06/29/2021
Each of us who believes carries Jesus Christ, and His power, within us. This is certainly the test of our faith. We must ask ourselves if we believe this to be true, and if we can say “YES”, then we have passed the test of faith, and the glory of God will be found within us. If Jesus is not in us, and we display no evidence of His power, then we are surely lost, and destined to continue seeking until we can at last accept Him, and invite Him to abide in us.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV
On the day when we accept Jesus as our Lord, and redeemer, then the seed of our faith is germinated, and our transformation begins in earnest. We become like a tree that puts on rings, or an onion whose layers continue to form. We receive God in Christ, the Holy Spirit as it is breathed upon us, and every layer of faith as we grow through the seasons of our life.
“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:19 ESV
In this way, each ring and layer that is added to us by hardship, suffering, or loving revelation, brings us closer to the fullness of God until at last we stand before Him with Jesus… prepared, and made worthy in Christ.
“Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
John 14:19-20 ESV
Have we tested ourselves by asking if Jesus Christ is truly abiding in us? If we have stood before the bar, and answered this question, then how have we been judged? Are we ready to add to the circumference of our faith, or have we been sent back to seek Jesus further? It is up to us to face this test… we must present ourselves, and be prepared to accept the truth of our faith.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who, by your love, was sent into the world to redeem us, and who now abides in us by our faith. Thank you for abiding in Him Father as He abides in you, and in this way to have come to abide likewise in each of us through Him. We are like an onion of Faith Holy Father with you at our core wrapped within Jesus, and He wrapped thus in us by our faith. We are then encircled, and made to understand and remember by your Holy Spirit that was breathed onto us. Each of your lessons of faith increases us, and builds upon what has come before as we are continuously nurtured and grown to maturity by your loving hand. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, who is the heart of who we are; the center of our existence, the source of the image we bear, and the essence of your love, and glory, that we were made to reflect. Praised be your name Lord for every layer of faith that increases us, and for the skin that you have placed between us and the world around us as a shield to protect us from temptation, sin, and evil. Great are you our Father who is loving, kind, and whose mercy towards us knows no limit. Wondrous is your grace that flows through Jesus, and covers us… even though we would be found wanting, and unworthy, without Him. Wash us clean in the blood of Jesus Father, and being made pure, lift us up on the day of judgement to sit at your table forevermore; eternally fed there with your Word, and praising you for your love, the meal we are receiving, and all the many blessings you are pouring out on us.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV
Rich Forbes