Let the Lord Live Through You

John 14:15 If you love Me keep My commandments.

The literal Greek reads: If you love Me keep the commandments which are Mine. Does that mean some of commandments are not His and some are? In one sense that is what it means. All the commandments in the Bible are His, but how you interpret one and relate to it could mean that it is not His.

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.

The Bible is death and life. How you relate to the Scriptures or interpret them determines whether they are life or death to you.

II Corinthians 3:6 (God) who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The letter of the Word is death, but the Spirit of the Word is life. For example, let’s look at the commandment, You shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy (Leviticus 19:2). Many Christians would read that and try to obey it by disciplining themselves to be holy. They would refrain from anything they felt would be sin and endeavor to do good works. But regardless of how much one tries to be holy, he cannot do it. Human energy cannot develop holiness and all of our efforts only work death. However, when we look to the Holy Spirit to give us understanding, we discover what the Lord is really saying. Actually, God is saying, “You can be holy because I am holy.” In other words, “You become holy as you appropriate My life into your being.” When we realize that holiness is a provision and we partake of that provision, then it is life to us. He makes us holy by His life coming forth in us. So, you see, how you relate to the Scriptures determines whether they are life or death to you. The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Do you think you can love others the way the Lord loves you? Actually, you probably don’t even know how much the Lord loves you. Regardless of your concept of the Lord’s love, you could never find that much love in yourself. His love is far greater than what you can find within yourself. His love is divine love and human love can never measure up to it. So if we are going to love one another as He loved us, then we will have to love one another with a divine love. Now, we begin to understand that the Lord is not merely telling us to love like He does. He is really saying, ”Let Me love through you!”

We make a mistake when we try to obey this commandment by disciplining ourselves to love. Divine love is not inherent within human nature. It cannot be generated or obtained through the discipline of human energies. So how do we get this love? Well, John tells us that we love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19). It has to be appropriated. He first loves us, then we love. In other words, He beams His love toward us, we receive it, and then His love flows through us. So, when the Lord says, “Love one another as I have loved you,” He is really saying, “Let Me love through you.” The Lord wants to live through you.

Hebrews 2:11-12 For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee.

Out of the midst of the church will the Lord sing praises. It is not how much you discipline yourself to praise God that matters. It is your submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ so that He can worship through you. That is what it means to worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24). Be a channel! Let the Lord live through you!

II Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

God will have a people that He lives in and walks in. He will move in them and through them. Many Christians want to do things for God. It is not what you do for God but what you become so that He can do through you that which glorifies the Lord. We must become those through whom His Life can flow, and that is not as easy as it may sound. You must lay down your life for Him to live through you.

I was thinking about how God made a way for man’s salvation. Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross to provide forgiveness for us and also to open the door to His Life. God can do anything. Have you ever wondered why God did not use some other way to bring salvation to man? Because He chose to work through man, He couldn’t even bring salvation for us without using a man as the channel. Of course, no man was worthy to open the Book of salvation (Revelation 5:3-7). So, God Himself became the man Jesus and salvation came through Him. Do you see it? God works through men! Now, if He is so determined to work through man, do you think maybe there is a divine purpose for you being on this earth at this time?

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God…

The writer of the Book of Hebrews exhorts us to leave the realm of dead works. There can’t be any dead works without there also being living works. What is the difference between dead works and living works? The works you do for God are dead works; the works that He does through you are living works.

II Thessalonians 1:10 When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe…

Notice that this is not a coming to get the saints; it is a coming in the saints. The Greek word for “coming” here is erchomai, which means “to go” or “to come” or “to come and go.” He is going to come and go through His saints; He is going to accomplish His will through them. In II Corinthians 6:16 Paul said there would be a people that God will dwell in and walk in, and here in his epistle to the Thessalonians he says that the Lord will be glorified as He functions through His saints. Let’s be the people that will let the Lord live through us!

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