And although
you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled
you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy
and blameless and beyond reproach— if indeed you
continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from
the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all
creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do
my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is
lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister
according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that
I might fully carry out the preaching
of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has
now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing
every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every
man complete in Christ.
It is not my
glory here, it’s His glory. It is the
awareness that it is the indwelling Christ that brings His manifest presence to
light when I worship Him, love Him and obey Him. He truly loves to demonstrate His strength and presence through
us. I believe what Paul is saying in the
above passage that this is more than just information that Christ is in your
heart. Paul is declaring that Christ, the Word become flesh, is now abiding
(or dwelling) in your spirit. This is the very mystery that has been hidden from ages and generations past.
Galations 2:20 (NASB)
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is
no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
It is easy to say that “I have Jesus in my
heart”, but quite a different thing to say “I have surrendered all of my
life to Lordship of Jesus”. With all
that Jesus did by reconciling us to God, and by His supreme sacrifice, He would
still deserve to be honored even if we chose not to participate in His salvation
process, He is still worthy to be worshiped, honored, obeyed and served. That never changes!
But how wonderful that we are invited to
participate, we were called to a wedding feast—and guess what?—we are the
bride! We are the bride of Christ! We are called to share with Him in His love
for us. Just to experience His love, His
glory and His abiding presence in us.
Ephesians 3: 14-17 (GWT)
This is the reason I kneel in the
presence of the Father from whom all the family in heaven and on earth receives its
name. I’m asking God to
give you a gift from the wealth of his glory. I pray that he would give you
inner strength and power through his Spirit. Then
Christ will live in you through faith. I also pray that love may be the
ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have your foundation.
Lord, I come to you today with
the awareness that I do not have the capacity within me to Love you, but you have the perfect love that I do not possess, and I put my trust in that love. Your perfect love comes from your abiding
presence within me. Let your grace come
and be the strength in my life. I
worship you, because you are worthy to be praised!
“Dwell”
Words and
Music by Casey Corum
Song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joPjqEGJGqU
Dwell in the midst of us
Come and dwell in this place
Dwell in the midst of us
Come and have Your way
Dwell in the midst of us
Wipe all the tears from our faces
Dwell in the midst of us
You can have Your way
Not our will, but Yours be done
Come and change us
Not our will, but Yours be done
Come sustain us
©2003 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing
CCLI Song #4085652
Chord Chart link: http://www.bedfordcc.org/music/songs/Dwell%20Chord%20Chart%20G.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment