Are You Clothed in Jesus?
By: A Fellow Believer

The storms began to hit hard at the end of my first year as a Christian

They took me by surprise.

After a delightful year of learning to know Jesus and discovering the marvelous resources of His Kingdom, I thought I had a handle on the Christian life. Ignorant of spiritual warfare, I didn't guard against the perversity of my flesh (the old human nature) nor against Satan.
Suddenly neither my outward circumstances nor my inner struggles fit my vision of the Christian life.

Disappointment, failure, and loss happens to everyone, but in me they opened the door to doubts and despair.

The questions in my mind reflected the confusion in my heart: If Jesus is my Shepherd, why doesn't He take better care of me? If God is my sovereign King, where is His power to provide strength and peace? If He is my Father, why isn't He gentler with me?
Of course, the problem was me, not God. I just hadn't seen all that He offered me, nor had I applied all that He had shown me. My royal wardrobe hung unused in the closet.

I had pictured both a vertical love-relationship with my LORD (His hand and heart reaching down to me) and a horizontal friendship with Him (walking and working side by side). Both became real and precious to me, but I had missed the very best -- the intimate union in which He joins me to Himself. He remains my LORD and Savior, but we are always together.

Jesus said: "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" John 14:20). In other words;

Jesus is in the Father - I am hidden in Jesus - and Jesus is in me.

Thus, whatever touches me must first pass through both the Father and the Son. Not only does Jesus the Christ cover me with Himself, He and I become one. In His garments, I am not only protected, but I am also united with Him.

Are you ready and willing to put on Jesus the Christ?