Trusting the Who of our Calling

“Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”     (Mat 16:23)

Jesus was doing what He had been doing since His ministry started: healing, teaching, and pouring into the disciples. One day He asked them, “who do you say I am?” Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, jumped right in with the firm declaration “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mat 16:16)

Immediately following that, Jesus shared what His father – God – has called Him to do. His calling involved suffering, pain, ridicule, and even death. The very same Peter, who just moments before declared Jesus to be Christ, jumped in again with “surely not Jesus – this can’t be God’s will for you.”

Have you ever known that you were doing exactly what God asked of you only to have your best friend, or your spouse, or your parents throw doubt into your mind? Doubt that caused you to stumble? Doubt that arrested your response to the Lord?

Satan’s primary objective is to deter us from living a life of faith. He doesn’t want marriages, families, resources, and lives committed to following God. When we do commit our life and our activities to God, Satan will do what he can to instill doubt about our calling, discourage our faith steps, and delay our action.

… Often using those we love, and who love us, against us.

It happens.

It happened to Jesus.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Satan tempted Jesus with all of the power of the world. He wouldn’t have to die in order to get it. All He had to do was worship Satan instead of God. Jesus did not accept Satan’s offer then, but maybe His love for Peter would cause Him to stumble. Satan intended Peter’s words to cause Jesus to doubt His purpose. Maybe you are right, Peter. Maybe I don’t have to suffer and die.

Jesus teaches us how to respond when the attacks come from the unexpected places.

Jesus knew Peter loved him. He knew that Peter’s words were a product of genuine fear for his friend. He knew Peter did not intend to be a stumbling block. Yet, he was. Jesus was confident that He was doing what God wanted Him to do. He stood firm, trusting God, and named Peter’s reaction for what it was – the work of Satan. From that place of trusting God, Jesus simply said, “Peter, you aren’t considering God’s bigger picture.

Our ability to respond like Jesus does not come from knowing the why of our calling.

Our confidence comes from trusting the Who of our calling.

Living into that trust enables us to recognize the unexpected attack for what it is: Satan using our unsuspecting friend against us.

Someone in your life loves you, wants the best for you, and needs to hear you say

“I know you love me. I know you don’t want me to hurt, or go without, or_________________ (fill in the blank with what your specific situation calls for). But your reaction comes from your world perspective, not God’s kingdom perspective.

I don’t know the exact why, but I do know my Who.

I need you to help me trust in God’s kingdom perspective.”

Blessings,

Denise

#lifegivingwords #livingholy