"Come After"

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me".  Luke 9:23

Jesus offers an invitation to anyone who will to come after Him.  This phrase "come after" has a two-fold meaning.  One means to follow behind something or someone.  Many are "coming after" Jesus like this.  They are following Him through religious formality.  They go to church, they have a church membership, they read the Bible, give offerings, say prayers and try to treat others kindly.  They stay away from alcohol and other vices and immorality.  They are doing the works, but have they really accepted the invitation?

Have you ever heard anyone say that they were "going after" something?  You may have heard those who participate in the Olympics talk about "going after the gold".  What do they mean?  It means they are passionately pursuing that gold metal.  They are doing whatever it takes to obtain it.  They are making whatever sacrifices that are necessary in order to win it. They aren't letting anything stop them, hinder them or get in their way from obtaining it.  They are keeping their eye on the prize and doing everything in their power to pursue it.  This is the second meaning of "come after".  This is the invitation that Jesus has given us.  To passionately pursue Him.  To go after Him with everything we have and are.  To see Him as the greatest "prize" to be received.

Have you accepted His invitation?  Are you "coming after" Him?  Which definition are you coming after Him with?  Are you following Him through religion practices only-- the dos and don'ts, the list of religious rules and regulations?  Or are you following Him with a passionate pursuit?  Having "eyes" only for Him?  Going after Him with all you have?  Loving Him with all your heart, soul, strength and mind?  Giving/sacrificing all to have that relationship with Him?  Making Him your heart and life's goal?  You are either following Him one way or the other.  Which is it?

Have a great day.  How are you "coming after" Jesus? 

"First Love And First Works"

"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent".  Revelation 2:2-5

The Lord said that these people had lost their first love.  Have you lost your first love?  Is Jesus the focal point of your life like He was at the beginning?  Do you still love Him with all your heart, soul, strength and mind?  Or has your love for Him dwindled?  Has He taken a seat further down the line, or at the end, of your affections? 

How does this happen?  We allow the cares of this life to cause us to start turning from Him.  We let others come between us and Him.  There are many reasons.  But more important than "why did this happen?" is "how do I get that first love back?". 

When Jesus told us the problem, He also gave us the solution.  "Repent, and do the first works".  The first step is to repent.  Confess this falling away to Him.  Confess this lack of love to Him.  Repent of it, turn and start heading back toward Him.  Next, do the first works.  If you noticed, He first commended them for their "works".  So, they were doing works.  They were still working for Him and doing His work.  So which works is He talking about?

If you look up the word work in the original language it also means:  that with which anyone is occupied.  Do you remember when you first got married, or were dating someone, how you were occupied and preoccupied with that person you were in love with?  No one else mattered.  Your whole world- your interests, schedule, money, time, plans, every waking moment-- was spent planning how you could be with or see that person.  You longed to be with them.  All you could do was eat, think, drink, sleep, dream about them.  You couldn't wait to be with them and didn't want to leave once you were.  That person was the center of everything you did.  Everyone and everything else came second.  This is the work that He is talking about-- being occupied with Him more than anything else and not letting anything else stand in the way of you being with Him.  You do the first works by being preoccupied and occupied with Jesus.   

Have a great day.  Have you lost your first love?  Are your thoughts and life occupied with Him?         

"True Appearance Or Not?"

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment". John 7:24

As many of you know our ministry runs a thrift store.  Years ago a friend came up to me and told me that she and her husband had passed by the shop one day while I was closed and thought someone had vandalized it.  She was so upset that anyone would do that.  The reason she thought that was because the windows had red paint "scribbled" all over them.  She had her husband turn around so that could take a closer look and clean the paint off of the windows.  Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the paint was also on the inside.  They concluded that I must have done it.  

Let me now tell you the story behind the windows.  When my granddaughter was eight years old, she would "volunteer" for me on Fridays during the summer.  Well, she found a tube of red glass paint.  So, she decided to do a little "artwork" and write some messages and draw on the windows.  Me being the "wonderful" Nana I am--- I let her.  

A lot of time we will "jump to conclusions" based on appearance.  We will act according to what we see.  Many times, what our eyes are telling us is the truth, but sometimes it isn't.  After looking at the windows I could easily see how they drew that conclusion.  (I probably would have too if I had not known the truth.)

I said all that to say this:  Our judgments should not be after appearance.  They should not be solely based on our feelings or opinions.  They should not be based on everyone else's opinions as well.  We should seek the Lord and ask for His understanding in the situation.  God corrected Samuel the prophet for this very thing when he went to anoint a new king of Israel.  He was looking at the statue of the man.  He was looking at the brothers' appearances.  He was following Jessie's opinion, who didn't even think David was good enough to be king, so he left him tending sheep. 

You have heard it said, "Things are not always as they appear"-- this is often true.  Things are not always as others say they are.  Things are not always as we perceive them to be.  So, again, seek the Lord.  Get discernment from Him.  Ask Him to help you see the situation clearly.  Don't just take everyone else's word for it, or make a judgment based solely on the way things look.  It might not be true. 

Have a great day.  Base your judgments on truth, not on appearance only. 

 

"Fight With Your Mouth"

".... and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God".  Ephesians 6:17b

How does the Bible tell us to fight our enemy the devil?  It tells us to fight him with our mouth.  He comes to steal, kill and destroy and he fights against us with his mouth/words.  This is how he fought against mankind in the Garden of Eden-- with words.  "Did God say?"  He is still fighting against us with words.  Words of fear, guilt, shame, condemnation and accusations.  

Many of you are trying to fight him the wrong way.  You think that if you just ignore him, he will go away.  You think that if you talk to him, you will be sinning.  You believe that just because Jesus already defeated him that you don't have to do anything else.  You don't understand that he is to be spoken to in order to defeat or resist him.  I didn't say we are to converse with him.  I said we are to speak to him.

Jesus taught us how to defeat the enemy when He was in the wilderness.  He did not carry on a conversation with the devil.  He did not simply ignore him.  He did not stay speechless.  He spoke the Word of God to him-- "It is written".  When Jesus and His disciples were in the boat and the storm came up, it was no ordinary storm.  It was demonic in nature.  It was the enemy trying to detour and destroy Jesus from reaching His destination.  What did Jesus do in the storm?  He spoke to the storm.  He told it to "shut up and be quiet"! 

In your time of "attack" you are going to have to do the same thing.  You are going to have to open your mouth and use your Sword-- the Word of God.  The Bible tells us we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony.  Are you using God's Word to fight the devil?  Are you being quiet and not saying a word?  Are you ignoring him and hoping he will go away?  It wasn't until Jesus had told him three times that "It is written" that he finally left-- but he did leave. 

Have a great day.  You have to speak to the enemy and tell him what the Word of God says.   

Scripture reference:
Genesis 3:1
John 10:10
Revelation 12:10,11
Mark 4:39
Matthew 4

"Diligent"

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".  2 Timothy 2:15

The word for study here means to endeavor, give diligence, be diligent.  The word for diligent in the dictionary means:  constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything.  So, are we?  Are we diligent when it comes to our relationship and service to the Lord? 

It seems that we are diligent about everything else but our relationship with Him.  We are diligent about our education, in our careers, in our relationships with others, and so on.  That is a good thing.  We don't need to be lazy or slothful in any area of life.  If we say we are a Christian, then we need to be diligent in what we do and be people of excellence.  But our first priority is to please the Lord.  We should endeavor to serve Him with all our hearts.  We should endeavor to give Him our best.  We should endeavor to make His love known to others.  We should be diligent in our study to know Him in deeper depths.  Striving for a close intimate relationship with Him should be the greatest desire of our hearts.

We have been brought into a relationship with the Lord through the sacrificial shed blood of Jesus Christ; therefore, we are not working to be saved.  But we have to be diligent in our salvation.  We have to be diligent, attentive and constant in our relationship with Him.  We can't neglect it and take it for granted.  We can't be "off and on" or "wishy-washy" with it.  It should be our first priority.  It should mean more to us than anything else.  It should be the cry and utmost desire of our hearts.  Is it?

Have a great day.  Are you diligent in your relationship with the Lord?  Does it mean more to you than anything else?