Remembering Stone #9: Discovering the Indwelling Christ
/. . . the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 NASB
“Go down, Jan.”
My mentor-friend Donna would say this to me, time after time. “Jan, you are in your head. Go down”
My problem was that instead of actually feeling my negative emotions,* I would do “commentary” on them and the situations that provoked them. Donna was trying to help me actually feel my emotions. You see, for years in “evangelicalism” I came to believe that anything negative was “sin” — negative feelings, negative thoughts, negative desires, etc. etc.
What a lie from the pit! After all, even Jesus had negative feelings and was assailed by temptation, but without sin.* Donna was trying to help me heal emotionally and spiritually.
``
So she would continually say, “Go down, Jan.”
Finally, I began to wonder, “Where am I going when I ‘go down?”
So one day I asked Donna, “Donna, when you tell me to ‘go down,’ where am I going?”
She paused and said, “I don’t know.”
So guess what that did for me — it sent me on a search, a search in the Scriptures. In my ignorance and naiveté and genuine spiritual curiosity, I wanted to know where I was going. So I looked up any and every passage that contained the words . . .
IN,
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and [a]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 2:20 NASB
. . . the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 NASB
INNERMOST,
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 7:37-39 NASB
INNER,
. . . that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being
Ephesians 3:16 ESV
And eventually, as I plumbed these and many other Scriptures, I came “face to face” with the indwelling Christ, who opened me up to know and experience the indwelling Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
GLORY!
Evangelicalism had often taught me to focus on externals, rather than the Christ within who would live through me, as me, as I let Him. And that is faith, which I had been struggling to understand. As Andrew Murray says,
Faith is the ceasing from all nature's efforts, and all other dependence; faith is confessed helplessness casting itself upon God's promise, and claiming its fulfillment; faith is putting ourselves quietly into God's hands for Him to do the work. -- Abide in Christ
The Holy Spirit began to do an exciting “reprogramming” work in my mind and heart. And He used these spiritual writers in those early days to clarify my understanding of the Christian life — Christ Himself!
Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ
You are the branch.—You need be nothing more. You need not for one single moment of the day take upon you the responsibility of the Vine. You need not leave the place of entire dependence and unbounded confidence.
Abiding in Me is indispensable, for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life...
Brennan Manning, The Rabbi’s Heartbeat
We are not cowed into timidity by death and life. Were we forced to rely on our own shabby resources we would be pitiful people indeed. But the awareness of Christ's present risenness persuades us that we are buoyed up and carried on by a life greater than our own.
The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.
A W Tozer, The Pursuit of God
When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.
Henri Nowen, Bread for the Journey
Being a believer means being clothed in Christ. Paul says, “Every one of you that has been baptized has been clothed in Christ” (Galatians 3:26) and “Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). This being “clothed in Christ” is much more than wearing a cloak that covers our misery. It refers to a total transformation that allows us to say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Thus, we are the living Christ in the world. Jesus, who is God-made-flesh, continues to reveal himself in our own flesh. Indeed, true salvation is becoming Christ.
Little by little, I began to rest in the indwelling God — no longer “earning” but rather enjoying Him and letting Him live through me . . . as me.
YOUR TURN
Question: Do you live in your head or from your heart (spirit) where Jesus dwells?
If in your head, ‘go down” and find Him there.
Meditate on the Scriptures in this post. You may want to write them out in your journal. Ask the Holy Spirit for revelation of the indwelling Christ by the Holy Spirit.
*See Healing for Damaged Emotions by David Seamonds
This song was on a CD gifted to me for my birthday years back — I sobbed when I first heard it. I was grieving over how long of my Christian life was spent NOT Experiencing the Christ who was IN me from day 1. But then I realized as my mentor-friend Donna would say, “Jan, it was all part of the journey.”
Grab your tissues …
