A precious truth
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Today, I caught myself praying one of those prayers we sometimes make without having previously checked if it can be answered. With words that are said kind of mechanically, without having deeply thought about what they induce.
This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. 1 John, 5 : 14
In my prayer, I was asking the Lord to grant my family and I today, with His abundant grace. And suddenly, I realized that my prayer was useless. Even worse, it could be a flagrant demonstration and confession of incredulity while it was so sincere and apparently so humble.
It is right to bless our neighbor praying for grace and peace in Jesus Christ on him/her or directly pronouncing to him/her those words of blessing. Almost each epistle begins with such a blessing. But why should we pray it for ourselves?
Why should I ask God for the abundance of His grace when it is already pouring, at this very moment? Is it reasonable to ask for what is already here? Unless we do not believe it! Shouldn’t we rather ask God to give us a simple, humble and believing heart, eyes to see so we are able to receive this abundance without limit. Because grace is pouring, it’s pouring, pouring and pouring without stopping. It abundantly pours at this very moment as truly as God is alive and that He loves us!
Therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.. 2 Timothy, 2 :1
Grace is already in Christ Jesus (Christ in us). We are recommended to get strength from this grace already and constantly available.
And those who reign in life, who reign on their rebellious nature, over circumstances, over temptations are those who receive the abundance of grace. They are made capable to reign thanks to and through the inner power that is generously given to and pours within them, because of the living union with Christ, such a real union, although invisible to natural senses.
For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Romans, 5 :17
There is clearly an abundance of grace pouring in us. The living union that ties us to Christ, is similar to that of the branch that constantly and without any personal endeavor receives life from the tree.
Trusting in this extraordinary union with Christ in us, gazing at it, in our thoughts and faith, WILL trigger the reception of this grace. Do it ! This is what means looking to Jesus and reigning through Jesus. It will make us run to him, more and more, day after day.
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith… Hebrews, 12 :1-2
The simple fact of continuously gazing at, thinking of, reminding us and meditating this invisible reality which is such an encouraging and tender truth, this will maintain us in its blessing, continually...
And if our heart suddenly begins to fear not to be able to maintain itself in this amazing communion and its extraordinary effects, be reassured: it’s Him who holds you and not you who hold Him. And thinking so, our look is softly redirected to Him in faith and the miracle resumes and continues.
don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. Romans, 11 :18
The good news, the Gospel (Christ has forgiven, purified me and now lives in me) is a power for the salvation of anyone who believes it. Christ knows how to maintain us in Him by His Spirit. Let’s simply trust Him and His power to do so. He is a perfect Savior.
For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes Romans, 1 :16
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This morning, I woke up. I woke up from among the dead, to borrow the Apostle Paul's expression from his letter to the Ephesians.
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15 :5
Jesus talks here to disciples. He does not talk to the crowd, to everybody. Whoever is born again can and will enter into this high-quality life by simply following instructions. One must understand some basic instructions and then build on these foundations, led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is here at this very moment, close to us, within us, as we are reading.
But the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have told you. John 14:26.
The Spirit teaches, gives understanding and brings us in. It's His work. That's why we can feel relieved. It's not up to us. Let us lean on Him, trust Him to guide our steps and let’s surrender to Him. Let us not resist, and if we detect any resistance within us, let us acknowledge it without condemning ourselves. The Holy Spirit is kind, gentle, helpful. And He is powerful in his sweetness, immensely powerful.
It is normal for our nature to rebel and resist, but the life of the Spirit in us is stronger than our nature. Christ has conquered it, crucified it and by His Spirit in us He will give us full victory, a triumph. He does it because He is good and He is our perfect savior. We can say with confidence with the psalmist:
I trust in your kindness. I have joy in my heart, because of your salvation. Psalms 13:5
Let us lay some foundations and be sure that we have understood, believed and accepted them, for if we do not understand, the enemy will erase them from our thoughts and we will no longer have foundation to support our faith and progress on.
When a man hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil comes and takes away what has been sown in his heart: this man is the one who received the seed along the way. Matthew 13:19
Jesus begins with this statement: I am the vine, you are the branches. In other words: you are 'organically' bound to me like a branch to the tree that carries it. Let’s understand that at our new birth, in the invisible realm, a supernatural work has occurred to change our destiny forever. We have been cut off from a wild tree, from the tree of humanity, from Adam, whose dominant philosophy is: from me, by me and for me, and we were literally grafted onto the tree of life, the cultivated olive tree.
If you have been cut from the wild olive tree to which you belonged by nature and grafted contrary to your nature on the cultivated olive tree, let only the most they will be grafted according to their nature on their own olive tree. Romans 11:24
We started to die the day our mother gave us life. But we began to live for eternity, the day we were grafted into Christ. We do not feel the blood flowing through our veins and that maintains our physical life; we do not feel more the life of Christ that springs from Him and flows within us, in our mind and maintains our spiritual life. And yet both contribute to the life of our whole being, constantly, with every beat of our heart that pulses blood into our veins and I’d dare to say with every heartbeat of Jesus Christ that pulses life into our inner being.
When we understand that and begin to believe it, to iron it in our thought, this beneficent truth flows from our spirit to irrigate our soul, where lie our intelligence, emotions and will. Our soul needs to be saved, not in the sense of going to heaven but in the sense of being made conform in intelligence, emotion and will to our spirit. Our spirit and the Spirit of God are now united, through this wonderful graft, a wonderful and supernatural gift from God, our spirit and the Spirit of God have become one.
But he who unites with the Lord is one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17
I'm a branch. Like the branch, my goal is to produce fruit and my life, to remain aware at each moment of this magnificent union that binds me to the Creator God. I'm not doing anything to make life flow within me. How much would I even twist myself in every way and try with my knotted woods to wrap the vine, for fear of losing it, it would not change anything. His life flows within me because he grafted me into Him. I am grafted, tied, bound by an organic and powerful bond.
My words, my actions, my thoughts will not change anything. His life flows within me. And if my soul agrees to believe this truth, understanding and emotions will naturally accord with it, to arouse joy, abundant joy, peace, rest and so many other succulent dishes….
And if I speak badly, act badly or think badly, His life continues to flow into me anyway, and straightens me gently, teaches me, strengthens me, convinces me and leads me again, in perfect conformity, in the paths of righteousness because of His name and only because of his name. Remember there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. His name is above all names: the name of Jesus: God the Savior, God who heals.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Psalms 23:3
That's the first foundation. I was grafted into Christ. I am grafted and his life flows within me at this moment, next moment, today, tomorrow, in a month, in a year and until my last breath as much as it pleases the Lord to let me live on earth. Isn't that comforting?
The second foundation is that this wonderful, magnificent, constant relationship is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is through Him that we are grafted. It is through him that we can remain. We did not do the graft. We cannot either maintain the graft.
When Jesus says to us 'Abide in me', he does not appeal to our abilities as if anyone could abide in Christ through his own efforts. And what does mean ‘Abide in Christ’. We understood the 'in Christ'. This is the graft. I am attached to Christ, in Christ. I am one with Him as the branch and the tree are one. The branch is in the tree and enjoys all the sap and life of the tree. I am in Christ and I enjoy the life, the virtues of the vine, Christ. And the Holy Spirit is the person who carries this life from the vine to me. He takes what is from Jesus Christ and announces it to me. I believe Him and I live it. And my soul is transformed from glory to glory as long as my eyes contemplate it, contemplate this living and transformative truth.
We have understood the 'in Christ', we must now look at the 'Abide'.
It is the Holy Spirit that makes us able to abide in Christ. It is only through faith that this can be accomplished. The very beautiful news is that this act of abiding through faith in union with Christ is also a product of the Holy Spirit in us. This type of faith is unimaginable until the Holy Spirit produces it in us. We have to ask this all the time:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father … that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;. Ephesians 3:16-17
The power of the Holy Spirit is not given to deserving people. It is necessary, indispensable in order to abide in Christ. Whatever our condition is, even if we see ourselves as and are perhaps the worst of the worst, and rightly so, we need the Holy Spirit, His power in order to abide in Christ. For the one who abides in Him begins to walk as He has walked.
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6
The Holy Spirit is not given because we are perfect. It is given to us so that we may be perfect in Christ.
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14
And when it is said that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey him, please let us not twist the meaning of Scriptures.
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him Acts 5:30-32
To understand what kind of obedience this is, the Holy Spirit has taken care to write elsewhere through Paul’s pen:
Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ Romans 1 :4-5
This means that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey faith in opposition to those who obey the law. The law has brought nothing, nor anyone to perfection (Hebrew 7:19). Christ died for our sins, resurrected so that once we were grafted to Him, we would be righteous of His righteousness, perfect of his perfection, enjoying the wonderful virtues of the firstborn of the dead, of the last Adam in us. This is the gospel of Jesus-Christ ! And we are to obey the gospel !
The Holy Spirit is given to those who believe in the One whom the Father sent. This is what is called 'obedience of faith'. Do you expect everything from Jesus within you? If so, you are in the obedience of faith in opposition to those who await God's favors because of their obedience to the law.
If you are miserable, disgusted with yourself and want God to raise you to his standard of living, it is possible, you are the perfect candidate to receive at the moment the abundance of His Spirit.
He will lead you to consider the Blood of the Lamb who has already cleansed you of all sin at the Cross of Golgotha. He will produce a sadness that will trigger true, sincere and profound repentance. Then as you realize that because of this Blood, you are already forgiven for all evil that you recognize and confess before the Cross, He will pour upon you the oil of joy and holiness, He will put the ring on your finger.
You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Psalms 23:5
Powerfully strengthened by his Spirit so that Christ dwells in you, that He abides there, constantly and keeps you constantly in grace through faith. For if you are under grace, sin will no longer have power over you. It is an extraordinary experience and the privilege of the sons of God powerfully strengthened by the Spirit. Have you understood it ?
This is the second foundation: the Holy Spirit can and wants to keep me in communion with Christ in faith. And He alone can make it possible for me to constantly live in communion with Jesus Christ, not through sensations but through faith, and to see my life transformed from obedience to obedience, step by step in the image of the Savior.
He renews the spirit of our intelligence, He is the source of all wisdom that pours from our spirit into our soul to enlighten its intelligence. This is how our will is renewed, transformed and we begin to practice outwardly what comes from Him. It is the meaning of putting on the new man in a righteousness (joyful practice of God's will) and a holiness produced by the One who is alive and who is the Truth.
if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4 :22-24
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit: Ephesians 5 :18
We should no longer take a step if we are not filled with the Spirit. Without Him, without His fullness, our lives will remain a mediocre fiasco illuminated by fleeting victories and joys. Life in abundance promised by the One who does not lie is in the Spirit of God who makes us remain in Christ through faith. It enlightens our faith. Our faith easily captures all that Christ is because it is enlightened. Faith then no longer means blind. Faith is a hand that continually grasps and revels in what the Spirit reveals to it. Do we have this imperative feeling of the absolute urgency of a fullness of the Spirit to truly live as God wants? God does not demand anything that He does not make possible in us.
We are convinced that God expects from us a holy life, entirely abandoned to Him, but what happens? We know we can't do it on our own, but we try anyway. One is satisfied with a little thrill and it is called a visitation of the Holy Spirit. This is not a visitation that the Spirit of God wants to produce in us. It's a revolution!
We are in the dispensation of the Spirit that has been spread, it is this dispensation that alone can lead the new creature, on earth, to live like Jesus, the firstborn of several brothers, a life of holiness, true love and power in the service of the Father's will. The fullness of the Spirit is a necessity, an urgent, obligatory emergency without which nothing can happen.
If we do not have this thirst, for it is truly thirst, let us begin to ask God that He gives us thirst and be assured that He will quench that thirst. Thirst is not a pleasant feeling at first. It becomes so when you start drinking and it is stifling. There's a great pleasure to drink when you're very thirsty.
Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. Apocalypse 21:6
It's worth it when you consider the abundant and rich life that lies there. The life of the Spirit makes us abide in Christ. And here is what happens to those who abide in Christ:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7
We still have a third foundation that we find in the following verse:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20
It is not only we who knock at God's door to be blessed. Jesus knocks at our door throughout our lives. When we convert, he knocks at the door of our heart. We open it to Him by abandoning our life to Him. We receive forgiveness for our sins. The Holy Spirit gives birth to us again. We have become a child of God. Jesus entered the house of our heart through the main door that we have opened to him.
But he now wants to embellish every room in the house. And there are a lot. And He knocks at every door. We need time to open some of them. And Jesus knocks patiently. He is gentle and humble of heart. He could force the door since we are His and the house of our life has become His
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? I Corinthians 6:19
But He knocks and talks to us softly. And if we hear His voice and open to Him, He comes in and dines with us. We abide in Christ.
And when He enters, He enters with His light, love, joy, strength and wisdom. We would have so much to gain by opening him quickly and completely, to abandon him every piece of our life: couple, family, relationships, time, thoughts, talents, professional life, dreams, ambitions, future projects, finances, earthly wealth...
What advantage will we gain by persisting in jealously keeping certain doors closed as if we were going to lose something precious? It's quite the opposite. When Jesus enters, it is freedom, multiplication, joy and success. It always seems the opposite and that’s what holds us back. We cling to our 5 cents while the Lord wants to exchange them for His 5 trillion. But he demands that we first release the 5 cents and that is not negotiable.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46
We know it deep down, but the swamps of Romans 7 hold us against all logic to abandon little parts of our life. It's like we're going to lose out! It's stronger than us. A law acts in our members and fights against the law of our understanding.
If resistance rises in us, let us not fight against ourselves. It is a war lost in advance. The flesh cannot conquer the flesh. A kingdom divided against itself cannot survive. It takes a stronger one to bind the strong man. And this stronger is still the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus in us.
Jesus knocks and his voice says 'you want and you don't want and you are stuck in this dead end'. You feel your 'no desire' more than your desire to follow me. You can't give in when you want to and it's the storm within you... ask me for help, I can, I want to help you make the right choice. I can trigger your decision. All it takes is one decision. And pushed by the Lord, it is visceral and inalterable.
See, Jesus, again, is knocking softly at the door. He doesn't oblige us. God wants Jesus Christ to be first in everything, even in our decisions and yet we remain free to choose. It is an incomprehensible wisdom, impossible to reproduce humanly. What will inspire us to finally ask for help is this faith, this even tenuous certainty, deep within ourselves, that it will be better if Jesus is at the center and that He will make us bear much fruit.
Jesus Christ is the alpha and omega. Any resistance, disobedience or persistent evasion proves that a room in our house needs salvation. And Jesus is the perfect Savior.
Jesus abides in us and we in Him as long as we open the doors He knocks at and as we do not close any of them to Him. It is advantageous for us to open quickly and not hesitate to ask him for help in everything. He encourages us as He told us clearly 'without me, you can't do NOTHING' John 15:5
Philip is an extraordinary example of sensitivity to the Spirit of God and promptness to obey. So quick to obey that one wonders if this is not the reason why he is the first Christian to have experienced a teleportation. That science fiction didn't invent anything!
But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went Acts 8:26-27
One gets the impression from that text that his reaction is instantaneous. The angel talks to him, he gets up and he goes. The direction is both precise and vague and it’s a desert. He knows it's on a road between Jerusalem and Gaza. He's leaving without a chat.
Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot. Philip ran up... Acts 8:29-30
Philip sees a man on a chariot. The Spirit tells him to approach. He runs up. We can't expect a better reaction. He's running up. He obeys with zeal, promptness. And the result is that for his next race, God does not need to prove the zeal of Philip that He needs to evangelize further. Philippe suddenly disappears from the sight of the Ethiopian (The Spirit of the Lord snatches him away and the eunuch no longer sees him) and finds himself teleported to Azotus; even faster than his rapid obedience would have allowed him to. God amazes us when we promptly trust him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus. Acts 8:39-40
The third foundation is
- that it is advantageous for us to open each door and to surrender ourselves totally to Christ for all
- that our natural being will always oppose in will and/or deeds that we open a door of our life to Him, that we renounce something he shows us
- that from the moment we invoke His help, to be able to give him what we do not want to give him, especially by not seeking resources in ourselves, Jesus Christ strengthens, boosts our spirit, and out of nowhere arises power to accept joyfully and entirely the surrender, surrender that will never be followed by any sorrow.
It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it. Proverbs 10:22
God’s voice doesn’t make a racket—unlike the voice of our thoughts.
Job 33:14 (NIV) — God does speak—now one way, now another—though people may not notice it.
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