Him in me, I in Him.

Another wonderful devotional from the teachings of Ray Stedman.

John 14:8-11

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10).

In this part of the passage, our Lord is dealing with the secret of His own being. In some ways this is the most profound revelation that we have of the nature of the Lord in His relationship with the Father, and it is absolutely fundamental. This is what He meant when He said to His disciples at the beginning of this chapter, "Trust in God; trust also in me." That is, "Understand there is a unique relationship that is the secret of My life and that will be the secret of your life, too. You must understand that I have not come here simply to demonstrate how God works, how God looks, how God acts; I have come to demonstrate how a person acts who is in right relationship with God, who is filled with God. The Father dwells in Me, and He does the works. I do them, but I do them by a secret relationship, so that though I perform them--my mind thinks, my hands work, and my body acts--it nevertheless is really the Father who is doing all this through Me. I live in Him; He lives in Me."

"And if you want proof of this," He says to Philip, "look at two things: My words and My works. My words prove that I am in the Father. I could never say what I say if I were not in the Father, for what I say is truth. It is reality. It is the way things are. And My works prove that the Father is in Me. A human could never do what I do, but God can. And you must understand this, Philip. Otherwise you will have no understanding of the secret of your own life." For in verse 20 He goes onto say, "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" (John 14:20). That is, "The relationship that I have with the Father is the pattern that I will have with you. Just as I live by means of the Father at work in Me, so you will live by means of Me at work in you. I will come to you. I will live in you. I will work through you. And you can face every problem of life on that basis. I will be adequate to handle anything that comes your way, on that basis. Whatever life throws at you of fear, of upset, of discouragement, of disappointment--whatever its nature may be--you can handle it in the same way that I have handled life: You in Me and I in you, as the Father is in Me, and I am in Him."

There is much more that our Lord went on to say that relates to the handling of the difficulties of life, but it all grows out of His wonderful explanation to the disciples, in answer to the cry of Philip, that they might know the secret of His being: "I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, just as I will be in you and you will be in Me."

Lord, I desire to learn to live on the same basis that You lived. May I live each day remembering that it is You in me and I in You. I want that to be the secret of my being as it was Yours.