“…I pray for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and in Thee…” John 17:20,21
Dear Ones:
In the history of the evangelical movement, there has been what is described as “deeper life” teaching. Why was this so? It was because of a need in the hearts and souls of believers. The need was that of a deeper, richer, and more satisfying experience of communion with God, according to the word of God. Is there a spiritual basis for such “deeper life” teaching? To begin with, we need to define our terms. In speaking of the term, “deep,” let’s remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church concerning knowing the love of God: “…rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and DEPTH, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” (3:17,18,19) Of what is Paul speaking here? He is speaking of an ever-increasing capacity to know the love of God, to go deeper with Him, as Christ, by the Spirit, ever reveals Himself to the soul, mind, and heart. In one of Anne Marston’s great hymns, she writes: “…And as Thy kingdom doth increase, so shall Thine ever-deepening peace.” On what truth in Scripture can she base this prayer? Isaiah writes, in speaking of the Prince of Peace, “…and of the INCREASE of His government and peace, there shall be no end.” (9:7) Here we have laid out before us the reality that, it is as we know the truth of God in Christ, grasp something of His wonderful and complete work on Calvary, that we are able by His grace, to ever-increasingly appropriate Christ as our peace. It is as His reign in our hearts increases, that His peace is known in an ever-increasing way.
One of the great revelations of Christ to mankind is Him being the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. What repercussions does this have with regard to a life of faith? This knowledge brings us before the reality that anything, and everything “good,” is of God. All “goodness” towards us, and the world, is NOT because we merit it, nor can produce it. As the Alpha, the Beginning, Christ is the INITIATOR of every revelation of the goodness of God towards man. That goodness is revealed in fullest measure, not only by the coming of God in the flesh, in Christ, but the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel. The message of the Gospel, in its truth and motivating love, is the great and good proclamation of the truth by which the Life of Christ in our hearts, is to be increasingly known in all of its dimensions. It is true that His love surpasses knowledge, and yet, God reveals that love in and through us in the measure that we believe, and according to the capacity that He gives us to receive.
What is the key to “depth” of fellowship? We find a fundamental part of the answer in Jesus’ prayer in John 17. He prays that the believers will be ONE. He then qualifies this oneness by praying, “….As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us.” (v.21) True, deep fellowship with Christ, begins here, by seeing and grasping our oneness with Christ. He IS our life, and all that pertains to it. To go deep with Him, is to truly abide in Him more and more, deriving all from Him by that inward aspiration of faith.
Dear Father, give us a true, clear, and balanced understanding of our oneness with Thyself, and Thy Son, by the Spirit. Strengthen our hearts to believe Thee for Thy fullness, the fullness of the life of Christ to fill up our capacity to receive, for it is then that we shall bear Thy likeness. We thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad