As I was talking to my Father God, I asked Him: “What if Jesus had given up and asked You to save him from anymore sorrow and pain as He journeyed to His ‘physical’ end, would You have Father? What a question! Right? But I know that Jesus was also a human being like us with flesh and emotions.
Had Jesus asked His Father that, it would’ve been our Savior’s feelings and flesh asking, that human part of Him. At one point we know that Jesus asked the Father, when He cried out: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death….He fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as YOU WILL.’” (Matthew 26:38-39)
So I thought, then if I have His Spirit dwelling in me and His Word (truth and promises) locked in my mind, I also can overcome anything in life – like Jesus did. Right? Just think of what He has given us with the Word of God and His indwelling Holy Spirit. And yet, believers in Jesus Christ are overcome by our fleshly desires and the world’s threats and the devil’s lies and temptations. Why?
I’m convinced that most, if not all, of God’s people today do not utilize the Word of God and the power of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit as they could and should. I know I haven’t, and I’m constantly working on that with repentance and moving forward with a new day of all His mercies.
We are called to become more like Jesus Christ. Christ was a physical person like we are, but in Him was God’s divine nature of the Holy Spirit and unwavering faith in how His human life would end up benefitting mankind in making the way for us to come to the Father and live with Him forever.
We need to read and study the Word of God for our faith’s application and daily encouragement. Jesus Christ didn’t need to read the Word of God (Torah or Holy Bible), HE IS THE WORD OF GOD. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.….The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth….No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Himself know.” (John 1 in part)
When I asked Jesus to forgive me of all my sins, and to come live in me (February of 1975), He did. He waits to be asked, and when asked – He moves in and goes to work in us by His Spirit and His Word. We are responsible to feed on God’s words. If you don’t have a hunger for the Word of God, to know Him, and to know what He’s done in the past and is yet to do in the future; and if you don’t have a desire to please your heavenly Father, to understand what worship truly is – then you are not a child of God.
As Jesus said to those in His day who didn’t acknowledge Him as the One they were teaching about, “You are of your father, the devil.” Jesus never spoke ‘worried’ about people’s feelings; He spoke the truth that would set people free from all that besets us in our lives so we can live the life that is truly life. He showed us how to be His humble witnesses, as He lived to glorify His Father. With all the gifts and fruit of Christ’s indwelling Holy Spirit, we can be His faithful witnesses. And, He gave His promise as to what we could expect from God for faithfulness to the end of our life on earth.
Yet, in knowing that I have all the power in me (Word and Spirit) and all God’s favor on me, I stumble and fall. I’m reminded of when our Savior was carrying His Cross to His crucifixion; the cross He bore of all of OUR sins. His human weakness stumbled and fell from the weight. So, He fully understands our human weaknesses. And is why He calls out: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Peter 1:3 “His divine power (Holy Spirit) has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him (Word of God) who called us by His own glory and excellence.”Philippians 4:13 “I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.”
What “thing” do you struggle with? What “burden” are you trying to carry on your own? What ‘hope’ do you have, and where does it come from? I pray it comes from faith in what GOD has said and what Christ has done for us? AMEN?