Today I continue our new series entitled, “Power of Fellowship.” In this series we will study how we can be ONE with God and also ONE with man. Right now I am teaching on being ONE with God. Flowing in this vein, today we will look at a few statements Jesus made in John 5.
In John 5 Jesus healed a paralyzed man on a Sabbath. Jesus did so because He was in fellowship with the Father and He was led to do it. However, religious people, who claimed to want to please God and God alone, took issue with Jesus. They were upset that Jesus would have the audacity to heal a man on a Sabbath. Jesus answered His critics by saying, “Everyday my Father is at work, and I will be too!” The Bible says that this infuriated them and made them all the more eager to devise a plan to kill Jesus. Not only did Jesus break their Sabbath rules, but what really got them upset was that He called God “my Father,” which made him equal to God (the Bible says).
In response to their discontent, Jesus said, “The Son is not able to do anything from himself or through my own initiative. I only do the works that I see the Father doing, for the Son does the same works as his Father. Because the Father loves his Son so much, he always reveals to me everything that he is about to do. And you will all be amazed when he shows me even greater works than what you’ve seen so far! For just like the Father has power to raise the dead, the Son will raise the dead and give life to whomever he wants.”
Later in the engagement Jesus said, “Nothing I do is from my own initiative, for as I hear the judgment passed by my Father, I execute judgment. And my judgments will be perfect, because I can do nothing on my own, except to fulfill the desires of my Father who sent me. For if I were to make claims about myself, you would have reasons to doubt.”
(This came from John 5:15-21 and 30,31 from The Passion Bible Translation)
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Jesus lived in perfect harmony with the Father. He and the Father were ONE. He only said what He heard the Father say. He only did what the Father revealed to Him to do. Jesus is our example. This is the way we are supposed to live. The ultimate goal is to live on the earth in perfect harmony with the Father in heaven. This is how we experience heaven on earth.
2. If you have a true and intimate relationship with The Father, and others only have a form of godliness through religious practices, there will be a world of difference between you and them. You will walk with God and God will walk with you, and you will be misunderstood, and maybe even attacked, by those who only know God in a book.
3. Jesus was God in the flesh. But even though He was the direct Son of God, He said, “The Son is not able to do anything from himself or through my own initiative.” He also said, “I can do nothing on my own.” Notice that Jesus did not say, “I choose to only do what my Father tells me to do.” Or, “I only want to do what my Father says.” No. Jesus was not making a choice to listen to the Father. Jesus was saying that He COULD NOT DO anything without the Father. There is a big difference between “I choose to do what You say” and “I can’t do anything without You!” Even as the Son of God Himself, Jesus was saying that humanity is incapable of performing the will of the Father without the Father Himself. The only way for humanity to please God is for humanity to be in fellowship with divinity.
4. Jesus made it clear that NOTHING He did was of His own initiative. This is how we are supposed to live. When we have true and intimate fellowship with the Father, we can get ot the point where our entire life is birthed out of our relationship with God. He will lead us where to go, tell us what to do, and give us the words to say when we get there. When you live this way you don’t have a religion. You are not worshipping an external God. You are not focused on rites and routines. You have a true relationship with Your internal Father and you live your life from the inside-out, being led of Him in all things.
5. Religious people won’t have a problem with you if you live your life focused on ceremonies and routines. They will go to the ceremonies and participate in the routines with you. But when you start talking like Jesus and seeing yourself as ONE with Father, not only will you be different, but religious people will treat you different. Because when someone is truly intimate with Father, the power birthed out of their intimacy reveals how powerless religious activity actually is. And it bothers the religious when they realize that their rites, rituals and routines are empty. There are people today with clergy collars and no power, and they get upset when they look at young people, with tattoos and skinny jeans, with the power of God is flowing through them. They are upset because they realize that having a true relationship with the Father has nothing to do with your external appearance or your strict observance of rules. It has everything to do with being led of the Holy Spirit who is in your heart. The goal is fellowship with the Father to the point where you can see, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me. We are ONE!”
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me to be ONE with You. Like Jesus, I declare that I am not able to do anything on my own. I do nothing of my own initiative. My life is birthed in Your heart. You lead me where to go. You tell me what to do. You give me the words to say when I get there. You reveal Your will to me and I simply do as I am led from heaven on this planet. Your Kingdom has come. I declare that Your will shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. It will happen through me. It will happen because I have true and intimate fellowship with You. It will happen because I am IN You and You are IN me. You and I Father are ONE! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
