Not to spend too much time on it but yesterday I wrote a lengthy post on the Old Testament and New Testament example how God is with us. From Adam to Moses,to Joshua to Jesus to the Disciples to Paul to me, the reality throughout scripture and history God is with us whether it be God walking in the garden in Genesis with Adam to Jesus walking the earth to the great commission call to me with the promise that God is with me. The TRUTH that God will never leave nor forsake. There are two sides to this that work together. The first side is empowering for me. The other side is convicting. The reality that in my sin God sees and knows. In my sin I cannot run from God and the promise that He is omnipresent and omniscient. Today I just want to focus in on the empowering side.
When Jesus tells the disciples in the Gospel of John that he is leaving but someone far greater is coming he is referring to the holy spirit that would later come at Pentecost to blow things up and empower the followers of Christ. In Romans 8 and Ephesians 1 Paul talks of the same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives in Christ followers. That same power lives in me. I talk so much about the “me factor” so that this is personal first. I don’t know how much power it takes to raise some one from the dead but that is far more power than any person on the earth can muster up. Jesus also reminded the disciples in John 14 that the disciples would do “even greater things than these.” The “these” in this unbelievably powerful statement is in reference to previous miracles that Jesus has been doing all throughout his time with the disciples. This power is so beyond my wildest dreams but it is unbelievably humbling and exciting to know the power source that we have to tap into. This power source is directly connected to the Holy Spirit. It is amazing to think that the Holy Spirit, a third of the trinity dwells inside each Christ follower. When God promises to be with me in the great commission how amazing is it that He doesn’t guide from a distance or beside but form within. My prayer is that this truth would empower me to walk in greater boldness. It is not a question of “do I have the Holy Spirit” or “is God with me?” Rather it is walking in the REALITY that the Holy Spirit lives in me and is desiring to be about God the Father’s business. So am I walking this reality out? Are you walking in this truth?
God is with me. God is with you. God is with us.
