If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. {Luke 14:26}
Am I the only one who feels overwhelmed by this scripture every time they see it, or do you feel the same way I do? I mean be honest. Who has struggled about this? You love God, you want to be His disciple so much because you want to be saved and belong to Him forever, but then this: unless we hate our mother, our father, our brother and sister, our spouse and our children, especially our own life we cannot be His disciples. Who can do this? Who can handle this?
No one. Without the help of God, no one can be God’s disciple. Think about this scripture:
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. {Jeremiah 10:23}
Especially this one:
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. {Romans 8:7}
Basically, our carnal mind cannot be friends with God – it is hostile to God. It is not subject to the law of God, meaning it will not submit to God. This is why Apostle Paul penned this thought he got from the Book of Psalms:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. {Romans 3:10-12}
Because that’s a fact, no one wants to think about the things of God. Unless God draws us to Him and shows Himself to us, we are lost. Following Christ takes God’s help. To be truly His disciple we have to be constantly spending the time we need to be more like Him. We have to be always talking to Him, communing with Him and asking for Him to help us follow Him and be His disciple. Otherwise, we cannot do it. It takes God’s help to be completely surrendered to Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we see this kind of scripture and we just throw in the towel. We just want to give up. But it’s not necessary. We don’t have to give up so easily. I mean, don’t give up at all; that’s the point about being God’s disciple, you don’t give up. No matter how you feel about yourself, how messed up and how unworthy you are about yourself, being God’s disciple is about not giving up on God. It really all comes down to not giving up on Jesus Christ working in us. We understand that on our own we cannot save ourselves. We have no power or strength to be holy or righteous or perfect. We need Him and His power in us to accomplish that. He does the work of righteousness in us. We cannot do it. All we need to do is to follow His leading, His direction in our lives. If a thought or a desire comes into our heart to read His word, we read it. Right there and then, we follow that nudging in our hearts. If a thought comes into our minds to turn off the television or the Internet and commune and talk with Him, we do it. We go where He’s directing us to go. Right there and then we do it, we strike while the iron is hot. We obey His instructions. We do what He places in our hearts to do. Sometimes we might feel like a total failure when it comes to denying ourselves and picking up our cross to follow Him, but at the end of the day it’s really all about trusting Jesus Christ and His resurrection power. It’s all about trusting God’s love for us to carry us through until the end. Today we might fail but tomorrow we will trust again, we will try again. Because it’s not in us to order our own steps, we do not have the natural desire to do what God wants for us to do. But we trust Him nevertheless to save us. We call upon Him to save us because He will help us and He will show us how to follow Him all the way. All we have to do is just respond to His leading.
Jesus Christ told Apostle Paul this:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. {2 Corinthians 12:9}
If we are honest about our weaknesses with the Lord and our need of Him to be strong in our lives, He will come and make us His disciple. We have what it takes to be His disciple, as long as we’re honest with Him about our need of Him. We can definitely be His disciple.
When we’re surrendered to the Lord about ourselves, and we tell Him we want Him to be our Lord and Savior, He will help us to follow Him. He will help us give up the things we need to give up to keep following Him. He will lead us step by step to let go of the things we need to let go of so we can follow Him. Just have the courage and the faith when the time comes to believe that He’s leading you. Believe He will lead you where you need to go, and take the road He wants you to take, and you will be on your way to being His disciple. The Bible tells us His yoke is easy and His burden is light. As long as we’re willing to be led by Him, He will make it possible for us to follow Him and be His disciple.
It’s not about us being strong and being able to do everything that the Bible commands for us to do that will make us worthy of Him. It’s not about us being able to win souls for God all over the world that will bring Him closer to us. And it’s certainly not about us being good and perfect in order to have Him. But it’s all about Him coming to us and strengthening us with His love and power, because we cry to Him and tell Him we need Him. It’s because we admit and understand that without Him we are lost, and cannot follow Him at all. We need Him and we tell Him we need Him. We are then made perfect in our weaknesses through Him. Through His grace and His strength we are made perfect. It’s not us. It’s Him. It’s all Him because all the glory belongs to Jesus Christ.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. {Ephesians 3:20-21}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You so much Father God for the faithfulness of Your love for me. I thank You that You are able to save me to the uttermost. I thank You Father, that there is nothing impossible with You and You are able to change me and bring about the changes in my heart to make it possible to be a true follower of You.
Father, I am lost and nothing without You. I need You. Please Lord Jesus help me to follow You. Help me to love You and do what You desire for me to do in this life to be Your true servant. Help me to deny myself, pick up my cross everyday and follow You. I cannot do it alone Lord. I cannot be holy and perfect without You. I need You Jesus. Please help me and save me and fill me with more of Your Holy Spirit and power. I pray today, Father, in Your most holy and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
#repost4/2019
