How do we really know Jesus?
So I was reading Matthew 16 and verse 15.
Who do you say I am asks Jesus to Simon Peter.
Peter answers “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Wow He gets it’s. This is a momentous occasion. The disciples now truly know they have the messiah with them. This is a big deal because they where so expectant and waiting for a messiah to deliver them out of their troubles.
This is the important bit bellow in verse 17
Jesus says. Blessed are you… for this was not revealed to you by man, but my my father in heaven.
So stop and meditate/ponder on the above. Have you realised who Jesus is because of man or because you know deep within the core of your being the Jesus is the messiah of the world. Maybe think of the hardest thing you are facing at the moment and ask yourself the question “do I really believe Jesus can deliver me from this and save me”
True salvation happens when people realise who Jesus is not because of what man say or convince them to believe but by the Father in heaven.
How does the father in heaven speak to us? Through the work of the Holy Spirit!
That is the mirracle and splendour of the trinity.
It’s verry interesting though how in John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way the and the truth and the Life. No one comes to the father except through me.
Its a beautiful trinity.
You have to know Jesus to know the father. John 14:6
But only the Father can reveal this to you. Not man- Matthew 16:15
Then finally the holy spirit will be with us. Jesus calls him out counsellor. He is what is with you right now as you read this. He is with me now reminding me of this as I write these words.
John 14:25-26 All this I have spoken while still with you. BUT the COUNSELLOR, the holy spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ALL things and REMIND you of everything I have said to you.
These words above come from Jesus to comfort his disciples. They knew he was the messiah but still needed support as he was leaving them soon. The support that would come was the Holy spirit. This support is available for you today. If you need a reminder of Jesus today ask him for it and he will freely give it.
Study, meditate, chew on these words. Read the Matthew 15 scripture and the John 14 verses and ask the holy spirit to speak to you through them.
So today I pray you would come to know who Jesus really is and may the Father reveal this to you not Man. May the holy spirit lead you into the true knowledge of the messiah. May he remind you of how amazing Jesus is and how amazingly good God is. May you come to know the amazing beauty of the trinity also.
May His peace be left with you and may you receive his peace right now.
Massive blessings with you right now – Lord a fresh realisation and revelation for whoever reads this now.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you. “Look at Behemoth,
which I made along with you
and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength it has in its loins,
what power in the muscles of its belly! Its tail sways like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like rods of iron. (Job 40:14-18 NIV)
So this description does sound very much like a dinosaur. I know that elephants and hippos don’t have tails like this.
My question is when was Job written.
It seems it could have been written by Moses or Solomon. Making it about 950 BC or more? Where dinosaurs around then? How does this fit in with say the great flood at 2400BC
What ever the case. God is very amazing and his creation is brilliant what is described here sounds tremendous. This then brings it all back to how marvellous our God is. He is so creative and wonderful.
Also it seems that God was describing to Job how powerful He is. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how vast and great God is.
Thoughts??
Check out the size of this beetle from Kenya. Another example of Gods amazing creation.
I was emailed by my mum about 5 days ago advising me to read Ephesians 1 and 2 and thought yeah will do once i have finished with my current study on Mark gospel .
What followed was really interesting. The study we did with the young people on the last Sunday morning was on Ephesians 1. This at first was like yeah cool but then realised that it was quite a coincidence that we were doing that in the group. Then last knight at CU (Christian Union) we had a talk on Ephesians 2 and 3 and that was really interesting again as twice we had been doing Ephesians.
I really feel that God has been on my case to do this and read Ephesians 1 and 2 and i have and the first bit is just amazing.
There is so much packed into this first verse so i am just going to take this first bit and break that down into two chunks
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
The first thing that strikes me is the praising of the lord. Its so so important to do this and to really give God the Glory. The second thing is that we are given every spiritual blessing whilst living here on earth but operating in the spiritual realm. The key thing here being that its every not just one or two but every.
The other aspect is that we are predestined to be “holy and blameless in his sight.” which means that there is hope and we are meant to be striving for this and we don’t have to submit to the old saying that is “oh I’m only human”.
In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Again its just puts the focus back to God and takes it away from us and not just our selfish ambition but in fact for his praise.
The wording is beautiful as it summarizes the Gospel so concisely. God has given us his one and only Son Jesus and he has done this freely for every one so that whoever believes in Him would have everlasting life.
Hey do read this little storry it was really moving for me and although i dont usually like these sorta things this one had such a great line on love perserverance and kindness.
Now that’s God
I have been greatly blessed by this bible study.
Based on this scripture… Ephesians 3: 18-20
18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
This is taken directly from a bible study that i have been reading by Reinhard Bonnke. Its been really helpfull and just so applicable..
God’s love is not a mere sentiment or emotional attachment. Nor is it a dutiful relationship as when we love a father because he is our father, or our children love us only because they are our children. It is the other way with God. He fathered us because He loved us, before we were born. God’s love is not fondness. When we love anyone we send them gifts, flowers, and write them letters. He does all that! He fills the wide world with gifts and flowers, writes His love with the stars of heaven, and the poetry of everything that is beautiful. But more than that, much more than that, the love of God penetrates our cold hearts, shed abroad by the Holy Spirit. It is the closest and most personal love.
Its not a duty that he has to love us as we are his children but because he wants to… and that is so cool and special…. as even if we think there is no one out there that could possibly love us there is one who is and does… GOD…
Love and charity in English are the same word. Love! It changes its own environment, and creates an atmosphere of greatness, openness, and generosity. Love never has a zipped up purse.
Love is as infinite as God, for God is love.
Do view the whole Study at this url.. http://us.cfan.org/Bible-Study.aspx?id=10503&page=1
I just read a great post by Pete from http://withoutwax.tv a Pastor.
pleas read it first its only short… HERE
it is related to the main article found here by Relevant magazine.. HERE
My comment on the post is this
Gosh there are allot of posts so ill keep mine short…
I think that as a Christian we should focusing much more on the things mentioned…
we should be driven to lives of holiness by passion—passion for God, passion for the lost, passion for the Gospel, passion for each other.i think we get seriously caught up on what we are doing wrong and what we have to fix rather than striving to more like Christ…
hence we can end up getting caught up in a downward spiral of depression and guilt that it actually stops us doing what is right and what God has planed for use hence we can become immobilized and actually end up not doing anything at all..
please check out my blog.. http://trwest.com/blog/
It was really interesting as i was talking about this with a friend about an hour ago and now this post pops up in my reader and is exactly the same thing… God must have been involved on that one…
do let me know if anyone can relate to this or just comment on Petes blog but it would be nice to see some comments..