More God with us, within us Please

I schlep my ipad to the fitness center and have been biking and ellipticalling (definitely not a real word!  Creative license?) to Leonard Sweet’s book, The Jesus Manifesto, and I find even after my normal 35 minutes, I don’t want to slow down.  I don’t want to leave that virtual page with its glorious visions of Jesus.  I am getting thirsty all over again and keep holding my hands out for more.

Every page has underlining.  Every page is gathering little yellow virtual sticky notes that say innocuous things like, “wow.”

Just to wet your appetite for our Immanuel:

“The mystery of God is this…

that the One who is the visible image of the invisible God:

the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells;

the One who is the living residence of the Trinity;

the One in whom eternity lives, breathes, and has its being;

the One who is before time;

the A to Z, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end;

the Firstborn of the created universe, who rose from the dead never to die again;

the Conqueror of death, sin, and the grave;

the Creator, Savior, Redeemer, and Forgiver;

the One who holds all creation together in Himself;

the One who is the power of glory and might;

the Head, authority, and source of the church;

the One through whom and for whom all things were created;

the One in whom all things find their meaning and reality;

the One who reconciled all things in heaven and earth to God;

the One who nailed to His bloody cross every law, every rule, and every regulation that would condemn the beloved people of God;

the One who is supreme in every realm and holds the first place in all things–the Son of the Father’s love;

the One whose significance is unmatched in human history;

the One who holds the title deed to the universe…

this glorious, limitless, amazing, incredible, expansive, incomparable, marvelous, stunning, staggering, majestic, mighty, matchless, spectacular, outstanding, tremendous, immense, infinite, vast, grand, triumphant, victorious, precious, radiant, peerless, wonderful, magnificent Christ has chosen to place all of His fullness where?

INSIDE OF YOU!

To you God willed to make know what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:27″

 

Thank you Leonard and Frank for making us thirsty.

 

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  Isaiah 7:14.

Ahhh, I want to daily take a bath in that…that scripture, that truth, that Jesus.  I want to marinate, open my mouth and swallow God in.

 

He has come.

 

He has come and we are not alone.

 

You, friend, are not alone.

 

He has come and you walk with the God of the Universe with you, within you.

 

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.  This Christmas, I want to lean harder, lean stronger into Your Presence.

Summer Gross