I was in a Bible study this past week, and in it we were talking about John 18. This passage is about when Jesus is arrested. In the verses, Judas has brought a small army of Roman soldiers and temple police (between 300 and 600 men!) to arrest Jesus. In these verses, Jesus comes up to the soldiers and asks, "Who are you looking for?" They tell him they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. To this, Jesus responds and says "I AM." This causes the entire army to literally fall to the ground! (verse 6)
Isn't this amazing? If you remember, I AM is what the Lord calls himself when he is in the burning bush. "Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14). Then in the garden, Jesus uses this name and just the weight of his name causes an army to fall to the ground! After showing his power, Jesus then surrenders Himself to ultimately become the great sacrifice for our sins.
But think about it. The incredible power of our God! Obviously, Jesus easily could have saved himself from the cross. But as Romans 5:8 says "He showed his great love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Just the power of His name knocks down an army, but he chose to die for us, wretched sinners!
Many people wonder what it would be like to have Jesus with us today. But what they don't realize is we DO have Jesus! Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us! When we surrender our lives to God and choose to live for Him, his Holy Spirit enters us, fills us, and helps us on this journey through life. We HAVE the power of Jesus inside of us! 1 Corinthians 6:19 says "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own..." Wow, how amazing is that? We have the Holy Spirit inside of us. We have the One who just the mention of his name causes an army to stumble!
So when you are having trouble in life and you feel like you aren't enough or you don't amount to anything, remember this: You have the Holy Spirit in you. So don't ever think that you are less than you are in Christ!