John 1:47-48 “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Today's episode reminds us that God sees us for who we are. He sees through the facade that we put up and sees straight into our hearts. This episode also challenges us to be the face of Jesus to others. It challenges us to call out the good we see in others. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Knows You, The Real You!
John 1:47-48 “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
If you have not seen the chosen, I invite you to watch it. The series is amazing, and it helps you to understand the various things in the Bible. I love how it takes something that may seem small in the Bible and helps you to remember it forever. In Season 2 Episode 2, The Chosen depicts the story of Nathanael. Because it is a show and is also for entertainment, they added things that I don’t know if they are factual or not.
In the show, Nathaneal was a contractor, and he finally got his big shot, He was helping build something, I think maybe a temple, but I don’t remember what he was building. His dreams were coming true, and then something happened, and he got fired. He was sitting under a fig tree, crying out to the Lord. He was doing what we all do when something bad happens. He was asking the Lord, “Why?" He was asking the Lord, “Where were you?” He was asking the Lord, “Why have you abandoned me?” He was lost and sad and searching for the Lord, and he couldn’t find him. He truly felt alone and abandoned by God. Who hasn’t been there before?
I love this scene in The Chosen because it brings these verses to life. The story of Nathanael in the Bible is told in just nine verses. It is something that could easily be overlooked or read and forgotten. However, watching it unfold on the screen, you can see what a powerful encounter it was between Jesus and Nathanael. You can see the love the Lord has for him. The Lord has that same love for you! The Lord sees you in your dark times, too. He knows who you are.
I love when Jesus sees Nathanael coming up and says, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Can you imagine someone you have never met saying something so nice about you? Can you imagine someone you have never met searching for you and seeing the truth of who you are? I can imagine Nathanael was confused, and I bet he probably had trouble believing what this man was saying to him. We always have more trouble believing the truth than believing the lies. Jesus saw right through Nathanael to the heart of who he was and then called it out.
Jesus knows who you are, too! Jesus knows the real you. Not the you that you want everyone else to see. Not the you that you pretend to be so that you can protect yourself from getting hurt. Not the you that you pretend to be so that you can fit in with others. Jesus knows who you really are, the you that you keep hidden for fear of getting hurt. The you that you keep hidden because you are afraid people won’t like you or they will tell you that you are too much or not enough. Maybe they have already said that to you, and that is why you hide the real you so deep down inside.
I wish Jesus was walking around on earth today calling out our identity. I wish when we met Him He would state our identity so matter of factly like He did with Nathanael. What popped into my head when I wrote that is that we can be the face of Jesus to others. What if we called out the good that we saw in people? We had a meeting with the leadership team of my prayer group the other day. I mentioned how great it felt when I first got involved and someone in the group would call out something that they saw in me and invite me to grow in some way.
For instance, they would ask me to join the discernment team because they thought I would be good at it. That meant the world to me. It felt so good for someone to notice something good about me. At the time I joined the prayer group, my family was in turmoil. Everyone was angry all the time, and all I heard at home from my kids and my husband was what I was doing wrong. I heard how everything was my fault; I was an awful mom, an awful wife, a terrible person, and so on. I know they didn’t mean it, and they were just angry, and yet it still hurt.
However, at the prayer group, people would notice the good things in me, and that felt amazing. Have you ever had someone call out the good in you? Have you ever had someone say something about you that you didn’t know or realize before? Has someone ever told you that you were good at something? Have you ever had someone ask you to do something and felt honored that they thought you were capable of doing it? It is an amazing feeling when other people show their faith in us when they believe in us.
What if you were that person for someone? What if we all started trying to be the face of Jesus for those around us? There are enough people in the world to tell us what we are doing wrong. What if we all focused on calling out the good we see in people? What if we had a goal to say one nice thing about each person we interact with throughout the day? I wonder how different our day would be? I wonder what an impact we would make on other’s lives.
I was in the car talking to one of my sons the other day. He has a friend who comes and asks for free food while he is at work. He always says yes because he wants to be nice. However, he only gets one free meal, so if he gives it away, he doesn’t get to eat. Sometimes, that is ok because he isn’t working too long anyway. However, sometimes, he has a long shift and needs to eat. The other day, he told the girl he was sorry but that he had a long shift and he needed to eat. I told him I was proud of him for standing up for himself and making sure his needs were met. He said it was the first time he heard me say I was proud of him in a long time, and it felt weird. I was shocked, but I was glad he said it because now I know to be more intentional about telling the boys I am proud of them because I am proud of all of my boys.
It can be easy to think of nice things and not say them out loud for one reason or another. Maybe we don’t want to embarrass someone, maybe we don’t want to feel embarrassed ourselves. Maybe we are afraid they will reject our compliment, I am sure we all have our reasons. Maybe we just don’t think to say it out loud. I want to invite each one of you to start saying the nice things you are thinking out loud. If you like someone’s shirt, hair, scarf, whatever, tell them. If you see something good about someone, tell them. I invite you to go out of your way to find something nice to say to each person that you meet.
I have a friend named Kimberly, and this seems to come so naturally to her. I am in awe of how she tells perfect strangers all the time that she likes their shirts or their smiles or that they are beautiful. Whatever it is, she doesn’t hesitate, she just says it. I wish there were more Kimberly’s in the world. We tend not to hesitate to speak up when we notice something annoying about someone or something they did that was wrong. Let’s follow the advice of Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” If we wish the world to be a nicer place, let that start with us! I challenge you to find five people today that you can compliment in some way. You get bonus points if you know them and can call out something about who they are down deep inside! If you can show them that you really see them!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, I ask you to speak to each person’s heart today and show them one thing about themselves that you love about them. I ask that you either speak to their heart or speak through someone else and let them know something that they are doing right. Lord, I ask you to help us inspire others. Help us to see others through your eyes and share your joy in them with them. Help us express what you love about your children. Help us be your mouth here on earth. Help us to focus on the positive and not the negative. You tell us that often at a prayer group. Help us to listen. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you know someone else who could benefit from this podcast, please pass it on. Also, if you are on Facebook and have not joined the Walk Boldly With Jesus Facebook group, I invite you to do so. I will post the episodes and the daily word from the Lord. It is great to have a community of people surrounding you who love Jesus too! I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I just asked God what he was saying to us, and he said, “Right now, I am singing in your souls.”