Words of Encouragement and Thoughts (6)

“And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” (Matthew 14:23 NKJV)

KNOW WHEN TO SEND THE MULTITUDES AWAY

Being a Christian is not belonging to a religious sect, organization, or denomination. But, it is essentially having a personal, intimate and loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

However, Christianity is not isolation or separation from people. It is beneficial for a believer to belong to and be active in a Christ-centred local church.

The Bible admonishes us to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10:24-25 NKJV).

It is undoubtedly very good, necessary, and highly rewarding for you to fellowship regularly with other born-again believers. However, this must never be considered or regarded as a good substitute for your regular personal and intimate fellowship with God.

There is nothing more rewarding and enriching than a time spent alone with God. Therefore, you must guard your time of personal and deep communion with God jealously. Nothing must be allowed to compete with it or to substitute for it.

Although our Lord Jesus Christ always had multitudes with varied needs to attend to every day, yet He knew when to send them away, so that He may have a personal and intimate fellowship with His Father.

The Scripture records: “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” (Matt. 14:23 NKJV).

If our Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world purposely to seek and save the lost souls could send the people away so that He might have time alone with God, there is absolutely nothing wrong for you to withdraw from the multitude in order to have some time alone with God.

Besides sending the multitudes away, there were also times when Jesus sent away even His close disciples, so that He might have an uninterrupted personal communion with God (Mk. 6:45-47).

Most times, Jesus would withdraw from His disciples while they were still sleeping and went out to a solitary place, so that He might pray and meditate alone (Luke 4:42). And the disciples would wake up only to find out that He was not with them and then began to search for Him.

The Scripture records: “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.” (Mark 1:35-36 NKJV).

It is wisdom for you to prize, esteem and guard jealously above anyone or anything else your time alone with God.

Truly, we live in a boisterous and clamorous world. There are many things competing for your attention, devotion, and affection on a daily basis.

Your loved ones need you to spend quality time with them daily. Your business, ministry, career or job also needs your undivided attention and devotion. You have church services to attend weekly or even daily. You also need time for recreations and other activities.

Considering your daily busy and tight schedule, it is so easy to sacrifice your time alone with God, deceiving or consoling yourself that God understands that you are too busy. It requires no effort to substitute your personal fellowship with God with corporate fellowship.

When you constantly sacrifice your time alone with God for other activities or fellowships, you will miss the tremendous blessings of personal, deep and intimate communion with God.

While Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes in the public, he explained all things in the closet to His disciples who delighted in spending time alone with Him.

The Scripture reveals, “But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” (Mark 4:34 NKJV).

There are deep things about God, His kingdom, and His plans and purposes for your life that you may never get to know or understand in the public or while among the multitudes, but only when you are alone with God, in your closet or solitary place.

Drifting from one church to another, from one special meeting to another, or from one prophet to another may compound your confusion and frustration. But, when you set aside a definite and quality time to be alone with God regularly, like Jesus did to His disciples, He will explain all things to you.

God waited patiently for Jacob to be left alone before He drew near to wrestle with him to transform him and bestow upon him true generational blessings. Until Jacob was left alone with God, he never disclosed his true identity and his deepest longing to God (Gen. 32:22-32).

Like Jacob, there are some deep longings, wounds, hurts, inner struggles or anguishes that you may not feel too comfortable or may even be ashamed to expose for God to heal while you are in the company of other believers. This is why you must always set aside a time for a personal and deep communion with God.

Beloved, it is very good, beneficial and rewarding for you to cultivate the habit of making time out of your daily busy schedule to be alone with God daily to worship God, to behold God’s beauty, to inquire from God’s mouth, to meditate upon God’s Word, and to share freely your deepest thoughts and emotions with God.

Moses might have died as an insignificant shepherd if not that he turned aside from his flocks to focus on God and spend time alone with God (Exo. 3:1-10).

You may never become all that God has destined you to become in this life if you continue to treat or handle casually or nonchalantly your personal time of fellowship with God.

Friend, make time out today and everyday to be alone with the Lord, beholding His glory and being transformed into His image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).

Don’t continue to miss the tremendous blessings of spending quality time alone with God daily!

The Scripture states: “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the LORD.” (Prov. 8:34-35 NKJV).

Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, deliver me from all distractions and activities that hinder me daily from having a quality personal and uninterrupted communion with You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SPEAKING THROUGH DISAPPOINTMENTS

Numbers 14:17-24

Often we become so focused on something or someone that we’re unable to hear the Lord. In those times, one of God’s most effective yet painful methods of getting our attention is through disappointments. But oh, how we dislike this approach!

Disappointment is one of the ways God spoke dramatically to the nation of Israel. In Numbers 14, He directed His people into the Promised Land. However, fear invaded their hearts and they were scared of the inhabitants, so they refused to enter. As a result, the Lord told the Israelites they’d “by no means see the land” for 40 years, until after the death of the generation that had been too fearful to enter (Numbers 14:23).

The postponement was so disheartening that they decided to change their minds. Sadly, though, it was too late; God had already settled the issue. And the people were distraught with grief because of what they had missed.

At that moment, when they were in the throes of their disappointment, do you think God had their attention? Absolutely. The next time He gave Israel a command, don’t you imagine they listened a bit more intently?

Tragically, failure is rather common in such situations. Instead of looking to God when disappointments occur, we are quick to blame circumstances, other people, fate, or even the enemy.

We are hesitant to believe that our loving Father could be responsible for our frustrations. Yet He is willing to use disappointments to realign our thoughts and plans with His. Consider the difficulties you have faced—might the Lord have been trying to say something in the midst of them?

InTouch Daily devotional by Charles Stanley

Watching With Jesus

Stay here and watch with Me. —Matthew 26:38

“Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular “Gethsemane” experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, “No, Lord, I can’t see the meaning of this, and besides, it’s very painful.” And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don’t even know why He is suffering? We don’t know how to watch with Him— we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.

The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they “all…forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:4). “They” refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events— our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension— and the disciples have now been invaded and “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord had said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R

Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Daily Devotional by Derek Prince.

Delighted in God

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. NIV

Notice that first word: “Delight yourself.” I heard someone once ask this question of a group of people: “Do you enjoy your religion, or do you endure it?” I think that to the majority of people religion is something to endure. It’s a kind of painful duty that they have to go through with, but that’s not the way God wants us to experience Him. He doesn’t want us to endure Him; He wants us to enjoy Him.

The Westminster Confession, which is the basic doctrinal statement of the Presbyterian Church, says this: “The supreme duty of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Have you ever thought of enjoying God? God says, “Delight yourself in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart.” That doesn’t mean simply that God will do for us everything we might wish or think. It means that He’ll put in us new desires – godly desires, beneficial desires, the kind of desires that God has Himself. And then He’ll satisfy those desires because He’s put them there in our heart in the first place. And all that comes when we delight ourselves in the Lord. When we find real joy and pleasure and satisfaction in our personal relationship with the Lord. Then out of that comes that blessed peace that He will put into our hearts – those desires which He Himself has and which He wants to share with us, desires that are beneficial in their fulfillment.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV)

BEHOLDING WITH UNVEILED FACE

When Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the law, the skin of his face shone and glowed with God’s glory, and the children of Israel were afraid to come near Moses (Exo. 34:30).

Therefore, Moses had to put a veil on his face while speaking with the children of Israel. That means the people could only see God’s glory through the veil. Sadly, many people today, like the Jews of old, are still beholding God’s glory through the veil.

The Scripture states: “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.” (2 Cor. 3:14-15 NKJV).

This scripture reveals why many Jews could not recognize or accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah when He came to them (John 1:11).

When you view an object through a veil, your perception, observation, or description of the object will certainly be distorted or inaccurate because you are not seeing the object as it is.

Similarly, when you approach or behold God’s Word with a veiled mind, your interpretation and understanding of the Scripture will be distorted, biased and inaccurate, thereby resulting in a wrong application of God’s Word to your life and situation.

Many believers today are not being transformed increasingly into Christlikeness in their thoughts, emotions and character in spite of beholding, reading, hearing, or listening to God’s Word daily or regularly. Why? Because of the veils on their mind!

As a result of their veiled mind, they are always reading their preferred meanings and preconceived ideas into God’s Word, thereby speaking to themselves rather than God speaking to them through His Word and thus making God’s Word of no effect in their lives (Mark. 7:13).

Any veil you allow to remain on your mind will impair or distort your vision or revelation of Jesus Christ. It will blind your mind to the true love, nature, glory, or character of Christ.

You cannot be changed or transformed progressively into Christlikeness by His Word when you allow the veil of religion, of culture, of human tradition or philosophy to remain on your mind.

You are transformed into Christlikeness from glory to glory as you constantly behold the glory of the Lord in the mirror of God’s Word with an unveiled mind.

The Scripture states: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV).

It is unprofitable to continue to behold the glory of the Lord in the mirror of His Word without dealing with the veils on your mind.

If you are not becoming increasingly like the Lord Jesus Christ in your mind, will, thoughts, mindsets, emotions, conduct or character in spite of you constantly reading, studying, hearing and meditating in God’s Word; you certainly have a veil on your mind that is preventing you from seeing clearly the Lord Jesus Christ as He is.

When you see the Lord Jesus as He is, with an unveiled mind, you will be like Him.

The Scripture states: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2 NKJV).

You are not becoming more and more like Christ because you are not seeing Him more and more as He is, with an unveiled face.

How then do you get the veil taken away from your mind?
Simply by turning to the Lord Jesus!

The Scripture states: “Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Cor. 3:16 NKJV).

It is turning humbly, completely, or wholeheartedly to the Lord Jesus in faith that takes away the veil. Unless you approach God’s Word as a little child with eagerness and meekness to learn, trust and obey God’s Word, the veil will remain on your mind.

Beloved, it is turning wholeheartedly to the Holy Spirit and trusting Him completely to explain, expound, or interpret God’s Word to you that will get rid of the veils on your mind. However, if you continue to approach God’s Word as the wise and prudent, you will continue to behold the Lord’s glory in His Word with a veiled mind, and that is unprofitable to you.

God only reveals His Word to babes - those who approach His Word with eagerness, meekness, humility and faith to learn, to receive and obey what God’s Word teaches and commands.

The Lord Jesus said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” (Matt. 11:25-26 NKJV).

Therefore, begin to approach God’s Word today with a child-like attitude, trusting the divine author of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit, to give you spiritual understanding and revelation knowledge of His Word.

Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, I humbly and wholeheartedly turn to You today to take away every veil on my mind that I may see Christ as He is, and be progressively transformed into His likeness, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THE WAY TO FINISH WELL

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Many people think about the last years of life as an opportunity to relax. But this does not fit with God’s purpose for us; He wants us to serve Him all the days of our lives.

Let’s look at the apostle Paul’s journey and explore what it means to finish well. He spent time pouring into others until the very end of his life. Consider the letters he wrote to Timothy from prison prior to being executed. In every season of life, God calls us to serve others.

And notice how, when writing about his life, Paul chose words descriptive of a battle. He understood the human struggle against sin as well as the challenges of pain and persecution in the trials we all face—even in doing kingdom work like preaching Christ to a fiercely resistant society.

This godly servant’s life was also marked by surrender. His mindset is obvious in these words: “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1). He was not afraid of the Roman emperor Nero, nor was he struggling to stay alive. Paul trusted God to determine everything about his life, including where he would go, what he would do, and when he would die. Death did not scare him, because he knew he would dwell with Jesus forever.

God doesn’t require us to have perfect lives in order to finish strong. We can live abundantly and be ready to meet our Maker by surrendering, walking victoriously with Christ, and serving others. The question is, if Jesus called you home today, would you—like Paul—be confident that you lived well until the end?

InTouch Daily devotional by Charles Stanley

Daily Devotional by Derek Prince.

Soul Thirst

Psalm 42:1–2
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? NIV

David speaks there about a thirst of the soul. He says, “My soul thirsts for God.” I suppose we are all familiar with what thirst is in our personal experience. For me, it’s something very vivid and personal because I spent three years during World War II in the British army in the deserts of North Africa – in barren, dry, waterless, thirsty country. During those years, many times we found ourselves short of water. We were thirsty and we didn’t have a source of supply, and I realize from experience that when we lack water and when we are thirsty there’s only one thing that matters at that time and that is to get water, to drink, to satisfy our thirst.

But David speaks about a relationship to God that’s parallel to physical thirst. He says, “My soul thirsts for God. When can I go and meet with God?” Do you know what it is to thirst for God? Have you ever felt that deep, inner longing that cannot be satisfied with anything less than God Himself? If you have, I want to tell you that God is waiting. You can go and meet with Him and satisfy that thirst in your soul, which cannot be satisfied by anything but God.

A Kingdom Man Makes the Right Choice

Love cares more for others than for self. . . . [Love] keeps going to the end. —1 Corinthians 13:3–7, The Message

Some years ago, I heard a story about an eagle. It flew over a river one winter and noticed a large chunk of ice floating in the water. The eagle landed on the ice to relax for a minute. He had eagle eyes so he could see a waterfall up ahead. He could hear the roar of the cascading torrent downstream. But he knew he had plenty of time to fly away. So he stayed. But as the eagle stood on the ice, his talons froze to it. As he spread his wings to fly away, he went nowhere. He was stuck. He had waited too long, and he plunged over the falls on his chunk of ice.

As a man, you are a leader by position and function. You are ultimately responsible for those within your domain. You can lead those under your care to safety or drive them to harm. But to sit and wait passively is a choice for destruction. Joshua chose well and ruled well, and as he neared the end of his life, he reminded his people of their choice: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve,” he said. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). You must make the same choice every day. Ruling well is a lifelong skill forged through faithfulness and dedication. A kingdom man chooses daily to give his all to rule well.

Application

1. Who is your house serving?

2. Have you failed by failing to choose?

3. What step will you take today toward consistent leadership?

Prayer

Lord, reveal the steps to turn my best intentions into consistent actions. Amen.

The Alternative View by Tony Evans

“And He said to all, if any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself – that is, disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself – and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (that is, cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example, in living and if need be, in dying also.” (Luke 9:23 AMP)

FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST

Following Jesus is not something passive; it is dynamic and demanding. It is not an inactive condition to assume; it requires diligence and involves taking actions. It is not a one-time event; it is a lifelong commitment, a daily or continuous exercise.

The Lord Jesus said to the multitude that had come to Him, "And He said to all, if any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself – that is, disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself – and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (that is, cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example, in living and if need be, in dying also.” (Luke 9:23 AMP).

It is quite possible to be a believer and yet not be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus pointed this out when he demanded that the Jews who had believed in Him as the Messiah should also abide in His Word and thus become His disciples indeed.

The Scripture records: “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:30-32 NKJV).

The word “follow” is a dynamic word having various meanings or implications.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “follow” as: “To come or go after; proceed behind; To move along the course of; To go in the direction of; be guided by; To accept the guidance, command, or leadership of; To adhere to; practice; To take as a model or precedent; imitate; To act in agreement or compliance with; obey; To keep to or stick to; To watch or observe closely; To be attentive to; pay close heed to; To keep oneself informed of the course, progress, or fortunes of; To grasp the meaning or logic of; understand.”

Collins English Dictionary adds these meanings to the definitions of the word “follow:” “To go or come after in the same direction; To accompany; attend; To keep to the course or track of; To accept the ideas or beliefs; To understand; To watch closely or continuously; To have keen interest in; To help in the cause of or accept the leadership of; To do the same as someone else.”

Also, when you examine Jesus’ words, “Follow Me” in various Bible translations, it means:
“Come after Me” (Luke 9:23 BBE); “Be my follower” (Luke 9:23 WNT); “Keep close to me” (Luke 9:23 LB); “Walk in my steps” (Luke 9:23 TCNT); “Cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example, in living and if need be, in dying also” (Luke 9:23 AMP).

From the above Dictionary and Scriptural definitions or renditions of the word “follow,” we can deduce that:

First, Following Jesus is submitting to Jesus’ Leadership:

You cannot be a disciple of Jesus if you are unwilling to accept Jesus without any reservation as your Lord, Master and king. Following Jesus implies embracing and adopting completely Jesus’ values, beliefs, ideas, principles, goals, visions, teachings and lifestyle.

It is quite possible to believe, accept, receive and confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour, Healer, Deliverer, Protector or Provider, but not embrace and submit to Him as your Lord, Master or Leader.

Many religious people could not follow Jesus Christ in His days on earth because they were unwilling to accept His leadership and submit to His teachings. At a point, many of those who had embraced Jesus as their Saviour went back and walked with Him no more because of His teachings (John 6:60-66).

You are not following the Lord Jesus Christ if you don’t totally believe and accept all that Jesus has said or taught about Himself and about everything else whether in person while on earth or through His early apostles.

Second, Following Jesus is taking Jesus as your ultimate Standard or Model in everything:

A model is simply someone worthy of imitation. Following Jesus speaks of accepting and regarding Christ as your ultimate Standard, Model and Example to imitate in everything. You cannot be a disciple of Christ if you are not willing to conform wholly to Christ’s example in living, and in suffering and dying also, if need be (Philip. 3:10).

God’s ultimate purpose for all His children is to be fully conformed to Christ’s image or likeness. That is, to grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, or grow up in all things into Christ (Rom. 8:28-29, Eph. 4:11-15).

If this is not the ultimate purpose you are pursuing in life, you are not following Jesus Christ!

Third, Following Jesus is paying close attention to Jesus:

Following Jesus connotes watching or observing Jesus closely and continuously. It involves fellowshipping or communing daily, regularly or constantly with Jesus in prayer and in the study of His Word.

You are not following Jesus if you have no fervent desire or keen interest to commune with Jesus daily, to observe His lifestyle or example in the Bible, to inquire and learn from Him, to seek to know and understand His will and ways, and to pay a close attention daily to His corrections and instructions (Psa. 27:4, Prov. 8:34-35).

If you don’t make it your daily priority to wait upon the Lord Jesus and commune with Him, you are not following Him. When you stop waiting upon Jesus, looking unto Jesus, or paying close attention to Jesus and His teachings; you cease following Him and being His disciple (John 8:30-32).

Fourth, Following Jesus is obeying Jesus:

Following Jesus is obeying every command, instruction, or teaching of Jesus Christ. This is not a selective, partial or delayed obedience, but a prompt and perfect obedience to whatever Jesus commands, instructs or teaches. If you are selective in your obedience to Jesus’ teachings, you are not following Him.

Following Jesus is essentially practicing God’s Word. It implies abiding or continuing in Jesus’ teachings. This is why Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you abide in my teaching, you are my true disciples.” (John 8:31 MNT).

Therefore, if you are living in disobedience to God’s Word or specific instructions from the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not a follower of Christ (John 14:23, 15:14).

Fifth, Following Jesus is cleaving to Jesus:

Following Jesus demands separating from others to cling or stick steadfastly to Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus closely and consistently without leaving yourself and the world behind you (Matt. 6:24, Jam. 4:4, 1 John 2:15).

Following Jesus is leaving no gap between you and Jesus for anyone or anything to fill (Matt. 26:58).

This is what the Psalmist meant when he said,
“My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.” (Psa. 63:8 NKJV).
“My soul followeth hard after thee…” (Psa. 63:8 KJV).
“My soul clings to thee...” (Psa. 63:8 RSV).
“My soul keeps ever near you...” (Psa. 63:8 BBE).

Following Jesus speaks of panting, thirsting or longing for Jesus and His Word above anything else (Psa. 63:1-2, 84:1-2).

This is what the Psalmist meant when he said, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psa. 42:1-2 NKJV).

Following Jesus is looking unto Jesus - taking your eyes away from all others and fixing them only on Jesus constantly and continuously (Heb 12:1-3). It is holding fast unto God’s Word or standing firm on God’s promises (Heb. 3:14, 6:11).

Sixth, Following Jesus is possessing Jesus’ mindsets:

While on earth, Jesus’ mind was set on pleasing His Father, on seeking and doing His Father’s will, and on accomplishing His Father’s work.

Jesus publicly proclaimed,
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (John 4:34 NKJV).

"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38 NKJV).

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30 NKJV).

Following Jesus speaks of setting your mind as Jesus set His mind on seeking, doing and accomplishing God’s will on earth.

Following Jesus demands you possessing Jesus’ mental attitudes or inclinations. How?
By imbibing Jesus’ Word constantly and continuously, thereby renewing your mind to conform to His mindsets!

Following Jesus is seeing things from Jesus’ perspectives and thinking like Jesus. It is embracing and adopting Jesus’ values, principles and standards in life.

You are not following Jesus if your mind or affection is not set on seeking and doing God’s will, bringing glory to God, and on things above (Matt. 6:31-33, Col. 3:1-2, 2 Cor. 5:9).

Lastly, Following Jesus is devoting yourself to Jesus’ mission:

While on earth, Jesus was fully committed to His Father’s business or work which is primarily seeking and saving the lost souls.

Jesus said to His parents,
"Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" (Luke 2:49 NKJV).

He also declared: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10 NKJV).

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19 NKJV).

Therefore, following Jesus does not end with watching or observing what Jesus does, but it entails doing what you see Jesus do in like manner.

Following Jesus entails demonstrating God’s pure and unconditional love to people, seeking for the lost souls, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, teaching God’s Word, making disciples for Christ, healing the sick, setting the captives free, feeding the poor and taking care of the widows and orphans as Jesus did.

The Lord’s desire and expectation is that anyone who follows Him will do the works He did and even do greater works than what He did.

Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12 NKJV).

Beloved, following Jesus is simply living just as Jesus lived, walking just as Jesus walked, and working just as Jesus worked while on earth.

Prayer: My Dear Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for showing me a perfect example of how to live and love, and walk and work. Help me Holy Spirit to follow Jesus’ example practically, completely and continuously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Jegede Sunday E