Learning to know people & places

One thing social media and gossip have in common is the idea that reading about a circumstance, person, or place is the same as having factual knowledge about them. When we see a post that a person puts on their social media and forget that this post is only a snapshot in a period of time we can conclude incorrectly about that person and their life and circumstances. When we listen to what others have to say about a place, a person a community without actually being a part of the place, the community, or involved in the heart of the person, we can draw wrong conclusions. Most recently, as you know, if you’ve been following me, I relocated to my hometown of Chapel Hill, NC. 

Even though this is where I grew up, I realized the moment God told me I had to return home that there was a lot about my home that I could not take for granted. I had visited a few times in the past 30 years, but things had changed. People had changed. Most notably, the entire population had almost doubled. So there was no reason for me to think that I was re-entering a community that had been the same when I left it 30 years ago.

I decided to ask the Lord how I should return home. I remember consulting with some people whose opinions I valued about the best way to reintegrate into a community I loved. They had a lot of good suggestions, but they needed to be more appropriate. Holy Spirit assured me that he would guide my return and smooth re-entry. And so, over the past year, the Lord supernaturally directed me to programs, events, and people that made my return home as divinely orchestrated as the prophetic word when he told me to relocate. 

One of the programs God supernaturally connected me to was the Leadership 2022 program sponsored by The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill - Carrboro. Participation was a phenomenal step for me because it allowed me to see that I didn’t know my hometown. Opposed to being informed solely by memories of a town that had changed dramatically, all for good, but change nonetheless, I now have informed knowledge and understanding.

The program through The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill - Carrboro, in addition to the prophetic guiding and dreams and revelations given to me by Holy Spirit, assured me of a few things. First, the timing of the Lord was impeccable. Secondly, I knew Chapel Hill of old, but I could not say that I knew it anymore. If the town could speak, it could rightfully say, "You don't know me." 

This is the essence of only evaluating a place or a person based on their public relations posts, news articles, gossip about the town, and things of this nature. So, no, I did not know Chapel Hill. Still, for the purposes of God, I would know Chapel Hill most intimately because Holy Spirit would begin to open my eyes to His perspective of my town and my responsibility in this relocation.

How would you react if your identity, character, personality, and pure essence were being evaluated and judged by people who didn’t know you? In Matthew, we read a couple of instances where Jesus boldly announces, I don't know you, and you don't know the Kingdom. This is what Jesus was communicating about the Kingdom of God and even about him being the Son of God. In Matthew 7:21-23 there people coming to Jesus and saying in effect, I know you, and Jesus replied, "You don’t know me". Furthermore, you don’t know me, and you don’t know the Kingdom. You think you know me, but you don’t know me. 

They were confident they knew what it took to be acknowledged by Jesus proving affiliation by saying, we prophesied in your name, we did all kinds of things in your name, and so therefore, you have to know who we are. But Jesus' response was "You’ve mistaken my identity. You think you know me, but you don’t know me". Even the disciples we’re guilty of presuming knowledge about Elijah when Jesus had to explain you don’t even know Elijah, you don’t know what you think you know about me (Matthew 17:9-12).

Those in scripture who were corrected by Jesus when he severed their assertion of personal knowledge about him and about the Kingdom had a choice. They could be offended or humble themselves to ask well, then help me to know you. 

We share the same plight as those sharing space with Jesus but didn't know the Son of Man. We, too, can find ourselves every day thinking that we know the Lord thinking that we are doing the will of God or we are close to God when in fact, Jesus' response would be, "I don’t know you, but you think you know me". Listen, my friends, this is not devastating if your heart is open to hearing the message behind what Jesus is saying. It’s only devastating if your heart is closed and you’re unwilling to listen to the truth. The truth of the matter is it takes time. It takes humility to see what God wants to show you. That’s the only way to know and be known. We can understand the Kingdom of God, and we can be known in the Kingdom of God, but our posture has to change from what we may think it takes.

Another part of God’s process for me to know my town was participating in another program called the People’s Academy. The objective of the People’s Academy and the activities we participated in were similar to The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill - Carrboro Leadership program. 

This past Saturday, we had our last session in the People’s Academy, culminating with our graduation and receiving our certificate of participation. I am super thankful to the Lord for the process by which He has caused me to know Chapel Hill, not the Chapel Hill of my youth but the Chapel Hill of today. I leave The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill - Carrboro Leadership program and the People’s Academy with not only an understanding of the government, the spirit, and the planning for the town but, most importantly, an understanding from God’s perspective of the town. What a marvelous insight to have a civil understanding and a Kingdom understanding of the town in which I’ve been sent to serve.

Believer, we live with the advantage of Holy Spirit's insight into our natural and spiritual identity. God wants you to do two things. First, seek Him for clarity on your spiritual identity. Once revealed, receive it and reinforce it through all that you do and say. Live by your spiritual identity. 

Secondly, remember that spiritual identity is spiritually discerned. Meaning, it's highly probable that others will think they know you based on temporal information. The disparity between temporal and revelatory sources will cause them to interact with you inaccurately. Don't allow that to overshadow or nullify what Holy Spirit describes as your identity. Remember, seeing a person and even knowing a snapshot into their past experiences is never a base for knowing their Kingdom assignment, divine gifts, and supernatural identity.