Christopher Bernard's Testimony of the Exchanged Life

In the 1970s Christopher Bernard wrote a letter to Norman Grubb that was translated into an article. Following are excerpts from that article:

"There is such an emphasis today on getting and keeping the 'presence of God' in one's life. I also once strived and struggled and cried out to God through daily disciplines to get the 'manifested presence' of God. I thought the presence of God was dependent upon what I could do.

"I have since thrown all that out the window forever, realizing now that I in fact am the presence of God, the Holy of Holies, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I no longer have to go running around striving to get His presence in my life . . . .

"Psalm 22:3 says that God is holy and 'inhabits the praises of Israel.' I've always thought that the way to get His presence was to praise Him, and then He would come down and inhabit my praise and manifest Himself to me. But that's the God of the old covenant, the God of 'influence,' or as the world calls it, a philosophy.

"Most people look at God as an influence. 'Here am I down here, and there You are God up there, and if I'll do certain things and fulfill certain principles, You'll come down with Your presence and bless me.' Even the world can live by that philosophy, knowing they'll be blessed by doing and fulfilling certain principles in life. Israel, an unregenerate people, lived by this principle. But because God is self-giving, He doesn't expect anything out of us. I don't have to fulfill anything to get His presence.

"My God is not a God of influence, He's a God that has taken up permanent residence. He has taken up permanent abode in me. The veil was rent from top to bottom so that I could enter once and for all into the Holy of Holies whereby I freely partake of His presence, with no strings attached. Because of that, praise is now a natural, free-flowing, continual expression unto Him. Praise becomes as natural as breathing, and is a state of being and not merely an act. Our lives can simply be praise to Him (Eph. 1:12). The act of audible and demonstrative praise simply flows out of that state of being in which I find myself . . . that of union with Him . . . .

"I no longer know a God of coming and going, a life of ups and downs according to whether I praise Him. There is such a higher realm where He lives as you and you as Him. We are one with the Father through Christ.

"The classical example used to emphasize that we 'ought to' praise God is found in Scripture, where Paul and Silas praised God in prison; and because they praised, God freed them. But, Peter was also in prison so fast asleep doing nothing that the angel had to hit him to wake him up to flee. The presence of God is not dependent upon praise, but rather is a state of being in Him. And Paul and Silas were not praising to try to call down the presence of God, but because He was in them and spontaneously flowed forth in praise. They praised because they had the presence.

"Our churches today are by and large a modern-day Mosaic tabernacle, trying to fulfill certain principles, rules and regulations, do's and don'ts, laws and commandments, and daily disciplines in order to get the presence and approval of God. That's fine as long as one does all of that flawlessly; but the Bible says that no one can keep the law. It also says that whoever wants to do the law must live it totally. You're blessed if you can do it, but cursed if you can't! (I tried for 13 years, but never could.) Besides that, even if one could keep all the principles, laws and disciplines, there is room for pride saying, 'I have done it.' But God will share His glory with no man. There is absolutely nothing we can do to merit the presence or approval of God; neither does God expect us to do anything to obtain it, because of His self-giving nature.

"It is the tangible, visible, felt, manifested presence of God that the church is looking for today. They'll never find it though, and only become frustrated in the process, because Jesus said, 'The kingdom comes not with observation, but behold the kingdom of God is within you.' It is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks for a sign, a manifestation of God. Once again, the signs and manifestations will automatically and naturally follow those who believe. It will be a spontaneous outflow of who we are, not something we do.

"For years I have been asking God for a greater hunger and thirst for Him. I felt that the more hunger and thirst I had, the more God would come to me. I now realize I've been wasting my time and energy. But as I now understand who He is within me, I am satisfied, I am full, my thirst is quenched, my hunger is gone. Even as the Scriptures say, out of my innermost being flow rivers of living water.

"Jesus said, 'He that drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst.' He said, 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.' He also said, 'He that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst.' There is an end! That end is Christ. I no longer hunger or thirst. I now know only a permanently satisfied, fulfilled life in Christ, full and overflowing for the benefit of others.

"I've given up trying to improve my life. All I have to do is be who I really am, which is Christ in me . . . I live, yet it's no longer I that live: it is Christ. No wonder Paul calls it a mystery! Jesus was the firstborn among many brethren. He came as a Son to be an intercessor to bring many sons into glory . . . With that, I don't have to try and become like someone else. I can just be uniquely me with the indwelling Christ living as me.

"After years of struggling and striving, frustration and failure (a necessary step!), I have finally ceased from my own works and entered into His rest. Oh what fellowship divine, what communion, what rest! I know Him, even as I am known of Him. I used to work so hard at being a Christian and, as a result God was at rest in my life. Now I'm at rest, and He's at work!

"In this rest, prayer becomes a state of being. It's no longer an act or formality. It's continual communion and fellowship with the Father. Then and only then is it possible to fulfill the scripture, 'Pray without ceasing.'

"I have come to the realization that it was not I who committed myself to Him, but He who committed Himself to me. My spiritual life is dependent upon His total commitment to me. As long as I think that my walk with God depends upon my decision, my dedication, my commitment to Him, then life becomes a never-ending parade of rededication and reconsecration to Him. In reality, however, the Christian life is dependent upon replacement. He has become my life, and I rest in Him as He flows forth as rivers of water through me as His vessel.

"Hallelujah, life is wonderful in Him! The best Bible college there is, is Life Himself. 'For me to live is Christ.' Our mission on the earth is to live and to be the Christ to an unregenerate world around us. I have concluded that it is absolutely impossible to live the Christian life, and that our God never intended us to do so. He intended for the Christ within us to live it. Then and only then is it possible to fulfill the law and 'be perfect.' To try and fulfill the Christian life will only bring frustration and failure. But that frustration and failure is good if it brings us to the end of ourselves, where we realize the replaced life. It is only the replaced life in which the victory, the overcoming, the continual triumph is found. And it only comes as a revelation from the Father.

"Jesus asked Peter, 'Whom do you say that I am?' Peter said, 'You are the Christ.' Jesus told him, 'Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.' Paul said that 'the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.' Jesus also told Peter, 'Upon this rock [upon this foundation of the revelation of Christ] will I build my church.' It is only upon the revelation of the Christ that God will build His church.

"Many try to build the church upon principles, upon teachings, upon evangelism, upon positive confession, upon this or that, and everything imaginable except the Christ. But except the Lord build the house, they that build labor in vain. It’s upon this revelation of the Christ that life is fun, exciting, fulfilling and wonderful. Upon this revelation life becomes only victory in Him.

"Oh what fellowship, what communion, what victory. Hallelujah to Him forever!"