The Present Awareness

The Present Awareness
By JoAnn McFatter www.joannmcfatter.com

As we carry on in the faith, holding to our belief systems and trusting God will move in and through us along the way, I would like to put things on pause for a moment. Yes, I would like you to push the pause button and just be aware of this "very moment".... There it goes—it has already passed. Hit pause again and just try to be fully aware of this marked point in time in your life...and there it goes again.

Being fully aware of the moment is a challenge we don't impose upon ourselves because we are often on automatic. Life is one continuous flow for us as the moments, sometimes hours, go by without a trace of awareness of what we are to experience in God. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year we are made in God's image and created to function as one with Him—at all times and in all situations, and ever conscious of God in us and ever aware of this oneness.

A Never Ending Flow

And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.—John 17:10-11

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.—John 17:20-22

There is a never ending flow in us that comes from the very essence of who He is, as we accept Him as our personal Savior and live out our lives filled with His Spirit. We are so tied into the physical aspect of who we are that it's difficult for us to wrap our minds around the fact that we are first and foremost a spiritual being, made in God's image, encased in this temporal physical manifestation.

The fact that we live this life in a physical body throws off our perspective because it results in our having such a strong mindset toward the physical realm. But did you know that you, as a physical being, actually flicker in and out of time and space millions of times per second? It's not so as you would notice because it happens so rapidly that our natural eye is unable to distinguish it.

It's a scientific fact that our being is an energy flow that manifests in a physical way, just as the bed you lay on, the table you sit at, the chair you sit on—everything. Newtonian Science held the belief that if you can see it, touch it, feel it—that is reality. With the discovery of Quantum Physics, the study of matter at the sub-particle level, we find that there is much more going on in the universe than we ever imagined.

This world we live in is held together by God's awareness of all things, in all of creation, at all times! Amazing! It's astonishing what science is discovering that redefines our perspective of our existence. And yet, as Christians, we should be excited that what is being revealed through all of these studies are all found in the Word!

Mysteries of the Gospel

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.—2 Corinthians 4:18

And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.—Colossians 1:17

Science has been discovering the mysteries of the gospel and unfolding them to us, if we have an ear to hear, especially in these last few decades. One such discovery has to do with the fact that we are energy. (I have written of this before. Click here to read a previous article on the ElijahList.)

As energy we are much more pliable and have much more influence as a created human being than we are aware of. There is that word again—aware—and therein lies the key. To the degree that we are aware of who we are in Christ and the dominion we are given, we will be effective. How we influence our surroundings and are impacted by them is greatly impacted by our awareness of the interaction between ourselves and the world around us, both physical and spiritual.

We must awaken to the fullness of who we are intended to be with a full awareness of the eternal and physical realms at the same time. One foot in each realm, as a spirit being encased in a physical body, yet not limited by its boundaries! God alone is our boundaries and our borders, not this physical realm. We need to live in the full awareness of this as we awaken to the position we hold in Him, both in heavenly places and on the earth. We are "seated with Him in heavenly places" WHILE we are yet in these mortal bodies on the earth!

This Present Moment

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.—Romans 13:11

Therefore He says: 'Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'—Ephesians 5:14

Both of these verses are in the context of coming out of a dullness of mind and spirit so that we do not fall into the complacency of the day, whether it be sin or unbelief. We can no longer afford to live the days, hours and moments on automatic, but must become aware of every present moment in our lives. All we have is this present moment.

What is in the past is gone and what is in the future has not yet been, at least that is true of what goes on in our time and space realm. But in every moment we have the endless possibilities of how our lives can change, how our mentalities can shift, and our awareness can become stronger and influence not only ourselves, but the world around us.

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.—2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Unfortunately, we are still buying into the old. We still believe we are ruled by the limitations set on man between the fall and resurrection of Christ! Let it not be so any longer! We have NO idea what an amazing creation we are in Christ and have been living our lives in the deafening dullness of what has been before—the way of the old man!

Just How "One" We Are

When words are released into our ear, it is nothing but vibrations that we have attached learned meaning to. Air molecules vibrate, sending a signal to the inner ear, which then sends a message to the auditory part of our brain where the message is relayed and affects our whole being. If it is a language we don't understand, we have no awareness of what is being spoken and our body doesn't respond or become aware of what has been relayed.

On the other hand, if it is in a language we recognize, we take in that sound with awareness and it influences us for positive or negative, depending on the message. It can cause a reaction at the cellular level as though you just took into your body a drug composed of chemicals! That's how impacting our emotional and spiritual response to things can be on our body, on our whole being.

Medicine is just now coming to grips with the reality of how body, mind and soul inter-relate. That is how God created us to interact with each other and our surroundings. That is why he urges us repeatedly in Scripture to think on the good, the "whatsoever things are pure." EVERYTHING we come across leaves some sort of impact. Any two particles that have ever interfaced are connected forever. Science is now learning just how "one" we all are in Christ, in whom all things exist!

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. —Philippians 4:7-8

To be aware every moment of every day of the positive things in ourselves and those around us could drastically change our lives. That, I believe, is why He urges us repeatedly in Scripture to have a grateful heart, so that we can live in that place of abiding love. To be conscious at all times, in this present moment, of the flow of God in us so that we have a constant awareness of our oneness with Him, would cause us to view circumstances around us very differently.

I wonder if that is not what is behind Paul urging us to pray without ceasing. Perhaps that is why he found it so beneficial to always be praying in tongues to the point that he said, "I pray in tongues more than ALL of you!" It put him in a place of acute awareness of his oneness with God.

Shouts of "Grace Grace"

Yes, our own awareness of the goodness of God in these days will go a long way to bring us through some challenging circumstances. We will do well to be awakened to the reality of the Spirit realm and the spiritual truths in Scripture that can overcome what we are both seeing and not seeing with the natural eye.

In doing so, we put on the full armor of God as we wash over our minds and hearts with God's perspective of things. Does it mean there are no troubles? Not at all, but we move through them with "grace grace" on our lips, and with that same acute awareness at all times of the love and goodness of God that Paul had, loosing miracles to flow through him.

So he answered and said to me: 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of Hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, Grace to it''—Zechariah 4:6-7

It is time to shift our focus to things that hold eternal value so that we might be ones who will be able to bring healing and deliverance to the masses in this hour. We've heard over and over that the darkness will get darker and the light lighter, but we cannot presume that we will partake of this light if we have not looked into the light as preparation. We are changed as we behold Him. We need to exercise our spirit man to release strength and clarity of mind as we "set our thoughts on things above."

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.—Psalm 17:15

To be ever present with Him is to be acutely aware in every moment that He is in us and we are in Him. Out of that present awareness, that place of oneness, we will see change in ourselves, as well as in the atmosphere around us. As we "practice His presence," as Brother Lawrence would say, we will begin to flow from His boundaries and borders, and not be limited any longer to our old mindsets.

We will experience the realities of the eternal even while we are yet in this dispensation of time, reaching into the age to come and bringing it into the here and now. To accomplish this, we must awaken to this present awareness of who we are in Christ—at all times, even in this present moment that has just passed, the one that we are in at this moment, and the one that is to come. We are made in His image, the One who was and is and is to come!