The Fullness of Christ in Us

 

As our focus on our self decreases, Christ increases within us (John 3:30). Through His divine power, God gave us everything we need to live a godly life. In our union with Jesus we possess and function through His divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4). We are God’s offspring and He gave us the divine nature of Christ, which infuses every part of our body, soul and spirit (Acts 17:28-19). We are transformed with ever-increasing glory into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:2).

Jesus is the exact image of God and contains all the attributes and character of God (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4). God desires to bring forth His attributes and character within us too. In Him, we live and move and have our total existence (Acts 17:28). He dwells in us and works through us (2 Corinthians 6:16). We have everything that Christ has, and all we have is His. Christ is glorified in us (John 17:10).

We are fully human, just as Jesus was on the earth; but we also contain Christ in us, who is fully divine. In our union with Jesus we live in His divine nature, and His divine nature manifests in and through us (2 Peter 1:4). God wants us to cease from our efforts, so we can enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10). We have the same chance, which Jesus did, of living a Spirit-filled life (Galatians 5:16, 25).

Through experience in walking in God, we actually become the love of Christ. We are filled throughout our entire body, soul and spirit with all of God’s fullness. We possess the richest measure of His divine presence within us, and we are wholly filled and flooded to overflowing with God Himself (Ephesians 3:19, Amplified Bible). It is not we who are able to do all things, but Christ in us, who does all things through us (Philippians 4:13).

Christ uses us and works through us in His divine power. All He wants us to do is to lay down our humanity and follow the leading of His Spirit moment by moment throughout the day. Then, it is no longer us, but Christ living in and through us (Galatians 2:20). His Holy Spirit sanctifies us throughout our lifetime until we are perfected according to the quality of the fullness of Christ’s stature (Ephesians 4:13).

Prayer:

Father God, when we dwell in Your love, we have faith. When we walk in Your faith, we have hope. When we live in Your hope, we walk in righteousness, peace and joy (Romans 14:17). Help us to lay down our life and to follow the direction of Your Spirit throughout our day; so that we can walk in Your works (John 10:38; Ephesians 2:8-10). Lead us by Your Spirit and help us to cease from our own labors and to enter into Your rest (Hebrews 4:10).

Thought for the Day:

Negative emotions illuminate the areas in our life where we still have idols. As we repent of them, Christ takes them from us. Then, Satan has fewer and fewer areas where he can hinder our walk in Christ.

Divine Union with Christ

 

Holiness is the bond of our union with Christ in us. As Christ sanctifies our soul, this bond also produces unity with God in wisdom, love, joy, power, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control, spiritual vision and faith, which flow from His divine nature within us. This Godly character enables us to minister to those to whom God leads us and gives us the opportunity to allow Christ’s light in us to shine in such a supernatural way that people will see us, yet glorify our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Prior to living a Christ-centered life, we served others out of obligation, or from a desire to be loved in return. With obligation as our motive, we set our self up for disappointment, emotional exhaustion, anger, resentment and bitterness to take root in our soul. However, once Christ’s Spirit transforms our old, carnal nature, we serve others from our love for Him instead. We do all things as unto the Lord (Ephesians 6:7; Colossians 3:23). We no longer serve to the point of burning out or subsisting with overwhelming negative emotions.

With our love for Christ as our motive and our focus, we follow the Spirit in everything we say and do. It is our pleasure to please Him in thought, word and deed. The more united we are with God in faith, love and wisdom, the easier it will be for us to unite with His will for our life. This is the only way we receive true freedom and fulfillment from our union with the divine Trinity. Jesus was our supreme example of this. He did nothing that He did not see our Father doing first. Jesus’ fullness of joy came from doing only our Father’s will (John 4:34, 6:38).

God is our eternal fountain of blessings and the provision of everything we need to live in godliness and to share His truth with others. When we only serve as the Holy Spirit directs us, our heart is soon full of praise to our Father God. Our prayers are less often filled with requests for our self, because we know that God already supplies all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). The holier our heart and life, the more triumphant, joyous and relieved we feel in our daily life.

Now that we are born of God, we dwell in love, because God is love. We exhibit His love to the hopeless masses of humanity around us as the Holy Spirit directs us. We live a successful life as we function in the center of our Father’s will, performing only those deeds planned for us prior to the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:10). Our faith in His faithfulness increases beyond the temporal aspects of life, and soars with God’s Spirit into the eternal realm. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us until we are perfected in the image of Christ within us.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, in our union with You, we merge the human with the divine, the natural with the supernatural, ignorance with wisdom, the lesser with the greater and the inferior with the superior. We find a fountain of supply for all of our needs in the provision of Your divine love. We thank You for submitting Your will to God’s in order to provide us with freedom from sin and eternal salvation through your death and resurrection.

Thought for the Day:

Whoever abides in the will of God, shall live forever in eternity.
– 1 John 2:17