I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Following the Way of Jesus
Discipleship is at the center of the Christian life. To be a disciple means to be a learner. It means following after Jesus, and patterning our life after His.
Jesus tells us that the starting point of following Him is to deny ourselves. Denying ourselves means we choose to put Jessus’ desires above our own. This means that we must come to recognize that we do not have all the answers, or know the right way to go through life.
Discipleship is not something we do once or twice. It is a lifestyle that must be lived out each and every day. We will spend our entire lives becoming more like Jesus.
The way of life Jesus modeled was to suffer on the cross. When we deny ourselves, we choose to humbly follow Jesus. And as we become more like Jesus, we will also need to take up our cross. We will also suffer for doing good, and for denying things that seem enticing in the moment, but ultimately keep us from God. But when we bear our suffering, we represent Christ to those around us.
The paradox of following Jesus is that when we give up our life for His sake, we receive eternal life in return. When we hold onto our life and keep it from Jesus, we don’t get to experience the abundant life that He promises.
Take some time today to consider how you’re living a life of discipleship. Take inventory on the ways you are denying yourself and living for Christ, or living selfishly for your own pleasure and gain. Commit to following Jesus no matter how hard the path gets. And pray for strength and endurance as you follow Him.
Always Faithful
Every season of life has ups and downs, positive and negative situations. On top of that, there are spiritual powers in this world that are trying to get us to lose hope.
In the midst of difficult seasons, or even persecution, it can be easy to forget that God is still present with us. He does not abandon us in the midst of suffering. Rather, He strengthens us and walks with us through the pain.
The church in Thessalonica experienced a very similar situation. As they were praying for the gospel to spread across their region, they encountered suffering and opposition. Paul writes to the members of these churches to not only encourage them, but to remind them of God’s character.
"But the Lord is faithful, he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."
2 Thessalonians 3:3
Paul tells them first that the Lord is faithful. This means that God doesn’t change—He is consistent in His character. If He was good and merciful yesterday, He will be good and merciful again today....
“And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: and let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul. And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim. And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of ...
There is More
There are plenty of things we can see: trees, stars, mountains, oceans, people, penguins, our best friend's smile, elephants, skyscrapers, coffee beans, sunsets, and tulips, to name a few.
God created all those things. He made the natural world, as well as the laws that govern it.
But there are also things we cannot see: behind the breath of the wind, beyond the depths of the universe, beneath the foundations of love. Through Christ, all things were created—in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16).
And while our mortal eyes might not be able to see the wind or infrared light or the Spirit of God, we still experience their effects. Because there’s more than what meets the eye. There’s more beyond this life.
Paul’s friends, the Corinthians, were experiencing great hardship. They were being hunted and persecuted because of what they believed about Jesus—that He was the long-awaited Messiah. Some were even facing death. But Paul encouraged them to ...
