“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
It is one thing to know the truth, both concerning the knowledge of God and of His ways, and then to live by faith according to those truths in a consistent way and manner. This consistency, or momentum, is a constant theme throughout the Bible. For example, in the Old Testament, in the Psalms, we read: “Lord, You have been or dwelling place in all generations.” (90:1) This is a fact, in particular concerning the believers of old. As God was for Israel, and the believers of the Old Testament, their dwelling place, He was revealed as such so that man could truly know Him. God was where the believer was to live, in communion with Him, dwelling and abiding in this blessed reality, “feeding upon His faithfulness,” and proving His presence, power, and provision. In Psalm 91, the Psalmist declares: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (v.1) In this Psalm there is a progression of thought, the first being a continuation of the fact that God is the dwelling place of the believer, and then revealing that act and attitude of consistent faith necessary to live there. God is a dwelling place, revealed to men, so that they will dwell there. When there is this “abiding” by faith, deriving all from God in Christ by that inward attitude of faith, there is the appropriation of Christ in the life. The words of the Apostle Paul are so appropriate in this matter when, in one of his prayers he declared: “…that He (God the Father) would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” (3:17) Here we have not only Paul speaking of the presence of Christ IN the heart, but Christ having perfect liberty in the heart to work, revealing His presence and power.
In John’s gospel, chapter 15, the Lord Jesus spoke at length concerning this matter of union and communion. He used the illustration of the True Vine, (Himself), and the branches, those true believers in union with Himself. The purpose of the revelation of this relationship is to provide the believer with a knowledge of the truth concerning oneness with Christ. When an individual comes to Christ, and is born of the Spirit, he is placed IN Christ, in living union with Him. This is a fact. But facts are given by God so that faith can appropriate Christ according to them. Just to know the truth of one’s union with Christ is not enough in order to know, as Paul put it, “… the power of Christ’s resurrection.” The call of God to every believer in Christ is to communion, that very consistent, and abiding, receiving from Christ by the Spirit, all that He desires to be and to accomplish in the life. All the resources of Christ, those “riches in glory,” are available to the believer by virtue of one’s union with Him. But then comes the question, a question that Hudson Taylor asked himself in China many years ago, serving as a missionary there: “…but how to get it out?” In other words, Taylor knew well that he had ALL in Christ, for he was “complete” in Him. But how was he to receive all that he needed on a daily basis from and by Christ, in China, in order to have it to give to those whom he came to serve? How was he to communicate Christ’s life?
The answer was faith, an active, yet quiet resolve, of believing God according to the promises, trusting, as the Apostle Paul did, for the quickening, or strengthening by the Spirit in the inner man, that Christ should dwell in the heart BY FAITH. Receiving is actively, consistently, quietly believing God.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to abide. In Jesus’ name, Amen.