Which Jesus are you living like?

John 7:37-39 says this: On the last and greatest day of
the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone
is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes
in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water
will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom
those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that
time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet
been glorified.

These scriptures are amazing. First of all they tell us
that if we are thirsty and we come to Him and believe, we
will receive the Holy Spirit...His Spirit IN US..."streams
of LIVING water will flow within him". At this point though
Jesus had not yet been crucified, died, risen or ascended
to the Father, all of which were a part of His complete
assignment...the assignment that would be the payment for our sins,
past, present and future. Only after His work was complete
would He be "glorified". The disciples could not receive the
Holy Spirit yet, because of this. He is speaking to them of
a time to soon come.

There is an amazing truth in this: If they had been able
to receive the Holy Spirit at that point, before the completed
work of Christ, (as much as that may have been better for them in
some circumstances...LOL), the disciples would have become like
THAT Jesus...the One Who was still working, still teaching
them, still headed for the cross to suffer and die for us.
The Father's intention was always for us to become like the
GLORIFIED Christ, not the suffering, dying Christ! Jesus worked
as a man and if we could have done the work of redemption,He would
not have needed to die. The relationship that Adam had with the
Father was one of fellowship,giving Him joy and pleasure, expanding
what was in Heaven on the domain of earth...not the "sweat of his
brow" Adam, after the fall.

You may read that and say, "Well, duh!"...but I was struck with
an awesome revelation when I heard that. Many of us, individuals,
as well as whole churches, are living as though they received the
Christ Who still needed to suffer and die, who still needed to
"GET IT DONE"!

We need to understand that His work was completed, He lives in
us glorified. We are to be an open conduit for the glorified
Christ to flow through in the form of His Holy Spirit, doing His
renewing, transforming, amazing work through our hands, reconciling
the world to Himself through us...full restoration of fellowship with
Him. Resting in His completion, His glorification is essential,
because otherwise you are hindered by time and space, having
anxiety about timing, being impressed with yourself, looking inward,
instead of keeping your eyes on the One Who gave you life and Who
sustains it, and Whom you have become and are daily becoming like.

What you behold, you become. Behold the glorified Christ and your
work will come from His rest.

1 John 4:17 says, "...as He is, so also are we in this world."
Did you get that? As He IS, not as He WAS. You may think, well
being like Jesus would be good any way you look at it, from any
viewpoint in His life. NO. He did it all already. He said,
"It is finished." He sat down at the right hand of the Father
and He IS intercession for us! God looks over and seeing Jesus says,
"Oh, there's Suzy, there's Billy, there's (insert your name here).
There is not one thing that you can add by busyness and anxiety...
it's already done!

We are told in the Bible that the letter of the law without
the Spirit kills...it is dead words. You NEED the Holy Spirit
of the glorified Christ dwelling in you and on you and then you
will be able to stop struggling with "knowing enough" and rest
in the One Who is "more than enough"!

When you came to Christ, the old you died, buried in the waters
of Baptism and being raised/resurrected to NEW life...your OLD
MAN was not FIXED, he was KILLED...and you have already been
seated in the heavenlies with Christ. His Spirit came into
your dead body and made it alive. Don't hang out by your grave
mourning that old man. Walk away and passionately pursue Christ.

He said in His Word that your work is to believe in Him. He said,
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added to you."

You are the image and glory of God according to the Bible.
You can do nothing apart from His glory...you are one with Him...
His body. Learn to live in these truths, in His glory and as you go,
the sick will be healed, the hungry fed, the blind will see, demons
will flee, the lost will be found, the Kingdom will advance.
You will SEE His glory cover the earth! Jesus will receive His
FULL REWARD...a bride whose body is proportionate to her head,
blameless, spotless. That is the bride He is returning for! Relationship
fully restored!

Peace, righteousness and joy,
Teresa