What does it mean to “remain in Christ?” How can you tell if it’s you acting or speaking, or Christ acting and speaking through you? And how do you get there? This is where our deliverance through Christ, not from the consequences of sin, but our internal sin malfunction itself comes into play. It is not a once and you’re done thing, but a moment by moment surrender to Him.
First, He won’t hijack your actions and words against your will. Permission and cooperation with Him must be either implicit or explicit. He won’t violate your free will. In my morning prayers, I specifically ask Him to be Jesus for people, give Jesus to people, receive Jesus from people, and see Jesus in people, and to love all others through me, act through me, and speak through me, and explicitly surrender myself to Him. So, there must be an understanding there, and the moment you yank back control He will take His hands off the wheel, so to speak. He will not violate you. It’s either with your consent or not at all.
Second, when He does act and speak through you, it may seem very weird, because you can be thinking and feeling one way, yet have words and actions coming from you which are the complete opposite of what’s going through your mind and emotions. In short, with your permission, He’s bypassing what’s being produced by your own mind and emotions. So be prepared to be surprised by what you say and do. You may want to say or do something else entirely. Discourage this impulse, and make yourself take a back seat to what He’s saying and doing even if you don’t understand it. You may find yourself saying things to others which you couldn’t possibly know to say yet they need to hear. It may freak you out at first. Don’t freak out and inhibit this. Just let Him speak.
Third, if the actions or words which are coming from you are born from fear, aggression, a feeding drive, or a sexual drive, then He’s not the one doing them. Those are your natural, biologically driven, malfunctioning responses to either perceived threats or survival needs. That does not make them “evil,” just not Him. Be careful with this, because these are the malfunctioning drives which initiate things like theft, lying, murders, explosions of anger, greed, substance abuse, whoring, cowardice, and all the other “works of the flesh” which Paul described both in Galatians and in other similar lists which he gives in his other letters.
Fourth, His actions and words through you are always kind, driven by love for the other, never selfish or self serving, patient, generous, humble, and self sacrificing. This is where that list of the “fruit of the Spirit” which Paul gives comes into play, as well as other similar lists in his other letters. You may or may not “feel” or think these things yourself in that moment, but you will be expressing them to others nonetheless. This is because Christ is bypassing your own natural feelings and responses and giving what is of Him to the other person instead. He will use the information already in your head in ways you wouldn’t normally consider, and bring to mind things you’d forgotten. What He does will never be harmful to the other person, even if the other person can’t be helped in that moment.
Fifth, these things are true when it is just you and Him as well.
Sixth, you are going to make mistakes. You are going to yank back control at first, freak out, and be afraid of the wrong thing coming out of your mouth, or the wrong thing being done through you. This is natural. It is a process and a discipline which must be learned over time. It takes more time for some, and less time for others. From my observations, the amount of time it takes depends on how much you do or do not trust yourself to do the “right” thing. Those who put no stock in themselves tend to pick it up faster than those who trust themselves completely.
Finally, there will be an internal fight against this. Your survival responses will kick in and kick against Christ controlling what is happening and not you. There will be a psychological battle against it. Just keep up with it, keep going and push through. The longer you go, the more He is in control, the more used to it you will be and the more you will submit to Him.
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