Knowing Jesus

Reading the Bible and having knowledge of the word of God does not mean we have established an intimate relationship with Christ. Intimacy is defined as, “close familiarity or closeness.” But it takes more than familiarity or closeness to be intimate with God. It requires that we engage not only our minds but our hearts; our heart must be open to and prepared by the Spirit of God. That is why studying the word is not enough.

As we draw nearer to God intimately, we will gain knowledge of our Father and His intentions for us. This will build confidence in us to move closer to Him. Why? Because for our public ministry to be effective, we must have established a deeper relationship with Him in our prayer closet.

To know Him intimately requires that we become acquainted with Him. In order to do so we must sit quietly before Him, we must learn to be still and open our hearts and be vulnerable before Him. We must allow God to love on us and quieten our souls, to hear from Him how special we are to Him and how much He loves us regardless of how unworthy we may feel. God won’t throw your deeds in your dace; He loves those who seek Him, especially when they do so with contrite hearts. He is a good God who knows everything about us including our fears and our hurts, but more importantly, He knows our heart.

Once we become acquainted with Him friendship will follow. Jesus offers us salvation and when we accept it, it’s not enough just to be saved; we want to develop a friendship with Him. Here are Jesus words to us in John 15:15-16, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (‭NIV‬‬). 

As we become acquainted and develop a friendship with Christ, then what follows is trust. It Is not easy; we must make a conscious decision to place our trust in God because we tend to associate trust with emotions (feelings). We become disappointed in others based on a misplaced trust in people. With God that trust, as I stated before, must be by choice. We must trust Him to hold us, heal us, provide for us and lead us. We cannot equate trust in people with trust in God. People hurt and abuse us, yet we place our trust in them and love God. It’s turned around; we should love people and trust God because He never betrays our trust. He’s the one we lean on when we’re betrayed and hurt time and again. That right there should be our wake up call! Psalm 125:1 states, “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” When your decisions, plans, and ideas are rooted in your trust in God, you will be able to stand firm despite the storms that may come your way.  

Let’s Keep Christ in Christmas

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”—Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)

Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our everything: our lawyer in the courtroom, our doctor when we’re sick, our friend when we need a shoulder to cry on; everything we need rolled into one person.

His story was meant to be told, which is why Christmas is celebrated worldwide. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, the story of Jesus’ birth has the power to transform lives and bring about joy, wonder and peace for all mankind.

Long before He was born, His story was prophesied through the prophet Isaiah. It was the vision of the soon coming Messiah, the savior of the world who would be a ransom for many.

Isaiah 9:6 gave us an insight of who Jesus would be:

A wonderful Counselor: Proverbs 2:6-7 states it best: “For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” (NET)

A Mighty God: He’s mighty in strength, He’s courageous and has all power in His hands. The good news is that these attributes are available to us as well. Psalm 46:1 (NIV) declares, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. We have all we need when we seek and trust in Him.

The Everlasting Father: He’s the connection to God our Father. Without Him, we don’t have access to God. He’s our mediator, our intercessor. Hebrews 1:3 states, “The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

He’s the Prince of Peace (Jehovah Shalom). Jesus was born as man to make us right with our Heavenly Father. Our sinful nature would keep us from God but for Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. He shed His blood so that we could be reconciled to God. Hence, before returning to God He stated, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”John 14:27 NET. With Him we have the assurance of peace during difficult times because we have access to Him and can be sure that He will guard, keep and grant us rest.

This is why we must remember the reason for the season. Jesus’ birth was God’s gift to us. Let’s keep Christ in Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

An Attitude of Gratitude

During the Thanksgiving season, as I was spending time with the Lord in prayer, he placed a word in my heart - gratitude (thankfulness). God showed me how, before he healed the sick, performed miracles, or cast out demons, Jesus thanked God.  At the time, my eyes were opened to Jesus' way of approaching God, but I didn't do anything about it. It was a new revelation and one I didn't fully understand.

On Sunday, December 29th, I went to church with my sister Enid. She attends The Brooklyn Tabernacle, and every time I come to New York, I enjoy attending worship service with her. When one walks into the BT sanctuary, one enters into a room of praise and worship, not only worship by the choir, but worship and adoration by all who are in attendance. People are standing and singing songs of praise to God as one! Even if you don't know the songs, the words are on the prompters, so you have no excuse for not joining in. Surely, I thought, this is the key to a great worship experience: entering God's court with praises to our Lord!

The message was brought by Pastor Tim Dilena, the Associate Pastor at BT.  Pastor Dilena preached about a word the Lord had placed in his heart the previous night.  The word was thanks. When Pastor Dilena began to speak, my mind started racing. Surely I had heard this before, I thought. As he began quoting scripture it clicked in my mind. This is what I'd heard from the Lord during Thanksgiving! As I listened and took notes, I understood that I needed to share this with those in my circle.

So, here is the word God wants me to share: one should have an attitude of gratitude. In other words, one should be thankful in every circumstance be it good or bad.  According to the message shared by Pastor Dilena, "we are overdue with our thanks to God. Thanks should come before a miracle; before starting off with 'I need,' one should begin with 'thank you"; before one asks, one should give thanks.

Why is giving thanks important?  Pastor Dilena pointed out several scriptures underlining this point. The first is Luke 17:12-19, the story of the 10 lepers healed of leprosy. Of the ten lepers, only one returned to give thanks. According to Pastor Dilena, "when one feels entitled, one will never be thankful". Pay close attention to verse 19. Jesus told the leper his faith had made him well, This thankful leper not only received cleansing, but salvation as well.  God notices gratitude, and being thankful multiplies ones blessings!

The second is in John 11:41-42, the scripture referencing Lazarus' resurrection. Note that Jesus gave thanks to God. He didn't thank him for resurrecting Lazarus or for raising him from the dead. Here's the point, 'when one is thankful, dead things are brought to life'. Do you have a dream you think will never materialize or a business you think is on the point of failing?   Try thanking God for your dream to come through, not after it becomes reality! I'm not saying that God is a sugar daddy who will give you what you want when you thank him beforehand. We tend to go to God with demands and even threats, expecting he'll give us what we want or else we'll backslide, or stop believing in him. Well, it doesn't work like that. Our goal should be to believe in him, have a relationship with him, know him, love him, be obedient to him, and trust him. Once this occurs, we can believe God for our blessings and thank him before they materialize.

The third scripture is Matthew 15:32-39, the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus gave thanks prior to breaking bread and feeding the hungry.  The key message here is, "thankfulness multiplies what you have" You've heard it said many times, 'when the praises go up, the blessings, come down'.

So, as we enter into 2014, it is my wish we will think about and change the way we approach God. I pray we will approach him with an attitude of gratefulness and thank him before we even make our requests known to him. I pray that giving thanks will be viewed as your passport to accessing the blessings of God. Would you give thanks to God before you ask for anything and watch what happens?

Though I didn't follow up the revelation I received during Thanksgiving by writing about it, I did create a jpeg image depicting my thankfulness to God.  Here it is below. 

I close by wishing you blessings for a prosperous and joyous New Year filled with the blessings of the Lord.

"Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6 (NRSV)