His truth is infinitely greater than the facts we face. –The Divine Romance
What are you focused on at the moment?
I ask that simply because in my own case, I focused on empty, for way too long.
My eyes, and my mind for that matter, were totally focused on my losses.
Not the choice that leads to victory.
It isn’t complicated
Most of our choices in the Christian faith are incredibly simple.
- We can flounder like the foolish man, and build our house on the sand of what this world offers–or we can be wise, and build our house on The Rock and God’s eternal truths.
- We can walk through our trouble “by sight,” or we can focus on God’s word, and “walk by our faith.”
Our choices, in the faith life we call Discipleship, are most of the time relatively simple. We’re the ones that make it complicated with all our questioning, all of our doubts, and especially all of our, “Yeah, but’s…”
We’re the ones who muck up our vision, add weights to our spirits, and thus we hesitate to follow.
No wonder we flounder
Remember when Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing?”
Well, sometimes in our journey of following Him, He will take us to NOTHING.
And in our helplessness we learn, that the less there is of US, the more room we have for HIM. It is a blessing (though you might not see it at first) to experience “Christ in me” in this new way.
Eternity enters your heart and mind in new and powerful ways.
You begin to “see Him” and the indwelling power of His resurrection in your suffering.
In this place of nothing, He will become everything to you, and, when He becomes everything to you, you must follow Him no matter where He leads.
I wish I could tell you that you can KNOW Him apart from this kind of suffering; this kind of emptying; but I don’t think it’s possible.
“Follow Me” branded on your heart
The Bible is honestly transparent with us, about our discipleship, and its cost…
And Jesus Himself warns, “Count the cost.”
Discipleship then is not comfortable circumstances, it is a burning heart to follow.
It is LIFE and TRUTH
Jesus calls us to follow Him anywhere.
No exceptions. No excuses.
He won’t promise, “Following Me is going to be easy, or safe.”
He won’t say to you, “Think about it, and then let me know if you want to follow,”
No.
Instead, you begin to realize that this is no game you can play, or not–this is a war, and it’s for keeps; for all eternity.
“Follow Me” is a life or death, irrevocable forever, proposition.
But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone. Now I have given up everything else—I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.
I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. Philippians 3:7-12 TLB
Victorious Faith
Even when things “look” their worst, or maybe they actually are their worst; faith will still trust and follow, even when it cannot see or understand.
Faith will lift it’s eyes to Jesus Christ who knows every difficulty we face.
Faith will look beyond what sight sees, to King Jesus who loves us, and holds every answer that we will ever need.
No matter what–faith will say, “Yes, I will follow You.”
We are His Chosen:
I really like some of the one-liner’s that are becoming popular from the new Chosen television series:
- Get used to different…
- Come and see…
- Against the current…
And my personal favorite,
“It’s only your job to bring the loaves and fishes.”
This line, of course, refers us to the miracle when Jesus multiplied the little boy’s lunch and fed five thousand people out in the wilderness.
The way forward
We do have a part to play in “walking by faith.”
Our part is first, to believe God and take Him at His word, then keep our eyes focused on the One we follow, Jesus.
Our job is to pray and seek Him; asking for clear direction as to the steps God wants us to take–or wait on Him, until we do get clear directions. I could quote a lot of Bible verses here, but my favorite when I am in a tight place and don’t know what to do, is to go to Psalm 32:8:
I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you,
instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life.
I will advise you along the way
and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide.”
Psalm 32:8 TPT
God will show you the way forward.
He promises to provide what you need.
You can trust and follow Him–or you can focus on empty.
It really is just that simple.
Women With Destiny 