The Desire of The Father

One of the greatest desires of our Heavenly Father is to reproduce Himself in every one of His children. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul reveals, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) The believer is a new creation. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter reveals, "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)  The old satanic nature that we all had before receiving Christ as Lord and Savior has been completely done away with and now we are partakers of the "divine nature," the very nature and life of the Father.

The very genius of Christianity is the ability of God to build Himself into us through His Word, so that in our daily walk we live like Jesus. Paul tells us, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." (Galatians 4:19) As we see, the Father wants to reproduce Himself in us. However, let us keep in mind that the process of building Christ into one may be very slow, but the results are living as Jesus lived. The Father wants to make Jesus men and women out of us. Look at the reality of this, "[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." (Philippians 2:13 AMP)

The Father is actually building His love, His righteousness, His strength, His wisdom, His very self into our recreated spirits. He does this by the Holy Spirit through His Word. It is not simply the knowledge of the Word, but it is the Word that is built into us, implanted into us and becoming a part of us that counts. (James 1:21) As you study the Pauline Epistles you will see the vast revelation given to Paul concerning this and become convinced that the ultimate of every one of those Epistles is the building of the life of Jesus into every believer.  The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John reveals, "... as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17) The Father's plan for building Himself into us is wonderful. We are to take Jesus' place. We must learn to act in His stead. We are to be His representatives. (John 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:18) Here is another look at the Father's glorious plan for His children...

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:9-14) PTL!!!

For many, these things seem almost impossible to be true. They seem beyond what we could ever expect from God. However, let us receive the truth and know, that the Father loves us more than we love ourselves. He is more ambitious for our success than we are. It is simply faith in His ability that puts us over. The Bible tells us, "Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]." (Ephesians 3:20 AMP)  Also keep in mind that the Father does not force these things upon His children. He doesn't drive us. It is simply the Father's ambition, His desire to make us successful and to enable us to enjoy the riches that belong to us through Christ our Lord.

It comes down to our attitude towards God's Word as well as our willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit's work in us. Jesus tells us, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)

Jesus is saying that the doer of the Word dug deep and built his house upon the rock, God's Word, and it made his house able to stand against any storm that might beat against it. Jesus also tells us, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." (John 15:5, 7) As a branch, we cooperate with the Vine and bear His fruit; we are laboring together with Him; we are operating together with Him; we are truly identified as one with Him and the Father is glorified. In us, the Lord has found a place for His ability to energize and act here on the earth. We are growing in Grace, and are growing in the knowledge of God, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

As we saw above, the climax of the Father's heart's desire for us is, "...the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."  However, though these are great and precious promises and though every believer is in Christ, it does not mean His Word is in every believer. So, let Him live His Life in us, that we begin to enjoy our share of our inheritance in Christ. Let us draw from the dividends on what He has done for us and in us. Let us come to enjoy the riches of His Grace. Let us let His Word have full control over every part of our life; let it have dominion over every phase of our thinking. Jesus said, "...If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32) Let the desire of the Father loose in us, so that we can look and act like Jesus. Amen?