DO YOU REALLY KNOW PEOPLE?

John 1:33 LEB
And I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water, that one said to me, ‘The one upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him—this one is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

Dear Believer,

The sign of a true Believer is not mere talk or even action; it is consistency in the Spirit.

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. John didn’t know Him as anything more than a Jew or His cousin. To John, Jesus was a nice guy about whom many good things had been said. But all those things didn’t count for much when God was giving John the sign by which he was going to recognize the Messiah.

John was instructed to look out for someone upon whom he would see the Spirit of God descend. That wasn’t enough though. The Spirit must remain on that person also.

Note: it wasn’t enough for the Spirit to come upon the person; the Spirit must remain on him. That was who the Christ was.

Notice again that John was a relative of Jesus (they were cousins). But you can see here that the sanguinary connection was of little importance when it came to spiritual issues. In fact, John said, “I did not know him.”

There are two great points I’m bringing out of this.

1. We don’t just say we are believers because we have had a dealing with the Holy Spirit at some point in our lives. He isn’t meant to come in to us only, but must ‘remain.’

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to Believers. He wasn’t to come into their lives for some time. He was to abide with them for ever. It is a pity that many Believers quench the operations of God’s Spirit in their life.

Many have stories of what the Holy Spirit did in their lives in the past, but are now altogether dry and bereft of His workings in their life today. That isn’t the way a Believer lives.

We are to discern others based on the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, not on what happened in the past. People change, and some people have seriously grieved the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30 KJV), quenched His power in their lives (1Thessalonians 5:19 KJV), and become the very antithesis of what they used to be in Christ. It doesn’t matter if such people claim to be Believers or church leaders, you trust them or follow them at a great risk to yourself.

Don’t merely follow people because of the claims they make or the stories of past genuine spiritual encounters they have had. The question that you should ask yourself is, are they still in the Spirit? Do they still walk in holiness?

It is very important that you don’t just ‘know’ people according to the flesh, or from human point of view. Even Jesus isn’t to be known according to the flesh, so if He had blood brothers here on Earth, they would have no advantage over anyone else.

2Corinthians 5:16 NET
So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer.

It is easy to be deceived if all we see and know about people is according to the flesh, or from human point of view. But if we apply the ‘John the Baptist test,’ we will know the fake and separate them from the genuine.

Only God can help you to see beyond the surface and hear beyond the audible claims of people. This concerns your relationships, business and other aspects of your life.

Now talk to you Father:
Dear Heavenly Father, I recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life today and I ask that You help me to always walk in the Holy Spirit. Help me Lord to correctly discern those who come into my life and know whether they are under the influence of the Holy Spirit or have moved into the flesh. Teach me Lord to know how to place people who make different kinds of claims in the name of Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a beautiful day.

Your friend,
Deon.