John 1:39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
It is a New Year and it has been awhile since I last posted online, looks to be about 2 months. Most of that time I have spent dealing with some form of sickness but I am thankful that I have gotten through all of that and God has set me in a good place for this coming year. As one usually does around the New Year I have had a renewed focus on things in my life and of course one of, if not the most important is my relationship with Christ.
I always love how God moves in ways to confirm the things He places on your heart, or at least He does this routinely for me, letting me know that it isn't just me that is randomly thinking up these thoughts that come on my heart. As the New Year came one of the biggest things God had put on my heart was get back to the Basics. What had it been that I was neglecting that would be affecting my relationship with Him. Well everyone who is Saved knows the 2 basic things that draw us closer to Him and that is reading the Word and Praying.
With this on my heart, I was blessed to be able to finally get back to Church a few weeks ago and what is it that the Pastor preaches on in his sermon on my first service back? We need to get back to reading the Word and Praying!! Of course I agreed 100% and was just amazed at how God would confirm that quickly and that blatantly what it was He had placed on my heart.
So with that said I of course have begun to read the Word and Pray earnestly and as He always does, God has shown up over and over and blessed beyond belief during those times and also at Church. It is also not long after reading and praying in this manner that God begins to reveal to me things through His Word and I feel inspired to write and tell others about them, so here I am once again with the desire to give to you what God has shown me in hopes it blesses you and that God is Glorified in all He does and shows me in my life.
I wouldn't say what God has shown me over this week is something that will take much to write out, it isn't very long, but as I thought about that I was reminded of the videos and pictures of people who have either driven, or rode in their bikes over what looks like a rather small pot hole only to discover that it's big enough for their entire car to fall into or for them to lose their bike and have to swim out of. Something doesn't have to be big or long to be deep and while what God put on my heart may not be big I believe it has depth, and I hope I can relay that to you in this short time.
Often I have heard people quote the passage from the Bible where Philip goes to Nathanael to tell him that he has found the Christ, that he has found Jesus. Nathanael replies can anything good come out of Nazareth? To which Philip replies Come and See. In fact someone in my Church referenced that verse tonight and it is a great verse, how often have I wanted to tell others to Come and See Jesus. When I first got Saved in a Drug Rehab, I was telling everyone Come and See what I found, Come and See Jesus!! Since that day, more times than I can remember I have told, asked, even pleaded for others to Come and See what I had found in Jesus.
And although the title of the message is Come and See it is not from that verse, instead it is from earlier in the chapter, and it is the second sentence recorded by John that Jesus spoke. When I came upon this the other night it just leaped out at me from the page, we always speak of the incident between Nathanel and Phillip but just prior to this Jesus said the same thing, why did He say it, what was the context and why is this not quoted nearly as much?
I will have to say that after praying and meditating on this, I don't have an answer as to why it isn't quoted as much, but what I can say is that it needs to be, in fact it ought to be quoted much more!! The context is that two of the disciples heard John speak concerning Jesus saying Behold the Lamb of God and began to follow Him. As they were following Him Christ turned and asked them What seek ye? To which they replied where dwellest thou? And Jesus said unto them Come and See.
I wondered of all the things and reasons the disciples could have asked or said, why would they say we want to know where you dwell. At first it seemed to me to be a wasted first encounter with Jesus, why wouldn't you ask for knowledge or wisdom like Solomon. Why not reply you seek strength like Samson, or faith like David? Why not say you seek power to bring fire like Elijah? There seemed to me to be a million better things to reply back to Jesus as to why you are seeking Him.
Then God opened my eyes to the fact that this is possibly the best thing anyone could have asked for, and it is now one of the things I will be asking for from now on for the rest of my life. I had perceived the encounter completely wrong, I had always read it as the disciples were asking where is it Jesus lived, like can I come see your house. Then God revealed to me that isn't what they were seeking, what they were asking was to come into a Relationship with Jesus.
They were saying Jesus , I want to enter into the most private aspects of your life and be able to see who you are, how you live, what you do, and to know all that there is to know about you. They were asking Jesus to bring them into His World, His Life, so they could behold all that He had to offer. And when I came to that realization it blew my mind as to Jesus' response and showed me exactly why this verse should be quoted many times more often as the one that is.
When the disciples asked to be apart of Jesus Life, to know Him, to be with Him, to have the deep personal intimate relationship with Him, what did Jesus do? Did He tell them no? Did He just give them an idea by telling them about it? No, instead He spoke to them and told them to Come and See. Come and See who I am, Come and See how I act, Come and See how I love, forgive, give Grace. Come and See everything about me, Come and See how wonderful this relationship is. Jesus invited Him into His Life and gave them access to all that He possesses.
I think about how many times other people told me to Come and See Jesus, my mother was the one who told me to Come and See Him the most often. Just as Philip did to Nathanael, but how much greater was it on that day when I asked Jesus if I could be part of His Life, to know Him, asking Him what would it be like to have the deep personal intimate relationship with Him, and He turned to me and said, Come and See!!!
I can ask, I can beg, I can tell you to Come and See Jesus, but today I know that it is Jesus who is asking you to Come and See what He has to offer, what it is like to dwell in His Presence, to know who He is and what He has done for you!!!
I hope you accept His offer to Come and See because it will change your entire life around!!!
I love you all, have a great day and blessed day in the Lord!
If you need prayer or anything else please feel free to reach out to me and I will help you the best I can and if I can't help I know one man that can, this man named Jesus!
Disciples
Are
Continually
Influencing
Peoples
Living
Existence
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.