John 14:21
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
Manifesting Himself to You
If you have been like me, you’ve have gone through seasons where it felt like God was not present in your life. How can you see God’s presence in your life again or more if He already is present and you can sense it? Jesus said that whoever is obedient to His commands is the one who loves Him (John 14:21a), and if you love Him, the Father will love you. But something even better comes as a result of all this: Jesus said, “I will love him (or her) and manifest myself to him (or her)” (John 14:21b). The word “manifest” is one most of us might just read over, but it’s a very important word in this verse. The word “manifest” is Greek for “emphanizō,” from which we get the word “emphasize,” which means “exhibit to view” or “to show one’s self.” So this verse could easily read “and I will love him and “will show” myself to him (or her). Did you catch that? I want that. How about you?
Jesus Will Dwell in You
Jesus said in John 15:5 that He was the vine and that we are the branches, and like a branch that abides in the vine, the vine is going to bear a lot of fruit. The key word here is “abide,” which is the Greek word “menō” and means “to remain, to dwell with, to tarry” and refers to a specific place. If you are abiding in Christ, this means you will be abiding (dwelling, tarrying) in His Word, the Bible, since Jesus is the Word (John 1:1, 14). If you’re going to abide in Him and He is the vine, you’re going to bear fruit, and that fruit-bearing will show God’s presence in your life. The more you abide in His Word, the more His Word will abide in you and the more fruit you will see to reveal God’s presence in your life.
He’s in You
Jesus, in giving what is called the “High Priestly Prayer” just before He went to the cross, prayed to the Father that He be in them, meaning the disciples–and that means us, too–who are His (John 17:23). This basically means that Jesus was “in them” (the disciples). The fact is that the Scriptures say He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). It’s not really about us sensing God’s presence; it’s about what the Bible says, that Christ is in you if you are a child of God. It doesn’t really matter what you “feel” but what God’s Word says. If you feel it’s been a long time since you saw the presence of God in your life, stop looking and start believing.
A Closing Prayer
Righteous God in heaven, I know that You will never leave me or forsake me, so help me to not trust my feelings but believe Your Word. I need to learn to stop looking so much for physical evidence and start reading Your Word and believe it rather than what I feel. In Jesus’ precious name I pray.
Amen
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