Consider Jesus: The Watch Letter

Have you ever seen a person who just continues? No matter what they face they endure. They stay hopeful. They stay focused. They stay joyful. It's not that their numb or unconcerned or hardened or careless. It's that their eyes are fixed on something and someone greater than themselves and their situation.

I have seen that in my Pastor, Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn, and his companion, Apostle Felicia Gunn. They let nothing cause them to stop, quit, or be discouraged. They could be on the road all day, battling illness, dealing with a family tragedy, or laboring with a family in need, all at one time, and still take time to pray, study, fast, record the broadcast, hold services, check on and take care of others, and the like. I am so proud of them and encouraged by them.

How can they do this and how are they always consistent? The answer is they LOOK TO JESUS.

Chief Apostle Gunn has said this to me recently and has said it many times to the entire body and in the messages he preaches and records.

You see, their hope is in and on the Lord and they keep their eyes on him.

Chief Apostle Gunn once told me that when Peter walked on water it wasn't just his faith that kept him from drowning it was his eyes fixed on Jesus. But when he noticed the wind and became afraid he took his eyes off Jesus and he began to sink. He let what was happening at the moment cause him to forget where his hope and salvation were.

I wanted to make sure I grasped LOOK TO JESUS this time and more deeply. So many times we hear things and we just let them slip. So, as our Pastor teaches us to do, I sought it out in the Bible to ensure I fully understood it.

I found just what I needed in Hebrews 12:1-3. I am going to share some notes alongside the scriptures that can help us to see why we need to CONSIDER JESUS.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us ..."

We have so many examples around us that tell us we don't have to let anything stop us or weigh us down. God gave us people like Chief Apostle Gunn and Apostle Felicia and the men and women in the Bible to show us that we can keep our eyes fixed on Him if we learn to let go of anything that will distract us from the Lord. Here, the scriptures tell us that often the things that beset us (meaning cover our eyes, enclose us, oppress us, trouble us, afflict us) are the things that make us feel heavy in the spirit and the sin we commit. So, we have to make sure we avoid and look past things that will weigh us down (we know what they are because we can feel that weight no matter how we pretend we don't). A lot of times we try to act like meeting the requirements of God is what's too heavy, but the Word tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. So, when we feel heavy that's usually a sign that what we are thinking and doing is not in tune with the Lord and instead is more in tune with the world.

And we must get rid of sin. Chief Apostle Gunn has been sending messages this whole month about getting rid of sin. We also have to run. We have to move at deliberate speed toward the Lord and toward the goal and finish line of pleasing him. We need to endure and wait on the Lord, not letting anything make us so weary, so tired, so frustrated that we stop running. Patience also means steady perseverance; even-tempered care; and diligence.

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

If we don't take time to look to Jesus every day and see him as the beginning and end and alpha and omega of our salvation, which our life should be all about, then we won't make it. We also must take time all day long to seek the joy Jesus had. It was his joy that gave him the focus, commitment, and strength to be obedient and faithful unto his death on the cross so that we could be saved. It was joy that gave him steadfastness when people lied on him, doubted him, mocked him, betrayed him, abused him, and used him. The source of Jesus' joy was doing the business of his Father God and pleasing Him. He was willing to endure chastisement, shame, and punishment for our sins to do the will of the Father and to show his love to the Father.

"For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

This is what brought it home for me. And helped me to see more clearly what Chief Apostle Gunn has been teaching and showing us all along and what God has been speaking through the Word. To please God and live a life dedicated to God, we have to consider Jesus. We can't let a day go by without thinking about and rehearsing what Jesus did and who he was and how he gave his life. Chief Apostle Gunn has preached time and time again that we take the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the name of Jesus for granted and count it for nothing.

Consider means to think carefully about; to think about and be drawn toward; to have regard for and treat in a kindly, respectful way; to esteem; and to be attentive to.

Can we really say we consider Jesus every day in our lives? When we truly consider Jesus, we won't want to sin because we will remember what Jesus felt and endured because of our sins. And when we do sin, the Bible tells us we crucify him afresh. (Hebrews 6:6 says: "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.")

When we consider Jesus, we will have gratitude and excitement toward God because we know that we don't have to die because of our sins, that we don't have to hang on a cross because of our sins because he sacrificed Jesus, His son, on our behalf. We will rejoice because we know we can repent and be reconciled with the Lord and be with him forever because of Jesus. It should make us want to serve him and please him more.

When we look at Jesus and all he accomplished in the name of the Father, it should make us want to journey on, as my Pastor says. It should make us want to do our best in everything and to spend as much time with him as possible so that we can learn from him and draw strength from him. When we consider Jesus it should cancel our complaints and dissatisfactions or unwillingnesses because we see the blood, we see the torn and inflamed skin, we see the pain, we see the tears, and most of all we see the love and compassion.

I saw a video the other day, where a man was reminding people that there will be a day we can't say Jesus aloud without going to jail or being killed, which Chief Apostle Gunn has also said before. God always provides a witness!

Every time we dismiss at church we say: "What's His name?" "Jesus!" Three times! We have to be careful that it does not become tradition and religion and that instead, it is a moment of rejoicing, remembrance, and respect for that powerful and wonderful name. Each time we say it, we can be grateful that we can speak it out loud without fear or hindrance. It causes me to think about how much more the name of Jesus should be spoken in my home and out of my mouth, and how I have not taken enough time to think about Jesus every day.

When you are in love, you think about the person all the time, and Jesus is supposed to be our first love. (As I write this, this was placed on my mind: "teach and show your children that their first love is supposed to be Jesus.")

For the last few days, I have been trying to speak the name of Jesus with sincerity more often and think about him with more purpose. It really is a blessing that we have a savior, an intercessor, an advocate, a counselor, and a way-maker in Jesus.

It is sad and convicting that even the devil and his demons recognize the power of the name of Jesus and make their plans and move according to when his name is spoken and respected, and when it is not.

But those of us who profess to be saved take it lightly and do not make plans that incorporate the name of Jesus and fall short of remembering who he is and what he did. All the strength, all the hope, all the ability we need to be victorious and serve God successfully can be found when we set our eyes, ears, mouth, heart and mind on Jesus.

Often, especially among Christians, people want to remember Jesus as a baby and after he resurrected (because that is what fuels holidays and church attendance), but that is all empty when we skip over his commitment to God's will, his obedience, and what he faced on our behalf.

CONSIDER JESUS.

Philippians 2

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I wrote this blog, before receiving the broadcast message to upload today, but the title is "Look to Him." So, it is clear we have some seeking and considering to do. Here is the message from Chief Apostle Gunn: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=5863037303706028&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgmx.