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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

He Time

     We have now gone over me time and we time, so today I want to address He time. It's a pretty simple concept-- that we have to spend time with Jesus to grow our faith. Just like anything else we want to get better at, you have to spend time doing it. In the case of Christianity, we are changed into the image of Jesus as we spend time with Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)     My message is as simple as this-- make sure that you are setting time aside for Christ. You will never change if you don't continually immerse yourself into His presence. We need to be spending time in His word so we know His promises and guidelines for our life, in prayer to speak to Him for individual direction in our circumstances, and worshipping Him for His goodness.     Do not le...
Post a Comment
Read more

Think Twice

    When the Holy Spirit was sent to us on earth, it made Jesus readily available to all. Now He lives in us, not among us. When you are a born again Christian, you now have Jesus dwelling inside you. How does that affect your daily life? Do you realize that you are a reflection of the one you carry with you everywhere you go?    Sadly, that doesn't mean much to a lot of Christians. Instead of using Jesus as an instrument of love, hope, and salvation, they use His name as a weapon. They spend their time boycotting instead of praying for Jesus to change hearts. Telling others that the God who IS love, hates them. Letting others know that they will go to hell for their decisions, instead of lighting the way to heaven. Let me be clear: this is wrong! No one wants to believe in a hateful, unforgiving God. I certainly don't. That's why I follow Jesus.     Even if you aren't the one openly boycotting on street corners, be careful of the image of God you are g...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Path to Life

     Through this most recent season in life, God has been teaching me what it truly means to follow His plans for my life. Over the last year or so,  I have had to make some of the most ''adult" decisions in my life so far. Through that process, I have had to rely heavily on faith and the leading of the Holy Spirit to discern which is the right way to go. It has been a challenge for me, a planner to the core, to put my trust fully in God's plans and leading even when I am unable to see what's ahead and I am glad to say I have come out having learned a few things.      The main takeaway I would like to share is this: the right way is not the easiest way . That probably sounds very obvious if you have spent any time in church, but I never thought about that principle carrying over into walking out God's plans for my life. You see, there have been decisions that I have made over the last year that I was certain were what God was leading me to do. An...
Post a Comment
Read more