Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

commitment

Your Love of Christ

by

In times of severe testing, what keeps you persevering for the faith? When life hands you one setback after another, how do you maintain hope? The obvious answer for believers is always, “Jesus”. But what about Jesus compels you to get knocked down over and over, then get up tomorrow to do it all again? What drives your desire to suffer in this life?

Your love of Christ,commitment,devotion

There are a lot of very good answers to this question: “He commands us to obey Him” (John 14:15). “We know our calling is to suffer” (1 Peter 2:20-21). “A great reward awaits those who hold fast until the end” (Revelation 2:10). These are all true and good reasons to carry on. But none of these reasons will be strong enough to carry you when the pressure becomes extreme. The only thing that will sustain you in the toughest of times is your love of Christ.

[Read more…] about Your Love of Christ

The Hardest Part

by

From the research I’ve done on persecution, the hardest part is not the persecution itself, but the preparation before it begins. Standing firm in the face of pain or injustice is a small thing if one dedicates their life to living in full obedience and surrender to Christ (Philippians 1:27-28). The hard work comes before. The real difficulty is the lifetime of saying no to the pleasures and temptations of this world.

commitment,death,discipleship,discipline,fear,persecution,salvation,surrender,the hardest part

There are countless stories of people persevering through hard times. But how many examples can you recount of people putting aside their dreams, passions, and desires so they can devote themselves to Christ? How many people are dying to themselves every day and picking up their cross (Luke 9:23)?

[Read more…] about The Hardest Part

Fear of Dying

by

The fear of dying is one of the top two fears afflicting people. Some research states it is the most common fear, while other studies place it second behind public speaking. I couldn’t find any concrete numbers detailing what percentage of Christians fear death, but over the years, I have heard more than a few believers express a fear of dying.

fear of dying,commitment,Heaven,Hell,surrender,salvation,belief

That’s a little hard for me to get my head around because true followers of Christ want nothing more than to spend eternity with Him. We can’t do that until we die. To my mind, it is irrational for someone who believes in the resurrection of Jesus to have any fear of dying. We might fear the circumstances that lead to our death, but dying itself should fill us with nothing but hope and joy (1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Philippians 1:21-23).

[Read more…] about Fear of Dying

Choose Whom You Will Worship

by

Every day, you must choose whom you will worship (Joshua 24:15). There is the bigger picture about whether you will worship the one true God or pursue some false religion. Then there are the little decisions you make every day. With each choice, you will side with God or comport with the enemy.

commitment,discipleship,surrender,salvation,prayer,Bible study,devotion,eternity,Hell,priorities,choose whom you will worship

If we don’t develop the conscious discipline and habit of thinking this way, we are going to lose more battles than we’ll win. It’s easier to sin than to pursue holiness. We prefer to live the way we want to instead of following the narrow path that leads to eternal life in Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14).

[Read more…] about Choose Whom You Will Worship

Over the Line

by

It seems many Christians are always looking for that magical line in the sand that separates them from sin. They are careful about not going over the line. Their commitment to Christ means they will go so far, but no further. We put much effort into seeing how close to the line we can get without crossing it. Is that reflective of God’s glory?

over the line,commitment,discipline,fear,focus,priorities

Living in such a manner is nothing but a more palatable way of saying you want to look as much like the world as you can without being part of the world. It’s the opposite of being devoted to Christ. We need to focus on how separate we can be from the world (Romans 12:2) rather than trying to see how much we can look like the world without sinning.

[Read more…] about Over the Line