By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

​“I and My Father are one” John 10:30.

​One of the major things that salvation did for us is give us oneness with Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:16-17 says, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” We are one spirit with Christ when we receive the gift of salvation. Being one with Christ means that everything we are, is Him. In Him we live, and move, and have our being!

​There are two scriptures in the bible that were called not just a mystery but a GREAT mystery. One being in

• Ephesians 5:31-32 “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The great mystery here is not man and woman, it is that Christ is joined to man; us. Marriage is being used here to illustrate our union with Christ. Just like we leave our mother and father for marriage, we have to leave the world to be joined to Christ.
• Ephesians 5:22-23 says “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”

 We must submit ourselves unto Christ like we would do to our spouse because He is the head, and we are the body. We are joined with Him because of what He did on the cross. This joining makes us one spirit with Him. We must accept Him willingly just like we chose marriage willingly.

​The other place in the Bible where something was called a GREAT mystery is in…

• 1 Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

 Godliness is the great mystery here. The fact that God came down to earth in flesh, through Jesus Christ, made it possible for us humans to live a Godly life. Christ joined Himself with us to infuse His life into our spirit, so that we can live this Godly life that we were called to live. This joining with Christ gives us the benefit of everything He did on our behalf. We are sons of God and belong to Him just because we have Christ Spirit in us. We share in all that is His because we are now one with Him. His resurrection becomes our resurrection, His authority becomes our authority. All He owns becomes ours too, for we are joint heirs!

​Scripture tells us that we are called by his name. This means we are identified with God. It is a privilege and honor that God even identifies with us. This identity gives us confidence to face difficulties. Paul knew about this identity. He wrote

• Galatians 2:20 “ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,  who loved me and gave Himself for me.”NLT

 When you know of this new identity, you can fight off sickness, sin etc. and refuse that they take any place in your life. You can fight off demonic attacks because you are joined with Christ. You are more powerful than any demonic spirit. The greater on is in you.

This joining gives us the privilege of a new ability. The Lord is the strength of our lives. Paul said he found the secret of living is in depending on the strength the Lord provides us not on what he has or does not have. We can all say that we can do all things through the strength that The Lord who lives in us provides us. Remember that we can do nothing apart from Christ Jesus. Nothing means exactly that nothing!

Through this union with Him, we are provided the strength we need to live the life God planned for us to live and because it is His strength, we can say Christ Lives through us and manifests Himself through us daily. He came to give us life and give us life more abundantly. That life comes to us through His Spirit that lives in Union with our spirit

Just as a branch draws everything from the tree so we as branches in union with Him draw life and everything we need for life and godliness through Him. The branch is in union with the tree. As long as that union with the tree is in place, that branch is held up by the tree and produces fruit through the life it draws from that tree. If that branch is cut off, it cannot do anything of its own. It dies and dries up. So are we with Christ Jesus. We are the branches and He is the Vine and as a branch cannot bear fruit without the tree so we cannot also bear fruit without the vine.

This analogy of the Vine and the branch is not a physical reality but a spiritual reality. Jesus now lives not as in the days of His flesh, but now by His Spirit. So we are joined to Him through our spirit and as a branch is one with the tree so we too are one with Him

We can therefore do all things only through Him. If we try to live any other way, then we will be depending on something else; our own ability and self-will. Here is the problem it presents. The flesh profits nothing. The prophet Jeremiah makes it clear that unless we depend on the Lord, then we cannot live that blessed life.

• Jer 17:5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.