ABIDE IN HIM

"Of His fullness have we all received, blessing upon blessing (John 1:16)."

Just how full is "full"? How many people does "all" include? We have to believe that full means complete, and all includes all. "Of His fullness we have all received." No one, no matter how "anointed" they may appear, has more of His fullness than anyone else. And if we have received it already then there is nothing for us to DO to get it. If I leave here to go there, once I am there I do not have to do anything else to get there...I am already there. We entered into Christ when He entered into us: we do not have to enter into Him over and over again to get Him to enter us...He is already there.

How do we partake of this fullness? How do we walk in it? What practical application exists for living according to this Truth? We see what God says, but we also see our situation. We see Jesus, but we also see ourselves. God says we are complete in Him, but we say we are incomplete. God says we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, but we say we still say gi-me, gi-me. What is the problem here? Is it not a glaring discrepancy between what God says and what we say? Whose word is more reliable?

The solution is not to focus on one's self, but to focus Christ. Then we will not have to worry about the practical side, it will develop of its own accord. Let us get a foundation of His love and grace and build on that: then the His Life will find a way to manifest. Our faith lies in the wrong things. Many believers have more faith in the Law of Sin and Death than they do in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. Many are more conscious of what (they think) the devil is doing and how weak they are than they are cognizant the finished work of God's Son. But when we look away to Christ, He is increased. As He is increased, we are decreased. We must become lesser, He must become greater. When Christ looms larger in our vision than anything else, we will experience the fullness which is already ours in Him.

We  need a revelation of God's Grace.

Lord Jesus, reveal Yourself to us as All in All. Illuminate our hearts to see you. Bring us into the full-knowledge of Yourself. No matter our feelings or experiences to the contrary, we acknowledge that we are complete in You. You do all things well! Teach us to look away from all that pertains to man and to see You as You really are. Thank you Father for the Gift of Christ!

Wait...My Child

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait!"

"Wait?, you say, wait!" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked, and am claiming Your Word."

"My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign."

"And Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, as we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want...but, you wouldn't know Me."

"You'd not know the depth of My love for each sinner and saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see."

"You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save ... (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart."

The flow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last."

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
Your dreams for your loved ones overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!"

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
My wisest of answers is still but to wait"

Author unknown