08/07/2017
Living our lives with Jesus is more than attaching a series of disjointed moments that have been separated by periods of time in which He is absent into something we call faith. God is never here and then gone, but with us always and in all things. Our Lord Jesus doesn't abandon us to our own devices only to return once we have screwed things up... He is with us always.
When Jesus was a 12 year old boy and His parents had taken Him with them to Jerusalem, He stayed behind when the family left to return home to Nazareth. When they realized that He wasn't with any of their relatives they were distraught and returned looking for him, only to find Him (after three days) in the temple speaking with the teachers. Now this is the place where I would have expected a spanking or some form of punishment to have been administered, but as they began to admonish him this occurred...
“And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"”
Luke 2:49 ESV
Following this occurrence Jesus returned home with His parents and submitted himself to their authority, but this incident demonstrates the degree to which God the Father was active in Him, and in His life. It tells us that First and foremost Jesus was a child in the house of His Heavenly Father.
Our lives should be equally engaged with God. We have been instructed by scripture to pray without ceasing... we do this because God is with us, not just to strengthen our faith by hearing ourselves talk, or as a meaningless act of habit, but because He is in us.
“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."”
John 14:20-21 ESV
My mother used an expression like this when I was a boy. If I did something against her instructions, she would ask the rhetorical question "Did you think I was just talking to hear myself talk?" To which the proper response was "No Ma'am." I am certain that this had been passed down in my family through the generations. It applied to obeying ones parents, and it has equal value in instructing ourselves in faith and prayer. When we are instructed to pray without ceasing it is valuable instruction, and when we pray, our words are not just spoken to the wind... God is there, and hears every one.
Oswald Chambers asks some telling questions and leads us to their answer when he writes these words:
"-- are you so identified with the Lord's life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Is the Eternal Child in you living in the Father's house? Are the graces of His ministering life working out through you in your home, in your business, in your domestic circle? Have you been wondering why you are going through the things you are? It is not that you have to go through them, it is because of the relation into which the Son of God has come in His Father's providence in your particular sainthood." - Oswald Chambers
God is with us and in us always... that is not a question, but how much reign we give Him over our lives is. Are you yielding to God in every aspect of your life? Are you allowing what had started as a seed within you to flourish, and bear fruit that everyone who knows you can see? Are your prayers offered without ceasing and not just out of obligation, but with the full expectation that every word is heard and acted on by God? The answer to these questions will tell us if we have remained behind in Jerusalem, and define our unceasing prayers.
Prayer:
Father I thank you for being with me and in me always. I thank you for allowing me to speak to you and I pray that I will faithfully follow your instructions in my life. Holy Father it is my prayer that I not hear your admonishment as I heard my mother's "Did you think I was just talking to hear myself talk?" Lord give me the obedience needed to perform every command and fulfill every wish, desire, and will, you have for me. Let me dwell in your house Father, and in so doing, let Jesus Christ teach me as He guides my life of faith towards righteousness. Be with me now and always Lord, and let me realize your presence in its fullest.
Rich Forbes