And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.     -- Ephesians 1:22, 23

When Jesus was raised and seated far above all things, the Church, or the Body of Christ, was raised and seated far above all things.  The rulership of this earth has been placed into the hands of the Body of Christ–-has been placed into your hands.  Due to a lack of knowledge, many Christians still live as victims and losers in the earth when they have been given a position of authority and victory.  Many ask themselves, “Why doesn’t God do something about sickness and poverty, about the devil and demons?  If God is a loving God, why doesn’t He do something?  The world is in a mess!”  The world is in a mess because the Church is in a mess.  God has already done all He is going to do about sickness and poverty.  He has already defeated the devil and demons.  But He has also given to the Church, His Body, the authority and dominion to enforce the defeat of demons and the curse.  We have been raised!  We have been seated!  We have been placed far above!  Not so God could rule and reign, but so we could rule and reign (Rom. 5:17; Luke 10:19).  God has restored to mankind everything that he lost in the Garden and more.  The problem is that we are failing to use our God-given authority, much like Adam failed to do so in the Garden.  We want God to do it, God to resist the devil, God to heal the sick.  But He will not do it–-He gave you the position and authority to do it in Him.  This last generation will start to take advantage of their new identity and their new position and be seen as ruling over the forces of darkness.  You can be a part of this–you have been seated.

...even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:     --  Romans 6:4b, 5

This new person who has been raised and seated has been made in the likeness of Jesus.  Not the Jesus who walked the earth before the cross, but the resurrected Lord and Savior.  You were created after God in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24), you have become one spirit with God (1 Cor. 6:17), and as He is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17b).  We are as He is, right here in this world!  Not only like Him in spiritual make-up or nature, but like Him in spiritual position.  The same authority He has is the same authority you have.  The same power He has is the same power you have.  The same position He has–-“far above”-–is the same position you have.  You have been raised by the glory of the Father, in the likeness of Christ, to live in a newness of life!  Here is where weakness is a thing of the past.  Inability is no longer a problem.  Little problems and circumstances that held you back before must now bow to your rights and authority in God.  If you don’t like your life–-change it.  Don’t like your marriage–-change it!  Don’t like your health or finances?-–change them!  Get a heavenly perspective on who you are and where you are seated.  Look at things from a position of a “far above” new creation!  Don’t come down and participate in small thinking and small talking!  Sit down once and for all at the right hand of the Father and act like a far-above, resurrected, likeness-of-Christ person.  Your new walk is on top of everything that used to hold you back!  You are far above!

...we are buried with him by baptism into death:  that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.   — Romans 6:4

Your old nature, your old person, your old being was crucified with Christ on the cross, and he was buried!  Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work of God.  As you were taken under the water in baptism, so was your old man taken under the ground and buried, once and for all.  When you came up out of the baptismal water, it represented a new man arising, a new creature living, a newness of life available.  You no longer have to live subject to sin, to sickness, to worry, to fear, to the devil.  A new life has been made available to you!  It is a life of righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24).  It is a life of being justified before God (Rom. 5:9).  It is a new life of being made the victor rather than the victim, the head rather than the tail, a conqueror rather than a loser.  Get a picture of the old man dead–-the old man gone–-the old man buried, and do not claim and identify with old habits and weaknesses.  You can walk in a newness of life.  He has paid the price and made a way for you!  Bury the old and let the new be raised up in your mind.  Newness of life awaits you!

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.    -- Romans 6:5

Jesus became like you on the cross so you could become like Him in the resurrection.  When He went to the cross He became on that cross sickness, sin, guilty, condemned, shamed–-He became the entire curse.  This was all done to redeem you from the curse or redeem you from who you were (Gal. 3:13).  He went to the cross and by faith took every old man and every old creation to the cross with Him and crucified them!  The old man is dead.  When Jesus was buried, the old man was buried once and for all.  But when He was raised, you were raised.  When He was seated, you were seated in the likeness of Him.  When He defeated hell, you defeated hell, when He rose in glory and honor, you rose in glory and honor!  You have been raised and been made in the likeness of His resurrection.  That means resurrection life is available to you, the newness of a “Christ-life” awaits you!  It is available for you if you “know” the old man is crucified and buried and a new man now lives!  You can live in a new, resurrected lifestyle because of Christ’s work on the cross.  Identify with that!  Associate with that!  Think on that, and watch your life change!