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Praying for Fullness this Christmas
by John Piper.
“From His
Fullness We Have All Received”
The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth. . . . For from his fullness we have all received,
grace upon grace. (John 1:14–16)
It was a drenching moment for me that
Advent.
A man in
our church had just prayed the words of John 1:14-16 in a pre-service
prayer meeting.
God
granted me in that moment that the word “fullness”
fill me.
It was an
extraordinary experience. There was a kind of Holy Spirit soaking.
I felt
some measure of what the word really carries - the fullness of Christ.
I felt
some of the wonder that I had indeed received grace upon grace from this
fullness. And I was at that moment receiving grace upon grace.
I felt right then that nothing would have
been sweeter than to simply sit at His feet - or read my Bible - all afternoon
and feel His fullness overflow.
The fullness of God is the
spiritual comprehension (experience) of the fullness of the love of Christ. It
fills the Son of God and pours out on us.
Why did
this fullness have such an impact on me - and why is it still to this moment
affecting me unusually?
In part because:
·
the one from whose fullness I am being drenched with grace
is the Word that was with God and was God (John 1:1–2), so that his fullness is the fullness
of God - a divine fullness, an infinite fullness;
·
this Word became flesh and so was one of us and was
pursuing us with his fullness - so it is an accessible fullness;
·
when this Word appeared in human form, His glory was seen
- His is a glorious fullness;
·
this Word was “the
only Son from the Father” so that the divine fullness was being mediated to
me not just from God but through God - God did not send an angel but His only
Son to deliver His fullness; the fullness of the Son is a fullness of grace - I
will not drown in this fullness but be blessed in every way by this fullness;
·
this fullness is not only a fullness of grace but also of
truth - I am not being graced with truth-ignoring flattery; this grace is
rooted in rock-solid reality.
The Love of Christ and the Advent Season
As I
savor this illumination of Christ’s fullness, I hear Paul say, “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells
bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
I hear him say, “In
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians1:19).
And again, “In him
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
Paul
prays that we would experience Christ’s fullness - not just know about it, but
be filled with it.
Here is the way I hear him praying for me: he prays that I
“may have strength to comprehend with all
the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [I] may be filled with all the
fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18–19).
The “fullness of God” is experienced, he
says, as we are given the “strength to
comprehend” the love of Christ in its height and depth and length and
breadth.
That is,
in its fullness.
This is
remarkable: the fullness of God is the spiritual comprehension (experience) of
the fullness of the love of Christ.
It fills
the Son of God and pours out on us.
So when I hear Paul speak to the Romans of
“the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (Romans 15:29), I hear
him describing my experience.
How I
long for you all to know this.
Give
yourself time and quietness in this Advent season and seek this experience.
Pray for yourself the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3:14-19 -
“that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God” - that you may have power “to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”
This article is adapted from The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for
Advent by
John Piper.
John Piper (DTheol,
University of Munich) is the founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and the
chancellor of Bethlehem College &
Seminary. He served for thirty-three years as the senior pastor of
Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the author of more
than fifty books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your Life; This Momentary Marriage; A Peculiar Glory; and Reading the Bible
Supernaturally.
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