Skip to main content

"Follow Me"

    Sometimes as Christians we get worn down. We lose our faith in God and begin to doubt Him when our promises don't seem like they will ever happen. We get mad because our life doesn't look the way we wanted it to. I believe that the source of these frustrations is that we have placed God's plans within the confines of our own plans and ideas for our life.

    When we expect God to fit into our box, we make ourselves the God. We make Him a means to our end and say that it was all done in His "honor." Far too many "Christ followers" have their own detailed plan for what their future looks like-- their spouse, their occupation, their role in the church, their finances, etc. Why do we think that we have got it all figured out? We say to Jesus, "If you could just ok my plan that would be great." We make it all about ourselves. I believe that truly being a disciple of Christ is laying YOUR plans for your life aside to leave room for Jesus'. It means dropping all the expectations you had and simply following Him whatever He has for you.

    If we know He is good, then why do we doubt Him? I encourage you today to set the things aside that you want for you to make room for what He wants for you. If what you wanted to start with was in His will for you, then you will be able to watch it come to pass with your eyes fixed on Him and not the blessing. But if we are too distracted by what we want, we will miss the blessing in His plan for us. Christians have to be in the habit of constantly giving up what we want for Him.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (ESV)

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (NIV)

Luke 14:27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (NIV)

John 21:19 And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (ESV)

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. (ESV)

Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. (NIV)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jealous Eyes to Thankful Hearts

    When you love someone you want the best for them. You don't think about all the things they have and you don't, but you think of what you want to give to them. Likewise, it is hard to love someone when you are focused on wanting all their blessings. Jealousy is blinding. We cannot love with envy standing in the way.     Envy takes our eyes off of Jesus and the things He is doing and onto what He is not  seeming to do for us, personally. It is a dangerous trap to be in because you are blind to what He has given to you. He blesses and uses us all differently. Amazingly, we are each completely unique in Him. Don't let the enemy distract you with what you don't seem to have, but let Jesus show you what you do.     When we don't see what is around us we begin to lose our thankfulness. We are supposed to be living a lifestyle of thankfulness to Jesus and all the wonderful things He has done for us. We thank Him and we praise Him and let Him use us ac...

How Firm a Foundation

Matthew 7:24-27 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Luke 6:46-49 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against th...

Seeing by Faith

    When we are trying to live by faith, the things that inhibit us are the things that are right under our noses. We are trained to live based on the things around us. We don't believe anything if we don't see proof of it. The things around us are more our reality than what we say we believe in. But the Bible tells us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We are to live based on what we know is truth, not by what we see.     The things we see around us distract us from the reality we should be living in. What is unseen is eternal and more important than the things of this world. We need to fix our eyes on what is lasting and know the difference. We need to be filling ourselves with the word and not the world. When we are distracted by the world, we forget the truth. We become discouraged and doubt our faith. We need to draw strength from one another so that we may run the race with endurance.     What is determining your reality today? Is i...