There’s a lot mystery around us
There’s a lot of mystery to our faith
I’ve been a Christian most of my life and I’ve been at my current church for over 30 years, yet if I’m totally honest I often feel like I know less now than I’ve ever done. As a teenager I was a passionate believer and saw everything black and white, I thought I had it all worked out. As I’ve grown older I’ve experienced grief, loss, pain, disappointment and a ton of interesting and difficult situations.
When the rubber hits the road you really know what you’re made of.
Through it all I’m certain that God is good, God loves us, God is faithful and God is with us. However I don’t fully understand why some things happen.
I firmly believe that God is with us in the suffering, the pain, the highs and the lows
God is with us in the mystery
God is with is in everything we face
Eight years ago I had a fresh revelation of my union with Christ. It changed my life.
I lived as a well-meaning, devoted yet somewhat confused believer. Sometimes I thought I was close to God, then other times I thought I was distant.
If I messed up I thought I was far away from God and that I had to grovel and somehow earn my place back at the table.
I thought my actions could bring me close to God.
Finally, I got set free from this thinking
The mystical reality that I am one with Christ, went from my head to my heart.
The beautiful reality is that God is always with me . I’m already in the presence of God, what’s absent is my awareness.
Galatians 2:20 says ‘I’ve been crucified with Christ, It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me’. Christ lives IN us.
Colossians 2:9-15 (AMP) says; For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature]. And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].
Romans 6: 5-6 says; For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God].
We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
We were nailed to the cross with Him. We are one with Him.
In Him dwells the fullness of the deity and we are in Him
We are in Christ, if we feel it or not – We have been mystically joined to Christ
In the mysteries of life and faith we are not alone. God is with us.
What a huge blessing, what a hope.
by Ian Yates