Following Jesus.... Its not hard to follow Jesus.... Normally we think the hard part is not following your sinful inclinations...... That is not really that hard if you have a right view of Who God is in Jesus Christ.... It really takes a willingness to see God for who He really is.... It seems that everything in our world wants to distort our view of God..... Just reading Gods word with our finite minds will distort our interpretation of the bible and who God is.... God reveals Himself through the bible... If you reject Gods powerful truth and try to interject your own truth, you will get a distorted view of God.... He doesnt reveal Himself through our human understanding...... Gods ways are not our ways... I remember that little glimpse that I got of God while reading the bible... God revealed Himself when I was willing to believe that God exist...... I held tightly to that first revelation of the existence of God..... There was no longer any uncertainty about His existence..... Since there was a God, I knew that I had to find out who He is...... I could read the bible and see God.... I could look at the world around me and see evidence of God.... I could see glimpses of God in some people.... I could look at other people and not see God.... God was much bigger than I could ever imagine..... While reading Gods word I struggled with the fact that His holiness kept me at a distance.... It was as if God was showing me who he was but was keeping me away from Himself..... I could see the love He had for His creation.... God Almighty loves mankind, it was evident by His patience for those who hated Him..... It all came together when I read where this Holy yet Merciful God came here to earth in the form of a man to die for mankind.... I saw that God loved me so much that He was willing to die on the cross for me...... Gods great and powerful love for me provided the way for me to come into His presence... As I surrendered my old belief system over and started to trust and believe that the love of Jesus Christ on the cross made the way for me to spend eternity with Holy God, He revealed more of Himself to me..... The Holy Spirit of God Almighty moved into me when my sins were forgiven..... He no longer held me at arms length..... God embraced me and showed me Who He really is.... At that moment I realized that I am nothing without Him..... I see people trying to live the Christian life using their own power all of the time.... Some of them dont do bad things and they think they are living right..... Some of them do some pretty good things and they think God is impressed..... It is as if we think God will give us credit for our self-efforts.... God loves us dearly but He is never impressed with our efforts.... Our effort equals self pride.... Pride comes in the form of self satisfaction when we think we do good or self deprivation when we think we do bad.... Our problem come because we think we can judge good and bad..... That is why surrendering to following Jesus is so difficult..... It is our pride..... Our prideful heart is broken when we have a right view of Almighty God..... With our pride gone we are free to completely surrender or become a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ..... It is then, that we can simply follow Jesus as directed by Christ Spirit in us..... It come with daily or even moment by moment surrender..... God is God and we are not! John 5:39–40 (NLT) 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. Matthew 16:24 (NLT) 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. John 6:63 (NLT) 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 8:12 (NLT) Jesus, the Light of the World 12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 10:10 (NLT) 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 12:25–26 (NLT) 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. John 13:34–35 (NLT) 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 14:15–17 (NLT) Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit 15 “If you love me, obey* my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,* who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.* Romans 12:1–2 (NLT) A Living Sacrifice to God And so, dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.* 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Hebrews 1 (NLT) Jesus Christ Is God’s Son Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. The Son Is Greater Than the Angels 5 For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.*” God also said, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”* 6 And when he brought his supreme* Son into the world, God said,* “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”* 7 Regarding the angels, he says, “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire.”* 8 But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. 9 You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”* 10 He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. 12 You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever.”* 13 And God never said to any of the angels, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”* 14 Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:20:51 +0000
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