"The truth is, 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." John 14:12..."Though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made Himself nothing...." Philippians 2:6-7...."Because Jesus would dwell in His disciples, He is saying that as we attend to Him, His actual life would reanimate through us. Yes, that includes miracles, but it also includes the less popular works that Jesus did, such as nights in prayer, self-denial, times of fasting, loving sinners, carrying a cross, and possessing moment by moment dependency upon God." Francis Frangiapane
John 14:12 has been quoted so often in the Church. Pastors, evangelists, conference and seminar speakers exhort us to do the "greater works" that Jesus has promised we would do. Can we be painfully honest in that most often, when we think of those greater works, we are more in mind of raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk. Doing miracles and great works that would grab the attention of the both the world and the Church. "Greater Works" churches and ministries would be springing up everywhere, and everywhere there would be miracles and wonders abounding. So much good would come from that. Who would not want to be a part? Who would refuse to be a part? Not me, and I think, not you either. But these are not the only "greater works" Jesus speaks of. More than that, it is very unlikely that His definition of greater works would much resemble ours.
So much and so many of His works were unseen, or only seen by a few. Only His disciples were present when He washed their feet. He was usually alone when He pierced the heavens in prayer. Nobody but the Father was watching as He ministered to the outcast woman at the well. His only company as He wandered the wilderness were His Father and the devil who attacked Him. There was a great crowd present at His trial before Pilate and when He carried His cross. When He hung upon it as well. But they were there to ridicule and demean Him. These are not the kind of crowds you and I would seek or want, or likely to be willing to go to. Yet all of these were His works. And He promises that if we are truly His, to walk and live in Him, we would be subject to greater lives of sacrifice, greater times in the wilderness, greater expressions of love. All of it flowing out of lives that willingly make themselves nothing, He who is Life is in reality everything and all things. Where are we found when it comes to a life of such works as these? How many of us are willing to be nothing?
I have written down in my prayer journal that He was willing to and did become nothing and nobody, while I am always seeking to be something and somebody. Next to it I have written a prayer for myself, and for all those He's placed on my heart; that we would be a called out, died out, emptied out people. Only then are we fit to do His greater works. Until we really are fit for such "work," we will never do the miracles, healings, and raising of the dead that the world needs. Could it be that the world needs the works that nobody sees even more?
Blessings,
Pastor O
So much and so many of His works were unseen, or only seen by a few. Only His disciples were present when He washed their feet. He was usually alone when He pierced the heavens in prayer. Nobody but the Father was watching as He ministered to the outcast woman at the well. His only company as He wandered the wilderness were His Father and the devil who attacked Him. There was a great crowd present at His trial before Pilate and when He carried His cross. When He hung upon it as well. But they were there to ridicule and demean Him. These are not the kind of crowds you and I would seek or want, or likely to be willing to go to. Yet all of these were His works. And He promises that if we are truly His, to walk and live in Him, we would be subject to greater lives of sacrifice, greater times in the wilderness, greater expressions of love. All of it flowing out of lives that willingly make themselves nothing, He who is Life is in reality everything and all things. Where are we found when it comes to a life of such works as these? How many of us are willing to be nothing?
I have written down in my prayer journal that He was willing to and did become nothing and nobody, while I am always seeking to be something and somebody. Next to it I have written a prayer for myself, and for all those He's placed on my heart; that we would be a called out, died out, emptied out people. Only then are we fit to do His greater works. Until we really are fit for such "work," we will never do the miracles, healings, and raising of the dead that the world needs. Could it be that the world needs the works that nobody sees even more?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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