“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you”….
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:15-18,23)
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:27)
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)
As Christian, we understand that not only are we saved to lived eternally with Christ as we believe in Him, but that also by this same faith (which He authors), He has actually made His home in us!
By His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, He abides in us, and conversely we in Him. This is an absolutely astounding thought!
The very God who made the heavens and the earth, the One through which all things were made, has deposited Himself within us, and that this presence is the very essence of God, and by the outpouring of this Spirit we are empowered as Christ was!
“The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:36-38)
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:29)
The comforting fact about this amazing manifestation of Christ in us, is that it does not come via our good works, or amazing life, rather via His grace.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor. 3:4-6)
And this empowerment was not just for our sakes, but for the ministry of Christ through us (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 10, John 20 etc.), knowing our sufficiency is not of ourselves (our skills, capabilities, prayerfulness, etc), our sufficiency to minister is fully from God and His presence within.
In fact the Apostle Paul would say, our life in Christ is as though it is no longer us that lives, but Christ lives in us.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)
We are sent by Christ, as He was sent by our Heavenly Father, in His power, with His words, and His love, all by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
However, the challenge for me is this very thing…do I minister and pray with the confidence that it is Christ, not me, that does so, or does my history dictate how I see Christ in me?
In other words, do we see us, or do we see Him when He ministers through us?
This leads me to that well know passage in the Gospel of Mark in chapter six, where Jesus goes back to His home town (Nazareth) to minister.
Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. (Mark 6:5,6)
As we can see in this passage, Jesus ‘marvelled at their unbelief’. Due to their familiarity and perhaps complacency they could not see Him, only the son of Joseph and Mary. Perhaps they were also jealous or suffered from the tall poppy syndrome, ‘how dare you think yourself more powerful or somehow above us’!
It appears that a type of community malaise settled over them through this familiarity, breeding contempt indeed…and ultimately unbelief. Their vision was blinded by this..they could only see the son of Joseph, not the Son of God.
This then is also our challenge, can we rise above what we see to believe in Christ within. Can we see when someone prays for us in the name of Jesus, it is Christ who does so. When our neighbour, church friend, or family member approaches you in His name to minister to you, can we see Jesus Christ, the King of the universe, approaching us to pray for us?
Or does our history, or their story, mean it is hard to see Christ and easier to see the failings or answered prayers?
The inspiration to pray in the name of Jesus comes from the Holy Spirit, and the words spoken in His name are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
As Christ stands interceding at the right hand of the Father in heaven for us, so His Spirit in us intercedes through us to Him (and we pray from this heavenly place – Ephesians 2).
As Jesus Christ approaches us to meet our needs, His Spirit often moves in others to intercede and pray for us (i.e. through His willing servants). Sure sometimes we may not be fully sure of their motivation to do so, however God is fully able to move beyond all that to accomplish His purpose anyway (see Philippians 1:12-18).
And it is not only the one receiving the prayer who needs to see with these eyes of faith, it is also the one praying. As we feel inspired to pray for another, do we see it as if Christ in us that is doing so? For it is not in our strength, rather that of the King of glory, and that is what we are to believe. We are simply His vessels, our work is only to really believe in Him, and trust in His ministry through us.
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (2 Cor. 4:6,7)
God is not concerned about our ‘earthen vessels’, the blood of the Lamb of God has both cleansed us and fully qualified us to be carriers of His presence. His riches in us are the hope of glory for others as well. With our belief in Him, motivated by His love for others, and with a forgiving heart, God opens us up to be His instruments of power for His praise. His presence in us, and as we go to others, means we are carrying the very King of the Kingdom of God to them.
Perhaps we struggle to look beyond the earthen vessels that God is choosing to minister through. Rather than see the ‘greater things’ (see John 14:12-14; 1 John 4:4) potential in that person because Christ has risen and given him or her His Spirit, we see their failings or their last disease or there last apparently unanswered prayer.
Maybe that is the same for ourselves, rather seeing the unrivalled power potential in us through faith, we see more readily those times when nothing appeared to happen when we prayed or received prayer, or even the knowledge of some unbelief we sense in ourselves even though we believe.
It is in these circumstances Jesus Himself reminds us that is more blessed to believe without seeing (John 20:29), and that we can join with the desperate father in the Gospel of Mark (9:14-29) and say, ‘I believe, help me with my unbelief’, and Jesus does!
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)
However, it is also important to know that sometimes the challenges of life, the beatings in fact, make it very hard for us to enter into that presence.
As so we are encouraged to carry those, who for good reason struggle to see God, into His presence. As the four men who lowered the paraplegic down through the roof of the house in to the presence of Jesus Christ (Mark 2:1-13), so we are encouraged to carry each others burdens and those struggling in to God’s presence.
And so at times we can be the opposite to the malaise of unbelief examples by Nazareth, being the family of faith who can carry the broken into very presence of the King of the universe. Noting, it was the faith of those four men that open the heaven’s to not only see the paralytic healed but also his sins forgiven.
And so here we are, God is calling us to go in the name of Christ and to see His kingdom come near whoever crosses our path. As we go, we are to look with the eyes of faith, not seeing ourselves with a bit of God there, rather seeing Christ in His fullness ministering to that person.
As we are being prayed for the same is true, the saint who hand may be upon you is not who we are to see, rather that of the King of kings, believing this earthen vessel standing beside you is carrying the King of glory. Believing that is Christ who has indeed approached you to pray for you.
And when Christ prays, anything is possible. The presence of His kingdom will be manifested in many ways, healing (soul and body), deliverance, love, strengthening, reviving the dead, salvation, redemption, restoration, word of God, revelations, family, grace, mercy, truth, righteousness, faith, belief, trust, peace, and so much more.
God will answer His prayer in His way. As He ministers through us, we need to trust His will is being done, no matter how hard that is to see at times. We also need to minister in the fervency that Christ encouraged us, asking, seeking, knocking, and with some perseverance. For in this way our faith grows.
Consider the following.
Are we as hungry as the Syro-Phonecian woman for Christ to our children – willing to seek Him despite convention and even His apparent alternate will? (Mark 7:24-29)
Are we as desperate as those who ran to meet the presence of Christ, to simply get a touch of His garment? Even pushing beyond shame. (Mark 6:53-56)
Can we trust Him to provide all that we need, even multiplying the little we have? (Mark 6:33-44)
Can we truly see Him in His miraculous ways, even able to walk on water, defying nature? (Mark 6:45-51)
Or are we so familiar with what we know, and content with the little we see of God in our midst, that Christ marvels at our unbelief? And together as a church, have we taken on this collective malaise of faithlessness, being content with the few answered prayers we see in our midst, rather than seeing just how rel the presence of God in our midst?
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” (Psalm 27:8)
God simply encourages us to seek Him, to follow His ways, and to see Christ us and in those He sends our way, and let Him do the rest.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
As we abide, stay connected and lean into Jesus Christ, endeavouring to follow His way, it is Him that is the One that we are to see in us, and to believe also abides in others who follow Him. Even this is really only possible by His grace.
We are simply to keep our focus on Him, and let Jesus do the rest. His is the hope of glory that dwells within and about you. Rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, we trust on the Lord and His presence,
‘Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.’ (Psalm 25:4,5)
‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)
Kingdom Blog 