(Read Matthew 16:21-23)
This morning continue our overarching series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”. We have been studying the life of the Apostle Peter and our study brought us to Matthew chapter 16. Yesterday we started walking our way through verses 21-23. A few minutes after Simon had the highest moment of his life, tapping into revelation from heaven, he dropped back down to human reality and stuck his foot in his mouth.
The Bible says,
“From that time Jesus began telling his followers that he must go to Jerusalem. He explained that the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make him suffer many things. And he told his followers that he must be killed. Then, on the third day, he would be raised from death. Peter took Jesus away from the other followers to talk to him alone. He began to criticize him. He said, “God save you from those sufferings, Lord! That will never happen to you!” Then Jesus said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.”
Today I am going to focus in on the words, “Get away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.”
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Jesus lived His life in sync with heaven and He expects us to do the same.
a) Jesus only said what he heard (from heaven) and did what He saw (in heaven).
b) By living in sync with heaven Jesus was a human conduit between the two worlds. He expects us to live the same way today.
c) Jesus was excited when Simon the fisherman tapped into the same reality He drew from. When Simon heard from heaven Jesus commended him and changed his name to Peter.
d) When we hear from heaven — which should happen every day and throughout the day — we are in position to live in-sync with heaven’s reality and to manifest God’s purposes in the earth.
2. God gives us His Spirit so we can live in-sync with Him and His purposes.
a) God is a Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes IN us to connect us to God, Spirit-to-Spirit.
b) In his first letter to Corinth Paul said, “God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.” (1 Cor 2:10-12). God has given us His Spirit SO WE CAN KNOW!
c) Jesus was walking around with the Holy Spirit IN Him. However, the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out on others. Which is why Jesus said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). The Greek word translated “again” in the statement “born again” is a word that literally means “above”. Jesus was saying that we must be born from above. Which then makes sense why Jesus said the following to a group of religious leaders who would not receive Him. Jesus said, “You people are from here below, but I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don’t belong to this world” (John 8:22).
3. We have the capacity to operate in the spirit and our flesh. A few minutes after tapping into revelation from heaven and operating in “spirit mode”, Peter dropped back down to “flesh mode”. Peter spoke out of his humanity and said things any human would say. He said them because he loved Jesus and because he did not want to see any wrong come to Jesus. But Jesus did not live by feelings, He lived by faith. Jesus lived his life based on heaven’s instructions. When Peter spoke to Jesus based on his feelings and NOT based on heaven’s purpose, Jesus looked at Peter and called him satan! What do we learn from this?
a) You are not called to live by feelings. You are called to live by faith.
b) You can think, feel and say something you believe is a good thing. You may even believe it is the right thing. But if what you think, feel and say is not lined up with heaven’s purpose it is out-of-sync with God.
c) You have been born from above and God’s Spirit lives IN you. Listen to the Holy Spirit and live like you are from another world!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. By grace You gave me Your Spirit. By faith I listen to what He tells me. By grace You made plans for me before the foundations of the world. By faith I receive those plans and I walk them out. Living by faith and listening to the Holy Spirit will put me in-sync with heaven, but it will also put me out-of-sync with many of the people I deal with down here in the earth. Like Jesus, I may be misunderstood by men, but that’s okay, just as long as I am understood by You. I am in this world, but I am not of this world. I live my life based on the revelation I receive from heaven. I am from above and i live like it! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
