05/28/2017
I want to live the resurrection life of Jesus. I want to be one with Him and in Him with God. My heart is set on this now... not some time in the distant future. Are you living this life, and if not, are you striving for it every day, and with each breath you take?
“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”
John 16:22-23 ESV
Jesus told His apostles that there was a day coming when they would ask not of Him, but of the Father in His name. That day has come, and we should be seizing the victory that it represents... but are we?
“In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
John 16:26-27 ESV
The Father loves us as His children, and we dwell as one with the Lamb of God. From this vantage point we have achieved, through Jesus, what Adam lost; and more. We are approaching the will that God has had for us from the beginning, and through Christ we have been forgiven. Oswald Chambers wrote these words in his devotional this morning...
"When once your disposition is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will get to the place where there is no distance between the Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and "in that day ye shall ask Me no question."" - Oswald Chambers
Being in submission to Jesus and living the life He has set before us. This is our goal in the near term and once we submit ourselves to this then we too begin to ask the Father in the name of Jesus, and reach a new level of spiritual maturity. To accomplish this milestone allows us to place it as treasure in our keeping place, and move to the next step in our spiritual growth.
There is a time in our human maturation when we take ownership of our lives, and begin to speak for ourselves as full fledged adults. One of the great biblical breaking points is marriage. We read the description of this "growing up" in these words:
“and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."”
Matthew 19:5-6 ESV
God established marriage, and in it a man and a woman become one flesh. Spiritually, God did the same thing when The Messiah came. In Jesus we become one and our relationship with God changes... we approach Him directly, albeit in the name of Jesus, but as spiritually mature creatures.
Are you there? Are you speaking for yourself in the name of Jesus? If not, are you striving to reach this point in your spirituality?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus, and I thank you for bringing us together as one. Lord, help me to grow in my faith and bring me swiftly to the point where I ask you the great questions in my life, and do so in the name of Jesus. Holy Father your desire for me is to know you intimately, and to understand your will for me and my place within it. Guide me to that place, and let me forever remain in your grace, your peace, and in your desire for me. Father, I pray all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, and my redeemer.
Rich Forbes