PARTNERING WITH GOD

Our Identity, Righteousness, and Greatness in Christ

What God has called us to is not a small thing. The revelation of who we are in Christ — and who He has made us to be — is one of the most glorious truths in all of Scripture. When we understand our identity, our calling, and the life that has been deposited in our spirits, everything changes. The quality of your life is directly tied to the quality of your spirit, and your spirit is the location of the most extraordinary thing God has ever done in human history. He has made you righteous, He has given you eternal life, and He has called you to partner with Him in manifesting His glory to the nations.

What God wants to give you is not merely a healing, not a job, not money. What He wants to give you is His Word deposited in your spirit, to make you what it talks about. When that Word takes root, you shine — you shine by the power of the Holy Ghost — and nothing can stop you. This is your season. This is your hour.

A Royal Priesthood: Our Identity in Christ

Long before the Church was established, God spoke to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai and revealed His intention for a people who would be in unique partnership with Him. He declared:

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.

Exodus 19:5-6

The expression 'kingdom of priests' here carries an even more powerful weight in the original language. God was not merely calling them into a religious office — He was calling them into royalty. Royal priests. A people set apart, treasured above all peoples, with all the earth as the domain of their God. The high priest of Israel was himself a royal priest, crowned, wearing the insignia of both king and priest. That was always God's design for His people.

This promise found its fullest expression in the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Through the prophet Isaiah, God announced what the Christ would accomplish:

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.

Isaiah 42:6

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 49:6

And now, by virtue of our union with Christ, that which was spoken of the Messiah has become our reality. We have entered into what God always planned. The Apostle Peter makes this unmistakably clear:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

1 Peter 2:9

Do you see what you are? You are not ordinary. You are a chosen generation — God specifically chose you. You are a royal priesthood — you carry both the authority of royalty and the intercessory mantle of the priesthood. You are a holy nation, a peculiar people, one of a kind, unique in all the earth. And the Apostle John, writing in Revelation, echoes this in a doxology to Christ:

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:5-6

Kings and priests. That is your designation. That is your divine appointment. Not by your own merit, but because of what Jesus Christ has done. He loved us. He washed us in His own blood. He made us what we could never have made ourselves. And now the day has come — the day He announced through the prophets — when you are to be the light of the nations.

The Light We Are Called to Shine

Isaiah 60 is one of the most breathtaking chapters in all of Scripture, and it speaks directly to the glorious destiny of God's people as light-bearers in a dark world. The Lord says:

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Isaiah 60:1-5

There will be darkness in the world — God does not deny it. Gross darkness shall cover the earth. But the promise is not to insulate you from a dark world; the promise is that the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon you in the midst of that darkness, and the nations shall come to your light. This is not metaphor — it is prophetic declaration. You are the light of the world. You shine like the stars in the dark expanse of the universe, and the nations are drawn to your rising. Don't be moved by what you see around you, because God's glory is upon you.

This is confirmed in Philippians 2:15, where Paul describes believers shining as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. When the Spirit shows you what Christians are in the earth, you see the stars — lights scattered in the darkness, each one marking where a child of God is. You and I are those lights.

The Ministry of Righteousness

Now we must understand what it means to carry this calling. In his second letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul draws a dramatic contrast between two administrations: the administration of death and the administration of righteousness.

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

2 Corinthians 3:7-9

The Law of Moses was glorious — so glorious that Moses' face shone when he descended from the mountain, and the children of Israel could not look at him. Yet Paul calls it the ministration of death, the ministration of condemnation. Why? Because the Law had no power to give what it demanded. It could command righteousness, but it could not produce it. It could declare what was right, but it could not transform those who heard it. Under that administration, death reigned.

But you live under a different administration. You have been given the ministry of the Spirit — the ministry of righteousness. And Paul is categorical: much more does the ministry of righteousness exceed the old in glory. This is not a lesser thing; it is an immeasurably greater thing. To carry the ministry of righteousness is to carry the glory of God. It is to walk in the most powerful reality on the earth.

Building on this in chapter four, Paul continues:

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

Because we have this ministry, we do not faint. We do not give up. We live by the manifestation of the truth — not merely telling the truth, but truth made visible in our lives, in our character, in our conduct. The demonstration of righteousness is not a performance; it is an overflow of who we are.

Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 6:1 tells us that we are workers together with God. You are a partner with God Almighty in the administration of righteousness. When He calls you to pray for a nation, you are doing the work of righteousness. When He calls you to intercede for your leaders — even those with whom you deeply disagree — you are exercising the righteousness of God. Bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you. This is not weakness; this is the demonstration of a kingdom that has no fear of any earthly power, because you live in another country — the country of God.

And when you do this work — the work of righteousness — the prophet Isaiah tells us what its fruit will be:

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

Isaiah 32:17

The work of righteousness produces peace. Not simply the absence of conflict, but a deep, settled quietness and assurance that is independent of all external circumstances. Trees of righteousness are chains of righteousness — they hold everything together. There is no trouble that can unsettle the one who walks in righteousness, because that quietness and assurance is forever.

What Righteousness Really Is

Righteousness is not merely a theological concept. It is your nature. It is who you are in Christ.

The Apostle Paul declares:

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This means that every thought you think, every word you speak, every action you take flows from a nature that is righteous before God. You are not someone struggling to become righteous — you are righteousness. That is your nature, your essence, your spiritual DNA. And righteousness is a tree. Isaiah 61:3 calls God's people 'trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.' A tree of righteousness cannot bear the fruit of fear, failure, or darkness, because that is not the nature of the tree.

Think about what righteousness looks and feels like as a lived experience. Imagine a life in which every thought, every opinion, every word, every action — all of it is captured and governed by the glory of God. Everything you are reflects His beauty and His truth. That is righteousness. That is the life to which God is inviting you. A life of so much glory, so much beauty, so much honour — beyond description. And Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Righteousness is not a burden — it is the secret of the kingdom life.

Eternal Life: The Life You Carry Right Now

When you believed in Jesus Christ, you did not merely receive forgiveness of sins, and you did not simply receive a ticket to heaven. You received eternal life — and you received it now. This is the central message of the Apostle John, who opens his first epistle with one of the most stunning declarations in all of Scripture:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1-3

Notice what John says. He is not presenting a doctrine. He is describing a Person. The life was manifested. Eternal life is not an idea; it is a Person — Jesus Christ Himself, who was eternal life made flesh. He was the Word of life. He was that very life that was with the Father from before time began, now made tangible, visible, touchable, audible in human history. And John's testimony is this: that eternal life has now been manifested unto us.

Think about the privilege of that fellowship. John says, I am writing to you so that you may have fellowship with us — and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Wherever you go in this world, however ordinary your surroundings may appear, you are a person in fellowship with God Almighty. That changes everything about how you walk, how you speak, how you face opposition.

John's fifth chapter makes the possession of this life completely clear:

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.

1 John 5:12-13

He wrote so that you would know — not hope, not believe uncertainly, not wonder — but know that you have eternal life. Right now. At this very moment, the indestructible, imperishable, incorruptible life of God is at work in your spirit. It is a fountain of life inside you. And the Gospel of John tells us plainly what kind of life John had in view when he wrote all of this:

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John 20:30-31

Jesus is the Christ — the Anointed One, the Messiah. And if you are a Jew, you understood the enormity of that claim. It is precisely the claim for which they killed Him. To say He is the Christ was to say He is God in the flesh, God manifested among us. And it is through that name — the name of the One who is Himself God — that you have life. Not a religious experience, not a moral framework. Life. The divine life of God, imparted to your spirit.

Living by the Law of the Spirit of Life

Because you carry this life, you no longer live by the same law that governs unregenerate humanity. Every natural person born into this world is born into a battle with death — from the first breath, death is at work. Every major effort of natural life is ultimately a defence against mortality: feed the body or it dies, protect it or it perishes, guard it or trouble comes. Natural life is a constant, losing fight with death. But the Apostle Paul declares your liberation:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2

You are not in the flesh. You are in the Spirit. You live by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and that law has made you free from the law of sin and death. Just as those who were given the Law of Moses were expected to live by that law, so you live by the law of the Spirit of life. And this is the law that governs your body as well as your spirit:

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Romans 8:11

The very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and gives life to your mortal body. You have a fountain of life on the inside. From your spirit, that life flows to your soul and to your body, and out of you flow rivers of living water to the ends of the earth. You do not struggle to get healed. You heal. The life of God in you deals with anything that comes against you, because the life that is in you is greater than anything that comes against it.

You are a child of light. You are a child of righteousness. You are a temple of the living God. And you live beyond the world — beyond its cycles, beyond its limitations, beyond its fears. The world cannot know what you carry until they see the demonstration of it.

Our Greatness in Christ

All of this converges in a glorious truth that God declared over His people — a truth that belongs to you today. In the book of Joshua, as the children of Israel stood at the edge of the Jordan River, prepared to cross over and possess their inheritance, God spoke to Joshua:

And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

Joshua 3:7

God said: I will begin to magnify you. Not your contacts. Not your titles. Not your natural gifts or your accumulated efforts. God Himself declared His intention to magnify Joshua before the eyes of all the people. This is the nature of divine greatness — it is not manufactured from the outside in; it is initiated and sustained by God Himself. And this word is for you today.

There are those who will look at you and conclude that you have no advantage. They will assess your background, your resources, your circumstances, and they will decide you cannot become anything of significance. But God has already spoken. He has said: This day will I begin to magnify thee. He will make you a wonder to your generation — in your home, in your workplace, in your city, in your nation, and in the world. You are the seed of Abraham.

Greatness is in your spirit. It was put there by God, and it will not be taken from you.

The prophet Isaiah described this day in terms that still take the breath away:

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

Isaiah 60:1

Arise. Shine. This is not a suggestion. It is a royal command to a people who have been given the light of God's glory. You were not born again to be a spectator. You were born again to rise, to shine, to demonstrate the glory of God to a world that is covered in darkness. God will magnify you — but He magnifies you as you arise, as you step into the fullness of who He has made you to be.

The Path of the Just

There is one final word that must be settled in your heart. It comes from the book of Proverbs, and it speaks to the trajectory of your life:

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Proverbs 4:18-19

The path of the just is not a declining path. It is not a plateau. It is a light that shines brighter and brighter, from glory to glory, from strength to strength, all the way unto the perfect day. Your life in Christ is not subject to the natural cycles of rise and fall that govern the world. The years of your life are not destined to diminish. The trajectory God has set for you is permanently upward and brighter.

Notice the contrast. The way of the wicked — those who have turned from God, who have ignored Him who has made Himself so clear in creation and in His Word — is darkness. They stumble and they do not even know what is making them stumble. They have no reference point, no light, no sure foundation. But you are not in darkness. You are not of the night. You are of the light. And the path of the light only goes one direction.

This year for you in Christ Jesus can only be better than last. Your light is increasing. Your glory is increasing. God is magnifying you before the eyes of the world, and they will look at you and wonder — who are these that walk in such confidence, such peace, such authority? These are they who have been filled with the Holy Ghost. These are they who walk in the Word of God. These are they who have received the eternal life of God in their spirits. These are God's chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people — shewing forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Conclusion

You have been called to partner with the living God. You have been made His royal priest, His chosen vessel, His light in the earth. You have received the very life of God in your spirit — that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested in Jesus Christ. You have been given the ministry of righteousness, which exceeds in glory everything that came before it. And God Himself has declared over you: This day will I begin to magnify thee.

Nothing can stop what God has initiated in your life. No darkness can overcome the light that shines from you. No circumstance can nullify the righteousness that is your nature. No opposition can turn the path of the just backward, for it shines more and more unto the perfect day.

The only thing that remains is for you to acknowledge it — to take it by revelation, to live it, to demonstrate it, and to carry it to the nations. That is what it means to partner with God.