“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”” John 8:12……………..
I have just woken. So early in the morning. Too tired to be awake. Too awake to go back to sleep. Right at the fine line of being between sleep and awake. As awake as I need to be to begin the day. Still needing so much rest, more sleep, more mental rest. Just weeks into arriving in New York City for this next season of my life loving and serving God in ministry. That’s when, despite my not so great memory even at the best of times, even when being wide awake, I was surprised to realize I remembered the words the Lord spoke to me in the middle of the night when I had gotten up to use the restroom.
“I sent my Son to you. Is that not enough?”
“Is this message really for me?” I asked the Lord.
His Spirit swiftly answered.
“Who else would I be speaking to when I’m speaking to you?” He essentially said.
These are the words to the best of my ability to discern the voice of the Lord I heard next. Always we must measure what we believe we hear from God against the Bible to ensure it is in line with the Bible because God always and only speaks in line with His Word.
“I am speaking to you, yes. And you need to hear this. In your continual seeking for more, you forget the main point. There is nothing more important in what I have given you or will ever give you than that my own Son died on the cross for you. I raised Him from the dead. I have saved you. You have eternal life. You have, as you yourself tell people, an everlasting relationship with me. What could be more important than this? Do I want you to stop asking for more? To stop seeking me for what you need and desire? I do not. But I want you to not forget what I have already given you. And sing praises to me for it. I have given you my own Son. He died for you. I raised Him up. And you, too, will be raised up. So before you continue to ask for more without remembering what I have already given you, remember this message. And tell it to others. My own Son died for you. He took on my wrath for you. He took on your sin penalty for you. He died in your place. He took on what you deserve for your whole life’s worth of sin. He died so you could live forever. You have repented. You believe in me. You believe in what my Son did for you. Is this not enough? If I never gave you anything else, it would be enough. Now be thankful. So when you come to me for more, be thankful for what I have already given you. Because there is nothing more precious than the gift of what I have already given you. My own Son. Be thankful.”
Wow. He had only spoken to me in the middle of the night the one sentence above, as though that weren’t enough.
I sent my Son to you. Is that not enough?
But then, even as I wrote the words above, He gave me the rest of the message above. This message of thanksgiving. This message of enough. And then, even as I write this, it dawns on me. Not only did God give His only begotten Son to me, to us, to this world, by sending Him to the cross for us, so that all who turn away from a lifestyle of sin, who confess they are sinners, who believe Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, who genuinely turn over their lives to God and His ways forevermore, are forgiven and given eternal life, but God sends the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to live inside all those who believe in Jesus as Lord, and gives the power of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the time one gives one’s life to Christ, or at another time when one asks for the gift of the Holy Spirit, to empower one to live in a godly way and to spread the Gospel message, and gives fresh fillings of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s followers upon a believer’s asking.
And I confess, and believe I am not alone, that still I have the audacity at times to be so desperately seeking God for something specific that I feel I will not be okay, or satisfied, or better, etc., until He answers my cries about whatever that is, rather than rejoicing, than celebrating, than being thankful, than realizing the utter blessedness of the hope and joy and amazing truth that I already have enough, I already have all I need, in receiving Jesus Christ as Lord, and remembering that all I will ever receive after receiving Him is all given to me by God through Christ and received because of Christ, all to the glory of the Lord God almighty, to the glory of Christ, praise be to God, amen!
Is Jesus Christ as Lord not enough? Is salvation not enough? Is Christ not enough? Is being in Christ’s forever fellowship not enough? Let us be thankful, so thankful, so amazingly and forever thankful first and foremost, above all else, for being loved by God forever, by receiving Christ as Lord forevermore, by being promised everlasting life with Jesus, oh, hallelujah!
I am still not fully awake. It’s still so early in the morning. But I am smiling as I sit at my laptop in the mostly dark apartment but for the light of the computer and a little lamp beside it because in my heart I am filled with God’s forever light, in my heart I know that those who follow Jesus are given everlasting life, and His forever light to which nothing and nobody else can possibly compare.
Hallelujah, friends, hallelujah!
May we who follow Jesus carry on praying, and praying, yes, for what we need and desire, but may we even as we do be thankful, so thankful, first and above all else, for Jesus Christ who is Lord forever, amen!