“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18
You are the Christ…
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked; and in response, Peter made the confession that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus then replied with the quoted passage above. An interesting statement Jesus made…that “upon this rock”… ‘the rock’ being the confession Peter had just made…upon that revelation, everything else in the faith finds its footing. Here, we see that personal confession of Jesus the Son of God is foundational to every one of us in Christianity.
Let the Winds Blow
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus talks about a couple of other foundations: rock and sand, and he used them to communicate how obedience is foundational to our faith relationship. Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.” Everyone who hears Jesus’ words, and acts upon them... This pattern is key to our enduring the storms of this life and the wise will build their house upon this rock as well.
A Communication Foundation
Communication is foundational to just about every aspect of our lives: our jobs, our marriages, parenting, our friendships…without good communication, things begin to fall apart very, very quickly. This is no less true in our relationship with Jesus. The great tool God has given to us for communication with him is prayer. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul lists for his reader several gold nuggets of truth for everyday Christian living. Verse 17 simply states: “Pray without ceasing.” That’s pretty plain spoken!
Prayer is foundational to the Christian life. Really? Is prayer that important? It absolutely is! About what should we pray? Everything. When should we pray? Always. The curiosity however is that all too often, prayer is relegated to that spiritual duty we exercise before meals, and perform when there are concerns or illnesses amongst the body of believers. Once prayer is taken care of, we can move on to the important things – like eating, and laughing, or going about our lives, our jobs, our fun. Sound familiar?
Remembering that prayer is not simply communication, not only petition, it is the voice of our relationship with the Lord. It is intimacy and exchange, contact with the loving, eternal, creating, merciful, and compassionate God of the universe!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want my life to be built upon the foundations of your Word, aligned with your blue print for your purposes. You are the chief cornerstone. The sure foundation. Fill me with your Holy Spirit again, and establish your foundational truths in my everyday living. Amen.
