Dear Fellow Believers in Christ, (Christ leads us to an Ultimate Focus on the Father)

Man focuses us on the Holy Spirit. However, Jesus tells us that when the Holy Spirit is come that He will reveal the things of Christ to us. So, the divine teaching flow begins when the Holy Spirit teaches and reveals Christ. Did you know that the divine teaching flow doesn't stop there? Did you know that as you let Christ live in and through you spontaneously, that He will ultimately teach and reveal the Father to you? It is exciting to me to look into God's word, with the Holy Spirit as the teacher, and really see some of these things. Let's see how Christ leads us to an ultimate focus on the Father.

ULTIMATE FOCUS ON THE FATHER

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:4-6).

First, Christ in Us is the One Who Reveals the Father to Us
When we were Spiritually rebirthed by the Holy Spirit, Christ was placed in us to be our very eternal life and expression in this earth. The Holy Spirit renews the mind, so that the Christ who lives in us can have a mind to use for His expression in and through us as us (Rom. 12:2). Initially, I perceived that only the Holy Spirit was my teacher. However, that is the beginning of the divine teaching flow. Man often focuses on the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, He will not speak of Himself, He will teach and reveal Christ (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit teaches and reveals Christ as Lord and Savior to the unbeliever, and as Light and Life to the believer. As we begin to spontaneously let Christ live in us as us, and really see and know that it is Christ expressing Himself in and through us, then Christ in us becomes the teacher of the Father. The Son is the revealer of the Father. Jesus stated that, "no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27).

Second, Christ is the One Who Really Focuses on the Father in All Things
Christ is the express image of the Father in flesh (Hebr. 1:3). Jesus Christ lived and operated by the Father who lived in Him with everything that He did. Jesus told his disciples that if they had known Him, they would have also known the Father (John 14:7). Jesus goes further and states, if they have seen Him, they have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus declared that He spoke the Father's words (John 14:10). Jesus also told His disciples that it was the Father in him doing the works (John 14:10). Jesus told his disciples that, "My food ever is to do the will of My Father who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34). Jesus literally declared that, "I and My Father ever are one" (John 10:30). This might be interpreted to be a "oneness" statement. However, Jesus was declaring that He with the Father were certainly one in Unity. Christ is the One who really focuses on the Father in all things. His life is a full expression of the Father.

Third, Christ and the Father are the Source of All Wisdom and Knowledge
Paul shares with the Body of Christ that our hearts should be encouraged and be knit together in love (Col. 2:2). The Body of Christ, being knit together in this love union, enables us to clearly see the union of the Son and the Father. Paul declares, that we will attain "to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2b,3). Whatever temporal wisdom or knowledge that we may have received, pales in comparison with the true Spiritual wisdom or knowledge of knowing Christ and the Father. Paul testified that he counted everything loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (Phil. 3:8). Going on to know the power of the resurrection of Christ (Phil. 3:10), is to begin to focus on the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

Fourth, Christ Ultimately Turns Our Focus & Refocuses Us Upon the Father
Paul also focuses on the Father and Christ in the Book of Ephesians. Paul starts by giving opening remarks with, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 1:2). Paul doesn't mention just the Father or Christ, but mentions them both. I prayed Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:17-23 for myself and put my name in it when I prayed it. After about a year, the Father answered that prayer and gave me a revelation of Jesus Christ. The Father sent the Holy Spirit and he revealed Christ in me, just like He did with the apostle Paul. I needed to see Jesus as my life, my health, my strength, my wisdom, my knowledge, my righteousness, and my peace. Christ surely is all of these things. Later in time, the Father has taken me to a deeper depth and revealed that the ultimate focus in this passage is upon the Father. The Holy Spirit places our initial focus on Christ. Then, Christ ultimately turns our focus and refocuses us upon the Father. The Father is the motivation of the Son.

Fifth, Paul's Prayer Has the Ultimate Focus on Knowing the Father
Look at the ultimate focus on the Father in Paul's prayer. Paul prays, "that the God our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17). God, the Father of glory is the subject of this passage. We need to have the spirit and revelation in the knowledge of the Father. We are the hope of the Father's calling and the saints are the Father's inheritance (Eph. 1:18). It is the exceeding greatness of the Father's power toward us who believe (Eph. 1:19a). It is the working of the Father's mighty power which the Father worked in Christ when the Father raised Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19b, 20a). The Father put all things under the feet of Christ and gave Christ to be head over all things to the Church (Eph. 1:22). Paul spends the first part of this prayer discussing our relationship with the Father in and through Christ (Eph. 1:17-20).

Sixth, We Believe that the Father Raised Jesus & Confess Him as Our Lord
Our justification for our salvation is with the Father. Our reconciliation is to the Father. Ultimately, our salvation rests with the Father. The 100% satisfaction and acceptance of the full atoning work of Jesus Christ in the Mary body on the Cross was proven by the Father's resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Paul says, we believe in our heart that the Father raised Christ from the dead (Rom. 10:9b); we call on the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:13); and with the mouth confession of the Lord Jesus is made to salvation (Rom 10:9a,10b). The Holy Spirit quickens the Word to us and Spiritually rebirths us, when we believe the Father raised Christ from the dead and we confess the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are saved by the life of Christ now living in us as us (Rom. 5:10).

Seventh, Our Ultimate Focus on the Father Who lives Through Christ in Us
The Holy Spirit calls and births us into one Body and one Spirit (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4a). The one hope of the Father's calling is to be in Christ and for Christ to be in us (Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:27). The Father's eternal plan is for us to have fellowship with Him as His sons. The one God and Father of all is in heaven, while He works through Christ (John 14:10), also now works through Christ in you as you (Eph. 4:6; Col. 2:9). Our ultimate focus is on the Father, Who lives through Christ in us. The Christ-life expressed through us glorifies the Father.