Have you ever had an experience where someone talked about everything they are capable of, and you couldn’t hold back the urge to say to them, “Show me?”

I remember growing up, and this new kid had moved to town, always bragging in some way or other.  One day, he claimed to own a special bike on which he could do all sorts of tricks.  So, the rest of us boys did what came naturally to us. We insisted that he show us some proof.  He claimed his bike was still where he moved from and had no pictures, so we did not believe him.  After all, he could have just made it up to impress us.

We wanted evidence of what he claimed to accept his testimony.  That is a very natural response to hearing testimony, is it not?

I love how the Holy Spirit does not remove any of the humanity of the characters He had the writers of Scripture write about.  One of the disciples had this same type of experience.  He had heard Jesus speaking about His Father, and he wanted to see the evidence of that Father.

John 14:7   “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

To Philip’s natural mind, this wasn’t logically adding up.

John 14:8   Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus’ response does not come from a defensive posture rooted in insecurity. Jesus was happy to answer Philip’s natural curiosity and help him overcome his struggle by helping him realize how his thinking is rooted in the natural rather than the spiritual.

Ever heard the old saying, “he cannot see the forest for the trees?”  Sometimes, we can struggle to see what was there all along.

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Jesus had been demonstrating His Father by the supernatural good works He had been doing that transcended human capability.  The supernatural works of Jesus were the proof that His Father had sent Him and was working through Him.  Jesus was not solving people’s complex problems with natural solutions in His time.  Jesus met practical everyday needs with supernatural solutions.  Solutions that could not be explained in natural terms other than that they had to be of God.  It is why Jesus could say believe me for the sake of the works themselves.  No ordinary man could have been doing what Jesus did.

But Jesus went on to say something that is still, to this day, a source of controversy for those who struggle to believe.

John 14:12  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Jesus lives in those who belong to Him through faith in His name and having been born again.  Having been baptized in the Holy Spirit, something supernatural took place in me and set me on a course for operating in things that are anything but ordinary. This generation needs to see Jesus in us. Any religion can do an eloquent speech, accurate wording, and good behavior.  But walking in the life and power that Jesus walked in, well, that is something very different altogether.

I seek to be someone who can say if you have seen me, you have seen Jesus.  That requires enough humility to be honest whenever I struggle with faith in the supernatural.  I need to sincerely ask the Holy Spirit to help me get over myself and see what I am capable of when I walk by faith in Christ as I should.  Holy Spirit help me to walk in surrender and trust in You being with me to help me be a reflection of Jesus to my generation.  Help me be the kind of witness that can demonstrate the reality of Jesus being in me and working through me.