Today’s Bible Verse
If you openly and publicly acknowledge me, I will freely and openly acknowledge you before my heavenly Father. But if you publicly deny that you know me, I will also deny you before my heavenly Father.
Matthew 10:32-33 (TPT)
Display or Deny
In this scripture, Jesus is speaking to His disciples about the result of publicly denying Him, “…if you publicly deny that you know Me, I will also deny you before My Heavenly Father.” When I think of public denial, I think of when Peter denied Jesus three times, although he was so adamant that he would never deny Jesus. In fact, he went so far as to tell Jesus that he would die for Him before he ever denied Him. Unfortunately, in Matthew 26:69-74, Peter did the exact opposite of what he promised he would never do. He publicly denied Jesus. How wrong this was of Peter! Why would he do such a thing? Peter denied Jesus because he feared losing his life. Peter denied Jesus because of the weakness of his flesh and his fear of being persecuted, beaten and losing his life the way he was watching the One who loved him, lose His life.
What does Peter’s public denial of Jesus have to do with us today? Have you ever given thought to what that would look like today? Although we were born over 2,000 years later, in this generation, for today, we too can risk falling into the same trap that Peter did, if we are not careful. Our lives have the ability to display or deny Jesus daily.
When the Holy Spirit spoke to me about this scripture, these are some of the questions He asked me: “Does your life display or deny Christ? Is your life a reflection of who I AM in your life?” At that moment I could not confidently answer yes to these questions. Since I could not answer yes, then in actuality, the example of my life was really denying Jesus. I was no better than Peter at that moment. Sometimes, it’s easier to think about blatant things like Peter denying Jesus, but we don’t consider our daily actions, attitude and conduct that denies Him. Is my life a public denial of Jesus? Whether it’s to your spouse, to your children, to your friends, or to your co-workers, are we denying Him because of our unwillingness to align EVERY SINGLE AREA of our lives to the Word?
When our lives publicly acknowledge (display) Jesus, He says, “I will freely and openly acknowledge you before My Heavenly Father.” Let’s let our lives be a public display of Jesus to everyone we encounter today. (Nicole Farmer)
Change My Story
Let this be something for us to evaluate ourselves with today (not someone else, but yourself), and allow the Holy Spirit to address us and redirect us however He sees fit! Take the time to ask yourself the questions below. Once you answer the questions, write down what you will do to ensure the answer to each of these questions is yes. Find a scripture to declare it over yourself daily as you allow the Holy Spirit be the story changer of your life.
Questions:
- Does my life display the character of Christ?
- Does my life display His goodness?
- Does my life display His gentleness?
- Does my life display His love?
- Does my life display His grace?
- Does my life display His mercy?
- Does my life display His compassion?
- Does my life display His speech?
- Does my life display His conduct?
Today’s Declaration
Today, I allow You, Holy Spirit, to take a hold of my heart in an effort to allow my life to be a display of You. In my gentleness, in my love, in my extension of grace and mercy, in my compassion, in my speech and in my conduct, may each of these be a reflection of You today, and every day, as I surrender my life for You to be my story changer!
Today’s Bible Reading
- Old Testament: 1 Samuel 3-5; Psalms 96
- New Testament: Mark 10:1-16; 2 Corinthians 1:12-24
