to our encounter with His person. In Him, we have received everything that we could ever testify about and these things are found inwardly.  Paul speaks about the testimony of Christ as being our PERSUASION of His work in us.  It is what God thinks of Christ and what He thinks of us because the work of Christ. God confirms  Christ's testimony in us and when we BECOME persuaded of this confirmation, we have the confirmation of God about us.  His testimony clothes us with ALL riches, in all utterance and knowledge. Our testimony is derived from Christ, He is our assurance.

In this excerpt, Dr. Annie Smith reminds us of the testimony of Christ in us which enriches us with a consistent readiness of speech when we live, persuaded of the perfection of His work in us. This insight gives us practical steps to always walk victoriously irrespective of temporary feelings and situations in our lives.

"[...] Rejoice always! There is a level of joy that does not come in response to something nor an instruction and that is when we rejoice because of the understanding of the atonement..."


Apostle Paul speaks of a joy that is related to a knowledge: the understanding of the reason WHY  Christ died; not just knowing the fruits and benefits of His death. In the incarnation, God the Son took the soul and body of the man Jesus Christ and by so doing He took on our soul and anything that may want to diminish the quality of our lives. At the cross, He took on everything that was wrong with Man.


The EXPERIENCE of the atonement is related to the exchange of Christ taking upon Himself our souls and bodies, and transferring to us His own soul and body. He became one with us. He removed our illusion of separation with God. Our perfection is now totally dependent on our UNION with the perfect One - This was the reason for the atonement and we are to identify with Christ's death. Reflecting and meditating upon this knowledge gives us a sufficient reason to walk in joy.


The atonement is a whole school of life and that is why Paul says REJOICE always because of the understanding of what has happened in the one man Christ which lead to our union with God so we experience the perfect one in this life. The life of Christ is experienced in our soul from His spirit and this requires our recognition. We are saved by His life continually and we rejoice in Him. 


In this episode, Dr. Annie Smith reminds us of our unbreakable, immutable union with Christ. This is done through the atonement, which goes far beyond the forgiveness of sins; it is a question of our complete reconstitution in Him.

"[...] Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love," Ephesians 1 vs 4 NKJV

It is great to know that we do not derive our ORIGIN from the INCARNATION, nor from Genesis when God formed Man, not even when He declared His intention to form Man in His image. Love preceded  the world and everything that was made. There was a MEETING before the foundation of the world, in which God made a decision concerning US. This decision was about our pre-election in the Elect to live IN LOVE, to be holy and without blame before Him in Love. 

Knowing that we are IN CHRIST is an absolute truth but knowing why we are in Christ will establish that reality of being in Him.  We are in Christ so that we may live in perfect Love.  We need not to fear for our lives, because long before God laid the foundation of the earth, He had us in His THOUGHT. He made us the FOCUS of His love so we may be made whole, secure in Him.  We are not made holy by anything else but His love; Love is the place and the means. 

God's purpose was Love and there was no better place but Love to FULFILL His purpose.  He appointed a person: Christ through whom the purpose and the place was reunited. Christ had to be incarnate as the tangible expression of His Love. He proved God's existence but to prove that God loves, He went further by laying His life down in the worst possible manner so we may live in Him: Love.  The cross is the marvelous proof of His perfect love. Christ REDEFINED all humanity through this act of the CROSS. From here, we have THE BOLDNESS  to stand without any intimidation in the days of pressure, of crises because as Christ is so are we in this world. 

In this episode, Dr Annie Smith reminds us of our pre-election as sons in The Son and the fact that there is no fear in PERFECT LOVE, but perfect love banishes fear. And without understanding what the CROSS declares, there is no way to remove fear.

"[...] Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"  Hebrews 12:1 NKJV

We were CHOSEN in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world to show forth the praises of the One that has called us. The cloud of witness surrounds us to behold the praise by which we were called.

We are surrounded by the elders of the faith who foresaw how blissful this life will be after the resurrection of Christ, wherein man will live in the GOSPEL REALITIES, no longer under the rudiment of the law.  They looked to this generation with admiration, knowing that we will receive His Spirit, the FULLNESS of the Godhead in order to represent His permanent abiding.

NOW are we the sons of God ! We are no longer going where we want, doing what we want without any notion of the presence of Christ in us. Our Union and communion with God is our ONLY vital need. We are NOT purpose-driven, focused on self, our abilities or our temporal needs but we are sons who are led by the Holy Spirit. We receive His leading when we are in a STATE OF REST. 

In this episode Dr. Annie Smith reminds us of our pre-election as sons in The Son and how we are to live conscious of what the Father needs with the sole desire to see the manifestation of what He needs. 

Man cannot do anything to be what God thinks in His mind; we cannot be holy by focusing on the do's and don'ts recorded in the law. God gave us a faithful representative of what He thinks in His mind: Christ Jesus. He freed us from the demand of the law which was based on performances: the do to be paradigm. We are to be what the Father thinks of Christ in our daily walk by acknowledging our likeness with Christ.

Every believer is NOW a partaker of Christ. We co-echo Christ in our union with Him. We resound the thought of the Father concerning Christ by mirroring Him. We are not Christ but we are by grace what He is by nature. We first partake of the person of Christ  before partaking of His attributes and benefits. The word "partakers" comes from the Greek word " Koinonia". It refers to what we have jointly received in Christ because of our togetherness and our oneness with Him. It is the sum up of our union and participation with Christ. 

Apart from being partakers of Christ, we partake of His divine nature. Christ is the brightness of the GLORY of God and the expressed image of His person. The whole cosmos is upheld by His word. He is our authentic relationship with God, the Father. He gave our soul the potential to receive spiritual life, the life of God. When the metamorphosis process happens in our soul, the knowledge of God shines in us by outshining every knowledge we have of ourselves or the world. We become the expressed image of His person. He is the chief of the things that are SACRED and we are partakers of the calling of the commissioner. We share into the present-day ministry of Christ for the world. We are in His assignment to reveal the first intention of the Father which is to bring forth a family of sons to be the brightness of His image. 

In this week's podcast, Dr. Annie Smith does an exegesis of our partaking of Christ. She reveals how we partake in the person of Christ, in His suffering and death but equally in what His death and resurrection brought which is His glorious life.