Christ In Me

Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. [Acts 9.34]

What business did Peter have saying that Jesus healed Aeneas?

We should all ask this question and pay attention to the answer!

Jesus was not there, right? How could Peter say, "Jesus heals you" to Aeneas if Jesus was not even there?

Here is the answer: Jesus WAS there. Peter knew it - Aeneas found it out.

It appears that Peter had correctly concluded that when Jesus said "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you," it actually meant something.

It furthermore is apparent that Peter understood the following:

When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. [John 14.20]

Peter's struggles are well-documented in the Scriptures, but on this day and occasion, Peter's confidence was in Christ in him.

For all the people involved in "Christian" ministry today, I wonder how many actually understand that "their ministry" is not their own? Shouldn't Christian ministry be just that? Shouldn't it be ministry that looks just like Christ?

To focus on "my ministry" is a move away from Christ. Consequently, there is no power in "my ministry" simply because it is mine instead of Christ's - "Christ in me."

Jesus was very specific about His ministry on earth. Jesus remained focused on what the Father sent Him to do. When Jesus encountered sickness, He healed it. When Jesus encountered hunger, He fed it. When Jesus encountered misinformation, He cleared it up. Do you think for a moment that Jesus just saw those things as "His ministry?" Not for one second!

Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. [John 14.11]

Jesus clearly identified the works He did as the works of God. Then, in that same pattern, Jesus instructed His followers to understand this same arrangement between Him and them! 

Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” [John 20.21]

Peter, at least in this moment of clarity, understood and operated in the understanding that he was being true to the Person of Christ within him.

Oh that we would see a return to "Christ in me" today!

Father, help me to forget all I think about myself and my capacity to "do ministry." Help me instead to simply look to Jesus - Your model and example to me how to live and function on earth. So be it.