"If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him." Romans 6:3-8. Thus, we see that Paul did not treat the concept of oneness with Christ as a passing thought that has no sure foundation. I can tell you from personal experience that having arrived at the place in your personal walk and relationship with Christ, that when he died upon the cross, you also died with him, and when he rose again you also rose with him, and that NOW—at this very moment your are sitting with him in heavenly places, your walk in God will be completely revolutionized.

From that elevated plateau in your walk with God, the struggles, hits and misses will have faded away into obscurity and forgotten into oblivion. In my early Christian walk, every step was a challenge and tumultuous to say the least. I payed attention to every word the preachers preached, and the Sunday school teacher taught. I marked every step to make sure is was not sinning before the eyes of Jesus. I did not want to be called out publicly in church that I had sinned the day before or the week before. If I thought I did wrong that amounted to sin, in church, I sat nervously, hoping that someone will not call me out for the sin I committed.

Amid such struggles, still with a burning desire to be right—to be holy, to be acceptable by Christ my Lord, one day I finally looked in the mirror as if I was actually looking at God. I began a frank and personal talk with the person looking back at me in the mirror. I told my story in full to God and announced to him that from then on, I will struggle no more; I will put no extra effort into trying to be holy. I said that from now on Lord, it is up to you. If you do not make me what I ought to be in thee, I won’t become it. I did not ask to come here! As a matter of fact, I did not ask to be born. Now that I am here, trying to serve you, it is up to you what I am going to be. I walked away from before my looking glass and forgot about that session. I struggled no more! I almost adopted a "don’t care attitude. I knew that it will be up to the Lord to mold me and shape me into the kind of vessel he wants me to be. At times the process is painful but it yields good fruit.

We need to keep foremost in our mind, that what so ever God touches must die before it begins to live. The death process changes the visible form with which we identify objects, while the nature remains the same. For instance; the grain of corn that we plant, after three or four days it breaks through the soil in growth; but it looks like a blade of grass—a common type of grass that grows by the side of the road in many places. In many cases, the original grain of corn comes up on the side of the growing corn tree, until it finally falls off as dead husk. But here is the beauty! Although the corn tree looks like a type of grass, in a few months (in most cases, in about six months when it begins to bear fruit in many cases from one to six or seven ears of corn, it does not produce grass, because its nature as corn never changed.

The same principle applies to God when he takes up residence within us. He does not take over our mortal body to the point of changing our physical form. We bear the same form and likeness that we were born with and developed into adulthood. But the divine substance—indeed, the divine life of Jesus Christ dwells in us as Paul prayed for the Ephesian brethren: " For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breath, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19.

Paul added this marvelous account that has become one of my cherished verse of scripture. "But we all, with open face (uncovered face) beholding as in a glass (in a mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2^nd Corinthians 3:18. Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that we need not panic or seek outside help to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The corn tree has no need to be concerned by the fact that it is growing much like the wild grass. It lives and grows with its ample portion of "corn nature" that in its time to reproduce, it is guaranteed not to produce grass but real healthy corn. He who lives within us will in his due time emerge with his power and glory that was hidden within for all these years.

We can break forth in singing: "What a mighty God we serve, what a mighty God we serve; angels bow before him, heaven and earth adore him, what a mighty God we serve." It is no wonder that the Psalmist wrote: "This is the lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day (of great revelations) which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:23,24. One of the main points of interest in this series of study, is the mighty acts of God on our behalf, that he determined within himself even before time began. It is mind boggling to say the least!

By now, we have learned that it is not enough merely to accept Jesus Christ as Savior, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and move into the realm of operating the nine gifts of the Spirit. If I suggest that we must become partakers of God’s DNA, no doubt some brows will be raised at least in curiosity with a bit of wonder. If we refer back to man’s first creation, we are told that he was created in the image of God, and after his likeness. Taking this matter a little further, we find Paul endorsing a substantial, and marvelous concept that many today are still passing over in what looks like "speed reading" without digesting the essence of the message the verse conveys.

When Paul arrived in Athens, as he passed by, he saw their devotions with one devoted to "THE UNKONWN GOD". This gave the apostle an opening to start his discussion. Explaining the nature and person of the invisible God, he mentions this: "As certain of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (off shoot or next of kin) For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device." Acts 17:22,23,28,29. Paul did not think that mankind being the offspring of God, is outlandish and wrong for us to assume that level of connection and relationship with the Divine.

If we are, in truth, the offspring of God, it must stand to reason that we are required to possess his DNA. It is based on the same principle as the relationship between parents and children. It is to this end that we are told what the process of being born again is meant to be. I like how Peter puts this! "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: 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." 2^nd Peter 1:3,4.

Thus, we are given two paths that enable us to be partakers of God’s DNA. It is so real that Paul, in one of his pastoral letters wrote: "For we are members of his body, (not mere religion) of his flesh, and of his bones." Ephesians 5:30. Indeed, he that is joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT. 1^st Corinthians 6:17. From before the creation came into being God had us in mind and his actions, purpose, and ultimate intentions is to bring his will into complete fruition in his time.

Paul had a serious problem in the midst of the Galatian church. As well known, the apostle did not settle in one place to serve as pastor of a local Assembly. But in his absence, seemingly certain brethren from Jerusalem came in among the membership and brought with them the legalistic traditions of Moses that required them to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. To his surprise, upon his next visit, he quickly observed that the membership hade slipped backward, by now, having a desire to go backward to serve the law.

This is how Paul managed the situation. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." Galatians 4:19. What was the secret and solution to the problem that now existed within the membership of the Galatian church? Paul could not "baby sit" them since his ministry required him to travel hundreds of miles, so he could only visit periodically. They needed "a staying power" that would keep their feet firmly grounded and growing in the faith and assurance that they had previously received. Paul’s remedy was a simple one. The answer was for Christ to be formed in them.

This concept went far beyond "keeping church". In the natural process of child bearing as we know it to be, for several months of pregnancy up to the usual nine months, (sometimes more and sometimes less) the child within the womb continues to take from the parents, family traits, blood type, and just about all that the parents possess. So for nine months (more or less) that child being developed in the womb takes from its parents to become like them.

But in the case of Jesus Christ being formed in us, the process is reversed. Instead of Jesus Christ in us begins a process in which he becomes like us, we gradually become like him. Paul concluded to himself that this truth—this concept is the ultimate answer and solution to the problem that existed within the Galatian church. With Christ being formed within, not only will they have experienced the saving power through the blood of Jesus Christ. They will now have the staying power, as we sing that Jesus saves and he keeps.

In fact, that is how we live the Christian life. We need not carry a bible in our pockets so that we can quickly refer to special scripture verses to confront or solve certain tests or circumstances. We used to sing at Westgate Tabernacle in West Palm Beach: "The word is working mightily in me, the word is working mightily in; no matter what the circumstance, what I feel or see, the word is working mightily in me.

By now, we must have learned more and more the importance of being born again; and we end this study by keeping uppermost as a part of our mindset, the words of Christ. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: SO IS EVERY ONE THAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT." John 3:8. Let us ponder this verse in the context of what Jesus alluded to: the truth behind his statement.