Greater Works

John 14:12-14

"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. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

I read this wonderful promise we are all familiar with in my daily Bible reading. Usually when we read this promise we focus on the faith aspect, “he who believes in Me.” Faith has been a huge teaching in the church in recent history and tends to catch our attention when reading the promise of God. While faith is a key element in receiving from God, there are two other important elements in this Scripture portion.

The second element to doing greater works that Jesus gives is “because I go to My Father.” He goes on to say in verses 15-17 that He is going to send the “Helper, the Spirit of Truth.” These two names that Jesus gives to the Holy Spirit are key to being able to “do greater works,” and to “ask anything in My name.” Our ability to do greater works, that is greater than we can do ourselves in our own power, talents or ability, depends on the Helper. Without Him we can do nothing of eternal consequence. Faith without the Helper has no value.

Jesus also calls Him the “Spirit of Truth,” for He will lead us into all truth. Jesus said of His own ministry that He could only say what the Father said and could only do what the Father showed him to do. (John 5:9) It is only out of revelation knowledge or Rhema word that we can truly ask in faith and see God work on our behalf. I am finding more and more in my ministry that God is simply asking me to be obedient to the prompting of the Spirit. In our busy world filled with information, programs and activities, we need to quiet our spirits to hear the Spirit, who wants to reveal to us the will of God, so that we can do the great works that He has for us.

The third element of doing great works is that “the Father may be glorified.” We need to develop a lifestyle in which we honor God in everything that we do. Jesus, whole focus in life and ministry was to glorify the Father. Honoring God is not something we do - it is a lifestyle that permeates every part of our being and waking moment. It is our all-consuming passion to glorify the Father. It is not about us, our organization, our church, our program or our plans. It is not about ourselves, our family or our friends. It is in Him we live and move and have our being. Greater works will follow when He is our everything.

As hard as it may be to wrap our mind around, Jesus wants to do greater works in us than He did. He wants to give us anything we ask in His name that the Father may be glorified. In the midst of the growing darkness that envelopes our world today, God wants to be glorified. But to do so, we have to get beyond ourselves, our ideas, our programs into the limitlessness of God through the same Spirit that enabled Christ to operate beyond his human limitations.

May you hear His voice today and respond in faith to the prompting of His Spirit and see His glory in your life and ministry.

Andy Clark