Christ in You, the Hope of Glory
by Jilly Lyon-Taylor
During some difficult times recently, I was reminded to pray not just that God would be with me as my Helper and my Strength, but that He would be living in me and showing Himself to others through me. It seems to me that there is a difference between asking the Lord to come alongside us in times of need, and allowing Him to take over completely so that He is living in us and working through us. For this to happen there needs to be total surrender of self to Him, so that we can say, like Paul in today’s verse, that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but He lives in us.
Before Jesus went to the cross He spoke to the disciples about the promised Holy Spirit, whom the Father was to send. He explained that they already knew Him, for He had been living with them, but the difference for them after Pentecost was that the Holy Spirit would be in them. If the risen Lord Jesus is living in us by His Spirit, then surely nothing will be too difficult for us. We will truly be able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
Colossians 2:9-10 tells us that: ‘In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority’. If we are in Christ, and He is in us, we will have all we need. Being given fullness in Christ means that in every situation we have available to us His fullness of grace, fullness of peace, fullness of love, the strength to persevere, and so much more, but we have to surrender to Him, to die to self and allow Him to live in us.
If you are struggling today with a difficult situation in your life, don’t just ask God to come alongside to help you, but surrender to Him and ask Him to come and live His risen life in you and through you by His Spirit. Others may then be drawn to Him by ‘the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory’.
Prayer: Lord, I am sorry for trying to manage in my own strength. I surrender afresh to You today, and I ask You to come and live in me by Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Jilly Lyon-Taylor is part of the Leadership Team at Ellel Pierrepont. She worked in publishing and then with children in Hong Kong before concentrating on being a full-time mother and serving in the local church. Her desire to see people healed led her to the Luke Nine Eleven Training Scheme(NETS) at Pierrepont, and now she teaches and ministers there.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
