“There is a divine mystery—a secret surprise that has been concealed from the world for generations, but now it’s being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy believer to experience. Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it! Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:26-29 TPT
Paul states that it was his passion to awaken men’s hearts to who they were in Christ. He prayed that they might get this revelation by the power of the Holy Spirit. As I have matured as a Christian, I too long to see my brothers and sisters in Christ become aware of who they really are in Christ.
I personally have experienced three life-changing milestones in my Christian walk. 1. To be Born Again. 2. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 3. To know the Christ within.
So many don’t understand that there is a separate experience of being baptised in the Holy Spirit, let alone going on to know the Christ within. This ‘knowing’ Christ was something very dear to Paul’s heart. In Philippians chapter 3:7-8, he says that everything he had ever achieved in life was nothing compared to this wonderful experience of knowing Christ.
“But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ,” Philippians 3:7-8
In my introductory verse, Colossians 1:26-29, Paul says that this experience had been hidden from previous generations, but is now made available to us through Jesus’ death on the cross. Even the Prophets of old with all their amazing experiences in God, did not have what is now made available to us. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the Prophets, yet even the least in the Kingdom of God was greater than John. In other words, those who are born again into the Kingdom of God are even greater than John the Baptist. John wasn’t born again.
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Matthew 11:11
When you study the amazing truths laid out by Paul you can understand why, for in Christ we are all greater than those who came before us under the old covenant. We actually have our sins forgiven and Christ living in us.
Paul says time and again that Christ is living within us. He’s not just a silent partner but actually ‘living’ and breathing in us. He is actually working in us too.
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:14
I love how Romans 8:9-11 is explained in the Message Bible.
“But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!” Romans 8:9-11 The Message
We need to think about and come to appreciate this truth, for it to have any real effect on our lives. We say it so glibly, “Christ is in me.” But if we really believed it, this truth would change everything. Think about it, the Christ, the Creator of the universe is in living in me. The Darling of Heaven, the Captain of the Angel Armies is in me!! There is no one greater than He is. He is the Supreme Ruler with power over everything.
“…so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.” Colossians 2:10
We don’t really meditate on this truth enough. If a Doctor were to tell you that you had spot on your lung or had developed a tumor in your body, even though you felt nothing, you would not be able to think of anything else day and night.
On the other hand, God has told you in His word that you have Christ in you, but we hardly give it a second thought. Shame on us, that we love the words of man and the Devil more than those of God. We need to be praying over these wonderful truths day and night for then they would really start to affect our lives. Our hope mixed with faith would create the substance we long for.
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2
The King James Bible say that “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.
In TPT (The Passion Translation), it says that Christ is ‘embedded’ in us, and we can be ‘flooded’ with an expectation of glory.
Yes Christ has been embedded in us. He has been planted in every part of our body and floods us with an expectation of glory. This truth is enhanced by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for the Bible says we are baptised with the Holy Spirit. The word ‘Baptise’ is ‘Baptiso’ in Greek that means to be saturated, like a dyed garment. Every fiber of the cloth affected. Jesus said to Mary at the grace of Lazarus.
“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40
What happened next was, that Lazarus was raised from the dead. When you embrace this truth of Christ within, you can’t help but expect to see His glory, great things ahead. Your expectation will become more and more for healing, deliverance, prosperity and even the raising of the dead. I can’t help but expect great things ahead now, because Christ has flooded me with higher expectations.
“He becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory.”
He is becoming a treasure chest of hope within me, filled with these wonderful riches as I think on them day and night. It’s from this glory box within that we are energized with His power.
“And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope.”Colossians 1:11 TPT
This treasure chest of Glory is not up in heaven somewhere but is in Christ who is embedded within us. We need to have our hearts awakened to this marvelous truth, and as it becomes a reality in our lives, we too will want to awaken the hearts of others.
The fruit of this understanding will be a life filled with more of His power, for the works He did will we do also and even greater works than these shall we do. John 14:12
