Have you ever felt like your life was just a bit out of tune or
sync? Or that you are invisible and/or marginalized to those around you and in
your own self-image. Have you bought into the lie that your life doesn’t matter
to others or in the grand scheme of history.
Have you just acquiesced to the seeming insurmountable or
overwhelming circumstances you find yourself in? If really truthful to yourself
would you admit to being passive instead of passionate about your life? But;
wait a minute!
There is a longing in the human experience to know (with absolute
certainty) that we matter and belong! There is also a God given hunger within
the heart of every human in history to know and somehow discover and to live
out the dignity of our divine design. Purpose, meaning, dreams, vision, and
hope-filled relationships are all tied to knowing and embracing this design.
A dear sister shared her experience: “I lived my whole life mirroring what other people thought
about me. I let them decide or tell me who and what I was. I didn't have my own
identity. Now I know that I am to look into God's mirror (Jesus) and believe in
what and who He says I am. I am His beloved, no more will I look to people to
show me who I am.” (Debra Williams)
Following is King David’s description of the grandeur of God’s
greatest creation and joy-you and me. “13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then
out; you formed me in my mother's womb. 14 I thank you, High God - you're
breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration -
what a creation! 15 You know me inside and out, you know every
bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was
sculpted from nothing into something. 16 Like an open book, you watched me grow
from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. 17
Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! 18
I couldn't even begin to count them - any more than I could count the sand of
the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!” (Psalm
139-18, Msg)
Wow! What a
majestic description of the true us! What marvelous and tender care we can
walk in if we embrace God’s love at this level. His high opinion of us will
never be based upon our performance; good or bad. Why do we have such a
difficult time believing our design and destiny are fixed in His heart? Why do
we so quickly get back on the roller coaster of doubt and despair? It’s like we
truly experience the secure place we have in Jesus and then turn right around
and forget who and whose we are! Your authentic origin and design is mirrored
in the Word; in what Jesus has to say about you!
Let’s peer into
Saint Peter’s journey to his awakening to Divine design and destiny-his was
also a roller coaster ride. The
beginning was in his call to follow Jesus-the same is true of each of us.
“18 Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee,
Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were
fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. 19
Jesus said to them "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of
you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." 20
They didn't ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.”
(Matthew 4: 18-20, Msg)
The next experience revealed how
much we are alike-Peter and us! How difficult it is to embrace our High calling
in Jesus.
15 He pressed them, "And how about you?
Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17
Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that
answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you
in on this secret of who I really am. 18 And now I'm going to tell you who you are,
really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together
my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell
will be able to keep it out. 19 "And that's not all. You will have
complete and free access to God's kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no
more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes
in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven." (Matt.
16: 15-19, Msg)
“Simon son of Jonah, I say you are Rock...and within the
context of this revelation will I establish My original identity; and the stronghold
of ignorance will not prevail against the onslaught of My church.” (Math.16:13-18, Mirror Bible)
By revelation Simon discovers that
Jesus was so much more than the son of Joseph and Mary, He was indeed the
Messiah, the son of God; “now that you know who I am, let me introduce you to
yourself, Simon, son of Jonah, you did not begin in Jonah, look to the Rock
from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were cut; you have
forgotten the Rock that begot you, the Father who gave birth to you... I want
to tell you who you really are, you are Rock (petros), and upon this Rock revelation of mankind’s original
identity will I build My ekklesia church
and the gates of hades will not
prevail against it.
But what about Peter’s
betrayal of Jesus on the night of His arrest?
33 Peter broke in, "Even if everyone
else falls to pieces on account of you, I won't." 34
"Don't be so sure," Jesus said. "This very night, before the
rooster crows up the dawn, you will deny me three times." 35
Peter protested, "Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny
you." All the others said the same thing. 36
Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples,
"Stay here while I go over there and pray." 37
Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing
sorrow. 38 Then he said, "This sorrow is
crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me." 39
Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, "My Father, if there
is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you
want?" 40 When he came back to his disciples, he
found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, "Can't you stick it out with me
a single hour? 67 Then they were spitting in his face and
banging him around. They jeered as they slapped him: 68
"Prophesy, Messiah: Who hit you that time?" Denial in the Courtyard 69
All this time, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. One servant girl came up
to him and said, "You were with Jesus the Galilean." 70
In front of everybody there, he denied it. "I don't know what you're
talking about." 71 As he moved over toward the gate, someone
else said to the people there, "This man was with Jesus the
Nazarene." 72 Again he denied it, salting his denial
with an oath: "I swear, I never laid eyes on the man." 73
Shortly after that, some bystanders approached Peter. "You've got to be
one of them. Your accent gives you away." 74
Then he got really nervous and swore. "I don't know the man!" 75
Peter remembered what Jesus had said: "Before the rooster crows, you will
deny me three times." He went out and cried and cried and cried.
Our stories also contain false humility,
doubt and even betrayal of Jesus. In many and varied ways we have hidden the
One who lives in our heart. Is that not betrayal? Have our actions not said; “I
never knew the man”? In the darkness of shame and regret enters the light of
Grace! Here is the rest of the story of Peter from John’s Gospel. This part of
his story mirrors ours as well!
11 Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net
to shore - 153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn't rip. 12
Jesus said, "Breakfast is ready." Not one of the disciples dared ask,
"Who are you?" They knew it was the Master. 13
Jesus then took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. 14
This was now the third time Jesus had shown himself alive to the disciples
since being raised from the dead. 15 After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon
Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
"Yes, Master, you know I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my
lambs." 16 He then asked a second time, "Simon,
son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Master, you know I love
you." Jesus said, "Shepherd my sheep." 17
Then he said it a third time: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, "Do you love me?"
so he answered, "Master, you know everything there is to know. You've got
to know that I love you." 18 I'm telling you the very truth now: When
you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you
get old you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you
and takes you where you don't want to go." 19
He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And
then he commanded, "Follow me."
Jesus did not even bring up the
betrayal! It’s as if it never happened. Obviously Jesus’ blood had cleansed and
forgiven Peter. Peter experienced the very same Grace that is always more than
sufficient for you and me. And then Jesus
went right to Peter’s designed destiny: “feed and shepherd my sheep and follow
me.” The restored Peter helped to shape the entire history of the Body of
Christ (the church).
Following is how Peter
expressed his restored designed design; there is not even a hint of his
previous failures.
I, Peter, am an apostle on
assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four
winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. 2
God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of
the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything
good from God be yours! 3 What a God we have! And how fortunate we
are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from
the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, 4
including a future in heaven - and the future starts now! 5
God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when
you'll have it all - life healed and whole. 6
I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every
kind of aggravation in the meantime. 7 Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it
proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.
When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, which God will
have on display as evidence of his victory. 8
You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him
- with laughter and singing. (1 Peter 1: 1-8, Msg)
“While you diligently rehearse the exact qualities of every
divine attribute within you; the volume will rise with ever increasing gusto,
guarding you from being ineffective and barren in your knowledge of the
Christ-life displayed with such authority and eloquence in Jesus.1:9 If anyone
feels that these things are absent in his life, they are not; spiritual
blindness and short sightedness only veil them from you. This happens when one
loses sight of one’s innocence. The moment one forgets the tremendous
consequence of the fact that we were cleansed from our past sins, one seems to
become pre-occupied again with the immediate sense ruled horizon, which is what
short sightedness is all about; this makes one blind to His blessings.
(Spiritual realities suddenly seem vague and distant.)1:10 Therefore I
encourage you to make every conscious effort my Brothers to become cemented in
the knowledge of your original identity revealed in the Word; fully engage
these realities in your lifestyle; if you do this you will never falter. (2 Peter 1: 1-10)
Bottom line: our call is
to be Kings and Priest! “We’ve trivialized calling as leading worship or
playing a guitar or teaching our children in youth ministry while our true
calling is to be kings and priests – what a sense of purpose that empowers us.
Being kings and priests affects every area of our life; we have purpose because
we know we’re representing something greater then ourselves. Suddenly what
comes out of our mouth (and life) is important.” (Lifechangers-Bob Mumford)
Living unto my ‘Peter
Revelation’, Ron Ross
