IS JESUS BEING REVEALED IN YOU

By Dan Luehrs

 

“He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-17 NAS).

 

All who have come to Jesus over the past two thousand years have had a revelation of Who He is, “The Christ.” Peter was one of the first to ever have his spiritual eyes opened to understand this seemingly simple truth. Yet billions of people continue to stumble over this one simple truth and parish because they are spiritually blind and cannot see Him. Unless the Father calls us unto Himself to see His glory in the person of Jesus Christ we too would have missed this wonderful relationship with Jesus. I would rather have the pains and sufferings of a Christian that follows Jesus than to live a thousand lives upon this earth in riches without Him. I just came from India, a land of a billion people with millions of gods and many are still blind to this one truth and cannot see the glory of our risen Savior.

 

Who do you say that He is? Where are you in your present revelation of Jesus and have you made Him the Savior of your life? But I ask you humbly, is He the Lord and King of your life? If you do not obey Him each day as your boss, He is not your Lord and you could be just as blind as many people in India or any other country. Open your heart and mind to His Lordship in your life and you will begin to see Him in a whole new way. Its only when we are willing to pay the price of following Him through the difficult places in life that He opens our eyes to see more of Him.

 

THE THIEF ON THE CROSS

 

“And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:42-43 NAS).

 

Even though Jesus did no outward miracles on the cross that day, this one thief hanging next to Him did when his eyes were opened to Who Jesus was and understood that He was a King. Even today many Christians do not see Him as their king so as to obey Him when He commands them to do something. This thief was living in the area of Jerusalem and heard of the many miracles that Jesus did in the last three and a half years of His life. Yet he still did not bow his knee unto the Lord until he was dying on the cross, then he saw Him as King! Up till this point in the thief’s life he only heard of Jesus and was rebellious as the other thief that mocked our Lord, but now that he was on the cross he could see Who Jesus was. It’s not until we are willing to carry our cross and die upon it, do we really see Who Jesus is.

 

Most generations of Christians have refuse to pick up their cross and follow Jesus into His secret chamber of intimacy, and because of this they are not given the greater revelation of Who He is. There’s one cross that kills our flesh like none other and that is for us to seek the presence of God each day. Most Christians are so busy running after the things of the world that they have no time for Him to fill them with His presence and anointing. Not until we choose to die to self upon our own cross of seeking Him daily, will we see Who He is, because our own flesh (sin) will blind us from seeing Him like a veil that is placed over our face. God wants us to see His beauty in the spirit realm with an unveiled face as we wait in His presence daily and if we are not seeking Him we are walking in sin and deception. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAS). When our veils are completely removed from us through our daily seeking of Him and going through tribulations, we will then see Him face to face in all His fullness, for the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. This means, that if we cannot see the face of Jesus we will not see His glory either! Our spiritual eyes are opened when we are in His presence to see Him and the glory of God in all things around us. It is when we see Him with the eyes of our spiritual understanding we are then able to live and walk with Jesus in the spirit realm daily. But we must come to Him, and open our hearts to fellowshipping with Him through the Spirit of God, for He will not be revealed through the flesh, but the Spirit.

 

Even John the Apostle who was with Jesus for three and a half years did not see Him clearly until he was on the Isle of Patmos carrying his cross and suffering tribulation, that  his eyes were opened to see the living Christ. John fell at His feet as a dead man when He saw the reality of Who He was. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last” (Revelation 1:17 NAS). WE MUST SEE HIM as John did with our spiritual eyes unveiled to see Him in all His glory and fall at His feet! Jesus is the beginning and the end of all things, for He is God!

 

The cross that we are called to carry is one of obedience to follow the Lamb wherever He goes and when we obey Him we will go through great sufferings that strips us of our fleshly ways (veils) so that we might have a greater revelation of Who He is. “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 NAS). Obedience to God will bring suffering in our lives, but when obeyed we will see Him as He is! Jesus obeyed the Father to the point of dying on the cross and so must we if we want to rule and reign with Him.

 

THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM

 

“… But who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised” (Rom 4:12 NAS).

 

Abraham is not called the father of our faith for no reason and he is still our example to follow, if we too want to be a people who walk by faith and not by sight. I believe that the life of Abraham is still the very pattern today that God calls most Christians to, so that we might die to self, so that we might see Jesus face to face as Abraham did.

 

At the leading of the Lord in 1985 I quit my high paying job and sold our house in the middle of January and moved across the United States to go to Bible school. Little did I know at the time that God was erecting a cross for me to die on, so that I might have a greater revelation of Jesus Christ. Up to that point in my life I lived to make money and it was an idol that God wanted out of my life and only the cross of obedience would kill this thing in me.

 

When we moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana I was in an H&R Block office getting my taxes done when a lady I didn't know walked up to me and said, "The Lord told me to give you these two Scriptures.

 

“No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17 NAS).

 

And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD (Hosea 2:19-20 NAS).

 

At the time she gave those verses to me, I thanked her for them and thought, “I don't know why she gave them to me?” God always prepares us for what is ahead and few days later I found myself failing in school and moving back to Minnesota as a failure to my family and friends. I was a broken man and thought about ending my life until God spoke to me and said, “Money was your God and I had to break it from you!” Little did I understand at the time that the verses of Scripture were His promises to me that no weapon of the enemy could ever overcome me because I chose to follow and obey Him.

 

Just as God told Abraham to leave his family and riches by faith so did I, and many other Christians will be led the same way so that Christ may be revealed to them in a greater measure. When Abraham left his homeland God began to reveal Himself to him as almighty God and provider. This same thing happened to me in the basement of my house as I began to seek Him each day when I got back home. His presence was made known to me in a very deep and impacting way that His glory would fall so thick in the room that I felt that I could not even fall over even if I tried. I would look around the room and think, “What is this?” That is when He began to reveal Himself to me in the word and I was given great revelation of Jesus in my life and calling.

 

Had I not obeyed God I would not have been entrusted with the truths that He has given me. If I had been unwilling to carry my own cross, my flesh and the things of the world would have blinded me from seeing His glory more clearly. Even today I cannot fathom how many times I must have missed Him because of my disobedience and missed out on a greater blessing of seeing Him more clearly.

 

When God gave me these verses in Hosea 2:19-20, little did I know that I was called to be His bride at that time, for I had no understanding of such things. "And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In loving kindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD." The word, betroth means to be “Engaged.” What the Lord was saying to me then was, because you have obeyed Me by giving up the world’s ways, you will now be engaged to Me and one day you will be My bride when you have proven yourself in faithfulness to Me. Little did I know that God wanted me to have intimacy with Him everyday in my basement, for that is what a bride and groom do! Then I was promised to know the Lord if I obeyed Him. But so will you if you chose to carry your cross daily and spend time with Him! Our trials and tribulations are set ups for us my friend, don’t waist them.

 

Even Abraham was told this after he went through a few trials. “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward(Gen 15:1 NKJV). When Abraham came through his great trials, God then gave Him great promises. He will do the same for us if we will pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

 

THEY KNEW HIM AS PROVIDER

 

When Abraham and Sarah left Haran to follow the Lord by faith into the desert it took them almost twenty five years to fully trust God to provide for them. Then at that time God also fulfilled His promise about giving them a son in their old age. It was all about their faith growing and it took that long for self to die in them so that God could resurrect His promise of Isaac and His destiny for Jesus to come forth from their loins. This thing we call faith and obedience is not an easy thing to learn, nor is for the weak of heart, for the way of learning faith is through trials and tribulations. And once faith is learned, we are eternally enriched beyond measure in spiritual things, for this is much more valuable to us than silver and gold. That the proof (trial) of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7 NAS). The people of the world and even many Christian are so blind to this one simple truth because they will not bow their knee to the Lord’s leading and leave the junk of this world behind for the greater glory of God. For it’s the TRIAL of our faith that is worth much more to us than everything in the earth! Don’t waist your trials for they have been given to you by God to prepare you for glory and honor at the coming of the Lord Jesus. People highly esteem money and riches because it makes them look and feel good, while despising the trials because they make us look and feel bad. Trials and tribulations are the very thing we need to strengthen our faith. God will provide all that we need, so we must learn faith to trust Him!

 

By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised(Hebrews 11:11 NAS).

 

Look at the faith of Sarah! She considered God faithful to do what He said He would do, because she had a history with Him and knew from her past that even though she could not see His hand, she could trust His heart. After they saw the faithfulness of God’s provision for twenty five years in the desert, how could they not believe Him when He said He would give them a child in their old age? God is faithful to do what He said He would do, even if all hope is gone within us, for He is able to deliver on His promises in His time.

 

SEEING JESUS IN THE UNSEEN

 

Jesus was born in a barn and only the shepherds and wise men were able to discern Him. Why? Because the Father gave them revelation about Who He was just as Peter was given revelation about Jesus being the Christ-the Son of God. All that we ever receive comes to us through the Holy Spirit enlightenment to our spirit man or we too will miss Him when He wants to reveal Himself to us through the most simplistic ways and means. God bypassed all the religious priesthood of that day and the wealthy to reveal Himself unto some humble outcast shepherds that would believe Him just as Mary the young teenaged girl believed when the angel spoke to her. “And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38 NAS).

 

Now read the response of Zacharias the priest of that day how he responded to the angelic visitation about the birth of John the Baptist.

 

 “And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. "And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their proper time” (Luke 1:18-20 NAS).

 

Even though he was a man of God who served in the temple he did not have enough faith to believe a mighty angel who came from the presence of God. Therefore God had to cause him not to be able to speak words of doubt and fear over the promise of God. We must believe the promises of God and not doubt Him when He speaks to us.

 

SIMEON AND ANNA SAW HIM

 

Simeon and Anna were both advanced in years and were seeking the Lord with their whole heart in their old age when Jesus came to the temple to be dedicated to God. They could see in the realm of the spirit that this was the long awaited Messiah that they were promised to see before they died. They did not miss God because they were seeking Him daily in His temple and because of that they became a part of the history of the Lord’s coming. We are now the temple of God and we can have daily fellowship with Him wherever we are!

 

 “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law” (Luke 2:25-27 NAS).

 

“And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with a husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. And she never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. And at that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-38 NAS).

 

Again the religious priesthood of that day did not see Who Jesus was when he came into the temple as a baby and even as a twelve year old boy they still missed Him! Nevertheless, they totally missed Him when He came as a miracle worker with power and they are still missing Him today.

 

If we do not want to miss Him when He comes we must become like Simeon and Anna in the temple. The name Simeon means “to hear.” We have to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to us and obey Him if we want to be ready for the Lord’s coming. The name Anna means, “One who gives.” We must give ourselves completely to Him each day as we draw nearer in intimacy and expecting to receive a greater revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

Dan Luehrs

PO Box 341

Intercession City, FL 33848

www.churchinhispresence.org