HE LIVES IN ME | Simeon Umenwa

 

HE LIVES IN ME     

Simeon Umenwa

INTRODUCTION

Jesus tells us: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” In other words, when we eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus in Holy Communion, we essentially become like Jesus’ and he begins to live inside of us. To apply the words of Diana Ross, Jesus basically lives in you and all we need to do is to have faith because we are never alone. Jesus lives in you, he watches over everything that happens to you, there is no mountain too great, no height to high, just have faith because Jesus lives in you and with you in Galatians *2:20* he say I'm crucified with Christ; and it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me and the life which i now live in the fresh I live in faith the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me". Christian’s life is living in faith and our life is a matter of allowing him to live in us and through us.

HOW CAN HE LIVES IN ME

One of the major problem of Christianity is not having faith. Our faith is not strong. Faith is having three things in mind trusting faith, believing faith and expectant faith. Let’s see 

Luke 8:43-48: “Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Then Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’ When all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.’ When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’” 

Have faith that is the key of welcoming Jesus in our heart as Christians. You can see that she has faith believing, trusting and expecting divine healing in her life we can apply the same in our life we should believe, trust an expect, for by the virtue of our baptism Christ has been living us its now our turn to live in Christ through our faith.

You see, when Saul was on his way to persecute the Christians in Damascus, he didn’t realize that the Christians he was persecuting were communicants and that Jesus was living in them; he didn’t realize that he was also persecuting Jesus. To the glory of God, Jesus confronted him on the road and he was struck down with a bright light from heaven which blinded him. Then Jesus asked him a very passionate question: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Dear friends, cast away your fears. Be faithful to communion and know that each time you eat the flesh and drink the blood, you are part of Jesus and Jesus is in you. No one can harm you without Jesus knowing, and there is no where you can ever go without Jesus being there because he is in you. He is your life.

Knowing that Jesus is in you should not make you arrogant, neither should it make you try to put his power to the test. Instead, it should make you conscious not to offend Jesus by falling into sin as we can never hide anything from him. On the other hand, do not keep away from communion as Jesus himself said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Go for confession today and receive communion because the more you keep away from communion, the more you grow weaker in your resistance to sin.

BUT HOW DOES GOD DWELL IN US? 

Through the power of His Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 Paul explains that “the Spirit of God dwells in you” (verse 9) means that “Christ is in you” (verse 10). Jesus Christ can live in a person through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the degree to which God and Jesus Christ dwell in us depends on the degree to which we follow the leading of God’s Spirit and use its power. When the Holy Spirit is in us, it empowers us to actually become like God the Father and Jesus Christ in nature, character, spirit, attitudes, approach and love.

It leads and empowers us to live and think as the Father and Christ do!

Moreover in order to have Christ in us by living as He lived, we must deeply desire to change and become more like Him. We have to want to seek to have Jesus Christ’s life in us for Him to give us the help we need to achieve that end. The desire and willingness to change (the 100 percent commitment of heart to change) is the primary thing we bring to the table.

As we read in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (New Revised Standard Version). So we must have the “will” to live as He did, and we must “work” at developing His character. This means we must cry out to God in prayer for the help we need to change. The Bible also calls this hungering and thirsting for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). John said, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus Christ’s life illuminates the path—the way—God wants us to live. He calls us to the path, but we must want to get on it. If we do, He will give us all the help we need to grow. But, again, only if we seek it. He will not force the help on us. Nor will He make the changes we need to make for us.

Too many seem to believe Christianity is just about Jesus doing everything for us. But even though we do need to let go of our own will and let God work in us, which does not mean He will do everything for us. We must work hard. In fact, in the New Testament Christians are often called “workers” (Colossians 4:11; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3 John 1:8).

We must put diligent effort into working to develop Christ’s character within us.

CHRIST IN US IS WHAT CHRISTIAN IS ALL ABOUT

At the heart and core of Christianity is the fact that we must be diligently seeking to change to become like Jesus Christ—to have His life formed in us. If we do not have the qualities of Jesus Christ’s life being formed in our life, we will be “disqualified” from the Kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 13:5).

This fundamental truth of seeking to change is not understood by everyone who claims to follow Christ. But the truth is that the Christian life involves using free will and developing Christian character through right choices and diligent effort.

You can do the same by building faith and diligently striving to walk as Jesus walked through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh. ..” Notice the paradox there: he says, “I no longer live,” and then he says, “The life I live.” There’s some sense in which he’s not living and Christ is living instead, and another sense in which, “Oh, I am living.” But what does he mean then? He says, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20

There’s the fundamental truth about a Christian. When we by faith are united to Christ, we are first united to his death. Romans 6:5 says, “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Then, since our old rebellious, unbelieving selves died with Christ, in union with him in his death, we’re made alive by the Spirit to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). David is emphasizing that we think of this newness of life as Christ living through us so that all our life becomes a display of Christ. 

 IN CONCLUSION

The more we Christ in our lives the more we change to his image. Our new self is created by the Spirit through faith, and the image of that new self is Christ, Christ himself. From one degree of glory to the next. Yes, David, yes, don’t waste his life; don’t waste Christ’s life in you and we should know Faith isn’t just a notion that some people hold onto in tough times; faith is an important element to all human life on earth. Life is precious, but it can also be remarkably difficult at times. Faith is what helps to get us through, illuminating the pathway in times of darkness, helping to give us strength in times of weakness. Without faith, we are nothing. Faith is everything, faith brings us more to God the more we seek him the more the betterment for us for Christ lives in us in our daily activities trust and believe.

SHALOM