The disciples had been following Jesus for some time, watching Him heal the sick and raise the dead. He did miracles that no one else could do, and yet He had to ask them, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mat 16:15)

If they did not understand who He was, then they would not understand the salvation that He would provide. A prophet, a teacher, or a good man could not live sinless and be the sacrifice that we need. Only the Son of God could live without sin and take away our stain.

Stop and ask yourself, who is Jesus to you? Is He a nice teacher? Is He a kind face from a painting holding a lamb in His arms? Is He a defeated rescuer pinned to a cross or a triumphant King resurrected in power?

Is He a distant deity, a guilt-provoking reminder of your failures? If He is, then you’ve believed a lie. Jesus should be the great love of your life. His love for you is massive and eternal. He is the risen Son of God who stands knocking on the door of your heart because He wants a relationship with you. A real relationship. All you have to do it answer.

Who is Jesus to you? Best Friend, Savior, Emmanuel, Eternal Lover.

The early church moved in such power that believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. (Acts 5:14-15)

Peter’s shadow had the power to heal people. In a broader and deeper sense, the shadow of the cross has the power to save, heal, and deliver. When we allow the cross to cover us, everything that concerns us is touched, both bad and good.

The cross convicts us to do something about the bad elements in our lives. We already know about them, but God wants us to finally do something about it. He prods us to repent and receive forgiveness and blessing.

When the shadow falls on the good areas of our lives, we are reminded that only God is good. When we give Him everything we have, He blesses it to make it even better.

The shadow of the cross touches the deep places that no one else can see. If we give the Lord everything the shadow touches, He can change us to be what He sees we are. Don’t hold back from those changes. There will be a greater blessing in the end.

Authority puts demands on our love.

Wherever Jesus went, crowds formed when it was known that He was there. People were drawn to Him. Not just because He did miracles, though that would be a huge draw. I think they were also drawn to His authority. People like to be told what to do. We’re like baby birds, we like to be fed.

But Jesus left and gave His authority to us. Suddenly, we’re not just baby birds with our mouths open wide anymore. Suddenly, we’re supposed to be the ones bringing salvation, healing, and deliverance. The authority has some weight on our shoulders. It doesn’t feel comfortable.

We’d rather let someone else do that stuff while we continue to be fed. That authority takes responsibility, and responsibility makes demands on us. That’s what maturity and growth in the kingdom calls for. If we are to be known by our love, then we have to be open to loving when it’s needed. And that need rarely comes at convenient times.

The authority we’ve been given assumes that we want to be obedient to the Great Commission. If we’re not willing to do that, we have to ask ourselves why. Laziness is not an option. Selfishness is not an option. Love is the only option, and that will require maturity to be available when we are needed.

It’s time to grow up. It’s time to be who we’ve been called to be and love, really love.

Unto us a Son is given

For unto us a Son is given. (Isa 9:6) He has been given to us–a child, a gift, a King. Can you imagine heaven on the eve of His departure? Knowing what He was about to face, what was the conversation between Father and Son? I can almost see the embrace, wrapped tightly in the Holy Spirit.

For unto us a Son is given. Receive this greatest gift of all time. Receive Him as more than a name in a book. More than a teacher or prophet. Receive Him as the Son of God, the Lamb that was sacrificed for us.

The question at the end of life will be this: God gave His Son to save us. Did you receive Him? Can you imagine standing before God, who sacrificed His Son for you, and telling Him No to His face? It would not be a pretty picture.

But stand before Him and say, Yes! Yes, you received the great gift with joy and gratitude. You cherished it and held it close until the very day you died.

To receive Jesus, the Son of God, is to receive life and blessing. When the King of Kings gives Himself, there is nothing greater to be had. Unto us a Son is given, and we are eternally grateful.

My last post about owning a Ferrari made me think about stunt doubles. I can imagine how terrifying it might be for an actor to look at a movie role where they are required to fall out of a building or crash a car. They’re probably not trained for that. But when they know there will be a stunt double doing those things, the role seems easy. The stunt double is trained and perfectly at ease doing dangerous things.

Let Jesus be your stunt double.

Our life in the kingdom is like working with Jesus as our stunt double. Does that sound bad? Think about it. He just wants us to connect with the people who need help, and He will do the power work that needs to be done. It makes our role easy.

It’s never about us anyway. We’re just the face, the hands, for God to work through. We don’t have to freak out or panic about doing what Jesus did, because He’s the one doing it anyway. And He’s always with us, so we don’t have to wonder if He’ll show up on time.

Start practicing with your stunt double and see how it works. Pray for people who need healing. Speak authority into a situation and release the power of God to save, heal, and deliver. Then watch Him do what He’s best at. It will be fun.

If God never answers your prayers, if you don’t really believe that He cares, if your life isn’t any different from people who do not claim to be believers, then you haven’t met Jesus. What you need is a revelation of who God is.

If you had a divine encounter with Jesus, your faith would inflate immediately. You would feel the power of God and know that He is exactly who He says He is. You would know that you could ask Him anything and He would do it.

You are invited to meet Jesus.

If you haven’t had that encounter with Him yet, then ask for one. Ask to meet Jesus. Ask to see how powerful He really is. Ask to experience how much He loves you. Your faith needs to be shaken up and meeting Jesus is the perfect way to do it. You need a reality so dynamic that you will never doubt again.

Does this sound impossible? Then you clearly haven’t met Him yet. Does it sound scary? You really haven’t met Him yet. The whole reason for all creation was so we could live in intimate friendship with God, so if you haven’t met Him, then you haven’t connected with why you were born.

Don’t be bamboozled by the opinion of others. You have a personal invitation to meet Jesus. And it’s going to be amazing.

Jesus is always waiting to hear from you.

Jesus – Don’t leave home without Him. Of course, the reality is that as a believer, He is with us always. He said He would never leave us or forsake us. But we forget about Him all the time. We get busy and caught up in activities and suddenly our time to spend with Him disappears.

And it’s really easy to forget Him when we travel. Any time we change-up our schedules, we risk losing our communion with the Lord. That’s a problem, because there is no time that’s ok to not be mindful of Him. And having grace for our travels is a really good idea.

Your communion time is vital, but don’t make it rigid. He’s not that concerned if you spend twenty minutes or seven minutes with Him. He doesn’t care if you read a whole chapter of the Bible or a few verses that speak to your heart. He just wants a connection with us. We’re the ones who make an issue out of how long and what that looks like.

If you get busy and really can’t spend the time with Him that you’d like to, then shoot up a quick prayer of thanksgiving and ask Him to bless your day. Come back when you can. He’ll be waiting.

Salvation is a decision that only you can make.

Whether you’ve grown up going to church or are completely new to faith, you will wonder, at some point, if you really are saved. As someone who went to church from a young age, I wasn’t saved until I was a teenager. Just because I knew about God did not mean that I had made a meaningful commitment to love and serve Him.

The easy part of being saved is this: confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9) The hard part is walking it out.

If you have never made this commitment to God, then you need to. That will satisfy your heart and you name will be written in heaven. No matter how long you’ve been in church, no matter if you are a pastor or minister, if you have never asked Jesus to be your savior, you need to do it.

Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12) That means that it’s up to you to know that you have made the decision to be saved. No one can do it for you. And once you melt into the arms of the Living God, nothing will be the same again.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jhn 6:54) This was a pretty offensive statement by Jesus. We are born with an aversion to cannibalism, and rightly so, but Jesus was trying to make a point. This was not business as usual doctrine. This was something radical and mind blowing. Eat flesh? Drink blood? Yuck!

Of course, Jesus wasn’t talking about physically eating and drinking. My apologies to my Catholic friends, but He was being metaphorical. God was no longer going to be distant, guiding His people from afar. Emmanuel has come and God is with us.

We are to invite Jesus into our hearts to be Lord and Savior. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (Jhn 14:20) It’s a challenging description of how closely our connection with God is now. How radically different from the Old Testament relationship.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. (Psalm 34:8)  He’s not interested in being worshiped from a distance. He wants intimacy. When we submit to the Lordship of Jesus, He enters our lives as completely as if we literally eat His body and drink His blood. We become one with Him. It’s a concept that no one expected of God, but it is His way of guiding us through life in the kingdom.