“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.’” (Matthew 16:24 NLT)
What’s the Lord prompting you to do, be, or say that is unusual or out of your proverbial “comfort zone?” Lead a class? Take a new job? Begin or end a relationship? Begin a relationship with Jesus? Get Baptized? Go on a Mission’s Trip? What’s YOUR next step? We all have one. Will you move to where He’s leading? Or stay where you are?
We can’t stay where we are and go where we’re called to go! A decision must be made, our will must be activated, and motion or movement must result. Too many of us want to give lip service to following Christ, but not get our feet involved, but it simply doesn’t work that way. What the spirit desires, the mind must instruct our feet to obey.
To say we’re all in but seek to limit God in the ways He can instruct us is almost like saying I want to learn to sky-dive but never leave the ground. You can watch videos about it all day long, but until you jump out of the plane, you’re never going to sky-dive. You can learn enough to teach a class, but if someone asks: “How did it feel the first time you jumped?” you’re going to be stuttering because the fact is, you’ve never left the ground.
It’s not unlike that with Jesus. We can read the Bible, even memorize all or parts of it, but until we bow before Him and relinquish ownership and rulership of our lives to Him, we’re just exercising our mind, not our heart and we don’t just follow Jesus with our mind, we must get our heart involved. Pastor Rick Warren wrote: “At an early age I told God, ‘I’m all in! I don’t care what you ask me to do or how tough it is, I’ll say yes—anytime, anywhere, anyplace.’ Since then, it has been a wild and amazing adventure doing what God has asked me to do.”
So, I’ll ask again: “What’s the Lord asking YOU to do?” It doesn’t matter what it is, if you’re sure it’s the Lord, take a blank piece of paper and write in large letters: “YES”, then sign your name at the bottom. “But what if it’s scary?” It will be. “What if I feel uncomfortable?” You will. “What if I’ve never done it before?” There’s a first time for everything. You’ll learn and you’ll improve. Just do the right thing and you’ll feel the right way about it.
I remember well one of my first sermons. I’d prayed, prepared, prayed more, prepared more, until the day finally arrived and I poured my heart out for the Lord. As I was standing at the door as people left, an elderly lady shook my hand and said, “Oh brother Hager, that was one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard, there’s just one thing, you’re going to have to learn to speak up, I hardly heard a word you said.” My sermons may not have gotten better, but they did get louder. 😊
Jesus told His early disciples, “Follow Me and I will teach you…” We learn by following, but we also learn by leading those we’ve been called to lead. Following Jesus is the delight of my life. I’ve grown to love Him and follow Him wherever He leads. Has it always been easy? Absolutely not! Has it always worked out as I’d hoped? Nope. Have I always learned something valuable and life changing! Nearly every time!
Just put your “yes” on the table, as I have, and leave the rest to the Lord. He has promised NEVER to leave us, and He always keeps His word. Regardless of where He leads or what He asks of us, we are NEVER capable, in and of ourselves. We MUST learn to lean completely on the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill, empower, and enable us to do whatever it is the Lord has asked, leaving the results to Him.
The ONLY way to effectively follow Jesus is ALL IN!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 