My Father is my delight. I am his delight. His delight, for all eternity, is to glorify me. My delight, for all eternity, is to glorify him. I glorify him by doing his will. When I was on earth, my supreme delight, and my glory, was simply to do his will. I never sought anything other than what he wanted. It wasn’t a sacrifice to do his will. It was my joy. That’s all I came to do.
Now, I live in you. And my delight is exactly the same: to do his will, in you, through you, as you. It’s all that I do, for he and I are one.
The wonder of your new birth is this: now the Father, and I, and the Spirit, are your delight as well. And you delight in my Father’s will. Your supreme delight is doing his will, just as mine is. You may not know that yet. Many times it doesn’t feel as if it’s true. But in the depths of your being, in your inner man, you delight in what the Father wants. Because everything he wants, and I want, is good, and loving, and perfect.
So you and I are completely on the same page. We are one, and we function as one. Through you, I live my life, always doing the Father’s will.
But you have been given your own human will, haven’t you? That is how we created you. That is the honor, the incredible dignity, we have given you, to be created in our image, and be able to choose. And, even as his child, you can choose not to do the Father’s will, can’t you? You can temporarily choose to live as if you are independent of our union. So how are you to think about that reality?
I realize that often you have thoughts or feelings that don’t seem to be on board with what the Father wants. That’s OK—I had those thoughts and feelings too! That’s merely part of being human. My thoughts and feelings weren’t on board before I went to the cross. I didn’t feel like going to the cross. I was thinking about not going to the cross. I was even asking my Father if there was a way I could avoid going to the cross. So feeling and thinking and even asking are not wrong, because they are not the deepest part of who you are. In your deepest part, your inner man, you always delight to do the Father’s will. As for your ability to think and feel, that is God-given. Remember, your humanity is my asset, not my liability. I created you this way, so that you and I could enjoy eternity together, and that I could express myself through you, just as you are.
I also realize that you still carry around something called the flesh, a propensity to seek life independently of me. The flesh isn’t you. It’s never the real you. It’s not who you are in your new inner man. But it’s still with you, because you live in an unredeemed body that has been programmed to seek life on its own. The flesh is linked to that body. That’s why it’s called flesh. One day you will eject from this mortal body and flesh won’t be an issue anymore.
There’s absolutely no condemnation for the flesh (since it’s not who you are and since it’s deeds were judged at the cross already) and, despite how it may feel to you, the flesh has no real power over you. Just as, on the cross, you died to sin and died to the law, you died to the flesh having any control of you.
But, on occasion, you will allow the flesh to deceive you into believing that you delight in something other than the Father’s will, and you will start doing flesh’s thing. When you do, our union is not affected. In fact, you take me with you in doing that thing. But it’s not me doing it. If you rob a bank, it’s not the bank-robber-Jesus in you doing it!
So you have the ability to think and feel (which is from me), but those thoughts and feelings don’t always correspond to what the Father (and your inner man) wants. And you have the flesh (which is not from me, and is not even you), which has no power over you but is deceptive, inviting you to do its thing. How are going to live with this reality? Are you going to be constantly looking at yourself, asking, “Is this me doing this, or is this Jesus?” No! That’s an introspective dead end. We are one, which means you can’t separate us out in that way.
You live with this reality just as with everything else: completely by faith in me. I have orchestrated all of this to press you into a walk of pure faith. You affirm what I say: You do delight in the Father’s will. I am the one living in you, and I delight in the Father’s will. We both do.
All of these things teach you to relax into me, fully depending on me. As you do, I am not only living through you, but I am at work in you, both to will and to do according to my good pleasure. And what is my good pleasure? To fully live through you, expressing every aspect of my being as you.
This is true joy, simply wanting what I want, and what the Father wants, and seeing me living that in you. It is life made simple. It is the rest that only I give. As with everything else, you just receive it.
I’ve said all of this before:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34)
“I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30)
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man … (Romans 7:22)
It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:4-5)
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh … (Romans 8:3)
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
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