Over 25 years ago I read something by A. W. Tozer that has stuck with me. He said, “Religious externals may have meaning for a God inhabited soul, but to all others they are a snare and a trap.” What was he talking about? Our tendency to value various practices over the reality of His presence. We need His presence and purpose. I started this series on Hidden Things with this verse.
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 (NKJV)
Do we understand the concealment inherent in this verse? How do we search it out? A principle Jesus laid out on the way to Gethsemane was the need to understand Him in us and us in Him.
20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20 (NKJV)
In reading this verse it seems important to understand the ‘day’ Jesus was referencing. For this group of apostles that day was the day of Pentecost that we read about in Acts 2. We can get caught up in the vision of tongues of fire, prophetic expression and eternal manifestations. Yet they were stirred by something greater. John 14:20 came alive in them! Think about this, on the ‘day’ we were born again the Creator of the universe infused His life and nature into our spirit. He made a Holy of Holies inside of us and took up residence.
So, if we want to search something out why not search out this hidden thing. Christ in us the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). We can gaze into the spirit realm and by faith look upon the Father seated upon His eternal throne (which I practice and advocate), yet do we understand Him in us? How many of us realize this reality drove the early apostles, it drove Paul, as it has driven many down through the last 2,000 years of church history. Why not let it drive us? Why not seek out how to look deep within to encounter the King of glory?
We can develop a sensitivity to His presence within us. Many years ago I wrote a song and one of the lines was, “I’m moved by Your moving within.” We can seek and find the reality of Jesus by His Spirit moving within and upon us. Isn’t this a worthy discovery?
