Advent 3---Practice

[HKHaugan]

OK, so we’ve been talking about preparation and prayer. They are how we come to the place where we let the Lord Jesus out of our heart and into the world we live. But how does that work for us? This is where He calls us to see Him as the example, “As the Father has sent me, that is the way I am sending you (Jn.20:21).” So how is He sending us?

If we look at the Lord, Scripture tells us He saw His task as letting the Father be seen and known through Him. That is exactly how we are called, to let Jesus be seen and known through us. Jesus relates three ways He reveals the Father, which in turn give us our direction---presence, words and action.

First, His presence, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” When I wake up in the morning I prepare my mind to think of Jesus first. It is my consciousness of Him that the Holy Spirit expands so that I start the day living in a spiritual context, His context, instead of a worldly one. When I do that there is a greater likelihood that the people I come in contact with will see not only me but also the One inside me and sense the difference the Lord makes in my conversation and action toward them. It’s all about His presence seen in us.

Second, His words, “…the words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work.” If I am in the Word day by day there is no question the Holy Spirit will bring His insights to me. As I read the Word and let it sink in three things happen. First, I have given my mind principles and insights with which I can reason. Second, the reason gives my heart a foundation to trust. Third, trusting I have the confidence to act. Remember, Jesus said His words are the living Father working in Him. The same is true for us. It’s the Word the Holy Spirit uses to activate my spiritualized nature. It’s all about His Word lived through us.

Third, His action, “…believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves (Jn.14:10-11 NIV).” Here is where we really beat the world. The world operates on the spirit of fear. We all know what fear is. As a weapon of sin it is the propulsion fuel the devil ignites to keep us compromised, defensive and self-justifyingly inactive. But the Lord Jesus gives us this promise, “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do (Jn.14:12-14 The Message Bible).” It’s all about His action seen through us.

Spelling that out a bit we need to look at the equipment He has given us.
First, there is the Holy Spirit, the Promised Gift living in us, our personal Counselor, who brings the depth and insight of the Word into our mind and heart. Second, we have been given a new identity not only as a direct unique child of God.
Third, we have been given a spiritual family in which we grown and help each other to grow, the Body of Christ. It’s in the Body we practice our faith, learn about Jesus and worship Him.
Fourth, each has been given measures of God’s grace called spiritual gifts to help build the Body of Christ and bring His Kingdom into the world in which we live.
Fifth, we have been given the fruit of the Spirit as a spiritual atmosphere in which the gifts operate and allow us to spiritually witness in the world. The fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23, …love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) allows us to spiritually breathe and activate the gifts as they are needed.

So the practice of faith in Jesus comes on the heels of preparation and prayer but all three interlock each day. Each of us has been given an identity, a role and a mission. We are spiritual realities realizing the presence of the Real One who makes eternal reality a present experience, real forever. What we are doing is preparing, praying and practicing eternity in the present for the One who will return in that one great present moment that knows no end. “I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age (Mt.28:20 The Message)."