Father Randy Koenigsknecht
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Who do you say Jesus is? Father Randy reflects on recognizing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and choosing to praise and trust Him—even amid weakness, uncertainty, and life’s storms.
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Who do the people say that I am? What do the people say? John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. These are men who worked mighty signs, mighty deeds. He does all the things that these prophets have done.
People today, you ask them about Jesus, what will they say? Well, he’s a great teacher, moral revolutionary, teaching us to love one another, that all people are equal, all very good things, but shallow. Because if that is all that Jesus is, he is not very great. Because there have been teachers who have taught more people than him.
And so he asks Simon Peter, you who have been with me for all these years, you who have been following me, who do you say that I am? And then he says it, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, the eternal one, the one who is holy, the almighty. You are the one who spoke and the world came into being. You are the one who knows every hair on our heads.
You are the Lord. When we recognize who he is, what is the response? To him be glory forever. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.
In the presence of the angels, I will sing your praise. I will worship at your holy temple. That is what is due to the Lord, because he is God.
Praise, worship, adoration, to fall down before him, to adore him, because he is God. He is the mighty one. And when we praise him, when we do that, we declare with Peter who we know God to be, who we know Jesus to be.
You are my God. You are the one who loves me, the one who hears the prayers of the lowly. You’re the one who sees, who answers when I call.
And to praise him is to unlock his power in our lives, because we declare who we know him to be and thus what he can do for us. You are the merciful one. You are the one who transforms.
You are the one who hears and answers our prayers. Lord, you are the one with all the power. Lord, I trust these situations to your hands.
Lord, I know I am a sinner, but I know that you are merciful. Lord, I am weak, but you are strong and you come close. I thank you, Lord, for how you love us, for your great faithfulness to us in the midst of our weakness, in the midst of our sins.
Lord, in the midst of all of this, I will praise you. I will be devoted to you. I will adore you.
It’s a concrete choice. But the breakthrough has come when I ask the Lord, what are you doing here? What do you want me to see? Lord, just for the next five minutes, I’m just going to praise you. I’m going to praise you for your goodness.
And in doing so, I will give it all to you. You’re letting him work. You’re inviting him to work in your life.
It’s this beautiful surrender. Lord, I worship you. Lord, I praise you in the midst of the storm, because you will calm it.
Because you will take care of me. You see me. And you are worthy of praise, because you are the Lord.
You are my God. Make the choice to lean into that. Praising him.
Lean into who he is. Lord, I praise you. I thank you for your goodness.
Lord, I thank you that you are with me. I thank you that you see me, that you dwell within me. A spirit of praise, where we can just lean into who he is.
We can remember that’s not all on me, and I can just trust him with that. I can leave all things in his care, in his hands.