Even If i Walk Alone

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

Luke

Safe Prayers

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jefferson bethke,Jesus is greater than religion,safety,prayer,discipleship,nik ripken,insanity of obedience,sheep among wolves,jesus,religion

Reading through Jefferson Bethke’s book, “Jesus>Religion”, I was struck by his comment that too many Christians say “safe” prayers. Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean by “safe” prayers. When we pray for missionaries or those facing persecution, we tend to pray for their safety. Pastors pray for the safety of those with them before doing an outreach event in some more dangerous parts of town. The problem is I never see Jesus, His disciples, or anyone in the early church praying for safety. Where did we get this model? I propose we start praying different prayers, prayers that are more aligned to what Jesus taught, and prayers that are far more relevant and powerful.

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We Could Feed the World

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rick grover,feed the hungry,feed the world,blck friday,christmas spending,christmas shopping,stewardship,the church,life mission

Every now and then you hear a statistic that nearly knocks you off your feet. This week my pastor mentioned in his sermon that $450 billion dollars will be spent on Christmas shopping this year. That’s mind-numbing enough, but he had one more statistic to add. We could feed the entire world for $15 billion. Quick math shows we could feed everyone who is hungry 30 times over, just on what we will spend on Christmas this year alone. We’ve gotten things upside down in the Kingdom. We love to say, “Jesus first”, but our spending habits dictate otherwise.

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Generalities

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specific action,specifics,lukewarm,intenional,rick warren,purpose driven lifediscipleship,follower of Jesus

Christians love to speak in generalities.  As long as we don’t get too specific, we can all just get along. As long as we don’t get too specific, we can live just like everyone else. Did you ever notice how Jesus only dealt in specifics? It was as if He didn’t even recognize gray as a color! Jesus never left any wiggle room; it was always black or white. As followers of Jesus, our own lives should be identified by the specific things we do, not by some general sense of what we believe. A general knowledge of anything yields little; specific action is how results are delivered.

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Comfortable Faith

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ken davis,a.w. tozer,comfort,lazy,faith,Jesus,obeying Jesus,taking action,hands and feet of jesus

I recently heard Ken Davis make the statement that, “There is no such thing as a comfortable faith.” How many of us believe that, or at least live as if it were true? It reminds me of a question A.W. Tozer asked years ago, “Have the saints of God joined the mad scramble for security?” Modern day Christianity looks awfully comfortable, and it seems few are willing to run towards the battle. We want the benefits of Heaven without having to go through Hell to get them. This may resonate with our modern ears, but it’s not the life Jesus modeled for His disciples.

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Comfort or Courage?

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comfort,courage,brene brown,discipleship,mission,living for jesus,living for God,living for Christ,God's will

I heard Dr. Brene Brown speak at a conference I recently attended. During her talk she made the statement that, “You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.” That’s a great mantra for anyone, but I think it is particularly appropriate for the Western church today. Many ministries are doing incredible, life-changing, and brave things; they are taking a risk and engaging the world around them. Other churches are content to wallow in their comfort; they risk little and therefore affect little. Sadly, looking at the general landscape and direction of Christianity in America and Europe, it would appear the comfort seekers far outnumber their courageous counterparts.

The difference between the comfortable and the courageous is the sum total of the people within each group. Courageous churches are filled with courageous people, while comfortable churches are filled with comfortable people. Which church are you helping to build? There is nothing comfortable about being a follower of Jesus. He warned us that a life spent following Him would be difficult and uncomfortable (Mark 10:17-22; Luke 9:57-62; Matthew 10:32-39). If you are casually or comfortably following Christ, you may want to check your ticket and make sure you are on the right bus. What a tragedy to spend your entire life thinking you were known by Christ, only to discover in the end He never knew you (Matthew 7:21-23).

We are called to be a courageous people. We have been gifted to accomplish impossible tasks for the glory of God’s Kingdom. Why then do we crave and cling to comfort? We weren’t designed for this, which means Satan is having a field day convincing us otherwise. I believe the vast majority of us would intellectually prefer courage over comfort, but emotionally we side with comfort.  Courage is enticing, but comfort is familiar. Comfort is safe and predictable, and we like that. Courage, on the other hand, moves us out of our comfort zone and encourages us to do things we never dreamed possible. Which of those attitudes sounds more like that of Jesus?

Billions of people are dying without knowing Jesus. The job before us is monumental. Our mission is to take the love of Jesus to each and every soul on this planet (Matthew 28:18-20). The odds are daunting, and we will not overcome them while maintaining our level of comfort. It will take courageous activity to share God’s love with so many.

Being courageous for Jesus means to stop worrying what others think and start doing what Jesus told us to do. Being comfortable means you probably won’t need to change anything about your life. It’s easier, for certain, but who wants to meet Jesus and tell Him how comfortable you were down on earth? What are you not doing for Jesus? What have you not given up for His sake? What is more important in your life than He is? It’s time to get rid of all of it. It’s time to set aside your comfort so He can do what He intends through you. It’s time to be courageous.