Greater than Jesus?

Obviously nothing and no-one is greater than Jesus, that's not what the title means. It's simply referring to what Jesus said in John 14:12,

"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone 

steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to 

do the things that I do; and even greater things than 

these, because I go to the Father."

Let's just look here at what Jesus was saying. I'm no Biblical scholar, nor am I theologist, so please don't expect Latin translations and really deep meanings here. What I believe Jesus was saying is, "All these works I have done here on earth, it's merely a taster of what is to come. When I go to the Father and send the Holy Spirit in my place, you too will perform these same signs and wonders, and not just these but you will do so much more."

Jesus' time on this earth was short lived. His ministry was even shorter. I'm not going to go into how long it was because I've seen online that there are conflicting arguments. The fact is, it was long enough to fulfil God's plan.

If we subscribe, for argument's sake, to the "Jesus' ministry lasted 3 years" idea, then really, once we've been baptised in the Holy Spirit, we should expect to be performing the same miracles that Jesus did, and since we (hopefully) will be around for much longer than the three or so years Jesus was after He was baptised by John, we shouldn't just stop there. We should expect these greater things too.

I think the problem today is that we get complacent. We shy away from praying for things, saying, "If it's God's will, it will happen anyway" - God does have a plan but He won't force it on you. Quite often I'll say something similar to that. For instance, if I'm applying for a job I'll say, "If it's God's will for me to have this job, He'll pave the way, if not, I don't want it anyway!" That's not me saying I'm not going to put all my effort into the application and interview; I do. I also pray over it but I'm still very accepting to God's will and so I'm at peace with whichever decision is made.

From howjesusprayed

When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He knew what He wanted - He even knew God's will in the situation, which we often don't - but He still prayed for it not to happen. The important thing to remember is to pray, "nevertheless, not what I will, but as You will and desire" (Matthew 26:39).

We expect people to be saved and sometimes, we even expect them to be healed and delivered from binding spirits and strongholds. We occasionally expect our "special, gifted" Christian brothers and sisters to perform these miracles in Jesus' name. What we often don't expect or have enough faith to believe, though, is that we can and should be doing these things ourselves!

I'm by no means denying that some people have been given special giftings in the Spirit. Some people are called to have a healing ministry, some are prophets, but that's not to say that we can't all do these things. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 that we should desire spiritual gifts but "especially that you may prophesy". In 1 Corinthians 12:28-31 it specifically tells us that we should all desire the best gifts. To me, this tells us that yes, even though someone may have that gift upon their life, it is open to every single one of us.

Don't be lazy and complacent! Are you seeking and desiring these gifts today? Are you seeking God's will for your life? Are you seeking these "greater things", even greater than the amazing, awesome things Jesus did?

From thethingsiponder

Our primary goal on earth is to live our lives as Christ-like as possible, but Jesus said himself that we shouldn't stop there! We have the same Holy Spirit that Jesus had but we have more time to use it. I believe that we are all falling short of God's plan. We are all falling short of the expectations and the giftings that He gave us. He wants us to be doing such wonderful things that we can't even imagine, yet we are happy to just coast along.

Miracles, healings and salvations are wonderful, and we should be grateful for every last one of them, but we should also be seeking more.

I'm excited. Aren't you? I want to know what these "greater things" are! "On earth as it is in heaven" isn't just a line from a prayer that we all learned at school, it's a desperate plea for God's glory and power to manifest itself. For God's kingdom to become evident in our mortal world; to invade us and take over. How can this happen if we're not pursuing it?!

I challenge you all, myself included, to seek and desire these greater things