Experiencing Jesus e~Devotional | 5/12
PASSAGE: Matthew 16 [13] When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” [14] They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” [15] “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” [16] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
[17] Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. [18] And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
INSIGHT: Really knowing the Jesus of the Bible – who he was and why he came … gives give us incredible confidence that we serve a living, powerful and personal Savior … who intimately cares about every one of us. Peter experienced this as Jesus asked him what was perhaps the most important question in all of Scripture:”Who do you say I am?”
Knowing who Jesus really is gives us hope to continue on — when things get tough because we see how much he suffered … and we see that in the end, his suffering was turned into incredible joy.
Knowing Jesus and having a relationship with him is a little bit like the experience most of us have had when we’ve got the binoculars up to our eyes and we’re looking far away at something, and all of a sudden what we’re looking at comes right in front of us. A first …we may be startled … but once we put the binoculars down, and we look face to face into the eyes of Christ — we know without a doubt that he’s what we’ve been looking for.
PRAYER FOCUS: Spend a few minutes thanking God for sending us his Son and reconciling you to himself.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE TODAY: Is Jesus both Savior and Leader of your life? Take some time today to ask God to help you do a spiritual inventory of you life. What areas in your life is God showing you that you need to give over to him? Give those areas over to him and trust him to take care of them.
