July 20th

JULY 20th

What Jesus is essentially saying when He says, “Come, follow Me” is “Come, become my disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking by the Spirit the same path of Life that I walk, the way I walk.”

The thing that we often don’t think about or realize as humans, is that it is literally impossible to follow Him if we don’t completely deny our selfish/self-centered life.

If we have our own interests/desires in mind we can’t follow His path because He thinks differently that we do.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We can’t have His thoughts if we are busy with our own thoughts, we have to have a transformed renewed mind and that happens by the Spirit and through the Word.

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Jesus is asking us to walk by the Spirit with Him, not walk in the flesh with Him. To do this we must surrender to the Spirit and ask Him to fill us to overflowing with His Spirit. If we are just trying to add Jesus on to our life we will fail to follow. We must up-end our lives, we must surrender and do a complete 180. It may seem like a big job, it may even seem impossible but it is necessary. It starts with a prayer of surrender and then one decision at a time today. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what to do every single moment of today. Ask Him for His agenda instead of asking Him to fit into your agenda. He knows that you may have a job or meetings that you can’t miss. He will not ask you to be delinquent, He will ask you to be the best employee you can be and He may ask you to smile or speak to someone today that you have not before. He will ask you to be respectful and kind. He will ask you to start seeing others through His eyes so that you can love them with His love even when you don’t want to in your flesh. He will give you the power, the fruit and the peace that you need to walk in His agenda. -But only if you surrender your way to Him.

If we want all that God has for us, it requires letting go of what we are trying to get on our own. What are you holding back?

Jesus thank you for the invitation to follow you. I want more, I want to walk in the Spirit like you, I want to experience the fullness of life that you want to give me. Today I surrender all of me to you and I ask you to fill me to overflowing and transform me.