CHRIST IN US
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 2:20
Can you say, Christ lives in you? Let me pose another question. Have you invited Jesus into your life as Lord? If so then Christ lives in you. Have you noticed a difference since He came to live in your heart?
Jesus is alive and He’s alive in every believer. I believe when the One who spoke this world into existence comes to ‘my place’, there should be a noticeable difference and those around me should be able to tell!
Col 2:9-10 says “For in Christ ALL the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been GIVEN fullness in Christ.” (emphasis added). You see in Jesus is all the fullness of the Godhead or Trinity and He comes to live in us by His Spirit so we therefore have the fullness of the Godhead in us! Very simple, but incredibly profound.
When Jesus touched anything, it was changed forever. He touched a leper and he was cleansed. He touched coffins and they opened. He touched food and it multiplied; hard hearts and they softened (woman at the well see John 4); blind eyes opened; demons fled as did fevers; the mute spoke and the deaf heard. Children were blessed and all who touched Him were healed.
In the book of Acts, we read many signs and wonders were done through the hands of the apostles (Acts 5:12). Peter and John simply laid hands on people and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17).
Can you see what a difference Christ made in these early apostles? The same is true of us today. Christ in us, the Hope of glory, wants to make a difference to our world – not just to us on Sundays when we gather together to worship, but to our everyday world!
Have you ever been in a room into which another person walked and it seemed like the atmosphere shifted (in a good way). There was something about them that perhaps released the presence of God in a powerful way?
We read in 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba had heard about Solomon’s fame and wisdom and she came to visit him and test him out with “hard questions”. Solomon not only answered all her questions but she was so overwhelmed with his wisdom, the Bible says “there was no spirit left in her” – literally it took her breath away. (1 Kings 10:5 NKJV).
I believe we are meant to be ‘thermostats’ and not ‘thermometers. In other words, we should be setting the ‘temperature’ of the room and not simply measuring it – responding to the temperature set by our experiences, current circumstances or how we feel on any given day. You see a thermostat sets the temperature a thermometer measures it.
When we fully know who we are in Christ but more so who He is in us, then I believe we can and should change the atmosphere of the rooms into which we walk. When we know we walk in the authority of heaven, demons have to flee. We can speak to sickness and disease and command it to go in Jesus Name. Jesus said we would do greater works than He did while here. John 14:12.
The words of Phil Wickham’s Song “At Your Name” come strongly to mind. “At Your name the mountains shake and crumble, at Your Name the oceans roar and tumble, at Your Name angels will bow, the earth will rejoice, the people cry out… At Your name the morning breaks in glory at Your Name creation sings your story…”
Does His Name on our lips change the atmosphere around and about us, bring healing and release life? I believe it should. The Bible declares at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess He is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11)
When we lay hands on someone in faith we connect them to the power of heaven – Divine power can flow each and every time. As one author put it, we get to be ‘power brokers’ – messengers of heaven delivering prophetic insights, healing and deliverance. Are you encouraged?
When Christ comes to live in us, He makes a difference and He extends to us the unbelievable privilege of partnering with Him to change the course of history in the lives of those with whom we have contact.
The Father is seeking disciples, not just Christians who ‘wear a label’ but a radical band of disciples (a learner, pupil or follower) of His Son Jesus.
Many years ago, a man (and his wife) came for prayer as he had a life-threatening illness. They came week after week for many months and encountered the Presence of God in a most powerful way. The doctors were amazed he was still able to function given the magnitude of his sickness and the spread of the disease through his body. He still had an appetite and was able to function normally despite tumours having spread to his brain and other vital organs.
I would love to report he was totally healed but, in this instance, he wasn’t healed on this earth but in heaven. However, shortly before His promotion to heaven and possibly the last time we saw him here at CHR, he and his wife testified that during this whole ordeal he had finally come to realise the Father really loved him. He put it this way:- “although I had been a ‘badge wearing, card carrying’ Christian, I never knew how much God really loved me. We’ve been going to church all these years and never really experienced the powerful presence of Jesus like we have in this season.”
This testimony spoke volumes to those of us who had ministered to he and his wife over a prolonged time. During their time of greatest need, they met the Saviour in a new and powerful way and it radically changed their lives even in the valley of the shadow of death. The Presence of God was clearly evident ON them and IN them. This is the difference of which I am speaking – Christ in us the hope of glory!
Disciples do what the Master says in obedience and the Father loves obedience and blesses it!
Jesus began His earthly ministry with fasting and prayer. He then began to teach saying “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The kingdom of heaven is in reach for us. Notice He came with a KINGDOM message not JUST a message of salvation.
Everything this hurting world needs can be found in the kingdom of God. I would put to you we won’t need the healing, provision, restoration, salvation, deliverance once we’re in heaven! We need the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven now because in heaven there is no lack, no poverty, no sickness, disease, pain, hatred or violence. We won’t need the wisdom of heaven once we’re there. It’s NOW we need these things both for ourselves but more importantly to give away to a hurting and needy world.
Let me encourage you today to let Christ in you shine ever brighter so those around you would have no doubt whatsoever Christ lives in you with all the fullness of the Godhead. Let's be people who are so full of the Holy Spirit that everything we touch experiences the Presence of heaven as we go about the Father’s work Jesus left us to do.