He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-17). What a great blessing it is that we, like Peter, can really know the person of God!
In my previous blog I talked about the work that God is doing on the earth and posed the question, “Are you involved in the game plan of God or are you just playing your own little game?” In response to Peter’s spiritual revelation, Jesus prophesies about the future role His church would play in exerting all of the power of heaven to unlock people’s destinies. The pivotal tenet connecting us to this place in the arena of affecting destinies according to God’s game plan is that we commune with God and really know Him.
When Jesus first asked the question about who He was, there were varied responses based upon personal observation. It wasn’t like they didn’t really know him; by this time at least a year of their lives had been spent traveling with Jesus and witnessing His teaching and miraculous abilities. They had spent time in the marketplaces together as well as time around camp fires and in lodging places. Certainly they had a lot of respect and reverence for Him. But while everyone else had a relationship based on what their emotions and senses told them, Peter had a revelation in his spirit. What Peter experienced went beyond his fleshly senses where his being was flooded with supernatural understanding and suddenly he really knew Jesus.
I want that kind of experience with God, don’t you? I’m not talking about just a onetime occurrence either, although for some of you, you’re still hoping for that first time. There is relationship level in Christ that is possible to experience where you can hear and know in your spirit the very plans of God. It is exactly this kind of relationship that will enable us to be involved in God’s strategies in pushing back spiritual forces. God wants us involved with Him on this level. He wants to involve us in His work which is constantly going on all around us. The wheels have been set in motion long ago of a partnership between the sovereign and almighty God working His agenda through people who will incline themselves toward hearing His voice and acting on His promptings.
What we’re talking about here is not a casual relationship, nor is it selfish. Your current status of knowing God on a first name basis but not really spending a lot of personal time with Him is not going to cut it. Your selfish relationship where most of your time spent with God is oriented toward trying to get Him to bless you and praying for all of the things on your wish list is going to have to get ditched. If you really want the quality of experience that is possible, then some changes are in order.
For me personally, I know that it is critical that I spend regular and deliberate time getting in a place of worship and communion with God. I find that solitude, worship music, meditation, prayer and journaling are very important elements for getting my spirit to a place of revelation. My focus has to be one of meeting with God and expecting Him to speak into my life. What we’re not talking about is doing a Bible study. The difference is that rather than trying to find out all there is on a particular subject I am consciously opening up my life, my mind and my heart and saying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done in my life; speak to me concerning these things.” Action and obedience are also key factors for obvious reasons.
I wonder if any of this strikes a chord with you. Do you really want to know God like this? Are there changes in order for your relationship with Him? I’d like to share a word with you that motivates me and should motivate you as well. That word is “Destiny”. My own personal Destiny has been affected by the power and grace of God and there are many other Destinies waiting to be affected. It is your calling as well as mine to be more than a Christian who has been handed a get-out-of-jail-free card. It is our Destiny to pull ourselves away from our computers and everything else that we fill up our time with and get in a place where the Holy Spirit can commune with our spirits and activate us in God’s game plan. It’s time to get our head into the game!
- Tom Maus
