Submission to the Holy Spirit
Jesus came to do perfectly what Adam had rebelled against: living completely submitted to, and drawing on, the power of the Holy Spirit:
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Jesus, who is God, and was with God, stepped away from divine privilege for love, and lived as a man...fully in agreement with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The power that Jesus walked in...the fullness of it...is available to anyone who desires to follow Jesus' way, because the power Jesus demonstrated when he healed the sick, walked on water, multiplied food, and knew things in advance was not His own, but the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, who is in everyone who is in Jesus...whether they draw on His presence, or not!
To the measure I follow (imitate) Jesus, in that same measure I will walk in the depth of authority and agreement with perfect power, releasing the power of the Holy Spirit into the world around me. This is what Jesus called "dying to yourself":
Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
The enemies of Jesus...satan and my own flesh...violently oppose my desire to die to myself and live in Christ. The Holy Spirit will fill my mind, will, and emotions to the degree I make room for Him by casting off my own thoughts, will, and feelings and live by faith that the invisible God is really in me, ready to move at the sound of my voice.
In my natural mode, I want all the benefits of God's presence (power and presence), with none of the death. I want presence without leadership, by nature. This is not possible. But Jesus showed the way to true agreement with God: setting aside all my own plans and power, and submitting to agreement with God through the Spirit. Moving when I hear Him say go, and not a minute before. For my life to work this way, I have to intentionally cultivate a deep relationship of hearing God.
This is what Jesus was tempted with in the desert: whether or not He would take back up His own power...which is much greater than mine. Jesus own power is divine privilege! Jesus could have, at any moment, asserted His OWN power, but He refused to.
Luke 4:3-4, 9, 12 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ....” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here..... And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
Jesus did perfectly what Adam failed at: living completely in agreement with God by only living by the Holy Spirit's power within Him. Deciding, moment by moment, to obey God. Jesus was "justified" by His own perfect obedience to God, which, when He died an unjust death, turned the tables on death's legal claim to mankind. Adam's rebellion to perfect life in the garden broke mankind and cursed everyone who would come after him. BUT, Jesus, who IS GOD...who held all power in His hands, and then laid it all aside, was so perfect in His submission to God, that the unjust nature of His death was "infinitely unjust"...big enough to share with anyone who chooses to agree it covers them, too!
Philippians 2:5-11 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross....
This is how strongly God feels about this kind of submission:
...Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Everything that Jesus walked in is available to anyone willing to share in His submission to God. I do this by reaching to, moment by moment, live only in the power of the Holy Spirit. Self-centered desire tempts me to shy away from only relying on the Holy Spirit. If I don't see Jesus rightly, I am tempted to think He doesn't really doesn't expect me to live like Him all the time! Satan wants me to believe that the standard Jesus set is impossible, so I will quit trying altogether. Jesus wants me to see that He made possible increasing consecration, which leads to increasing revelation, which leads to increasing manifestation of power. More faith = more transformation of the world around me!
We are tempted to see Jesus as God and miss Jesus as man. Jesus is FULLY man...facing the same temptations to take matters into His own hand...just like us.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus could have picked up His power at any time, but never did. Daily we are tempted to fix our own circumstances, walking by eyesight, rather than by faith...praying as a last resort rather than as our first and primary plan! BUT, by His perfect obedience, Jesus won a way for us to perfectly submit to God, just like He did: by talking to and listening to the Holy Spirit. Walking like Jesus walked increases our power...because it increases our faith to release the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us. If you have the living God on the inside of you...residing in your spirit, then you have the same measure of power (the Spirit) that resided in Jesus! That is why Jesus made this startling claim:
John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
Greater works come from greater faith, which is really humility in submission to God...doing only what we hear the Spirit saying and doing. Greater consecration (setting ourselves apart from the way the world does stuff and abiding in God) produces greater revelation...which produces greater faith, which releases power wherever we go.
Matthew 9:28-30 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it .”
Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
The apostles asked for more faith in response to the verse before:
Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Dying to myself is what is going to move mountains on earth in Jesus name!
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Jesus, who is God, and was with God, stepped away from divine privilege for love, and lived as a man...fully in agreement with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The power that Jesus walked in...the fullness of it...is available to anyone who desires to follow Jesus' way, because the power Jesus demonstrated when he healed the sick, walked on water, multiplied food, and knew things in advance was not His own, but the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, who is in everyone who is in Jesus...whether they draw on His presence, or not!
To the measure I follow (imitate) Jesus, in that same measure I will walk in the depth of authority and agreement with perfect power, releasing the power of the Holy Spirit into the world around me. This is what Jesus called "dying to yourself":
Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
The enemies of Jesus...satan and my own flesh...violently oppose my desire to die to myself and live in Christ. The Holy Spirit will fill my mind, will, and emotions to the degree I make room for Him by casting off my own thoughts, will, and feelings and live by faith that the invisible God is really in me, ready to move at the sound of my voice.
In my natural mode, I want all the benefits of God's presence (power and presence), with none of the death. I want presence without leadership, by nature. This is not possible. But Jesus showed the way to true agreement with God: setting aside all my own plans and power, and submitting to agreement with God through the Spirit. Moving when I hear Him say go, and not a minute before. For my life to work this way, I have to intentionally cultivate a deep relationship of hearing God.
This is what Jesus was tempted with in the desert: whether or not He would take back up His own power...which is much greater than mine. Jesus own power is divine privilege! Jesus could have, at any moment, asserted His OWN power, but He refused to.
Luke 4:3-4, 9, 12 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ....” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here..... And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
Jesus did perfectly what Adam failed at: living completely in agreement with God by only living by the Holy Spirit's power within Him. Deciding, moment by moment, to obey God. Jesus was "justified" by His own perfect obedience to God, which, when He died an unjust death, turned the tables on death's legal claim to mankind. Adam's rebellion to perfect life in the garden broke mankind and cursed everyone who would come after him. BUT, Jesus, who IS GOD...who held all power in His hands, and then laid it all aside, was so perfect in His submission to God, that the unjust nature of His death was "infinitely unjust"...big enough to share with anyone who chooses to agree it covers them, too!
Philippians 2:5-11 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross....
This is how strongly God feels about this kind of submission:
...Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Everything that Jesus walked in is available to anyone willing to share in His submission to God. I do this by reaching to, moment by moment, live only in the power of the Holy Spirit. Self-centered desire tempts me to shy away from only relying on the Holy Spirit. If I don't see Jesus rightly, I am tempted to think He doesn't really doesn't expect me to live like Him all the time! Satan wants me to believe that the standard Jesus set is impossible, so I will quit trying altogether. Jesus wants me to see that He made possible increasing consecration, which leads to increasing revelation, which leads to increasing manifestation of power. More faith = more transformation of the world around me!
We are tempted to see Jesus as God and miss Jesus as man. Jesus is FULLY man...facing the same temptations to take matters into His own hand...just like us.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus could have picked up His power at any time, but never did. Daily we are tempted to fix our own circumstances, walking by eyesight, rather than by faith...praying as a last resort rather than as our first and primary plan! BUT, by His perfect obedience, Jesus won a way for us to perfectly submit to God, just like He did: by talking to and listening to the Holy Spirit. Walking like Jesus walked increases our power...because it increases our faith to release the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us. If you have the living God on the inside of you...residing in your spirit, then you have the same measure of power (the Spirit) that resided in Jesus! That is why Jesus made this startling claim:
John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
Greater works come from greater faith, which is really humility in submission to God...doing only what we hear the Spirit saying and doing. Greater consecration (setting ourselves apart from the way the world does stuff and abiding in God) produces greater revelation...which produces greater faith, which releases power wherever we go.
Matthew 9:28-30 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it .”
Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
The apostles asked for more faith in response to the verse before:
Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Dying to myself is what is going to move mountains on earth in Jesus name!
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