January 11, 2011 Forward Motion Faith

Penny for your thoughts?  This is a question that some will ask when we have that faraway look in our eye or we are caught day dreaming when someone is trying to talk to us.  You and I have both been asked that question in the past and it will probably be directed toward us in the future.  Just what is going on in that brain of ours?

Seems to be something that Jesus was concerned about in Matthew 16.15 when He asked His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”   I think if Jesus we here today He may pose this question to some of us. 

Who do you say that I am?  Who is Jesus to you?  What does he mean to you?  Is he really a significant part of your everyday life? 

Heading into 2011 we are fasting to get close to Him.  We are pulling away from the table of physical satisfaction to increase our spiritual satisfaction.  In doing so I can only pray that all of us will ask ourselves this question – Who is Jesus to us?

Is He our Savior?  Do we know in our spirit that Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness?

Is He our Lord? Have we surrendered every part of our life over to Him?  No hidden crevices in our heart we don’t want anyone to know about?

Is He our Friend?  Do we converse with Him as our confidant?  Do we really share our thoughts with Him?

Is He our Healer?  Do we really rely on Him for our healing – physically, emotionally, spiritually?

Is He our Counselor?  Do we go to Him in times of trouble, heartache, pain, grief and tribulation?

Is He our Protector?  Do we live under the shadow of His wing daily?

The list could go on and on.  The idea here is to provoke your thoughts.  Just who is Jesus to you?

We are embarking on what could be the most powerful, intimate and fruitful year in our life in relationship to Christ.  I honestly believe this is a year of intimacy.  I mentioned in an earlier blog that intimacy actually can be defined as “in-to-me-see.”   Have you really given Christ an opportunity to see into your heart?  Start now.  Open the door to your heart – for real – and let Him come in in a fresh way. 

I remember years ago having a head on collision with Christ.  He won.  It was a defining moment in my life that I have had to remember on more than one occasion.  I was at a crossroads in my ministry.  I was struggling.  It was at the intersection of Self and Surrender that we ran into each other.  The question was posed to me by Him – “Who do you say that I am?”  It rattled my spiritual cage.   Are you kidding me?  I’m struggling and He asked me that question?  I was humiliated that He had to ask this question in the first place.  I was angry with myself that He had to ask this question.  Then I was…well, angry with the Lord because of how the question was asked.  He didn’t say, “Who do you THINK I am?”   He asked, “Who do you SAY that I am?  This hurt.  This question goes beyond the ability to think and reason.  It reaches for the heart of a man.  It cuts apart the bone from the marrow.  It separates the soul from the spirit.  It was Jesus who said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6.45).  As if that wasn’t bad enough the next verse drove a stake into my spirit.  “Why do you call me Lord and do not what I say?” (Luke 6.46).  He didn’t leave me hanging.  He led me into a reasonable answer to the question He posed.  What I was speaking and what I was doing were not meshing.  I was speaking one thing about the Lord, ministry and calling – but I was moving away from performing my call.  I was about to get a lesson in professing and performing the Word.  Remember now, I was struggling with various areas of my ministry.  The Lord was going to show me that what I was professing as my calling and what I was engaging in were two different dynamics.  

In Scripture He then goes into the parable of building a house on the rock and building on the sand.   The person who does what His Word instructs is building on rock.  The person who ignores attempting to fully obey the Word is one who is building on the sand.  When the “torrent” comes against the house – it survives or falls not on hearing the Word but on our obedience to the Word. 

What the Lord was saying to me by asking this question was that I had failed in obeying some areas of command from Him to me for ministry.  My ministry world was shaking, trembling, and slipping away because of my foundation of sand.  Disobedience.  I wasn’t doing anything immoral.  I wasn’t engaged in any type of gross sin.   I WAS moving away from some direction of ministry the Lord had anointed me for.  In doing so I was sensing the shakiness.  It was this piercing question from Him that led to some directional change for my ministry.  When I made the change to “hear from Him and speak for Him” and move away from other distractions of ministry – the shakiness disappeared.

I challenge you today to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?”   I ask you reasonably search your heart and find out if you are doing the Word or just hearing it.  There is a huge difference.  James 1.22 pokes us right in the face with a challenge to become doers of the Word and not merely hearers of the Word.  Why? Because when we hear without doing – we deceive ourselves.  That’s the worst kind of deception.