TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN CHRIST THE ROCK!

Good morning [subscriber:firstname | default:Beloved],

« … “But what about you ?”, He asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven… », is written in (Matthieu 16 : 15b-18). There’s a word that catches my attention in this verse: “Blessed”!

The Lord declared Peter blessed because the Father revealed to him that Jesus is the Christ. Christ is that spiritual dimension of the person of the Lord Jesus, that one cannot receive through the flesh (the five senses), nor through the blood (the soul); but only through revelation.

When Peter got the revelation of Christ, the Lord made an extraordinary promise: « And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it » (Matthew 16 :18). The Church built on the Rock, the Rock that is Christ is unshakeable in the face of the attacks of the enemy. The Master immediately declared Peter blessed, because he had just understood this dimension of His person.

Many Christians have a carnal revelation of the Lord Jesus: for them, He is the Saviour, just the One who resolves their situations, the One who helps them to meet their “material” challenges: marriage, childbirth, employment, healing, business funding, etc. They are ready to fast for several days for that. I am not saying that they should not pray for these types of subjects, far from it! The Lord is able to grant them all these things, but He doesn’t limit Himself to that!

Christians whose revelation of the Lord comes from the blood or soul, love relationships. They are emotional Christians. Some may go so far as leaving the church just because they have been frustrated. They are comfortable praying when they feel God’s presence. When they no longer feel it, they think that God is not present!

The Christian who receives from the Father the revelation on Christ believes that God is present, not because he feels it, but because Christ said: “(…) I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20)! What matters to him is what God says in His word. His peace does not depend on the presence or absence of problems in his life. Peace, serenity, trust and faith in God do not leave him, no matter the challenges he faces. His secret? He has built his Christian life on Christ, the Rock, unlike the two types of Christians mentioned above. “I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock”, Christ explains in Luke 6:47-48.

In the same way, the Christian who has the revelation of Christ is blessed because nothing shakes him either. He knows in Whom he has believed. He knows that Christ is the perfect solution to all his challenges and that He quenches his thirst. He loves the Lord; he finds joy in being in His presence and contemplating Him in worship. He loves Him, not for what Jesus gives Him but for what Jesus, in His Christ dimension, is. Pockets full or empty, marriage or not, job or not, etc., he loves the Lord and remains attached to Him. And when God the answers him, He does so gloriously and He quenches His thirst!

Beloved, what revelation do you have of Jesus whom you have received as Lord and Saviour? Know that God has made Jesus: Lord and Saviour (Acts 2:36). God allows you to experience certain trials in life to lead you to seek Him in a deeper dimension. As Luke 6:48 teaches, dig beyond your flesh, dig beyond your soul. Yes, dig deep for a personal revelation of Christ and you will be fulfilled!

May God bless you !