Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipline

Persevere to the End

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Life is the ultimate dichotomy. It is both short and long, and we feel the tension between the two every day. Our time on this earth is not even a blip on the timeline of eternity. We are but a vapor that is here one moment, and gone the next (James 4:14; Psalm 103:15–16). But the time spent living in that “blip” can seem grueling and never-ending. This is true for our walk with Christ as well. Not that Jesus Himself is taxing in any way; His burden is light and we find our rest in Him (Matthew 11:28–30).

But the world makes living for Jesus one challenge after another. We must choose Christ over our sinful nature every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Sometimes it can feel like a grind. It is why so many fall away (Matthew 13:20–21), and why we are called to persevere to the end (Matthew 24:13).

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What Is a Disciple?

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Everyone who loves Jesus longs to be His disciple. If you don’t, you don’t love Him. It’s a basic litmus test you can use for yourself. As in any conversation, it is vital that we define our terms. What one person thinks it means to be a disciple might differ from someone else’s thoughts.

Of course, we don’t have to rely on the opinions of any fallible human to determine what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. God’s Word reveals what genuine discipleship looks like. So, what is a disciple? God’s opinion is the only one that matters, so let’s see how He defines it within the pages of His Holy Word.

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Don’t Just Listen

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We live in an age of incredible blessing. There are so many resources at our fingertips with which to study God’s Word. There are books, videos, websites, audio programs, and a plethora of churches where we can find God’s Word taught and expounded. Each of us could fill our days watching and hearing God’s Word preached and never run out of programming.

Woman clutching her Bible determined to have the focus and disipline to not just listen to the Word of God but to live out the commitment to obey it in discipleship to Christ through prayer and Bible study

Every one of us has the potential to know God in a deep and rewarding way. But don’t just listen to solid teaching. If you do that, you will go away not much different than you are today. The Word of God should not be background noise, something that plays throughout the day without ever penetrating any further than our ears (Ezekiel 33:31-32; Matthew 13:13-14). How dare we glance at the very Word of God with such casualness?

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Stay Alert

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Complacency is one of the biggest threats to growing deeper in our relationship with Christ. Taking our eyes off Jesus for only a moment can reap disastrous and long-lasting results. Too often we treat our faith with a casualness that belies its eternal significance. Modern evangelicalism has so watered down the gospel to cater to our individual whims and desires that we think of Christianity as a lifestyle rather than the spiritual war it is.

Man determined to stay alert and on mission by setting his focus on discipleship and ordering his priorities around prayer and discipline

Ask any soldier what happens if you get complacent in battle and they will assure you that you will wind up dead. If you want to live a life that honors Jesus, you must stay alert. This isn’t a game. It’s an ongoing battle for the destiny of your soul.

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Walking in God’s Will, Part 4 – God’s Will Is Not a Secret

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This is part four of our study of what it means to live life walking in God’s will. You can catch up or review by reading parts one, two, and three. If you are stumbling upon this for the first time, our premise is that God’s will is not a secret and that it is the same for each individual.

Contemplative young man pondering walking in God's will by ordering his priorities with discipline in obedience and discipleship for the glorification of God

The challenge lies in discerning His will in our very specific and disparate circumstances and decisions. The point of this series is to provide some questions we can ask to help us eliminate the noise around our choices, and boil them down to the simple and plain teaching of scripture. Let’s look at the final two questions we can ask.

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