Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Christ in You

Christ in You

Last updated on: May 24, 2018 at 1:23 pm by Frank Viola

Christ in You 2018-05-24T13:23:44-04:00 Frank Viola

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Eric Johnson, the son of Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, has written a new book called Christ in You.

Unless you’re new to the blog, you know that the theme of living by the Christ who dwells in us is the central mark of my ministry.

For that reason, I wanted to find out what Eric’s book is about and what specific points he makes in it.

So Eric and I talked about it and here’s the interview.

Enjoy!

Christ in You: Why God Trusts You More Than You Trust Yourself

Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’s behind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit from reading your book?”

Eric Johnson: My heart is that for the believer to come to a greater understanding of who lives inside of them it’s King Jesus! Jesus paid the ultimate price for the ultimate temple and you are that temple. So it begs a lot of questions of what is possible when Jesus lives inside of you! The reader will also experience some paradigms shifts on redefining what ministry is as well as partnering with heaven and that God actually is very interested in you and your ideas.

Explain the subtitle. What do you mean by “God trusts us” and how does that connect with Christ living in us?

Eric Johnson : Well let me ask you this question first “Why would God put Christ in you if he didn’t trust you? The body of Christ has mostly understood that Christ in us means that I am “saved” and get to go to heaven someday. I would like to suggest that there is also another purpose of Christ living in us and that is to do the Great Commission and advance the Kingdom of God. My conviction is that God actually trust people by giving them what is necessary to actually accomplish this. He gave us everything necessary for this to happen and he trust us to do it amazingly well.

Tell us about the experiences that shaped the insights in your book.

Eric Johnson: There are so many to list as in writing any book you are pouring your life onto these pages. But a few that were paramount for this book was reading Matthew 6:5-8, Luke 18:1-8 and Colossians 1:15-27. These three passages became encounters for me that actually unlocked and connected the “dots” of what God had been teaching and leading me through for the past 10+ years.

Another experience that I had involved me not paying for any coffee, whether it be a bag of beans or a cup, for 18 months. It was God’s humorous way of teaching me how to move out of a needs based relationship to a relationship based on abundance. It was amazing and it was also one of the most challenging seasons of my life and it involved “not lacking anything.”

How is your book different from the many other books on discipleship and spiritual formation available today?

Eric Johnson: That’s a tough one as there are some books out there that are just superb in this category. I think this book takes a slightly different approach and touches more on what happens after the Cross without taking anything away from the Cross. A lot of books that I’m aware of focus a lot on the redeeming nature of the Cross, which is so important. Since there is a good amount of emphasis on that, I wanted to go a step farther and actually look at life after you’ve been born again and live in such a way that it mimics the life the Christ.

The message of “Christ in you” is rarely talked about in contemporary Christian circles, including (of all places) those who emphasize discipleship. Why do you think this is?

Eric Johnson: I wasn’t aware of that, interesting. Glad I could help with adjusting that.

Give us a teaser. Quote three of the best paragraphs in the book that will give readers a snap shot of the content.

God has no need to control you and me. The need and desire to control someone comes from fear. God has no fear that makes it necessary for him to control us. If we think he wants to control our every move so that we don’t mess everything up, then we are perceiving him as fearful of us—a very mistaken perception. Fear is not the currency of Heaven, and it definitely is not the tie that binds us to him. Trust is the tie.

One of my goals in life is that my love for people would grow over the course of my life, and not diminish. If our theology does not cause us to love people more, then we need to question our theology.

Arrogance is driven by what it can gain. Confidence is motivated by what it can give. And confidence is birthed out of our convictions, those things we believe in so deeply that nothing can shake us no matter what comes our way.

What do you hope readers will walk away with after they finish your book?

Eric Johnson: That they would realize that they are God’s workmanship and that they are created to do good things! To also realize who lives in them and that this reality would absolutely wreck them!

—

For those of you who want comprehensive and highly practical teaching on how to live by the Christ who indwells us, my discipleship course Living by the Indwelling Life of Christ reopens June 1st for 7 days. If interested, listen to the first session freely and get on the waiting list so you’re notified as soon as it reopens.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 7, 2015

The Next Great Move of God

Next Post

April 10, 2015 Post Expired

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The great day of the Lord is near—a day of wrath, distress, anguish, trouble, ruin, and what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Darkness and gloom Fire and brimstone Blood and thunder Plague and famine