Acting as if?

As I was reading Malcolm Smith's book "The Power of the Blood Covenant", he has a chapter on walking in the Spirit. In this chapter he talks about "acting as if" what God says is true even though this doesn't feel true. God's Word makes incredible statements about us like, we are saints, the royal priesthood, we are in union with Christ, and righteous. There are many days where I don't feel these which leads me down one of two directions- feeling bad because I don't believe God or trying to make it true in my experience (so it is really true). In other words trying to earn what I already have by grace. I believe God's idea of a hypocrite is one who believes he is less than what God says because of how he acts. I don't believe it is being hypocritical to agree with God's Word even though it is not manifested in my life. It is actually true that right in the middle of our worst sin, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. The Old Covenant (Law) screams at us- if it walks like a duck it is a duck! The Law always points to what we do reveals who we are. This is not agreeing with God's Word but our judgements against ourselves and others. It is hard for us to imagine that God stays true to His nature and His Word even when we don't. I have an uncle who used to say "just fake like you know what you are doing", I used to frown at this like it wasn't being authentic. Yet God's idea of being authentic is agreeing with Him by faith, not by appearances or performance. It makes so much sense to why now Paul would exhort us to rejoice in the Lord always and give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Ephesians 5:20). Praise and thankfulness actually build faith because I agreeing with reality (according to God) rather than my own distorted perspective. Could it be true that God is as good as He says and we are truly blessed beyond our capacity to even bear it. Yet we still so often live as orphans because or our past experiences and family messages. So act as if today you are in union with Jesus Christ, totally loved and adored by the Father, and blessed beyond your ability to even handle. We are truly rich people, what joy to experience what God has so graciously given to us. This is the journey, to experience what has been stored up for us in heaven now.

In His Grace,
Bret