What are your thoughts when you read or hear—
“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but CHRIST LIVING IN ME THROUGH ME AS ME. The *ZoāLife which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me”? (Galatians 2:20 DLT)Do You Think of a Hand in a Glove?
Sporting supply manufacturers and athletic supply stores always experience an uptick in sales of the latest boxing champions glove used in his most recent victory. As if the results were because of the brand of glove and not the hand in the glove. That’s where the Power is—in the hand in the glove.
That goes for every profession that uses gloves—dishwashers, doctors, surgeons, dentists, TSA agents and many others. There are many reasons we wear gloves. These include to keep your hands warm/dry and to prevent contact with other people and things (which may reduce the risk of catching germs and infections).
You might also wear gloves as a fashion statement or as a requirement for participating in an activity; such as baseball gloves for catching the ball or wearing gloves to keep your hands warn during the NFL playoffs in November and December. Or you might wear Kevlar gloves if you are a welder. For the rough and the tough jobs, Kevlar gloves will get the work done. These will not only keep your hands safe from cuts, but also from getting bruised from rocks and pricked from thorns. When you need to work with tough weeds, stone and even glass, these are the gloves to wear.
A hand in a glove is not as a head is to a hat. Since we are a species with and opposable thumb our hands respond to our thinking and desires. Yet, in the mean time, your hands automatically remain restfully available, but when needed they become instantly available without a moment’s hesitation. A head in a hat is not the same picture as a hand in a glove. Though a head in a hat may be covering and protecting a powerful brain in the skull, its thinking and commands cannot be accomplished without the exercise of the hand. Without a hand in the glove it doesn't do anything. It can't do anything.
Right after He entered Jerusalem to die Jesus said, "apart from me you can do nothing." Apart from Jesus we are like the glove–limp and useless. Only when Christ’s Life indwells us we are like the glove with His Hand in it. Jesus wants to us like a hand in the glove. Then He can use us to do all sorts of things through us. Are you a glove by itself or are you empowered as a glove with God’s hand in it?
Pentecost is the day when the outpouring of God's Spirit took place. His indwelling separates the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ from all the other religions of the World. Pentecost is the day when the Christian Church began and the Lord gave His people His Power—the ultimate Hand in the glove. We are not Hand-in-Glove with God; He is THE Hand-in-the-Glove for us.
Now if we said to a glove, "Glove, just pick up that piece of paper." The glove can't do it on its own. It can't grab anything. But if I put my hand in the glove, you see that now the glove has dexterity and power. It has become a gifted, smart glove that can do many things.
It is the Power of the Elohim--the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit--that than becomes our new Source of Living. The Elohim name of God is first used in Genesis 1:1 and is used over 2500 times in the Old Testament. The Elohim is the Hand in the glove.
Certain relationships are spoken of as “hand-in-glove”. If people are hand in glove, they have an extremely close relationship. But unlike Christ being IN US to empower us, although friends empower us on a limited scale, they can often serve as God’s hand in our glove.
God always takes the initiative, but waits for us to respond to His ever-so-gentle promptings. We all know that His Hand IN the glove (us) that makes all the difference in the display of Power.
But we have this incredible Treasure in earthen vessels we call our body, so that the excellence and superiority, pre-eminence, supremacy and the incomparability of the Power displayed may be of God, and not from us; (2 Corinthians 4:7 DLT)
ALL HAVE SINNED AND MISSED THE INTENDED PURPOSE OF THE CREATION is how God puts it. We were designed to be His gloves. Being human, I know, we can only receive infinite Truth in finite doses. The only thing we can ever offer God is our capacity to be filled by the Elohim. The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to share where they come from--which is Christ In You.
Can you grasp that God projected Himself out of Himself that He might be Himself in another dimension and He did this in accordance to the promises in His Word. Christ in us AS us is His motive. The Law has to do with doing; Grace has to do with being and our well-being. If God brings you to a thing of Romans 8:28, He will bring you through the thing of Romans 8:29.
Can you grasp that God projected Himself out of Himself that He might be Himself in another dimension and He did this in accordance to the promises in His Word. Christ in us AS us is His motive. The Law has to do with doing; Grace has to do with being and our well-being. If God brings you to a thing of Romans 8:28, He will bring you through the thing of Romans 8:29.
Most of us pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that we hurry past it into unintended consequences. These negatively ripple their effects into our families and all we have and will come into contact with. As we walk in the Spirit, everyday will be Sunday to us and all who observe us. Then came Sunday and the stone was rolled away. What a remarkable, breathtaking, overwhelming thought. Amazing and humbling to say the least.
If we are really created in the image and likeness of the Elohim, then clearly it follows that there is nothing in Creation as near and dear to the heart of God as we are then what would it be? That’s why trying to imitate Christ is the ultimate form of merely pretending. To recognize Christ lives in the Believer is the ultimate truth for us to live out. It is imperative that we have appropriate responses to the spiritual events around us. We are not the sum of our parts and our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum total of the Father's Life IN US and it is our real capacity to accomplish His will in and through us.
Trying to grasp these Hand IN THE GLOVE truths of Christ in you with our finite minds is like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose or attempting to suck up the oceans with an eyedropper. It can’t be done. Instead, we are to reckon upon it by faith. Logizamai is the Greek word for reckon. It means to take an inventory and to use the results to conclude that it is more than true. That is a spiritual faith operation for the Believer “in Christ Jesus”.
REMEMBER, CHRISTIANITY AS WE KNOW IT IS NOT JESUS' FAULT!
*Zoā is the Greek word for God’s pre-existent, uncreated Life—His Eternal Life that indwells every Believer.
