Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipline

Marching Orders

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We live in fascinating times. Watching the panic, surfing the ever-changing waves of information, and dealing with the very real fall-out from the situation at hand can rattle even the most stable. Nothing would be easier than to allow ourselves to get off our mission for God. There’s a rule in the military: until they receive a new order, the last order given stands. And so our marching orders have not changed.

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Jesus told us to go into all the world telling others about Him (Matthew 28:19-20). He said to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). And He said to love and serve Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30-31). These are our marching orders, and the insanity of the times we live in do not overrule them.

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Closer to God

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Based on your daily routines and actions, where can you expect your walk with Jesus to be in five years? Growth doesn’t just happen. It must be intentional. Without a plan to draw closer to God, you’ll be – at best – about as close in five years as you are today. Is that okay? Do you think the status quo is what God envisioned when He created you with a unique blend of skills, passions, and talents?

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The Psalmist says we are all remarkably and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). If God took such care in crafting who He knew you could become, don’t we owe it to Him to fulfill our potential for His glory? God gave His very best for us. How can we give Him anything less?

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Your Best Life

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What are the spiritual disciplines you want to have in your life but have not yet implemented? It seems we always think there will be a tomorrow to get started in building a life that looks more like Jesus. As I write this, a new year is approaching. There is something about the end of one year and the beginning of the next that always seems like a great time to make changes in our lives. The tradition of new year’s resolutions dates all the way back to the Babylonians and continues to this day.

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Before we get caught up in this again, we need to remember Jesus taught we should not be building treasures in this life, but storing up riches in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). The point of following Jesus is not to build your best life now, but to build your best life after you’ve passed on from this earth.

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Take Up Your Cross

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Jesus said whoever would follow Him had to deny themselves and take up their cross daily (Matthew 16:24). How many of us are doing this on a day to day basis? How many are willing to deny ourselves the comfort, security, and entertainment the world is telling us we deserve? Isn’t it true we want a version of Christianity that doesn’t involve the cross? We like the idea of being a Christian but dislike the sacrifice it requires.

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The notion of a loving God makes us feel comfortable, but His wrath makes us go another way. There is no victory without struggle, but we want our cake and to eat it too. We want all this world has to offer and a little Jesus on the side. This is not the life Jesus called us to live as His followers.

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Creating New Habits

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Andy Stanley mentioned in a recent sermon, “Every habit begins with a first time.” It sounds obvious, doesn’t it?  While obvious, I think it houses some profound truth. If every habit does indeed begin with the first time, then we must be ever diligent about what “first times” we are allowing to occur in our lives. I believe this is one reason why Paul encouraged us to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

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If we don’t, we begin to create thought patterns that become more and more difficult to change as time goes by.But it’s not just our thoughts. Every action we take and every word we speak for the first time begins creating new habits. If we aren’t intentional about our thoughts, words, and actions, we will be creating new habits we don’t want to have.

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