Believe in God and believe also in Me
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me (John 14:1, KJV)
Jesus spoke the words above to His followers who were struggling with His identity. The Jews who heard Him believed in Yahweh, the one true God. But they had a problem believing in Jesus, as the Messiah and the Son of God. This is the interpretation of the verse above. Let me make an application to us today.
Our Christian life in Christ is unique. It requires us to believe something that many of us will find very uncomfortable. Christ has become one with you living as you and in you. That is the core of what Christianity is. It is not a mere following of the founder of a religion as the other religious systems of the world. Christianity is Christ living in you. This is wonderful, except that there is a problem to overcome. That problem is you. For Christ to live as He pleases, it must be in and through you as you. That means He will speak as you, think as you, feel as you or desire as you. Let me illustrate with the example of authority and power.
Christ has given us authority. Authority is simply the freedom, right and liberty to use power as you like and want. I know this might shake your brain a little bit. Is it as I want or as God wants? When God gives you His power, it is not as though He uses a remote to control you. No! That power is under you, fully under your control, just as the power to walk around. How many of you ask God in prayer before walking around? The reason we don’t is that God gave us the power in our muscles and the authority to move as we want and like. The problem then comes in when we believe in God but do not believe anything about us.
Mark 11:23 says if anyone speaks to the mountain in faith, he will get the results he wants. Many of you will have no problem believing God can speak to a mountain and remove it. The problem comes in when you have to believe that you can speak to the mountain as God has said for it to move. We have believed in God and in Christ. We have a major problem believing the things about us. That is the reason why there are many of you reading this devotional might have so much faith in the prayer of that man of God or your pastor. But you probably have zero faith in your own prayers. This attitude is a significant barrier to Christ living in us.
For Christ to have His way, you have to believe in Him and in what He says about you. You have to get to the place of realizing He wants to completely fill your emotions, desires, thoughts, decisions, etc. There are some things that will not happen in your life until YOU DESIRE them. Do you know why? Christ has to live through you! Religion is one of the biggest obstacles to us believing in what we are. It has taught us that we are sinful and there is nothing good in us. Yes, we WERE lost and miserable sinners heading to hell. We are no longer sinners in the sight of a holy God. God is the One who said so, not you and me. The mentality that we are sinners, of no value, and there is nothing good in us is a manifestation of the religious spirit and is unbelief and even disobedience rather than humility. Do not allow your past to drown the realities of Christ in you today. Believe in God and also believe in what He has made of you.
MEDITATE
Do you believe God hears your prayers? Please do not answer this question rashly. Be honest. Do you have what it takes for God to listen to your prayers? An honest answer to this question will test how much you have believed in what you are in Christ.
APPLY THE WORD
The Lord so desires for us to understand that we are vessels for His expression. Your mind, emotions, will, and body are to express Him. Yes, sin is still competing with the Lord to be our master in this present life but we have to yield to Him. Your mind is not evil. God gave it to you. There are some things that will not happen in your life until YOU start thinking certain thoughts because until you think that way, Christ cannot live in you. Do you know that there are some of us reading this devotional now who are full of God’s power and the only limitation is that you are shy and timid? Power requires YOU to be bold, not Christ. Believe in Christ, and also believe what He says you are!
PRAY
Ask the Spirit to help you truly believe the things about you in the Word.
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Holy spirit help me to believe the word and so it will be fruitful in my life. Thanks for sharing this.
Amen, may He fulfill that desire!