Jesus Meets You Where You Are

We are continuing our series Tell Us About Jesus, and on this very special evening we have the visit, the presence, of Pastor Mercedes López Miranda—Meche, as we affectionately know her. Meche, would you like to greet the church?

Pastor: It is a joy for me to be here. There is nothing better than talking about our Jesus, and we could talk about Him continually. I am a grateful woman. I know that God lifted my feet out of the miry clay and set them upon a rock, and we know that rock is Christ Jesus. So I do not think I begin a single prayer on any day without saying, “Lord, thank You.” I am profoundly grateful for His salvation above all else; everything else is an added blessing, a little extra that the Lord continues to give me each day and continues to give all of us each day. But it is gratitude for what He has done: He brought each one of us out of the darkness and has brought us into this adventure. A little while ago we sang a song about the adventure, and that is precisely what the Christian walk is: an adventure. It never becomes boring; it never grows stagnant. If you keep seeking Him, you continue to receive something new every day, if we expect that we are going to receive and go to Him in faith.

Pastor: Amen, amen. Meche, one of the questions I have asked—at least Greg was the first one I asked—is one I like to ask so that pastors can share from their personal experience about how they first encountered Jesus. I would like you to have the opportunity to share with us what that moment was like, when the Lord came into your life and you surrendered yourself completely to Him.

Pastor: Well, I came to Boston when I was 24 years old. This June will mark 30 years since I came here. I came for a year and a half, but like many of you, I have stayed a little longer than that, and obviously my roots are here now. I am not moving away from here until the Lord moves us from here, and I hope that does not happen. We love you and want to be here for a very, very long time. But in any event, when I was 24 years old, I left Puerto Rico to come here and pursue graduate studies at Boston University, and I came with that purpose—to study here. During the year before I came here, I worked seven days a week because I needed to save a great deal of money to pay for my studies here. It was a time that exhausted me in every sense, including spiritually, because it dried me up completely, which I think may have been good soil in which the Lord could plant His seed.

I was born into a Catholic home. My parents are, let us say, Christ-centered Catholics. They love the Lord and are a man and a woman of integrity and love. I grew up in a very affirming home, but despite that, my concept of God was not the concept found in the Word. So when I arrived here, I came into the home of two lions of the gospel, Juan and Elsie Vergara. Pastor Juan was the one who founded this church. I went there because I had known Elsie in Puerto Rico; she had been my professor at the university. When I told her that I was coming here to study, they opened their home so that I could stay for a few months.

So imagine: I came from that spiritual dryness, without truly knowing the Lord personally, and I heard them talk about knowing the Lord personally, and I began to take an interest in that. Then they introduced me to a young man (laughter). They already knew Roberto; in fact, I arrived on a Friday evening, and by Sunday we had met, so that happened quickly (applause). And so, very selflessly, he evangelized me too (laughter). I saw that Elsie and Juan had something I did not have. After meeting Roberto, I realized that he had something I did not have. Then I met his family—Marina and Nancy—and I understood that there was a void in my life. I began taking those steps toward knowing Him, but I did so with a certain wariness and without being entirely convinced that such a thing was true. The fact is that when we have a concept of God that is not the correct, scriptural one, it is a concept made in our own image and likeness, not according to who God is, and it is sometimes very difficult to rid ourselves of that concept. To me, God was not a loving God; I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. To me, Jesus was an unreachable being. God was a very impersonal being. He sat upon His throne, and from His throne He looked down, while I was one tiny ant among millions of other tiny ants. Yes, I respected God. Ever since I was a child, I had spiritual sensitivity; I was very sensitive to spiritual things. But I had never truly known God as He was. To me, He was inaccessible. He looked at me from His throne with a very stern expression. It was not because my father was like that, because my father is very loving; it was a concept I perhaps drew from my religious experience. I remember that in my home there was one of those Bibles found in many of your homes, lying open, and there was a picture of God looking down from the throne with a frown. There was no connection, and to me that became the idea of who this God was whom others called Father, but whom I did not feel was my own Father, close to me.

Pastor: But now, Meche, at that moment, so to speak, when the Lord Jesus said, “This is the moment when I want to reach Mercedes’s heart,” what happened that day?

Pastor: I think it happened gradually. When I saw that these people had something I did not have, I began to investigate, read the Word, and observe. Right now, many others may be observing you. I was watching them very carefully to see how they lived their lives, how they spoke, and whether they truly imitated the Jesus of the Scriptures. So it was a process, until one day came—I cannot give you the exact time and date—but a day came when I said, “I have to make a covenant with this Jesus of the Scriptures. I have to do this and give my whole heart, my entire being, to God.” So I would say that it was a process, although there did come a moment when I uttered the words in my spirit: “Lord, I accept You as my personal Lord and Savior, and I want to live for You for the rest of my days.”

But even though I said those words, there was a period when I loved God with my mind. I am a rather rational person, and I loved God with my mind. It frustrated me to see how many people could raise their arms and say to Him, “Lord, You are so beautiful.” I could not say those things. I think that even a year or a year and a half later, I still could not utter those words sincerely. I said them, but my emotions did not support those words. And I remember how wonderful that gradual process of coming to understand was: “Oh, Lord, yes, I am in love with You,” and having that relationship in which I knew that my God was not merely the God of my mind, but that He also wanted my heart—obviously my spirit, my entire being—as the Word says, that we must love God with our whole being, with our mind, with our body, with our heart, with everything.

So it was a gradual process, but it was wonderful, and it required seeking. In other words, I had to seek. God seeks us. In fact, there is a verse in Revelation that says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice, I will come in, dine with him, and he with Me.” And so, finally, one day I opened that door, and I began to love Him as He deserves to be loved. I understood what it means to praise Him with joy in my heart, what it means to allow Him to enter every area of my being, to allow Him to cleanse everything inside and make me a new creation. And I am still in that process. The Lord is still shaping the person He wants me to be. As we say, it is an adventure that never ends until the day we die.

Pastor: Meche, you know, a few moments ago you and I were talking about our time here this evening, and we discussed different people in the Bible with whom we can identify. Something key about each of these people is how Jesus entered the reality of each one and found them where they were, doing what they were doing. I would like you to talk about one of those people, whom I understand to be Peter. You and I identify very well with him. How does the picture of what Peter experienced in his first encounter with Jesus speak to your life and partly describe your experience as well?

Pastor: Yes, I think that if you look in the Word at all the examples of people who lived for God, God found them where they were. God found some at work, as He found Peter fishing. He found others in illness, needing to be healed, and so forth. He interacted personally with each one. So one of the examples that speaks most deeply to my spirit and serves as a model for me is Peter’s example, because it is an example in which you see not merely one interaction, but Jesus interacting with Peter over a period of three years. Obviously, He finds him fishing and says to him right then, “Come.” Peter was not seeking; Jesus intentionally sought him out. Just as He says, “I knock at the door,” Peter said yes and followed Him.

And then you see how he learned with Jesus. For three years, he interacted very frequently with Jesus, often daily, as one of His disciples and one of those He sent out. Then you see when the crucial moment comes, when Jesus needs him most, and he denies Him three times. After that comes something that deeply affects me and points to God’s commitment to us throughout our entire lives, throughout our entire journey as His children, and that is Peter’s life. Later, after the Lord has risen and appears to His disciples—I think this is the final time—He appears to them in Galilee. What happens? Peter sees Him from the boat. Peter has returned once again to what is familiar, which is what happens to us. Sometimes we turn away from the Lord a little and go do what is familiar and comfortable to us. Well, that is what Peter was doing: fishing. And there the Lord serves them all breakfast, and they all eat breakfast with Him. That is what the Lord wants to have with us: an intimate time like that, sharing with Him. Notice that the verse in Revelation speaks precisely about this: “I will invite him to dine, and he will dine with Me, and I with him.” So what God wants to establish with each one of us is a close relationship.

And after breakfast, perhaps in front of the others or perhaps privately—I do not know how that encounter took place, because I do not think the Word says so clearly—He asks him three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” And Peter says, “Yes, Lord, I love You.” “Shepherd My sheep.” There you see that Jesus is approaching Peter’s emotional wounds and healing him. That is what He does with us, even though we may sometimes turn away from Him or be disobedient at some point. The Lord is there because He says in His Word that He will be with us until the end of the age. He is with you. He is with me. And we must keep a very clear picture of who this God whom we serve is, who this Jesus whom we serve is. He is a personal Jesus, the One who is here beside us, the One who opens paths for us, the One who renews us emotionally, spiritually, and in every way. And that is wonderful: living your Christian life knowing that He is accompanying us at all times.

Pastor: Meche, I am going to throw you a curveball here. Forgive me for putting you on the spot, although we are already in the spotlight. In the example you just mentioned, when Peter approached Him at that moment when He restored him again, I think of how often we, in the routine of our daily lives, tend to become so blinded by the pressure and anxiety of that routine. Something that catches my attention is that Jesus comes and finds us wherever we are, but sometimes we do not realize that He is there. So my question is: What do you think we can do to remain alert, for lack of a better word, to how close Jesus is to us?

Pastor: Well, it is prayer. Before, because of how I was raised, my tradition was reciting prayers; it was impersonal prayer. But I believe that, as with everything in life, we need a certain degree of discipline and expectation. I believe that if we read in the Word that God answers prayer, we have to believe that He answers prayer. It has nothing to do with our emotions and feelings. I used to think that God was not listening to me because I did not feel Him. That is not so. We must look at what the Word tells us, believe what the Word tells us, and bring our beliefs and experiences into line with what the Word says.

So it is a matter of seeking Him every day and not becoming desperate. At first, it was hard for me, and I even felt like a second-class Christian, a second-class citizen, because others had what I did not have, and that made me desperate. Then I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that revolutionized my life. I had to seek it like crazy. I stood in every prayer line there was to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues. I was there, even if there was one line after another on the same day. I think that was how God worked: He placed that hunger in my heart to seek Him, and I found Him. The revelation I received when I received the baptism, the gift of tongues, was that God’s love is a Father’s love—precisely what I needed to hear.

And the first time I received the gift of tongues, I began to sing, and God gave me the interpretation, and the interpretation God gave me was Fatherly love, it is Fatherly love. And that revolutionized my life forever, because I began to believe that this God loved me personally, that I was not just one among the many people in the whole world; He loved me personally and wanted to have a covenant and a personal relationship with me. He wanted intimacy with me; intimacy means knowing and being known. He wants us to know Him through the Word, through the Holy Spirit, and He wants us to allow Him to know us. Of course, He knows everything, but it is one thing for Him to know it and another for you to have a personal relationship with Him. So I encourage you to do that: to seek, to read the Word—not anxiously, but calmly and in a relaxed way. That image of the woman sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening—that is what we must pursue: listening and knowing that He speaks to us today. I did not know before that He spoke, and in fact, at the beginning of my Christian walk He would speak to me, and I thought it was my own mind; I did not know that He spoke in that way. It is an adventure that we must explore every day, desiring to seek Him. It is not only a matter of Him speaking to us through the Word; we must do our part and say to Him, “Lord, come in,” and then He comes in, and we eat at the table with Him.

Pastor: Meche, as we approach the conclusion of this, I would like to ask: if a person is at a stage in life where everything you are saying may make sense to them, yet somehow that person finds it difficult to truly receive those words and surrender to God’s dealings, I think again of Peter’s example. Jesus had to draw near to him and meet him where he was, even after he had denied Him, and deal, in a certain sense, perhaps with the shame Peter may have been feeling. And when I say shame, it is because I believe it is one of the strongest feelings we as human beings can experience—one that does not help us, but instead causes us to withdraw into ourselves. And you are focusing on this idea of a personal Jesus who meets us, who, so to speak, interrupts our reality in order to open us up or introduce us to a completely new reality. For such a person—and I do not know whether some of those who are here may identify with what I am saying—what will it take for that person to be able to come out of that pit and accept the personal relationship Jesus wants to have with her or with him?

Pastor: Again, I believe it is believing that what He says in His Word is real, that He wants to be found, and from there beginning with things as basic as what we are doing: gathering together. When we see others who are also engaged in that same search, it encourages us. It encouraged me at the beginning, and it still encourages me. And we must never despair, because I too went through a period in my life when I did not feel anything or see that anything was happening. I came to understand that there were layers in my being, in my emotions, that were hindering God, and God was dealing with me. And I believe what sustained me was knowing that the hand of God was upon me, that He had a personal relationship with me, and knowing that this did not depend on my emotions. So it is simply a matter of continuing to take those steps, continuing to be as obedient as possible to what He says in His Word, and knowing that one day He will give you that reward. In my case, perhaps it took me about two years to fall in love with Him; for some it may take less, and for others perhaps more. But again, our salvation does not depend on that. As long as our heart remains open and we are living for Him, the rest will come. It is a matter of having that confidence that it will happen. And we must gather together with others, seek the counsel of others, and continue reading His Word—but again, calmly, with passion, yet knowing that He will give us the answer because He knows what we are going through. Jesus came to this earth, left His riches in glory, and left the perfection and beauty He possessed in order to come to us and have a personal relationship with us. So nothing we may be going through shocks Him.

Perhaps I can conclude by reading Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 14 through 16. It says: “Therefore, having a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession, because we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” So He tells us that He experienced what we are going through, that He knows the hindrances we have in our lives. He knows the obstacles that are there and that perhaps keep us from taking steps more quickly; but because He knows, He will continue working in us. He is here forever.

Verse 16 of Hebrews chapter 4 says: “Let us therefore draw near confidently to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.” So that is the Lord we serve, the One who tells us, “Draw near to Me.” And it says confidently—with tenacity, with assurance, with complete certainty that He will be found. He is not like us when, at times, we play games with one another about whether or not we will meet and are only sometimes available. He wants to be found, so our role is simply to draw near. And sometimes drawing near takes us a while, but let us continue in the same direction of finding Him, because when we do that, when we go to the throne of grace—not to the throne where I once understood God to be, but to the throne of grace, which is very different—we receive mercy and find grace for timely help. That means not only receiving salvation now, or what we need at the moment, but also that later on He will give us grace for timely help whenever any situation in life arises. He will be there to give us what we need.

That is a beautiful verse about the accessibility of our God, about His desire to be found, to be discovered, and to have that fellowship, that intimacy, every day of our lives.

Pastor: Amen. Meche, I would like you to finish by praying for the church in light of the words you have just spoken—beautiful words about our being able to draw near to Him and know that He will also draw near to us, and to know this with certainty. So could you pray with us, offering a prayer for the church?

Pastor: Lord, we thank You for Your presence in this place, Lord. Father, we thank You because one day You gave Your life on the cross so that we might have not only eternal life, but abundant life right here on earth, Lord. Lord, I thank You because on the day You ceased to live as a human being, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, letting us know that we have access to You. Thank You for that, Lord, because before there was a veil that prevented us from entering directly into Your presence, and now, since Your Son came to die for our sins, from that moment on we have had access. We can enter confidently because the High Priest has already done all the work we need in order to enter into the presence of the Most High. Thank You, God, for that privilege. Thank You because in Your Word You say that You will no longer call us servants, but friends, because You have come to share the revelation of the Father with us. Thank You for Your healing work; thank You for everything You do. Father, I ask that in this church, in this place, this may always be the place where—not dozens or hundreds, but thousands of people, we pray—come to know You, God, right here in this very place, where they begin their walk with You. And Father, I ask that each one of us may be conscious that every one of us is an example to others, and that the way we live our lives will impact the lives of many.

I ask You, Lord, that many may come to know You because of what they see each of my brothers and sisters doing, because of how they live their lives. Likewise, I ask that they may desire to imitate You, Lord, because of what they see in the lives of others. Thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to speak about Your things, Lord. Thank You for Your Word, Lord, and thank You for the wonderful gift of salvation. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

Pastor: Thank You, Lord Jesus, thank You. Well, I invite you now to close this time with one more hymn and affirm that sense of love and commitment in the certainty that He is there, accessible to each of our lives. Thank You, Lord.