Butterfly photo

"Not I, but ...."


    From time to time people come from all across the United States traveling over fifteen hundred miles to San Angelo to Whole Person Counseling.  Some come by plane, others by car, and even some travel by bus. Are people just coming to see Basil Frasure, Ph.D.?  No.  I pray not!  I pray that they are coming to see more than just me.  If they are just coming and just seeing Basil, they will have made a long trip for nothing, in fact, they may go away being worse off than they came.

    Jesus said that he could do nothing of himself.   "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19).  "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.    But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him"  (John 10:37-38).  Likewise, if people don't see Jesus in me they should not come for counseling.

    Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.    Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.    I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing"  (John 15:1-5). Every Believer should declare that without Jesus we can do NOTHING!  We can bear no good lasting fruit except we abide in Jesus.  However, if we ABIDE in Him, we should naturally bear good fruit. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (John 15:16).

    The reality is that others should see Jesus in Believers.  How?  They should see the work of Jesus in our lives!  O.K., but Jesus was God!  True, but he laid aside attributes to live as a man.  "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:    But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7).  His "being" was and is and always will be God.  However, his "form" changed to be a man.  He, as the son of man, demonstrated to us how to live by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore he said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father"  (John 14:12).  We are to do the SAME works as Jesus did and even greater works.

    What did Jesus do? Jesus read and applied the following to himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord"  (Luke 4:18-19).

    1. He preached the good news to the poor.
    2. He healed the broken hearted.
    3. He preached deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind.
    4. He set free those who were bruised.
    5. He preached the acceptable year of the Lord.

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38).  "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people" (Matthew 9:35).

    How then are we to do what Jesus did?  First, we are to take off the old man and put on the new man.  "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"  (Ephesians 4:22-24). "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:9-10).  How?  "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of  mind, meekness, longsuffering;  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him"  (Colossians 3:12-17).

    Second, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  We have a "type" of this being filled in the Old Testament with the filling of the lamps with oil.  "And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.  And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations" (Exodus 30:7-8).  We should also seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit at least twice a day.  Jesus said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13). Jesus also said, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth"  (Acts 1:8).  When people see us, they should see a true witness unto Jesus.    We must humble ourselves to ASK.  Paul wrote, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:18-19).  The verb translated "be filled" has the voice of continual action.  We are to continually to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

    Third, we are to become a channel for God's Spirit to flow through us.  "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly"  (John 10:10).  The ministry of the Holy Spirit should be overflowing out of our spirit-man.  However, we must have a clear conscience for this to occur.  We must have a conscience free from dead works.   "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).  Dead works are any works that we do to be saved or to maintain our salvation.  Therefore, our conscience will not be clear if we are trying to do good works to be saved or to keep our salvation.  We must also have our conscience free from offenses. "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16).  We must confess our sins, turn from them and receive forgiveness. We must be willing to forgive others and put away anger and revenge.  We must receive healing for the emotional wounds which we have received from past hurts. We must experience the love of God before we can share it with others.  We want others to see Jesus in us.

    "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,    That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,    Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."  (Ephesians 3:14-21).

    1. When we take off the old man and put on the new man ....
    2. When we are filled with the Spirit  ....
    3. When we do the works of God by the Spirit ....
    4. Then others see Jesus in us ....
    5. And God gets the glory ....

    Then we can truly say as Paul also wrote, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). 


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