Jesus tells us that we need to receive power from the Holy Spirit to become his witnesses (Acts 1:8). That word receive means "to lay hold of." We must purpose to "take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of [us]...," and "...press on toward the goal..." (Phil 12:8-14 NIV).
While attaining to the resurrection of the dead is a future promise, it is also a present reality for Jesus said, "I AM the resurrection and the life." We must walk in that resurrection power now, just as Paul prayed for the Ephesians:
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ...may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know...his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead..." (Eph 1:17-23 NIV).
Paul understood that his audience didn’t fully perceive that they had been given the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. How could anyone fully comprehend that all at once? Regardless, this is a truth that we must lay hold of so that we might have a better relationship with the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. His power is the key to understanding the love and compassion of God.
We have often felt unworthy to walk in that power because we've felt that we come up short and lack the love of Christ. We haven’t understood that we must walk in the midst of his power so that we might be transformed. We’ve had it backwards! Subconsciously, we thought, "Get right and God can use you." Instead Scripture tells us things like, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” and “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Co 2:11, 12:9 NIV). Our weakness is the conduit by which his power flows and that power, according to Paul, is for us who believe.
It is in that spirit that Jesus said, "These signs will follow those who believe." He wasn’t speaking to an elite group but simply those who believe, and then lay hold of what he promised. If we like him, we must be like him!
We become like him by believing (agreeing with) what he has said. Do we want to know Christ? Then we must walk as he did and BE Jesus in the world. We are to do the works of Christ, and greater (Jn 14:12). As we do them, we take another step closer to knowing him better. After all, how can one know a man unless he walk in that man's shoes? That has been the goal all along. We walk by faith, not by what we see concerning our unworthiness. Faith says that in my weakness, I lay hold of the truth that God has made me worthy to accomplish (Eph 2:10). We know him BY walking in faith and we know him by walking as he did. Humility is not displayed by how low we denigrate ourselves, but in how highly we esteem what he has said about himself and what he’s said about us. If he says we are, “More than conquerors,” “The light of the world,” “The salt of the earth,” and other lofty things, who are we to disagree?
"This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus" (1 Jn 4:17 NIV).
"Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did" (1 Jn 2:6 NIV).
If we like him, we must be like him! We must lay hold of what he laid hold of for us.
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