I am now seeing that believing we have received is not some faith mind contortion which those of us who didn’t understand what this meant saw it as. It simply means we get or begin to get a revelation of what legal benefits were purchased and secured by Christ in his work of redemption on our and the world’s behalf. Simply put, we see that in his work, thru his work, not only his death but also his resurrection and subsequent ascension and being seated at the right hand of the Father far above all principality and power, a complete victory has -past tense- now been legally  and securely procured or purchased. In terms of what this means in regards to faith…faith is not mustering up a certain degree of  spiritual fortitude some call “believing”. It is getting a revelation in the heart that something (anything good and holy) of the kingdom covered in the covenant is mine by legal right and inheritance,and therefore I don’t need to “strive” by some unbiblical form of contrived personal faith in order to get it. Instead I see by revelation of the Holy Spirit that it is contained in the legal covenant of the shed blood of Christ, and as that revelation is allowed entry into my heart and fills my being, it becomes a natural and irrepressible thing for me to want to speak out what is in heart – Mark 11:22 -24 & Romans 10:10. When this spiritual process is occurring in a person, they are in the place of operation of biblical faith that Jesus was speaking about in Mark 11:22-24.

The basis is the completed work of Christ  on the cross and Christ after the cross. Watchman Nee, when talking about Paul’s injunction in Romans 6 to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, states that the word “reckoning” is an accounting term, and that accounting is the reckoning of facts, not fancies. We are to reckon, or consider, or account, ourselves dead indeed, not as some mind bending which is not true….but as an actual fact. Why? because God the Father has “actually and really” – legally, according to the court of heaven, that is, God the Father -written us/included us INTO Christ’s death, and therefore also into his resurrection. What God decrees legally has legal force. This allows God to call those things which are not as though they were. I was not physically or actually there when Christ died on that cross. I did not die actually and physically on that cross with him. But God the Father in mercy legally by his own decree or decision places me in there, and if God Almighty has made such a decree or legal verdict, tell me, is there anyone, me, satan, any other demon, or any human being who can say it is invalid, not real, not true, or of no legal force. The simple and incredible answer is: NO.  So, though I did not actually die with him on that cross, God’s mercy places or includes me there with Christ in his death along with the whole world….therefore….because of that….it is legally and actually acceptable and safe and biblical for me or anyone to reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin and alive to God. I am now seated with Christ, since I am in him, at the right hand of the Father, far above all principality and power. This is the staggering truth of what the cross has accomplished. And it is the only true basis of real advancement in knowledge and practice of being a christian. Believing we have received is possible as we get a right understanding of the work of Christ. It is not possible,and remains a perplexing scripture along with many others as long as we look to any other understanding or basis.

I wanted to share this as the reason I am on this site was to look up commentary on this verse to see what others understand and say about this. I read thru your whole post Stevie B., and very much appreciate your comments about this topic. So many of us have been christians thru the course of not a few years but have never understood things properly. I think the reason is because we did not know that the work of the cross must be and is the key or basis of all things in the kingdom. Most of us have only viewed the cross as a means of entrance into the door, nothing more. Nee speaks of the centrality of the cross. I believe now that it is the trunk of the tree, all other things are simply branches of the trunk of that tree. I also believe that too often preachers, teachers, have zeroed in other things as what one would call primary, when in fact they are not primary but secondary. And thus the emphasis has been seriously misplaced, with the result being a powerless, impractical, and non-functioning faith. The key is to believe and understand rightly first, it is not to do first and ask questions later. Many if not most christians struggle for example with the matter of righteousness and they live in an anxiety and fear of their standing because they are mistakenly focused on their performance first rather than on the work of Christ on their behalf first. If they, we, could do it on our own, Christ did not need to die.This simple fact does not make sense to the natural reasoning, and it is the challenge of the gospel to get this not only into my heart securely as the prevailing truth, but into the hearts of others as well.The biggest mountain is one’s own heart. Once the victory is won there, one knows it is possible for the same truth to penetrate the hearts of others as well. Thanks again.
Zoran