Romans 6:3-5 TPT
Or have you forgotten that all of us who were immersed into union with Jesus, the Anointed One, were immersed into union with his death? [4] Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with him, so that when the Father’s glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life. [5] For since we are permanently grafted into him to experience a death like his, then we are permanently grafted into him to experience a resurrection like his and the new life that it imparts.
Every Christian is in union with Christ. That is a fact, accomplished by God and his grace alone. Sadly in many schools of theology Christians are taught to struggle towards union or oneness with Christ, when the truth is t we were born spiritually into union with Jesus. We grow in our Christian life because of union; not towards it. Because we are in union with Christ, new life is operating in us, and anything Godly thing a believer does, or feels, or thinks is because new life through their union with Christ is operating in them, even though they may not realize it. In John 15 we are referred to as the branches of Christ who is the Vine, and apart from the vine a branch is absolutely helpless and hopeless. If the life flowing through the vine does not flow into the branch, it is impossible for the branch to bear fruit. In the same way, John 15 tells us that apart from Him (our union with Him and thus His life operating in us) we can do nothing. If we as believers understood better about our union with Christ and what that means, and how that operates, then it would obviously be much easier to cooperate, and therefor participate in that new life which is operating in me, and through me. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and the more we hear about a truth, and the more that truth becomes an implanted word in us, the more we will be able to experience all that truth makes available to us, or promises us. It’s hard to believe a promise, that you don’t know anything about. I believe this is why Satan’s most determined effort throughout the 2000 year history of the church is to keep the people of God from fully hearing about their union with Christ.
If a believer prays for someone and they get healed, it is because they are in union with Christ and new life, His life, has just operated through them. If you find yourself longing for victory over an area of sin in your life, it is because you are in union with Christ, and those desires for holiness are coming from Him. If you find yourself changing, and walking in some victory you’ve never had before, then is because you are in union with Christ, and new life is in operation. Everything that we do in the Christian life, whether it is in the area of purity, or in the area of signs and wonders power, happens because you are in union with Christ, and His divine nature is operating in you. That is why the enemy wants to rob you from the full revelation of what being in union with Christ is all about, because he does not want the church to figure out who she really is, because if she does, the church might begin to manifest all that He is. Every local church might have their own Nuance to what they are called to demonstrate as far as their vision is concerned, but without question every church should have as their foundational message (and they should always come back to that foundation again and again proclaiming it, and reaffirming it) our union with Christ, because if they don’t they will never be able to experience and manifest the fullness of Jesus, but will only manifest bits and pieces.