Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

What Are You Holding Back?

by

deceit,decieve,selfishness,lack of commitment,lie

To be a true follower of Christ means surrendering everything to Him. The instant we proclaim Him to be our Lord, we give up our right to call anything our own. All of our money, our time, and our possessions are now His to be used to glorify God and to further the Kingdom. Intellectually, we know this, but the translation somehow gets muddied between our heart and our actions. Instead of giving everything to Him, we have a tendency to reserve certain pockets of our lives to keep outside of His control.

[Read more…] about What Are You Holding Back?

Submission, Surrender and Sacrifice

by

authenic Christianity,sell out,sold out

Becoming a disciple of Christ requires we get comfortable with some uncomfortable words. Submission. Surrender. Sacrifice. These are not concepts that most of us gravitate towards easily. When we do inch our way closer to abiding by these principles, what is harder still is to give ourselves completely to them. We submit certain areas of our lives to God but keep others to manage ourselves. Surrender in measure is acceptable, but not in full. Sacrifice is easy as long as our limits are not pushed too far. Following Jesus is not about what we can keep or what we will gain; it’s about losing everything for the sake of His mission and His Kingdom.

[Read more…] about Submission, Surrender and Sacrifice

Finding Peace within the Storm

by

Calm, grace under pressure, peace through Jesus

In Mark 4:35-40 we read of Jesus calming a storm. If you grew up attending Sunday school you are probably familiar with the story. The disciples and Jesus got into a boat to cross a lake. They had been ministering all day and were looking to get away from the crowds for a little rest. In the middle of the night a fierce storm sprung up, with the wind and waves buffeting their boat. The disciples panicked and felt certain they would capsize and drown. Meanwhile Jesus was sleeping through the whole thing. In desperation the disciples woke Him and asked if He even cared they were going to die. At the climax of this story, Jesus simply got up and told the wind to stop and the waves to be still. Immediately all was calm. Crisis averted; Jesus saves the day. It was a common theme in the lives of the disciples.

[Read more…] about Finding Peace within the Storm

Can You Really Follow Jesus?

by

Jesus,cross,crucify,crucifixion,Good Friday

I will make the assumption that if you are reading this blog you have a desire to follow Jesus. I wonder how many of us are willing to take that desire to the next level of actually pursuing Him, of walking in His footsteps. In the book of Matthew, the author records several stories of people who came to Jesus declaring their willingness to follow Him, yet turned back when Jesus revealed what the cost would be (Luke 9:57-62). Tomorrow we recognize the crucifixion of our Lord, so it seemed good to asses our willingness to follow in memory of His sacrifice for us.

[Read more…] about Can You Really Follow Jesus?

Converts vs. Disciples

by

serious commitment, discipleship

When I was growing up, there were several movies around that I think were designed with the sole purpose of scaring the daylights out of young people. These weren’t creations of Wes Craven, Stephen King or any of the well-known masters of the horror movie genre. Rather, these were Christian filmmakers and organizations producing movies depicting the end times as they interpreted them from the book of Revelation. Films like “A Thief in the Night”, “A Distant Thunder” and “A Burning Hell” (apparently all Christian movies of this genre had to begin with the letter ‘A’). The scenes in these films ranged from creepy to utterly disgusting. The shock value, however, fulfilled the purpose of the producers to scare many young adults (and quite a few not so young adults) into repentance and surrendering their lives to Christ. I wonder what happened to all those who gave their lives to Jesus? If a large number of my generation truly committed their lives to Him, why have we seen so little progress in spreading the truth of Christ in the years that have followed?

[Read more…] about Converts vs. Disciples