Major Ian Thomas emphasizes the profound truth that believers can do nothing without Christ, who is the source of all fullness and adequacy. He illustrates that just as Jesus was fully available to the Father, we too can experience the fullness of life through our availability to Him. The key to unlocking this divine action in our lives is simple faith—trusting God's Word and acknowledging His sufficiency in every circumstance. Thomas encourages believers to rejoice and give thanks in all situations, as Christ's adequacy is sufficient for every challenge we face. Ultimately, our faith in Christ allows us to live fully and fruitfully in Him.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). In other words, you can do no more without Him than He could do without the Father. But how much could the Father do through the Son? Everything! for He was available to all that the Father made available to Him. "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands . . ." (John 13:3.) "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell" (Colossians 1:19). How much then can Jesus Christ do through you and through me? Everything! He is limited only by the measure of our availability to all that He makes available to us, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:9,10). What then is the faith that releases divine action? How may you be saved by His life, as you have already claimed to be redeemed by His death? This is the critical question of Christian experience, and the answer is simple "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). Faith in all its sheer simplicity! Faith that takes God precisely at His Word! Faith that simply says, "Thank You." If you are to know the fulness of life in Christ, you are to appropriate the efficacy of what He is as you have already appropriated the efficacy of what He has done. Relate everything, moment by moment as it arises to the adequacy of what He is in you, and assume that His adequacy will be operative; and on this basis in I Thessalonians 5:16 you are exhorted to "rejoice evermore!" You are to be incorrigibly cheerful, for you have solid grounds upon which to rejoice! Can any situation possible arise, in any circumstances, for which He is not adequate: Any pressure, promise, problem, responsibility or temptation for which the Lord Jesus Himself is not adequate? If He be truly God, there cannot be a single one! This being so, applying His adequacy by faith to every situation as it arises, will leave you with no alternative but to obey the injunction of I Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks!" In how many things? In everything without exception, "this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." From: The Saving Life of Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. ©1961.