I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.
—John 14:12-13 (NLT)
In these verses, Jesus speaks to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. He also speaks to us, those who will later follow Him. To the disciples and us, Jesus states this truth. Anyone who believes in Him will not only do the same works He has done, but even greater works. The reason? He goes to His Father so that we may go, too. The gift of His life makes this real. We can ask anything in His name, and He will do it so that His Father receives the glory.
Yes, Jesus died for us—not only freeing us from sin and shame but ultimately bringing glory to His Father. In His death, our sinful life is no more. In His resurrection, our new one has come! He is not only our Savior but by the gift of His life, our adopted brother. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us. The Holy Spirit has come to empower what we ask in His name. We pray in faith. We fast ourselves in His presence. When we ask anything in His name, believing, He does it so that our Father receives the glory.
When we don’t believe in who Jesus says we are, we don’t live up to our potential in Christ. Believing who we are in Jesus ignites the fire of grace. When we believe, the Holy Spirit accomplishes the impossible through us.
Do you remember when Jesus came down from the mountain where He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John? He returned to the other disciples to learn they had not been able to cast a demon from a child. The father of the child asked Jesus to have mercy on His son.
“Jesus rebuked the demon,” Matthew writes, “and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:18-20, NKJV).
Our faith might be small as a mustard seed, but it is immeasurably powerful in Jesus when we believe. Unbelief keeps us from living the promises of God. Unbelief keeps up from the miraculous work the Holy Spirit wishes to pour into us and through us.
“Believe,” He whispers. “Believe you have received all of me—not just a little part of me. Believe it, and I will fulfill what you ask because it glorifies my name. You don't ask from the selfish glory Simon desired. You ask because you were once lost, and now you are found. I have set your heart free.”
© 2020 Lynn Lacher
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