Copyright 2020 © Michael A. Brown
‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…’ (Eph. 3:16-17)
‘To them God has chosen to make known among
the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.’ (Col. 1:27)
THE New Testament epistles teach us that ‘we are in
Christ’ and that ‘Christ is in us’ (Eph. 1:3-14, Col. 1:27). As born-again and Spirit-filled believers, we
have within ourselves a union of our own spirit with the divine life of God
through his Spirit who dwells and abides within us (Col. 1:27, 2 Peter 1:4). We are one in spirit with the Lord,
and so the life of Christ within us is the very life of our being (1 Cor. 6:17,
John 1:4, Col. 3:4).
This truth of having Christ’s life and
nature growing within us through the power of the Holy Spirit is the capstone
of the revelation of the gospel (Col. 1:27).
It reveals the ultimate purpose of God for us as believers, vis. that there might be an organic union
of his divine life with our own spirit within us, empowering us and growing
within us, so that the life, character and love of God are reproduced, revealed
and manifested in and through us as his children in this world.
Jesus taught his disciples that, when the
Holy Spirit came to indwell them, this would create a dynamic, life-giving
union within them of his life with theirs, much as the union between a vine and
its branches allows the life-giving sap of the vine to flow into the branches
and to produce fruit:
‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ (John 15:5)
‘I in them and you in me… that the love you have
for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’ (John 17:23,26)
So it is our privilege – and God’s design
and purpose – that we learn to live out of the life-giving power of this inner
spiritual union. This is a practical outworking of what it means to be filled
with the Holy Spirit (who is the Spirit of life, Rom. 8:2) and maturing in our
walk with God. Developing a life of
consistent intimacy with God allows his life-giving presence and power to
produce godliness and the fruit of the Spirit in our character, and also to
permeate our being and flow through us in ministry.
Through this inner union, the power of the
life of God within us can influence and affect our entire being – spirit, soul
and body – and it is God’s purpose and desire for us to know these effects in and
throughout our entire being. God’s
intention is to incarnate his divine life and power within believers, so that
their entire being can be influenced and affected for good through the power of
this inner union. It is not –
and never has been! – God’s purpose that the life-giving effects of his
presence within us should be confined only to our spirit, leaving our soul, our
character and our physical body untouched and unaffected by this presence and life
within us. This is clear from the
apostle Paul’s teaching in such passages as Romans 8:5-11 and Ephesians 3:14-19,
4:13-16.
A
Christ-like character
Our spirits were made alive through union
with the power of God’s life when we were born again (Eph. 2:4-5), but it is God’s
purpose for us that we might ‘become
mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ… speaking the
truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is
Christ.’ (Eph. 4:13,15), i.e. that his life within us might grow, blossom
out and mature, bringing us into growing conformity with himself. In this way, the qualities of Christ’s life
can increasingly be brought out, developed and manifested in our own soul and
character, so that, as he increasingly becomes the life of our life, we are
made more like him day by day. Then
other people will be able to see or sense Christ and his life in us, and
perhaps be drawn to it.
As we do away with the sins of our old
nature, as we move on from immature carnality in our spiritual life, and as we learn
to live consistently out of the intimacy of the loving union that we have with
Christ, then our inner being becomes increasingly energised by the heart-warming
presence, grace, affection, peace, calmness, tenderness, purity, beauty and
love of Christ.
As a consequence, our character becomes
more Christ-like, and our habits, our speaking, our behaviour and our actions
towards other people reflect the fruit of the Spirit and become increasingly
conformed to those of Jesus (Gal. 5:22-23).
His life, his love and his character increasingly manifest themselves
through us towards others. We begin to see other people through God’s eyes,
and other people begin to see Christ in us.
Our hearts want to show the love, care and compassion of God to them,
both in word and deed. So God reaches
out to other people through us, influencing them and ministering into their
lives.
For example, Luke said that great grace
and willing generosity from the heart characterized the community life of the
early believers as they freely gave of their possessions to help one another
(Acts 4:33-35).
It is such practical expressions of Christ’s life within us
which are the basis of the many unspoken acts of kindness and generosity
performed by Christian believers every day,
and they are the foundation of the many philanthropic ministries which God has raised
up historically through his Church.
To grow up and mature in Christ and to
have his life manifested in and through us, is to grow in our capacity to love
both God and other people. The quality
of our relationships with others should be determined by living towards them
out of our new nature in Christ with its love and grace, rather than out of our
old nature with its petty jealousies and resentments, etc.
‘And I pray that you, being rooted and established
in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness
of God.’ (Eph. 3:17-19)
‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ (John 13:34-35)
Our minds
characterised by life and peace
Parallel with this growth in inward
Christian character, our
mindset and thinking are renewed and transformed under the influence and
control of the divine Spirit of life within us, and so become in accordance
with the mind of Christ:
‘Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ (Rom. 12:2)
‘But we have the mind of Christ.’ (1 Cor. 2:16)
It is God’s purpose that our minds as
believers should be in a consistent state of life and peace, as we learn to live
by the Spirit:
‘…those who live in accordance with the Spirit have
their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit
is life and peace.’ (Rom.
8:5-6)
Living regularly with – and effectively
being controlled by – issues such as stress, anxiety and worry in our minds and
emotions may be common in our present-day society, but it is not the will or
purpose of God for us to be dominated or controlled by such things. As we become increasingly renewed in our
thinking and thereby have our minds set on what the Spirit desires (rather than
being controlled by carnal or sinful thinking), and as we learn to pray and
cast all our cares and burdens on the Lord (Phil. 4:6, 1 Peter 5:7), we can
experience in a consistent way what it is to live with the peace, grace and
strength of God within ourselves, having a mind that is controlled by the
Spirit and is characterised by life and peace:
‘And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.’
(Phil
4:7, cf. Rom. 8:6)
The power of God working in and
through our physical bodies
Furthermore, experiencing the effects of
the power of this inner union with God’s divine life in our being does not
exclude our physical bodies, and we can see many examples of this in Scripture.
For example, when Moses was permeated with the presence of God, his face became
radiant and shone with the glory of God (Ex. 34:29-35). Similarly, when Stephen was before the
Sanhedrin, his face shone like that of an angel (Acts 6:15). When the power of God came upon Elijah, he
ran for many miles outpacing king Ahab’s chariots (1 Ki. 18:46). On two recorded occasions, when Elijah and Elisha
ministered to dead people, it was the power of God working and flowing through
the contact of their physical bodies with those of the dead individuals which
brought these to life again (1 Ki. 17:17-24, 2 Ki. 4:8-37). The power of God even worked through the bones
of Elisha, raising a dead man to life again (2 Ki. 13:20-21)!
Because Jesus lived in such deep, close
and regular intimacy with his Father, he could minister out of unhindered union
with the life of the Holy Spirit within him, and the power of God flowed
through him physically to heal those in need. People came to him wanting just to touch him
(or even simply his clothes), knowing that as they did this in faith, they were
going to get healed. God’s power was
coming out of him to heal them (Luke 6:18-19, 8:43-48). On other occasions as he laid hands on sick
people, the power of God flowed through this form of physical contact and they
were healed:
‘…and the people all tried to touch him, because
power was coming from him and healing them all.’ (Luke 6:19)
‘…and laying his hands on each one, he healed
them.’ (Luke 4:40)
We can find examples of this also in the
ministries of the apostles (e.g. Acts 28:8-9; cf. Jas. 5:14-16). When the apostle Paul was permeated with the
power of the Holy Spirit, handkerchiefs and aprons that had been in physical
contact with his body seem to have absorbed the power of God from him and, when
these were then taken to people in need, the sick and oppressed were healed and
released (Acts 19:11-12).
So our bodies too can and should be
experiencing the influence of the power of the life of God within us, but
unfortunately for various reasons many believers miss this and they do not
understand this purpose of God for their physical body.[1] However,
God has promised that he will give life to our mortal bodies in the here and
now through his Spirit who lives within us:
‘And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life
to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.’ (Rom. 8:11)
As we learn to honour and obey the Holy
Spirit and are open to him, and as we seek to be filled with him and learn to
live in consistent daily union with his life within us; as we learn to release
his presence in us through free, open worship and praying in tongues, and by
soaking ourselves in the word of God; and as we understand and by faith embrace
the purpose of God for our physical bodies, then the power of the life of God within
us can begin to permeate and affect our bodies too.
We can experience physical healing and
know consistently good health through the power of our union with the divine
life of the Holy Spirit within us, and we can experience his power working and
flowing through us physically as channels in ministry to others, just as it did
through Jesus and the apostles. In the
same way that the life, presence and power of God was incarnated in and worked
through Jesus, it can work through us too as his servants!
So as we lay hands on believers who are
open and seeking, the Holy Spirit’s presence and power can come upon them,
filling them, and refreshing them with God’s presence and grace. The power of God may be so strong and
overwhelming that they cannot stand on their feet, and they may tremble or
shake as it comes upon them and flows through them. They may experience physical or emotional
healing, and they can be released from oppression as evil spirits leave them,
and so on.
So understand, believe and embrace God’s
purpose of giving life to your mortal body today! Rise up in faith, and proclaim and declare it
over yourself! Jesus came that we might
have his divine life and have it in abundance (John 10:10). Life is God’s will, not death! Healing is God’s will, not sickness! Spiritual freedom is God’s will, not
oppression! Knowing his strength and
grace in our weakness is his will, not remaining bereft of these in our human
weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
Offer up your body as a living sacrifice
to God (Rom. 12:1), so that the Holy Spirit can truly fill and be free to work
in and through this temple he owns and dwells in (1 Cor. 6:19-20)! Open yourself up to the Holy Spirit within
you, and ask him to permeate your physical body with his life! Invite him to minister to your physical body
at your point of need and stand by faith on his promises to heal you!
[1]
For further teaching on this, please see my blog
“Health and Healing Through the Indwelling Holy Spirit” at
https://jesushealingteaching.blogspot.co.uk.
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