04/12/2021
Do we think that because Jesus ascended into Heaven that He no longer abides in us? Do we think that He has traveled far away to sit at God’s right hand, and left us alone with our faith and the Holy Spirit? Well, just as God is with us always, so it is with Jesus. The world might not see His body, but as believers we see Him in us, in our lives, and in the eternal life we have been promised in Him.
““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
John 14:18-19 ESV
God is spirit, and, the resurrected Jesus is spirit as well. As spiritual beings ourselves, we can merge with them in a way that the human body cannot. They can abide in us, and we in them as we spiritually bridge the gap between heaven and earth through the doorway of our faith. This is hard for some believers to grasp, and they live their lives standing ankle deep in a faith that, like love, knows no end.
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:8 ESV
I have written before about a near death experience I had as a teenager when I was drowning in a lake. Something that is incredible about my drowning was this... I have heard people say “Well, when I get to heaven the first thing I am going to do is ask God __________.” You can fill in the blank because I am certain you have a question too. But in my experience, there were no questions to ask, no knowledge to gain, because they had all vanished, and I just knew. It was an abiding in God that is beyond description... it is grace in all its magnificent glory.
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV
We have all had the experience of meeting someone, and just knowing that they were a good person and could be trusted, or maybe we met our future spouse, and immediately knew they were the one. In situations like this there is no reasoning, knowledge, or understanding that leads us to this conclusion... we simply know. For some of us, this is how we came to faith, but for others there was a reasoning involved, and I believe that this reasoning is simply a process some must go through to push aside their humanity in order to give their spirit a clear avenue to the divine. We do not choose God... He has called us.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”
John 6:44-45 ESV
So we read scripture regarding God and Jesus abiding in us, and we in them. We read about not leaning on our own understanding, but on God. We dive into scripture which tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His Son, and other verses that describe Him having first loved us... given all of these revelations how can we possibly be satisfied with standing in a shallow faith? Why must we wait for the moment of bodily death to realize what abiding in God and Jesus really means? All that is required is for us to simply breath in the breath of a truly spiritual life, and lean into God where Jesus will manifest Himself.
“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
Prayer:
Father, thank you for creating us as spiritual beings with physical bodies, and for using our time on earth to complete us, and to prepare us for being as one with you. Thank you for your love that is the foundation for all we are, and for our faith that bridges heaven and earth as we reach out to take your hand that is beckoning us to come. Thank you Father for your Son Jesus who gave Himself on Calvary that we might be redeemed from sin, and made ready for eternity with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who calls us to yourself, and perfects us through Jesus for an eternal life with you. Praised be your name as our faith draws us ever closer, and allows us to do those things that advance your will. You are merciful Lord, and willing to give us an avenue into understanding all things that we can only have by abiding in you, and having you abide in us. Your grace flows over us through Jesus Christ, and our love for you feeds on it like a hungry infant takes its mother’s milk. Wash us clean Holy Father in the perfect blood of Jesus, and make us acceptable to you in every way by our abiding in Him, and through Him, let us remain in Christ, and come to abide in you for all eternity.
“Jesus did not promise His disciples the life He had here on earth, but the resurrected life, the life of victory over death, life at the right hand of God. He would remain in them, and the promise is for all those who accept it by faith.” - Andrew Murray
Rich Forbes