How on earth can we live like Christ then? THROUGH THE SPIRIT who unites us to Christ. Christ identifies himself so thoroughly with us that his death is our death, his resurrection is our resurrection, his ascension takes us to sit with him in the heavenly places. Jesus as the risen living Redeemer has come to invade our humanity and live his life in and through us BY THE SPIRIT.
CHRIST LIVES IN ME: AND HE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL HIS OWN ACTIVITY; HE IS THE ORIGIN OF HIS IMAGE IN ME; HE IS THE DYNAMIC OF HIS OWN DEMANDS; and HE IS THE CAUSE OF HIS OWN EFFECTS. CHRIST PUTS GOD BACK INSIDE A MAN OR A WOMAN. BY THE SPIRIT. Consider the following for more insight: 2 Peter 1:3-8; 1 Corinthians 1:30,31; 1 Corinthians 2:16; and 1 Corinthians 6:17,19. Now Jesus states in John 15:5, “for without me you can do nothing.” So it is time if we want to walk in the Spirit to live by faith – where faith means EXPOSING EVERY THREAT, PROMISE, OPPORTUNITY, RESPOSNSIBILITY, PROBLEM, EVERY-NO-MATTER-WHAT to the Christ who is with us and lives in us by the Spirit. And so we simply say: “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for __________; thank you for you have done to have your life in me by the Holy Spirit; thank you that you are now, even now, available to me in all your fullness; and you want to live your life through me in such a way that would be impossible for me…” And through the Spirit the Lord Jesus has my body, my whole being and my personality. As I give myself to Christ through the Spirit, he gives himself to me through the same Spirit – so that every step I take, every word I speak, everything I do, everything I am will be an expression of the Son of God living in me. It means that in faith I let him think through me; I let him react through my reactions; and I let him decide through my decisions. For “of him, through him and to him” are all things - including every moment of my life. That is walking in the Spirit’s flow. You see, unless we live by the Spirit’s pull, unless we keep in step with the Spirit in this way, Jesus, in effect, says ‘I can’t get into action, I can’t live my life through you, till you get into this faith position.’ Oh do you see, by our own disposition towards the Lord Jesus Christ he will be able to be in action in us, as by his own disposition towards the Father when on earth the Father was able to be in action in him? Faith is an attitude towards God that allows him to act. We need to get out of the way so that the Spirit-life can come through loud and clear. Ours are the only bodies on earth Jesus Christ has so that through them our fellow humans can receive a physical, visible and audible expression of the glory of the invisible God, who lives in us. With our hands, someone may feel his touch; through our lips, someone may hear his voice; through our love in action others will see that Christ lives. And so we pray, “O dear Lord, restore us to function. I know I don’t deserve it, but I want you within me to live your life through me – by your Spirit.” It’s a prayer he loves to answer.
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