Finding A Personal Relationship with God
- His Servant - Rob McKee
- Jan 4, 2021
- 12 min read
Revelation 12:10-11 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
How did they overcome? Through the power of God, of course. Their testimony bearing witness that God was the one who delivered them, and how He did it. A child of God’s testimony is a wonderful thing. Amen? -A ture child of God that is. A true Child of God’s testimony will bring praise, honor, and Glory to God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen? Not to themselves, or the devil. Now, I now that the bible says to give honor where honor is due, but it also says that we should let another man’s lips praise us, and not our own – Proverbs 27:2.
Why is our testimony so important? Why can we even talk, for that matter? What do I mean? Why is it that humans, you know, mankind – why is it that they have the ability to use speech and communicate with one another in the first place? Why can’t animals communicate at the same level as we can? Well, can they be saved? It’s because communication is useful for us to learn of God.
You know that without faith it is impossible to please God? – Hebrews 11:6
Well, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God – Romans 10:17
When we share what God has done for us, it is in hope that others who hear might see the difference that The Lord has made in our lives, and so that they might want to seek Him also. Be careful about communication though!
Matthew 5:37 “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil”
A lot of times people open their mouths and all the pours out is vanity, right?
Ecclesiastes 12:10 “The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.”
Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
I did a teaching called “The Testimony of Jesus Christ” a while back. Why do you think that The Lord led me to do that study? Well, I think that it is because there happens to be a lot of testimonies in this world where people claim to be ‘saved’ by Christ, right? Yes, but then there are also testimonies out there of people who really have been saved by Jesus!
What do these people all have in common? They all ‘believe’ that they are in a certain position, don’t they? The position that they believe that they are in is called “in Christ”. They also all have a testimony, right? They all say that they have been, or are being saved by grace. Well, isn’t that an “overcoming testimony”? Might be… it depends. It depends on why they have this testimony? Is it because they called out to God in desperation to be saved? Most likely so. Hopefully, though, their testimony is either due to the faith that they hold in God’s Word, or is otherwise a testimony of what God has done in their lives in honor of their faith in Him.
Okay, so we talked about what all of these people have in common, but what differs in these two groups of people who have testimonies; you now, the group that believes that they have been saved, and the group who are actually Children of God? What have they truly overcame by having the Power of God in their lives? Remember that our enemies are self, sin, and the satan?
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Matthew 24:1-5 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Could it be that some people in this world have been deceived by others who claim to be following God through Jesus Christ, when in fact they are not? You better believe it can happen, because it happens every day! And, God’s Word says that it will right here! I believe, according to God’s that satan has led many of these people into these deceptive traps because they were not willing to sacrifice their lives, like He tells us to do. They were not willing to seek Him with their whole heart and deny themselves whatever it is that stands between them and God.
Some Folks have even deceived themselves, right? Sin can do a number on us, if we let it. If we allow it, it will eat up the entire opportunity that we have to get right in the sight of God. Before we know it, life will be coming to an end, and we will have wasted it! Please don’t let that happen to you! Time is short! This is true even if you are only 12 years old, and if Christ were to not come back for another 70 years. -I definitely do not think that this is the case though, or would not want to suggest that He is delaying His coming. But what if the day and the hour were that far away? Ask some that are up in age. I’m almost 50 and it seems like I was 12 just a few years ago. Time seems to go faster and faster, the older you get.
How would someone deceive themselves? Not fearing God is one way that I know of. If we do not fear God’s wrath, or that we might become eternally separated from His presence, what reason would we have to seek Him?
Hebrews 3:12-13 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
The unfortunate thing about some of these people is that, when they finally find out what it was that stood between them and God, they will be really surprised, I’m afraid. It may be something tiny (by the way, all things are tiny compared to Him, Amen?), it may just be that loved one who actually made it into heaven. Yep, that’s what I said. You cannot ride into heaven on your daddy’s coat-tails or by the hem of your mamma’s skirt!
This is a personal walk with Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:1-7 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5For every man shall bear his own burden. 6Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Yes, we all “bare” our own burden when we stand before the judgement seat. You know, reality is that when a person truly walks with Christ, they have to walk in their own shoes, but follow in His footsteps.
Has anyone here ever not been content with their testimony? I think that some may feel this way, and if they do, they might be surprised as to why. If this is you, what is wrong with your testimony? Is it what you believe others think of it? Well, first of all, they have no business judging what God has done for someone else, not do they? However, maybe no one (other than the devil) has every told you that there is anything wrong with your testimony – there is always that, you know. What if it is because you admire someone else’s testimony, and you do not feel that yours lines up with theirs well?
If this is the case, maybe you really feel this way because you are placing too much confidence in that person that you feel has a God-authored testimony, and not enough effort into truly seeking God through His Word on your own? Is that possible? I’m afraid so.
What if someone finds themselves in this position? Well, they definitely need to seek God for that and stop putting so much confidence in others. Not that we cannot have confidence in others, and in their walk with The Lord, but the majority of our confidence needs to be in Him first. If He is not first, then we really do not have a relationship with Him, because He is greater than all. If you truly know Him, then you for sure know and realize that fact.
Psalms 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
My goal here, as always, is not to condemn anyone, but to be used of God; that they might see. What change needs to take place before we can really see? Conversion, of course…
Mark 4:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Talk about a testimony! – You let someone truly get converted to Christ, receiving His Spirit, and you’ll hear one! Right?
So, there are a few reasons why many people in this world might say, and even oftentimes believe that they are following Christ, when in reality they are not. Most of these, probably never heard the truth that we must search diligently, trust and obey every commandment of God to thereby be cleansed from all sin. Some, though, just may have heard the truth, but they are not following Christ, or not truly following Him yet, because they are too busy following others. They are too busy following others to afford themselves the time to actually seek and submit themselves to Him with their whole heart.
If so, there is no need to worry though. Have you heard the truth? You are still breathing, right? Listen, if you believe that God has sent this message to you, don’t you think that it is for your edification? I do. If you really do fear God, think about how easy it would be to find yourself following someone else who is serving Him in reality. Sometimes, this might be authored by God Himself in the beginning. He might very well have used this tactic to draw you closer to Him so that you could make a solid decision on whether or not you will trust and obey.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
Why did he do that? I think that it is because, he knew that if some people were interested enough to tag along for the ride a while, that they might very-well seek for and find Our Lord for themselves, seeing as how Paul was walking in the light. If they followed, they could see God working through him. Amen?
This is no different that what the disciples did when they followed Christ during His ministry. They did not yet have The Holy Spirit, did they? No, not until the day of Pentecost. That day took place after Christ had been crucified, rose again, and then ascended back into the heavens.
John 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
They were following Christ as He walked this earth preaching. They Holy Spirit was in Christ, but not yet in them. Even so, Jesus often told them what they should do, and He would also reveal things to them through the Spirit of God. They followed Him wherever He went. But they could only follow so far, not having the Spirit in themselves.
You see, they simply did not yet possess the Power of God within. It was with them, so they could witness it working – they could even enjoy the wisdom and knowledge that it imparted through the mouth and actions of Jesus Himself. However, they could not overcome anything that they were not strong enough to overpower within their own self-will, because (again) they did not have the Power of God’s indwelling Spirit (yet.)
They forsook things in the beginning, just like Christ instructed them to do, but they had not yet forsaken all because they simply did not know all that was within them that needed to be given up for a true fellowship with God.
Some proof? How about Peter? Christ told Peter to forsake all and follow Him, right? He said that he would make them “fishers of men” in the book of Matthew 4:19. Thus they followed Him wherever they went. Were they not then disciples of Christ? Of course they were, He was teaching them wasn’t He? Actually, if we want to get down to the detail, the Spirit of God was teaching them through the man, Jesus Christ. They just simply were not yet converted, like was said earlier.
Jesus also prophesied that all of His disciples would forsake Him, didn’t He? I do believe that Peter had at least one of his encounters with the realization of the law of sin and death there, right? Peter was following Jesus, he even said that he was willing to follow Jesus to death, but he did not have the power to overcome death just yet, did he?
John 13:36-38 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
You know the story: Peter did deny Christ. But I believe that Peter did possess a heart to serve God. He just simply did not have enough self-will power to follow through with his intentions. What’s that old saying? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” But – not if God has anything to do with it! He will give us a way to follow through with those intentions. All that we need to do is forsake all that we were in our old sinful life, and seek Him with everything that is in us.
Ever notice that the book of Acts was written about many “acts” that the apostles did? Did you also notice that, according to the book of Acts, they did these things AFTER they had received God’s Spirit?
Acts 1:7-8 (Jesus instructed them here before he ascended back to His throne) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
People, time is short! If you do not have they power of God in your lives, you need to stop deceiving yourself and start searching for him on your own, in His Word! Don’t look up the scriptures just because they are favorites of other people, or because you have heard them over and over. Just get your nose in your bible and seek whatever it is that God is willing to show you, that you might truly find Him.
Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Matthew 9:14-15 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? 15And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Matthew 5:1-6 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
InTruth: In Christ@believetrustoeby
Ephesians 6:23-24 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Comments