Saturday, January 15, 2005

All Authority in Heaven and Earth — In Our Midst!

Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
Whenever we come together in the name of Jesus, to act as He would act and ask as He would ask, we can be assured that Jesus is present with us. This is not the general omnipresence of God, but His special manifest presence. It is a revelation of Jesus.

As I was thinking about this the other day, the Holy Spirit reminded me of what Jesus promised the disciples in the Great Commission:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth… And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)
So here are two promises of Jesus manifest presence with us.
  1. As we come together in His name.
  2. As we go out to fulfill the Great Commission.
Now, let me ask you: When Jesus comes and makes His presence known, does He show up with His authority, or does He leave it behind?

That’s a silly question, isn’t it? Of course Jesus comes with all His authority, and He comes ready to exercise it.

So when we come together or go out in His name, Jesus is with us, and all the authority He possesses — the authority of heaven and earth — is with us also.

Think of it. Whenever we gather to worship, to love, serve, give or fellowship in the name of Jesus, all the authority of heaven and earth is present in our midst, ready to be exercised. Whenever we go out to minister in the name of Jesus, all the authority of heaven and earth goes with us, ready to do the works of Jesus.

Hmmmmm. Since that is so, what ought our discipleship to look like?

Study the works of Jesus in the Gospels. See what He did with His authority and how He exercised it. Then when two or three of you gather in His name, or go out to minister in His name, begin learning how to exercise His authority to do the works of Jesus in the name of Jesus.

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