But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

As Christians it is important to remember that the Lord is the answer to all things. In this scripture we are reminded that regardless of what we are going through if we just wait on the Lord our strength will be renewed. Not only will it be renewed but we will reach heights that we could not have reached on our own. This should serve as a massive form of motivation in our all battles as Christians. As followers of the Most High, we know that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Regardless of what is going on in your personal life, brothers and sisters, if we just reach out to our Father He will see us through it.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

This should not only be motivational but encouraging to all of us. As long as we trust and believe in our Lord and Savior then we will all be on the right path. All we have to do is ask.

​Amen!

Question is your life with Christ a passive or active action?

No, seriously, do you chase after Him or do you just kinda say He is with me?

That is what I want to explore today, being a follower or a pursuer of Christ.

Now to dig deeper and provide clarity on the two concepts let’s define follower versus pursuer.

Being a follower is a passive action. This is akin to following someone on social media. You occasionally see their stuff in your feed but you don’t actively go and seek it out. You don’t yearn for their content.

This is the opposite of a pursuer. To be in pursuit of something means you’re relentless. You’re pursuing this person, and you won’t stop until it is found and accessed. Aas Jacob put it:

“I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

Genesis 32:26

How many of you realize that pursuit is exactly what God had in mind for us as Christians?

It is true in Matthew 16:24 Jesus said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Matthew 16:24

First, take heed of the words come after. To come after someone IS pursuing someone. Let’s first establish that Jesus does not waste a single word when He speaks. He specifically used the definition of pursuit as the start of explaining discipleship and in turn the intent can be determined that He means for us to fully chase after Him in our actions.

Second take a look at the structure of the sentence, the pursuit comes BEFORE the follow. This means that you following Christ can’t happen without you also pursuing Christ. This is something that many of us forget in our Christian walk.

This walk is more than just declaring Jesus as our Lord and savior. In reality that is only the first step. We have to continue to chase after Christ in all our action. Paul said it best:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

Philippians 3:12

Paul, as the most prolific writer in the New Testament, we can be assured that he made the declaration of Jesus being Lord yet he even expressed that the path for him was not done. Most of us hope to be as devoted to Christ as Paul was, so how can we think our work ends simply at the declaration?

Now that you have a better understanding of what Christ’s intention is for us in our lives, you may be asking how do I shift my habits from being just a follower to a pursuer of Christ. That is actually really simple and comes in a ton of forms but I will give you two. One will be for those who regularly go to church each Sunday and on for your everyday life interactions regardless though they both take a little initiative on your part.

For my churchgoers the next time you are at church, take the time to go up to someone in church leadership and simply ask how you can help. Then when they give you something to do, treat it better than you treat your job. It is really that simple.

By doing this you are putting in work for God, because your church is God’s house so why not help keep His house in order? Once you start doing that then He will give you more to do for the bible says in

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.”

Matthew 25:21

For those of you who need something for their everyday life go out and show raw kindness that makes you have to be vulnerable to someone that needs it. Jesus said this is one of the most important things you can do when He said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

Hopefully this helps you today. In the comments below tell the rest of the community how you pursue after God. We would all love to know. Have a great day and God bless!

When you think of God, what do you think of?

His goodness? His love? His mercy? His blessing?

What makes God good? Is it because He gives us things? I would argue that the bible says He is good regardless of WHAT He has done for us. Too often we as Christians forget our relationship with God. God would be God with or without us. God would be good with or without us.

​The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.

Psalms 145:9

God is Lord and we are His servants. The fact that He allowed us to wake up this morning was a blessing. The fact that we still have our right minds, where I can write and you can read this devotional, is a blessing. The fact that you have clothes on your back is a blessing.

He has already blessed you, because He does not have to do any of the things that we traditionally take for granted. Understanding that we need to be in a constant place of thanksgiving and praise to God for what He has blessed us with.

Now that we understand our relationship with God we must understand how a master blesses their servants, if the master is righteous like our God. We have been blessed with the answer to that.

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Matthew 25:23

This verse breaks down the exact way our God blesses a faithful servant. He entrusts us over a few things first. To prepare us and mold us. To allow us to see where our heart is at. When we have proven, we can be trusted, too ourselves not to God He already knows what we will do with it, then God opens the door for the larger blessing.

Now let me go over that proof. That proof is not that you are going to be responsible. Not that you are going to grow it. But rather the proof is if you are going to share it! That is what the molding time is for, so that you can learn how to share it. Only after that does growing it matter, because you won’t horde it.

How do we know this? Simple Jesus said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

How did Jesus love us? He didn’t hold back anything. He shared of himslef, His things, and eventually His life freely to all. That is the measurement of can we be trusted with more. Showing that we are one of His.

I thank God for His divine timing. His timing is always perfect. In our minds, the blessing may seem like it is taking a long time, but in reality the blessing is right on time. God knows what is best for us and if we allow Him to lead us then everything always turns our alright. Remember the bible tells us:

In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

God is waiting to lead you, but He wants your submission first. This is because in this submission you can love like He loved you. I hope this helps you.

I hope that you can internalize this and use it when you struggle with submission in your daily life. As the bible says:

​Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

1 Samuel 15:22

​To obey you must submit. My prayer for you is that God gives each and everyone of you a heart of humility and submission so that He the work in your life. Remember Paul’s words:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Til next time brothers and sisters Amen.

What qualifies someone to be a leader? Think about that. Most think it is because they are elected or some tradition. This may work in the world to hold a world position like the President or a Monarch, but not when it comes to leading God’s people.

Jesus points out that somone has to be planted, and if not they will be uprooted. Specifically He says:

13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

Matthew 15:13-14

​Jesus is saying this in response to His interactions with the Pharisees in verses 1-12. You can see Jesus is pointing out an important lesson. The lesson is that anyone that is assuming a position because of tradition or simply wanting it versus assuming that position because God placed you there you will fail.

The Pharisees were in their position because of tradition, not because they were planted by God. How do we know this? Because you can’t be called by God if you don’t have a relationship with God. This is why Jesus says in verse 14 “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

We know that a relationship with God is necessary to be planted by God because the bible tells us:

And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 3:15

To be after God’s heart means God has to see you trying to live this life how He wants you to. You can only do this by having a relationship with Him.

​Peter gained the humble heart that God could work with, this is why He was planted.

Paul had that hardworking personality God wanted to put to work for Him that is why he was planted.

Remember that if you are not working within God’s will then you will be uprooted.

Stay rooted and stay grounded. Amen!