The Mystery of Godliness part III

By Major W. Ian Thomas

Living as a Son, Jesus Christ revealed the Life and Work of the Father through His mortal body. (John 1:18) He was an expression of His Father’s Life of perfect Love. In all He said, in all He did, and in all He was, Jesus said, “it is the Father, Living in Me, who is doing His work.” (John 14:10) And He expects every Christian to walk as He did.

But if anyone obeys His word {and relies on the power of the Spirit as Jesus did}, God’s Love is truly made complete {perfected - NKJV} in him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk {by dependent faith} as Jesus did. (1 John 2:5-6)

We need to understand this spiritual principle. It was the Father who fed the five thousand through a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, while He lived as a man, was a human vessel through whom the Father both displayed His Divine Spiritual Life and did His mighty works.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, how did He do it? The miracle was not from Himself. He said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God?” (John 11:40 Emphasis added) Faith in His Heavenly Father was the key that enabled Jesus to display the Glory of God. It required a real dependency on the working of the Spirit’s Divine power in everything He did.

Christ did every miracle in the same way that He fed the five thousand. He acknowledged the Father as the source of all power, and humbly depended on the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work.

God’s Glory can only be displayed as we depend on Him. It is as simple as that! “Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.’ ” (John 11:41-42) He wanted the people to recognize how He was living through a source of power that came from His Heavenly Father.

God reveals His Spiritual children to the world by the Way He answers their prayers with Divine power. By turning from the independent and self-sufficient way of life we have all inherited from fallen Adam, we will have an opportunity to come into the Light and walk as Jesus did. God can then begin answering our prayers as we enter into His Will, and walk in the Way that He originally created His children to live.


Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. (1 John 3:22)

Whoever lives by the Truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:21)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing… And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring Glory to the Father. (John 14:12-13)

This is how God’s children were created to live. Because the Son is now with the Father, and He is in a position where He possesses all power and authority in Heaven and on earth, He can now Live and Work through His disciples. But He can only provide a clear manifestation of His Life and Works through us when we have been fully Sanctified {set apart} for His exclusive use {“For His exclusive use” is something other than doing “religious work exclusively”}.

While we are to pray to our Father, the Son is the One who will be working through our lives by the power of His Spirit. He said, “without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) He still needs to fulfill His role as a Son who Lives to bring all Glory to the Father. By manifesting His Divine Life and Works through the members of His Body here on earth, His disciples are enabled to become “the sent ones” who display the Light and Glory of God.

As God’s children, we are to acknowledge Him as the source of everything that is good in the world and then rely on Him to direct our steps according to His Plans. As we walk in this path of dependent faith, there also needs to be a real reliance on Him as the One who will accomplish our assigned work. And even though He will generally make use of our physical activities in the Work He assigns, He will also make it plain that what we are doing is being done through Him. (John 3:21)