“WHO DO YOU SAY HE IS?”

By Temeka Atkinson

“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said , “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13b-16)

Hello fellow servants of Christ, I want to share some things that God has been placing on my heart regarding how we perceive or relate to Jesus as His children.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had a ‘come to Me’ moment with His disciples. They had been walking with Him for awhile. They had seen firsthand the healings, miracles, wonders, and signs that He had accomplished in the earth. They had witnessed His divine power. Even so, Jesus knew that what they believed about Him would influence their actions in the world. He needed them to operate in a high level of faith and belief so that they could carry on the work of the Kingdom after He returned to Heaven.

We as His current disciples should be grateful that they recognized Him for who He truly was and believed in Him. Their faith influenced their servanthood, and they spread His message of repentance and salvation even through trials, tribulations and persecutions; some even unto death. You and I know who He is because the Gospel message continued to be shared through their obedience.

Thanks be to God that Jesus had you and I on His mind and heart even when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before His crucifixion. The Lord offered prayers to the Father for His disciples and for us. This powerful prayer of intercession is recorded in the Gospel of John Chapter 17.

From the Old Testament to the New Testament, all of the pages of scripture proclaim Jesus’ deity and majesty. He is described in its pages as Savior, Wonderful Counselor, the lover our our souls, Healer, Shelter, Strong tower, our Kinsman Redeemer among many other wonderful things. The Book of Revelation reminds us that He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is who was and is and is to come. In the Gospel of John, Jesus issues 7 “I AM” decrees about Himself as: the Door; the True Vine; the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; the Bread of Life; the Resurrection and the Life; the Light of the World; and the Good Shepherd.

Mankind has been fortunate to have oral and written scripture for thousands of years. In most places around the world, humans have a ‘cheat code’ in the sense that we have the testimony and first hand written accounts of God’s words and heart towards us in a tactile form that we can engage with at any time (the Holy bible). We now have easy access technology at our fingertips that allows us to click a few times and ‘viola’ the scripture is right there, ready and accessible by smartphones. Could it be the ease of access that causes many of us to treat God’s Word as an afterthought or something with no value?

Let’s keep it real, most of us have likely had seasons in our Christian walk where dust bunnies have settled on our bibles because they have not been opened unless we are in a ‘tight spot’ and need the Word to comfort us, or we haven’t talked to God in awhile because “Hey, we are busy, right?” We tell ourselves that He knows our hearts. Which He does. In the Book of Jeremiah, God says, “’The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked….”

However, when life gets to ‘Life-ing’ as the younguns say, we call Jesus on that main line that the elders talked about, and we tell Him what we want. (lol) “Hey God, it’s me (insert your name here). I know it’s been awhile, but I need ya Lord…” as the script usually goes something like that. It shouldn’t be so.

We have to get more grounded in the truth of God’s Word and prayer so that we can always feel tethered to Him in the good and bad seasons of life. We should always be in a posture of prayer and open and available to be willing to go or do whatever He asks of us.

The Apostle Paul spoke about the duality of the two opposing natures that are found in the followers of Jesus. Our spiritual part now awakened in Jesus desires to please God with our lives while crucifying the flesh and sinful desires. However, as he discovered there is something in our nature, that even when we desire to be obedient, we still sometimes do the things we no longer want to do. Paul was distraught as we also sometimes find ourselves, trying to wrestle with this apparent conundrum of the sin in our mortal bodies along with the desire in spirit to obey God. Paul opined in Romans 7:24-25, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

I remember years ago reading about the persecution that some Christians face in their countries that are antagonistic towards the Christian faith. These believers could not openly worship Jesus, and they risked death and even imprisonment to even smuggle one torn page of the bible to their fellow believers. They would memorize the page and pass if from home to home so that each family had a turn to read God’s Word. This amazed me when I realized that ONE TORN PAGE OF THE BIBLE was of so much value to these believers that they risked everything to read what thus sayeth the LORD.

As God’s kids, we also have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, leading and guiding us into all truth. He points us towards Jesus and His teachings, and He reveals to our spirit, the thoughts of the Father towards each of us. Over 2 million people in the earth identify as Christians–meaning we all should be connected to God in spirit. When we look at our lives, do we see the fruit or manifestation of that connection?

If not, let’s examine ourselves to find out where the disconnect is and find out what we need to do to reflect to the world our love for God, and His love for all humankind (believer and unbeliever).

The Everlasting God is always calling each follower of Christ into deeper relationship with Him. We have to constantly renew our minds and remember that He is not some far away God who lives in the sky who only wants to hear from us during our times of trouble; or only wants us to come to Him for the ‘big’ life challenges. He actually wants a close relationship which we were created to have with Him. Just as He walked with the first human, Adam, in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden, so He also desires to walk with us in our everyday lives as well.

The scriptures below are a few that beckon us closer and remind us how approachable our God is.

• Matthew 7 tells us to seek Him and we will find Him. To knock and the door will be answered.
• Jeremiah 29 tells us that we will seek Him and find Him, when we search for Him with our whole hearts.
• Hebrews 13 God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
• Matthew 11 Jesus asks us to take up His yoke and learn from Him.
• Psalms 34 reminds us that God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those broken in spirit.

We the children of the Most High God declare that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. As we continue to learn more about Him through His Word and further develop an intimate relationship with Him as we walk with Him, we will operate as we were created to in the earth.

Remember, the God of all creation resides in us, is working in and through us for His good pleasure to accomplish His purposes in our lives for the benefit of His Kingdom.

Scriptural References for Reflection

Hebrews 6:11

John 8:56-58

Ezekiel 36:26

John 14:12

Dear Reader—

I pray this blog has been encouraging. Please know that the intention of this blog is to encourage you as we walk out our Christian faith together. It is not intended to replace God’s Holy Word, neither could it ever do so. The bible is the inspired Word of God lovingly given to us to teach, convict, correct, and instruct us in righteousness. God’s Word is living, active, and powerful. It will never pass away.

As your sister in Christ, I pray God’s continued blessings and covering over you and your family. May He strengthen you and give you peace as you journey.

Always His,

Temeka