Video Transcript: Union with Christ

Video Transcript: Union with Christ (Dr. Feddes) 

The New Testament often speaks of a connection between Christians and Christ, it speaks of being in Christ or of Christ being in us. And it speaks that way. Very, very often, it also speaks of us being crucified with Christ of being raised with Christ, of being seated in heaven with Christ. So there's a very strong connection between the Christian and Jesus Christ. And I want to think with you about what it means to live in union with Christ. Now, when we speak of union with Christ, one thing that is meant by that in the Bible is a legal union. Jesus is our representative. He's our legal head, he acts on our behalf. And what he does is counted by God, as ours, think for a moment of the ruler of a country, when he says something or takes an action. He's doing it on behalf of the whole country. He decides, for example, to declare war, and suddenly the whole country is at war. So Jesus in kind of a similar way, when he decides on something that all who are united to him are involved with him, when he does something, everybody is involved in that action, in this case, his life and death, and resurrection, and ascension. And so there's a legal union that affects our status. But then, in addition to a legal union, there's a living union, Jesus lives in us and we live in him through a living connection. 

Jesus is our living head, and we are his body. His actions affect and direct our experience, not just our status, but our experience, His death and resurrection and reign flow into our lives. He died for us, he was raised from the dead for us. That's true, but also his death and his resurrection flow into our lives and do something in us. So I'd like to think with you a little bit more about what is meant in the Bible, by union with Christ, the New Testament, especially the writings of Paul speak of this so very often. The apostle Paul said, we know that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus, if you've been crucified with Christ, then your account your sinful self, a goner, dead on the cross along with Jesus because you died with him. Paul says in Galatians, two, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, he's got a new life, the Christ life, and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me, we often emphasize that the Son of God gave himself for us in dying on the cross. 

But we also need to realize we were crucified with Him, and an old self dies and the Christ life comes alive in us. The Apostle says, We've been buried and then raised with Christ, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too, might walk in newness of life. Now, Baptism into Christ says the author RC Lucas, baptism to Christ is the work of the Spirit, which unites us to Christ. And that baptism by the Spirit is signified, and sealed, but not necessarily conveyed by water baptism. What he's saying is that when Paul talks about being baptized into Christ, that is an action of the Holy Spirit. And our baptism with water is a sign of that. But it's not automatically done by that water baptism. It's done by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. And so when we go into the water and come out of the water, it is a sign of being buried with Christ and raised with Christ. And it is an action performed not just by a minister and not just by water, but by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Colossians two speaks of having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead, and you who weren't dead in your trespasses, God made a live together with him. 

Our union with Christ means that somehow in Jesus resurrection to life, all who are connected with Jesus are also raised to life. And so we can think of conversion as resurrection, every conversion is a resurrection from the dead, a participation in Jesus resurrection, to make a dead spirit alive, God must unleash the very same power that he used to raise Jesus from the dead. So when you put your faith in Christ, you are alive with the power that performed history's greatest miracle, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, your conversion is a similar miracle. In a sense, it was no harder for God to raise Jesus dead body than it is for him to raise your dead spirit and make you eternally alive to him. Someone wants to describe preaching as 20 minutes to raise the dead. And that's what's going on. It is the fact that when you preach the Word of God, in the authority of Jesus Christ, you're bringing the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, to bear on your hearers, and God can raise dead spirits to life again.

Scripture speaks of being crucified and buried with Christ, but also being raised with Christ and seated in throne with Christ. Ephesians two says, but God did enrich and mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. union with Christ means that whatever happens to Christ happens to us. And because Christ is raised, and because Christ is in throne, we also have a participation already now. In some mysterious sense already now. We have a participation in the rain, a connection with the heavenly rain of Jesus Christ.

Not only are we connected with Christ, what happens to him but also union with Christ means Christ living in us, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus said, the glory that you have given me Father, I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one I in them, and you in Me, so the Father is in Christ, and Christ is in us by the Holy Spirit, whom He sent. The apostle Paul prayed that people would be strengthened with power through the spirit and your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, what a tremendous statement, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Christ lives in me, this is the ultimate of what it means to be a Christian Christ lives in me and I live in Him and through Him. To be a Christian is not just to hold correct opinions based on the Bible, or to get off the hook for your sins, or to have a ticket to heaven. Praise God. It involves that true faith is based on the truth of the Bible. It doesn't mean you are forgiven and released from your sins, it does mean that you'll go to heaven someday, if you belong to the Lord. But that's not all it is. To be a Christian is stem Christ living inside you. You don't just have eternal life, you have the life of the Eternal, you have the life of God in the soul of man. That's an extraordinary reality. The Bible says we are partakers of the divine nature, we have the life of Christ by His Holy Spirit living in us. And what does this involve? Well, I want to just highlight a few things that union with Christ means for us as we live our lives in this world. union with Christ means that Jesus suffering is your suffering, it means that his mission is your mission. It means that his mind is your mind, you have the mind of Christ. His glory is your glory. His life is your life. And his energy, his power, his strength, is your energy and power, and strength. Let's go into these just a little more, and see what the scripture has to say about first of all, his suffering is your suffering. 

You remember what Jesus said, to solve the persecution of Christians, when he came to him on the Damascus Road and turned him into Paul, the great missionary. He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now Jesus was already in heaven. His suffering was over in one sense, but in another sense, he was still being persecuted because Saul was persecuting Christians. And when Christians were suffering, Jesus was suffering when they were being persecuted. Jesus was being persecuted. And then Jesus said that I will show Paul how much he must suffer for the sake of My name. Jesus suffering is our suffering. The apostle Paul later wrote, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified with Him. That's a phrase we often like to skip over, provided we suffer with Him, but his suffering is our suffering. And in this world, if we're servants of Jesus Christ, we will suffer with him and also share in His glory. The apostle Paul said in Colossians one, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, that is the church. Now that seems like kind of a strange statement to say, What's lacking in Christ's afflictions, Paul is going to fill up in his own sufferings. What's going on with that? Well, why, why is such a statement hard for us to understand in the first place? One reason it's hard to understand is that many of us prize prosperity and pleasure. And so any talk about suffering tends to perplex us and baffle us and, and to get us down and feel what's going on here. Because instead of taking it as part of God's revelation, and something very clear, in the Bible, we say, Oh, we didn't think about that suffering part. And another reason is that we so emphasize individualism, that we often overlook, interconnectedness among people and even our interconnectedness our union with Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is the head of his body, the church. And so when his body suffers, the head suffers. Now, in one sense, there is nothing lacking in the sufferings of Jesus Christ for our salvation, He paid the full price, when he cried out, it is finished, it was finished, the suffering for the salvation of the world was complete, and the full price had been paid for our sins. And that was enough to justify all sinners, whom God had chosen and to make them right with God. And so there was nothing lacking in Jesus atoning suffering, but throughout the history of the world, in God's plan, the body of Christ, the people of Christ are going to suffer more. And until then, there is more suffering to be done. And that's what's meant by what's lacking in Christ's afflictions, there's still more suffering to be done for the sake of the church suffering by missionaries to spread the Gospel, suffering by pastors to face persecution, suffering by all Christians, as they face the attacks of the world. And that suffering won't be complete until Jesus comes again. And meanwhile, we're filling up what still lacking in the sufferings of Christ because our sufferings are His sufferings. His suffering is your suffering. Now, I could give one of a gazillion examples of prosperity preachers. 

I'll highlight one that's just been in the news lately. While I was preparing this message, Bishop Eddie Long, is a pastor of a mega church with 25,000 members. He has a $3 million annual income drives a $350,000 Bentley car at a $50 million cathedral happened to be in the news because of some sexual scandals he got himself involved in. But at any rate, a man making immense amounts of money with a fabulously wealthy church and cathedral that he built. A bishop Long said, when his huge income was questioned, and his lavish lifestyle was questioned. He said, oh, we're not just a church. We're an international corporation. We're not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can't talk. I deal with the White House, I deal with other world leaders, he said, so he's a really important guy who deals with really important people, and he deserves to make a ton of money as a minister the gospel. Well now, genuine preachers don't just deal with presidents and world leaders. They deal with King Jesus, the King of the universe, and he lives in them. And they don't think it's that big a deal to brag about who they've met lately. And they understand that if you're a servant of King Jesus, His suffering is your suffering. It's not that you're the head of a corporation, and you should make as much money as you possibly can off of the gospel.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, says the apostle Paul, and I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings that's part of being in Christ and having Christ in you that I may share his sufferings, becoming like him and his death, that by any means possible, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. His suffering is your suffering for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort to always carrying in the body, the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies, for we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also maybe manifested in our mortal flesh. Now I'm dwelling on this point at considerable length, because it's a very hard one for us to take to heart, the sharing in Christ's sufferings, the willing sharing in Christ's sufferings, knowing that we also then share in his life as well. Missionary David Livingstone did not have an easy life. During his time as an explorer as a medical missionary. As one who fought the slave trade in Africa. He was mauled by a lion. His house was burned in the course of a war, his wife died of malaria. And he died while on his knees praying he had an illness and they found him dead on his knees, and his heart was buried in Africa. His body was buried back in England with great honor. 

So he was widely admired, but his life was very challenging, and not easy at all. What did David Livingstone have to say about all this suffering that he endured, he said, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office, people talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa, it is emphatically no sacrifice, say rather, it is a privilege, anxiety, sickness, suffering or danger now and then they make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink. But let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing compared with the glory that shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. He was experiencing Christ's sufferings and you consider that a glorious thing. I never made a sacrifice. Missionary Hudson Taylor said exactly the same thing. I never made a sacrifice unspeakable joy all day long and everyday was my happy experience. God, even my god was a living bright reality. And all I had to do was joyful service. Now Hudson Taylor as a missionary to China did not exactly have an easy life. He gave up his own culture across the ocean, he took on a new form of clothing. He cut his hair like the Chinese did with carrying a ponytail and partially shaved he fit in with a different culture and gave up the culture that he had been part of. He served for 51 years as a missionary. 

He survived two typhoons. On a voyage, he was robbed of all his possessions. During this time as a missionary, he lost everything in a fire. Seven of his children died during the course of his missionary service, his wife died of malaria. During the Boxer Rebellion, they murdered 58, missionaries and 21 of the children of the China inland mission of which Hudson Taylor was the head. But Taylor refused any payment to show the meekness and gentleness of Christ as he put it. Now, that's someone who knew what it was to suffer with Christ, and yet to have the power of the Spirit of Christ in him. And Taylor said, If I had 1000 pounds, China should have it. If I had 1000 lives, China should have them. No, not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for him? Can we do enough for such a precious Savior? Taylor also said the Lord Jesus received His Holiness began. The Lord Jesus cherished, His Holiness advancing, the Lord Jesus counted upon as never absent would be holiness complete, if you just had an ongoing sense of Christ in you, and you in Christ and you lived in constant awareness of that you would be completely holy,

Taylor's tombstone have this inscription, a man in Christ, by the way, one of the finest books I have on the Apostle Paul has that very title, a man in Christ, that is the key to Paul, to Livingstone to Hudson Taylor, man in Christ, a man who is full of Christ, and that is what made them so mighty in their sufferings not only, but also in their missionary power. And that brings us to our second point, his mission is your mission. The Apostle says, I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you. He always considered himself a steward, a manager, someone who had been given treasure from God in a jar of clay to share with others. And so he was on a mission from Jesus Christ. Christ in you, gives you a commission and notice that word commission really is co-mission. 

You are on a mission with Jesus Christ. It's a stewardship. It's a domain, an area of authority or of action where Christ acts through your actions and reigns through your responsibility. For some of us, that's the calling to be a pastor, or a missionary to a certain area or a group of people. And Christ gives us a heart for that a domain for that. And that is how we serve. For others, God gives special abilities in a in a particular occupation. And then a particular group of people whom you meet through that occupation. And in that domain, you have Christ acting through you and reining through the responsibilities that you exercise, part of your domain might be. It certainly is your family, if you're married, and have a spouse and children. And in that domain, you have Christ living in you, and Christ is acting through you, raining through you, exercising his responsibility through your realm of responsibility, and your heart comes fully alive as you enjoy and enhance the domain where Christ acts through you in blessing others. Now, sometimes the language of domain or of reigning with Christ is used as a pretext to get rich, or to just grab stuff for yourself, selfishly. That's not what it's about. It means you really come alive, when you understand the scope of what God's calling is for you. And when you act upon it, because it's not just you acting, it's Christ acting through you to bless other people. 

His mission is your mission, his mind is your mind. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. So the apostle Paul, which God decreed before the ages for our glory, these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, we have the mind of Christ, the Apostle said that nobody can understand the thoughts of a man accept the spirit within that man, and nobody could understand the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God. But when God gives His Spirit to us, when the Spirit of Christ comes to live within us, then we have the mind of Christ. And we start thinking his thoughts, we start being wired the same way he's wired, and we discover more and more from his word, the truth that He has for us, and it makes sense to us, because he's living in us. It's like him tuning our hearts, the way someone tunes, a radio, or a TV set to receive incoming signals, the signals are always there, but only when you have the tuner, are you able to receive them, and Christ living in us tunes us in to the mind of God, the Holy Spirit living in us helps us to receive those signals, and to think like our Savior, water, calling, and what a blessing and what a privilege it is. Because without Christ living in us, we cannot begin to grasp the things of God, and the ways of God, the unspiritual person simply cannot tune in to the things of God, but we have the mind of Christ when Christ is in us.

The apostle Paul said to me, though, I'm the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone. What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God, might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places? The church itself is God's show off area is display to the angels, the rulers, that authorities and what God does in the church, and what the mind of Christ does in the people of God is something that astounds and amazes, even the angels, the Bible says, angels long to look into these things, to have the mind of Christ and the riches of Jesus Christ to know this mystery that God hidden for ages and ages and, and then revealed. What a amazing privilege that is, and that's all part of union with Christ to have more and more of the mind of Christ taking shape in us, and His glory, is your glory. To them. God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory, of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, the riches of the glory, the hope of glory, there is something unspeakably glorious to have the eternal God living in us remember, this is the same God that the scripture earlier had said, no one can see and live. Were the word for glory. One word for glory was sheer heaviness, a crushing heaviness, a glory, where if people would look into the ark of God, in Old Testament times, they would be smitten and strict and dead right on the spot. And to have that glory not only not killing us, but actually living in us and giving us the hope of glory. That is an astonishing thing. 

Jesus Christ is the one in whom all the glory of God dwells and when Christ lives in us by His Spirit, then our hearts become a temple for him, just as that cloud of the Shekinah glory would come on the tabernacle or the temple. So the glory of God enters in to the people of God and the glory of Jesus Christ is the glory of His people. It's not just the Jewish people, but Gentiles who are made gloriously rich Christ is in us, not just with us or for us, though he is with us, he is for us, but he's in us. And God reigns through us, not just over us, we're not just God's servants. We are also God's co-heirs, God's co-authorities, the Bible speaks of God raining through us, and we raining with him. Christ's co-rain in my domain now is the first taste of the glory of co-raining with Jesus over a far greater domain and eternity. You remember those stories of Jesus, where somebody who's faithful with a little bit is given charge of cities and kingdoms. And so you have this domain of authority now, where Christ reigns in you and through you and you want to rain on his behalf. And when you're faithful, that bit of glory you have now in claiming territory for Jesus claiming people for him claiming relationships for him and letting his glory shine through you. That's just the first installment, we are someday going to be seated on a throne with him, according to the book of Revelation and reign with Him forever and ever. So already, in one sense, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms according to the scripture. But we will literally and physically be seated with Christ and reigning with Him and an even greater degree in the life to come.

Christ is so ritually glorious, that he can't be fully expressed in any one person. Millions of different believers, unique believers display different facets of Jesus glory and reign. The same Christ lives in all of us. And the same Christ reigns in all of us by the same spirit. And yet this one Christ displays himself in different personalities who have a heart for different domains, and whose personal glory displays an aspect of Christ's glory that's not to be found in any other human. Now, that's kind of a mouthful. So let me just say it again. There's too much of Jesus to be displayed at any one of us. And so it takes millions of people to show different aspects of who Jesus is, and different glimmers different colors of His glory. And so the way you serve Christ might be somewhat different from the way I serve Christ. But both may be equally displaying the glory of Christ, but in a different manner. And it is a splendid thing. And the Bible speaks of one of the reasons why we need to be together as Christians, and really get to know each other deep fellowship is to see how God's love is experienced differently by each of us, and how his glory shines somewhat differently from each of us. And we get a fuller picture of God's love, when we hear how others have experienced it. And we get a fuller vision of God's glory, when we see it reflected in all of these different displays of glory. 

So his glory is our glory, not just as an individual, but as a church together, so many different glories and splendors of Jesus Christ are displayed in the different kinds of people there are and in the different kinds of things that Jesus Christ calls us to do, in his kingship, in his reign. His life is your life. Romans eight says, If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life, because of righteousness, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ, Jesus from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit who dwells in you. One of my favorite little books was written centuries ago, by a man named Henry Sue Gall. And it's titled simply the Life of God and The Soul of Man, his life is your life, Christ lives in me. And that is the ultimate reality that any of us can say is that who simply are united to Christ and His life is our very life. Now, why do preachers and churches exist? Well, it's pretty simple to proclaim Christ and to form Christ in people and if his life is your life is his life is my life, then our purpose is to help that life to develop and mature and others. 

The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians, four that his aim was that Christ be formed in his reader so that Christ more and more takes shape in us, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, the Christ. Life maturing and developing to its complete stature in us. Christ is the one we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom and why that we may present everyone mature in Christ. If you're a pastor, you do not exist to get rich. You do not exist to build expensive cathedrals, you do not exist to make an impression. And to build a large organization, you exist for one purpose, to proclaim Christ and to help people become little Christ's, and then mature as the stature and the very character of Christ takes shape in them by the Holy Spirit spiritual salvation and spiritual formation is why pastors exist, and to help that Christ life and others grow to greater and greater maturity. Larry Crabb has written an excellent book called connecting in which he speaks of how Christians can aid each other what is the power within us waiting to be released. And he's speaking out Christians. It is the actual life of God, the energy with which the Father and the Son relate to each other, a set of inclinations put into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and kept alive by his presence. It's the power that is most fully released as we develop a compelling and awe inspiring vision of who another person is, and what he or she could become because of the gospel.

So it's not just seeing Christ, like in myself, but it's when I see other Christians, whether it's my wife, whether it's my own children, whether it's my close friends, whether it's people in my congregation, whether it's other Christians who my meet, of seeing them as people who have the Christ life in them, and having a vision for what that person could develop into, and become if that Christ life were magnified and expanded and grew to greater maturity. That is what gives us vision for building others up and ministering to them. The apostle Paul says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom. So here's what's going on. 

Christ living in one believer, proclaims the living Christ to Christ, living in other believers, to produce the full grown life of Christ. So I've got Christ living in me, you have Christ living in you. I'm seeking to proclaim the living heavenly Christ to you. And as that happens, the Christ living in each of us, resonates, builds each other up to grow the full grown life of Christ. Remember the story of Barnabas, his name was Joe encouragement, his name was Joseph. And then the nickname Barnabas met Son of Encouragement. So he was Joe encouragement, when hardly anybody else would believe that Saul, who became Paul was really converted, Barnabas vouched for him, and he saw the grace of Christ in him. When Gentiles in Antioch were among the first non Jewish people to become followers of Jesus. Barnabas was the one the church sent there. And the Bible says that when Barnabas saw the evidence of the grace of God in those people, he rejoiced and was glad. And he helped them to grow in their faith and to grow into Christ. So he saw the grace of God and the Christ life at work in those people had been converted, and he helped build up their Christ's life. And that's what we do. We let the word of Christ dwell in us. And then we share that word from Christ. And it wakes up more and more of the life of the spirit, the Christ life in other people, in Heart to Heart connections with fellow believers, you display the unique glory of Christ in you, and you denied in the unique glories of Christ in others. 

Christians connect in order to share what Christ is doing within us. We connect in order to battle together against hindrances to Christ within, and we connect in order to strengthen each other, and as Christ in you, connects with Christ in me, I grow in Christ power in Christ's insight in Christ's love, his life is my life. And then finally, his energy is your energy. The apostle Paul says in Colossians, one right after he's speaking about being Christ living in us, He says for this I toil struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me he's not doing it in his own strength. Hudson Taylor didn't win hundreds and hundreds of people to Christ and start a movement that eventually would turn into perhaps 100 million believers in China today. David Livingstone didn't achieve his explorations of Africa and help open Africa to the gospel in his own power. He struggled the energy of Christ, working with him And we can do mighty things. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. When you do Christ's work in your assigned domain, you're not just on your own, you are energized by Christ. If that domain is your marriage and your family, that's a good place to start. You're energized by Christ and your family life can be something that never could have otherwise, in your work life, you're energized by Christ in your ministry and mission life, you're energized by Christ, and He is Able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power that is that work within us. You notice, it doesn't just say he can do a couple of the things that we kind of hoped for. He can do all that we hope for all that we ask all that we can even imagine more than we can even imagine, far more abundantly than all we can ask or imagine. And he can do that, according to something not that's just way out there. But that's already at work within us because Christ is in us. And this is what gives us courage. This is what gives us confidence. 

This is what helps us to rejoice as we move forward rejoicing, even when we suffer because we're on his mission filled with his energy. So union with Christ just to summarize again, his suffering is your suffering. His mission is your mission. His mind is your mind. His glory, is your glory. His life is your life. His energy is your energy. That's why the Apostle Paul could say for me to live is Christ. Another mighty missionary who was powerfully used by God was St. Patrick. He went to an island where he had once been enslaved by blood drinking pagans, and he managed to escape but then the Lord called him to go back to Ireland and to bring the gospel. And Ireland had many, many people come to Christ, through the work of St. Patrick and those who came after him. St. Patrick said, I rise today with the power of God to pilot me, God's strength to sustain me, God's wisdom to guide me God's eyes to look ahead for me, God's ears to hear me God's word to speak for me, God's hand to protect me, God's way before me, God's shield to defend me, God's host to deliver me, Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me, Christ in my lying down, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising, Christ in the heart of all who think of me, Christ on the tongue of all who speak to me, Christ in the eye, of all who see me, Christ in the ear, of all who hear me.