A FAITH-FILLED, PROPHETIC WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT!
July 12, 2022
BY CRYSTAL G.H. LOWERY
In the not-too-distant past, I had an experience where someone I had known for what seemed like a lifetime, had intimate and very personal conversations with, trusted with all my heart, and loved so deeply that shook my core. I remember the day well. It was, to me, starting as just an ordinary day, nothing at all like what was about to transpire. If I had only known what I was about to confront or better yet worded, what was about to confront me, I would have prepared myself for this soul shaking encounter I was about to experience.
“Don’t you know me?!?” is all I remember exclaiming, declaring, and asking all at the same time – over and over. These words are what stood out to me after looking back and reflecting on in my heart-to-heart conversations with God about this encounter. As these words continued to be highlighted to me, I heard Jesus softly, gently, and full of love, tell me that these are the words that he is asking his beloveds – His Bride.
I thought, how can you be asking this of your Bride? The more I realized what Jesus was telling me, the more that my heart became saturated, sweltering from pain of knowing and being empathetic in the best way I could, to the heart of Jesus. The heart of Jesus was speaking to me of His emotions, what He feels so deeply, just the same as what I had been feeling.
Someone that I loved with such boldness and with so much fierceness had questioned my very character with an accusation that I literally could not conceive of doing. This dart aimed at my essence was targeted at more than just my body and soul, but at my spirit. It was so preposterous, so outrageous, that the only question I had, the only response I had was, “Don’t you know me?!?”
I am not perfect, but I know that I have a very long track record of being consistent, steady, and staying well above the moral and spiritual baseline. I don’t think I’m better than anyone else, but I know that I’m a new creature in Christ, that I’m renewing my mind daily, and I have self-control. I know my character, my true heart, and my actions. As I was processing all of this, Jesus told me the same about Himself. Except, unlike me, He is perfect, without even a speck of blemish to be found.
Jesus who was fully God and fully man, came to live in a human body so He could experience what we experience, feel what we feel, and identify with us. He was Heaven’s plan to be the payment, the trade, and the great exchange for EVERYTHING our sin had caused. Jesus lived a beautiful, perfect, and sinless life. No one in the history of the world has ever come close to living the life He did on earth.
His heart was LOVE, because HE IS LOVE. His heart was PEACE, because HE IS PEACE. His heart was KIND, because HE IS KIND. His heart was forgiving, because HE IS FORGIVENESS. His heart broke on the cross for you and me so ours wouldn’t have to be broken. He carried all our grief so we wouldn’t have to bear it. He knows just what betrayal looks like because He was betrayed by his closest friends and disciples.
Out of twelve friends and disciples, who were his closest relationships on earth, two would break his heart. One-sixth of his inner circle would hurt Jesus, deny and betray Him, when all Jesus had ever done was love them.
Judas would betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. This amount of money was the same amount as what a slave would be sold for, yet the sinless, perfect, loving Jesus was betrayed by Judas for this insignificant amount. Is that all Jesus was worth to Judas? Was Judas really so motivated by an instant gratification of such an insubstantial amount to completely BETRAY and turn Jesus over to the enemy, all along knowing they wanted to crucify Jesus?
Jesus poured life into his disciples. He infused love into His relationship with them. He spent years of his life with the disciples, living with them day in and day out. Jesus’ character was displayed to his disciples by the life He lived in front of them, by how He treated them, and by how He loved them so devotedly, so purely, and without conditions to be met.
Not only did one of the disciples who betray Jesus, there was also one who denied Jesus not once, but three times. Jesus told Peter one evening, that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed the next morning. Peter had been with Jesus for the longest. He had seen Jesus up close and personal. He had left everything to follow Jesus. He saw Jesus’ healings of crowds of people, miraculously caused nets to be broken because there were so many fish that couldn’t be caught, and just how He loved each person no matter how lowly.
Yet, on the most crucial nights in Jesus’ life on earth, Peter was a huge disappointment. Jesus had been betrayed by Judas, taken off to be questioned, interrogated, beaten, stripped naked, and mocked. Peter kept his distance, but was close enough to find out what was going to happen.
Not once. Not even twice. But, three times in one night, Peter denied having ever known Jesus. Can you believe it? Didn’t the bonds of friendship, the intimacy of discipleship have any bearing on how Peter would respond to knowing Jesus that night?
Jesus was being abused, tortured, and was about to be crucified. Yet, Peter couldn’t even say he had met Jesus, let alone knew him and had known who Jesus was, his character, and helped defend him. Peter could have had Jesus’ back and could have been a witness to all he had seen Jesus do and live out. Yet, Peter, the second of Jesus’ inner circle, completely abandoned Jesus’ defense and outright denied him THREE times in the short period of one night.
Jesus knows what it is like to be blamed for bad circumstances we face in life. He is blamed for cancer coming on a loved one. People say that it must be from Him to show us something or teach us something. People walk away from their relationship with Him because of hurt they have experienced in life. People look at the brokenness in the world and ask how a loving God could allow such misery in the lives of innocent children. Every day, Jesus is confronted with accusations…ones that by their very asking, point to the answer to the real question, “Don’t you know me?!?”
The character of God is love, peace, joy, kindness, and grace. He is much, much more, but these are just some qualities of His character. When we read His Word, we find out just WHO HE IS. When we have a deep, personal relationship with Him, walking with him daily, we experience just WHO HE IS. When we really know WHO HE IS and his character, we would not be asking those questions. We would never accuse the one that loves us so unconditionally that He gave Himself for us to be substituted in our place for the effects of sin that man chose.
We would know that God didn’t send sickness on our loved one to teach them a lesson. We would know the character of God which IS LOVE. The character of God leads God to act in accordance with His character. He SO LOVED the world that He sent Jesus to die in our place – in fact, to be an overpayment – for OUR sins. Jesus defeated death, hell, the grave, as well as sickness and disease so that we wouldn’t have to face it. That’s WHO HE IS. That is His character.
If you’ve been betrayed or denied, accused and beat up emotionally, you aren’t alone. Jesus will be your defender. He will never leave you alone or abandoned. He has your back. He knows just what you’re feeling, what your facing, and what you’re going through. He will walk with you right through the valley of the shadow of death. He will walk through the fire with you. When you get to the other side, you will come out unharmed…not even be burned…with not even a sinch of char on you.
When you feel like asking of someone that has hurt, accused you, or blamed you the question, “Don’t you know me?!?”, remember Jesus there in front of you, looking so gently and so full of love into your eyes asking the same question of you:
“Don’t you know me?!?” Based On Faith.
Crystal G.H. Lowery, Esq is a Christian Estate Planning Attorney and is the owner and founding attorney of Law Office Of Crystal G.H. Lowery, LLC. Based on Faith is an organization whose vision is to become an international resource that increases biblical knowledge of faith within the Body of Christ through comprehensive teaching, discussion of law, and the prophetic.
Copyright August 26, 2022 ©, Crystal G.H. Lowery and Based on Faith. All Rights Reserved.