Devotion 3 - Walking in our Full Potential
Col.1:19 – “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell…”
Col.2:9 – “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…”
These two scriptures give us an important key to a successful Christian life. Christ was filled with the fullness of the Father and He walked in the perfect will of God. We can have the potential to walk in the same measure if only we could have the fullness of God dwell in us too.
The Scripture also tells us clearly that we all have the potential to walk in perfect Christlikeness, “ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”
Although our Heavenly Father may love each of us equally, not all of us are always equally conscious of His love. Jesus, when He was physically manifested on earth, had twelve apostles, hundreds of other disciples and thousands of followers. He loved all equally, yet only one disciple wrote that he was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn.13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20, 24).
For that reason, Paul prayed this remarkable prayer for the Ephesian Church:
Eph.3:14-20 – “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
If we observe this passage carefully, we can see a sequence of progressions, one built upon the other. And the ultimate end of it all is that God would glorify Himself through what He does in the believer.
The main focus of the prayer is that they might be able to comprehend the vastness or fullness of God’s love. Paul understands that to the degree they can comprehend the Father Heart of God’s love, they can be filled with His fullness.
Many people think, “If I have more anointing, if I have a greater measure of the Holy Spirit, if I have a greater impartation of the Spirit, I would be able to do more for God”. However, the bible tell us that the presence of God is the key for God to work exceedingly abundantly through us, and that comes through our comprehension of His Love!
Dan.11:32 – “The people who [are spiritually mature and] know their God will display strength and carry out great exploits.” (AMP)
Daniel said it well, that those who are mature will do great exploits for Him. God is love. To be spiritually mature and to know God intimately and experientially, is to know Love.
Gal.2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Paul was effective in ministry. He had a successful and fruitful life because he acknowledged that the life, he lived was not his own, but that Christ lived in him. And he emphasised that he could live out a Christlike life is because of his confidence in Christ’s love for him. A Christian life is not about learning more and more about His commandment and then trying to practice it. It is about letting Christ live His life through us and this is possible only if we can rest completely in His Love for us.
More than conquerors through Love
Rom.8:37-39 – “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Note, Paul says it is confidence in God's love for us that renders us more than conquerors.
We are MORE than conquerors because we do not need to conquer anymore – Christ has conquered for us– which means that there is nothing else for us to do but to enjoy the victory that Christ has wrought for us. We rest in His victory and partake of the benefits of His victory. This becomes a reality when we are one with Christ and in union with Him.
Our ability to walk in great faith and great grace depends on the greatness of our confidence in God’s love. Truly, if only we can fully rest in the magnitude of God’s love for us, that is nothing in the world that can conquer us. Unfortunately, due to our lack of knowledge of His love, we are often conquered rather than conquerors of our emotions and life’s situations.
The devil uses trials, temptations and tribulations to serve only ONE purpose - to make us doubt whether God loves us. All our doubts and fears are always centred on ONE thing - whether God loves us enough to take care of us. Even the temptation of Eve is based on this one thing. The serpent insinuated that God was hiding something good; God did not love them enough to give them everything that was good for them. May we not fall into the same deception.