Thursday, April 9, 2009

HAPPY RESURRECTION LIFE

Jesus’ last prayer before He went out to His Passion was for all who would believe on Him down through the ages. It was a prayer for you and me.

He prayed, “that they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou has loved me.”
(John 17:20-23)

When you recognize that prayer in light of “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5) and “By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” you begin to get a glimpse of your main purpose in life.

That purpose, your purpose here and now, is to live the Resurrection Life.
Your purpose is to show the love of God to a world that doesn’t know that He exists or that He loves each human being. But you can’t do that alone. It takes all the new creation beings, all who are born again, working together to perfectly reflect the awesome Love of the Creator Redeemer.

Paul’s two prayers for the Body of Christ recorded in Ephesians One and Three are keys to what we need to understand about our calling and purpose.

In Ephesians 1: 16-23, Paul asks the Father that YOU would receive the revelation of the resurrection power and how it works in you and all who believe, that you would understand that you now are part of His Body in the earth, forgiven, empowered, and given authority under Him over all things.

In Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul prays that we receive a revelation of the love of God so that we can be filled with the fullness of God. But he says we can only do that ‘with all saints’. In other words, it takes all of the Body of Christ to perfectly contain and pour forth His Love. Think of that! The fullness of God. Paul states that truth again in his letter to the Colossians “For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Col. 2:9 and 10)

My prayer for all of us who are one in Him is that we learn to love purely and wholly, that we reflect Him to all around us, that we understand His authority and let Him exercise it through us.

Go with Him to the Garden and say “Not my will but Thine be done.” Go with Him to the cross and say “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Then come forth from the empty tomb with Him and say
He is risen.
He is risen indeed!
He is risen.
He is risen in me!