He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. {Matthew 10:37}
How much of Jesus do we really want? We are in the last days and the fight is on. We need to ask ourselves how much of God do we really want, because it’s going to take every ounce of our desire in us to want Him. It’s going to take every effort of will and the hunger for God that we have in our hearts to have Him. Unless we want God with all of our heart, soul, mind, spirit and everything in us, we’re not going to have a lot of Jesus. We’re always just going to settle for someone else receiving their miracles and hearing about others having God. That is all good and all when you don’t have anything much that you need. But when a loved one is lost or dying and you’re in a desperate situation where you need a miracle in your life and you need it as soon as possible, having a casual relationship with the Lord will not be enough. Surely, unless we love Him more in this life than anyone we know (even more than ourselves), we will not ever truly have Him. The Lord has told us that unless we love Him more than our father and mother, our son and our daughter, we are not worthy of Him. Jesus tells us that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one can go to the Father but through Him. {John 14:6} Unless we want Jesus in our lives, we will never have God because it is only through Jesus Christ we can have God. If we want God in our lives we need to have Jesus Christ. We can have Him as much or as little we want of Him. It is up to us how much we want of Him.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. {John 3:36}
The Bible tells us that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. {1 Peter 5:8} This is not make believe or a fairy tale. It is happening everywhere in the world. Have you seen the sorrow and heartaches people are suffering today? Have you seen the devastation Satan is causing in the lives of men and women everywhere in the whole world? There is such hopelessness in so many people’s lives today. There is such desperation and loneliness and sadness. Who causes these things to happen? Why is there so much unhappiness? It’s because Satan has made many men and women believe a lie: that they need more than Jesus Christ. They need to come up with plan B. He tells them plan A has failed so now he makes us believe we need to come up with plan B. Plan B is relying on our own abilities and our own intelligence, instead of relying on the Lord. He tells us believing in the Lord like a child is too easy, surely there’s got to be more than that. Having faith in God like a child is too corny, too ridiculous. How can such a thing bring anything so impossible and hard to pass? He wants us to look at our situation like it’s the hardest thing that can ever happen to us, so we start believing that there’s got to be more than just believing and seeking after Christ. There’s got to be plan B because just believing and waiting on God to come is too easy and childish. Life is hard. Life is full of challenges. Surely there’s got to be more that we need to do than just wait on God and look to Jesus Christ. Satan has lied to people all over the world and people everywhere have believed him. Hence, the sorrow and sadness and devastation that is taking place in our society today. The immorality is rampant everywhere because people are looking for the easy fix and superficial happiness to alleviate the soul from so much sorrow and sadness. People have stopped looking to Jesus Christ for their main help. They have relied on their doctors, financial planners, government officials, teachers and coaches, and of course their psychiatrists; you name it, to solve their problems for them instead. We’ve even relied and trusted too much on our pastors and rabbis for life’s answers. If we are looking outside of Christ then we have completely missed the boat.
Jesus tells us,
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}
To have more of Christ we need to push aside all the lies of Satan and dump them in the trash. We need to get into God’s word and take it as it is. We need to believe in Jesus Christ like He’s the only thing that truly matters, because in the end He is the only one that truly matters. Nothing else matters in this life but God. Not your bank account, not how healthy you are so you can live the life you want, and definitely not what you own in this life and how great you look in the eyes of the world. None of them matters when your life is over. Jesus Christ tells us,
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. {Matthew 24:35}
None of these things we’re working for and living for are going to matter in the end. When Christ calls you and your life is over, living for Him is the only thing that matters. How much you have of God is the only thing that’s going to matter. Remember the rich man in the parable that Jesus Christ talked about? The rich man only cared about storing his worldly wealth and taking it easy, and he totally forgot that his soul belonged to God, not to himself. He forgot he needed to make time for God and invest in His kingdom to be truly rich. Jesus says that God told him he was a fool. The Bible states,
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? {Luke 12:20}
We’ve got to fight for our souls in these last days. We’ve got to fight for Jesus in our lives each and every day, and each and every moment. The time is passing fast and you never know what hour or day our soul will be required by the Lord. Everything that tries to come against us has to be resisted and fought against through our prayers to Jesus Christ. We need to be finding ourselves each and every day making time to talk to the One who matters in the end, Jesus Christ. No one else is going to last but Him. We need to pursue after Jesus like there is no tomorrow. We need to fight for the Lord like our life depends on it, because it does. Jesus Christ is coming soon and He needs laborers in His field to bring in the harvest. Do you want a great part in that award ceremony Jesus Christ is going to hold for His saints who have followed Him all the way? Do you want to be a part of those who love Him and will be crowned by Him? Do you want to live forever in paradise and happiness with the Lord? Now is the time to pursue Jesus. We are running out of time. He needs you and He needs me. If we want more of Him and more of God’s revelation, we need to pursue after Jesus Christ like never before. It’s all or nothing with Him.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. {John 12:25}
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}
Prayer
Lord Jesus I thank You Father with all of my heart for You. I thank You Father that You are coming soon and will make an end to all this devastation that Satan has caused in this world. It is time for Your people Father to take up their cross and follow You. It is time to take up Your burden and Your cause because the time is at hand for Your return.
Father, You know who belongs to You. You know who wants You really bad in their lives. Please Jesus, make a way for us Father to come and surrender all to You, and pursue after You like we’ve never done before. Help us to put away all those things that easily beset us in our walk with You. Help us to resist all the temptations and snares that the enemy of our soul brings against us every day. Help us to fight for You today Jesus in our relationship with You. Help us to understand and accept that it’s okay to lose all rather than to lose You. Help us Lord Jesus, to understand how important You are to pursue after. Without You we are lost. Without You we are nothing. We need to have You today and more and more of You each and every day. I pray all these things in Your most wonderful and gracious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
