Christians often have their own vernacular. We say things like “blessed and highly favored,” or “we need to die to self,” but often we forget the origins or meanings of these expressions of our faith in Jesus Christ. For example, have you ever considered what the Apostle Paul means when he writes, “your life is hidden with Christ?”
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
When Paul writes to the church at Colossae he writes to a church filled with mystic believers who may be compared to followers of The New Age movement, or one of its many spin-off mystic cults. Though there were several different mystic groups during Paul’s time, history unifies these groups into one name, The Gnostics.
Like followers of the New Age movement, Gnostics believed in spirituality, but they did not know the one true God, through Jesus Christ. Gnostics and New Age believers alike typically believe in one or several “higher powers,” and provide for these higher power(s) attributes that are similar to a Jedi-like-wizard sporting a long white robe and white beard. In fact, many Gnostics believed that Jesus, even when he walked among humanity, was a miracle-working-ghost who also provided wise sayings. Yes, they really thought he was a ghost.
Paul, however, understands that we minister and evangelize at the level of those who will listen. He addresses the interests of the Gnostics by stating, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” Paul makes it clear that Christ is the cornerstone of Christianity. By writing, “things which are above,” Paul provides a colloquialism for mystic minded people to understand that Christ who lived, died, and was resurrected has all dominion in heaven and on earth.
Mystics then and now love the hidden mysteries of the universe. Let’s not confuse mystics with scientists, despite the fact that modern Science, unfortunately, has been hijacked by atheists and New Age thinkers. Nevertheless, Paul acknowledges their love for things unknown and in chapter 1 he address properly the ultimate mystery, by writing, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to the saints. The riches of this glorious mystery have been revealed to us and it is "Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!"
Do you realize what Paul is saying? First, Paul declares that the biggest mystery kept from humanity for thousands of years is revealed in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, consider the rest of Paul’s sentence, “Christ in you.”
All of the power, all of the grace, and yes, all the mystery of Christ is hidden in each person who accepts Christ Jesus as his, or her savior. So what does it mean to have Christ hidden inside of every Christian?
Learning to use the power of Christ inside of you is a process, and often it takes place in lonely obscurity. The Lord reveals what He wants, when he wants it, and how it wants it, and for the plan he has destined. Often we are “hidden” in that our calling, gifting, talent, ability, or our anointing has been hidden for a certain time, a certain season, or a certain moment.
Jubilee is your coming out party. The Lord says to each of us, I have been teaching you, preparing you, molding you, but now I am sending you out for your purpose. Everything you have done to honor me in private will bring about a Hidden Harvest. The process, was Hidden, but the Harvest will be plentiful.
We often forget this while we are in the process, because a harvest is only produced by faith. Another way of understanding faith is to understand being hidden in Christ. We may hope when all evidence indicates that hope is lost while we are hidden in Christ. It is a mysterious hope that is hidden in Christ that propels us towards our destiny. Often we forget that God is control and we give into what we can measure in the natural environment and abandon faith, and lose sight of God’s omnipotence.
We must never forget that God is always a step ahead. God hid Moses in a basket as a baby to protect him. Later God hid Moses in a house of a Man who wanted to Kill Him. If the devil would have known which child it was, the devil would have had the baby killed, but Moses was a hidden harvest, just like you and I are a hidden harvest. God hides his plan until the right season, place, and moment. The Devil is not after you. He is after your harvest, or your destiny. You must make sure that you aren't getting ahead of God's plan. A harvest produces very little, but the worst part is that an immature harvest produces fewer seeds. We must learn to allow ourselves to be hidden with Christ and remember the safety he provides when we are obedient.
“For everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven”
The Bible is filled with people who accomplished great things but had very little talent or ability. Some of the men and women used by God in the Bible seem to be underserving of anything at a glance. But God hid these men or women until their appointed time, and to accomplish His will. God hid Abraham until God's appointed time, and God even hid Joseph in prison and slavery until it was his time. Who can forget Esther? God hid Esther until her appointed time. God hid David in the field fighting lions and bears until he would face Goliath. There is so much more that should be written, preached, and taught concerning David’s faithfulness during his Hidden Season. David never fights and defeats Goliath if not for his Hidden Season with God.
A person’s heart may be hidden from the general public, but it’s not hidden from the all-seeing eyes of God.
““So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely theLord’s anointed is before Him!”But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” ”
The Lord sees your tears, agony, and how you fight anger, fear, and frustration, yet you continually focus your thoughts on that which is above. God sees the changes that are taking place inside you as He continues to prepare you for the next step, the next place, the next phase of a lifelong process of learning, growing, and empowerment that never ends. Christ is hidden in you while hiding you from danger to prepare you for the greatest adventure you could never imagine.
“Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.”
David was "tending" to the sheep. Maybe you are in a Hidden season. You must understand that God is watching. God see's your faithfulness and he knows the desires of your heart. It is your Time. You are coming out of the secret place and into the Glory.
“1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
Every negative thing you have been through was a setback that set you up for a Comeback. If there is ever a time that in weakness you believe that the devil has defeated you, remind yourself of the devil’s resume. He failed in creation, he failed in the Old Covenant, he failed in the Crucifixion, and he and even failed with Paul and Silas in the prison.
Wait, do you remember Paul and Silas in prison? The devil tries to beat Paul and Silas to death through torture, but he made a mistake. He put them in the same cell. He put two people walking in the supernatural power of agreement in the same cell and his glory emptied the Jail Cell.
We are in a season in which God is revealing that which has been hidden. God is revealing by fire, through His word, through His children, and though his spirit.
“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
Learning to allow one’s self to be hidden in Christ is a Godly process that never ends, and some phases of the process seem impossible. Many people however overlook some of the easiest aspects of the process. Being hidden in Christ doesn’t mean that we are hidden from Christ or His righteousness. Over the past twenty-years many Christians have misunderstood the teachings of God’s amazing grace as an excuse to have no self-control, and to sin willingly and knowingly, and one day they wake up unware that they identify with the world more than the teachings of Christ.
“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”
Paul is saying that living a real mysterious life hidden with Christ means to get your life right with Christ. Accept Him as you King, savior, and ruler of everything you are. Embrace this Hidden Life of service to which he has called us. Accept a new and better way of thinking that leads to peace and safety.
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
Christ being hidden in you and you hidden in Christ means a life of peace, destiny, love, and protection. It’s not just a simple Christian colloquialism that we Christians say to be a part of a click and sound like everyone else. Living inside of you is the greatest mystery in the entire universe with infinite power, and knowledge of the past, present, and universe. This revealed mystery inside of you should be revealed to the world every day in your thoughts and actions towards yourself, and others. People around you will begin to see that there’s something mysterious about you and the way you react in difficult situations, and how much stronger you are than others emotionally, and how you’re able to endure situations that would make others simply quit or runaway and they’ll want to know about your mysterious ways. You might reply as Paul may have replied. “It is Christ in me.”
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”