Christ in you, the hope of glory

T

he Rest of the Gospel written by Dan Stone and Gregg Smith is a great book to help understand our identity. The following quotes are from the preface of this book. The authors demonstrate how to daily live the exchanged life. Life in Christ is possible here and now.

“’Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27). Christ living in us and through us, as us, is the only hope we have of experiencing the glory God intends for our lives…We are not the center of the universe. The son is. We exist for the praise of His glory (Hebrews). God’s plan was to bring into being a host of sons and daughters whom He would indwell; through whom He would live and manifest Himself; and in and through whom Christ would reign supreme. We are the beneficiaries of that plan…we are not the center of it; Christ is.” The Rest of the Gospel gives ideas on how to live above the line in spiritual intimacy with God while still here in this physical world.

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20)

“These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ or understand what He meant when He said, “…for My sake” (Matthew 5:11) That is what makes a strong saint.

  Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is-will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable-‘I have been crucified with Christ…’

   Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?”

My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers - daily devotional November 3

 Ø  Have I made a conscious choice to be crucified with Christ?

 Ø  What happened as I began to give up my right to myself?

“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”