Jesus is pictured as a person of prayer and Luke shows us that is one of His secrets of why He fulfilled His assignment on earth. We also have an assignment which God wants us to fulfill. This will not be accomplished through us unless we become persons of prayer just like Jesus was. If Jesus prayed and yet He was a million times better than you and I, what other challenge to prayer do we need? Let's prayer become part and parcels of our lives.
He asked His disciples who people said he was and they guessed a prophet or Elijah but when He asked about their opinion, Peter answered that He was Christ the son of the living God.
Jesus immediately warned them to tell that to anyone. He told them what He must suffer and killed by the high priests and the elders and the scribes. It was the people who went to church and read their bibles and preached about the coming of the Messiah that killed Jesus who was the Messiah. This shows that going to church and reading the bible and even being a leader in any position in church does not mean that your spiritual eyes will be open.
You can be a preacher preaching to many yet you are blind, deaf and naked.
It is only God who can open our eyes but we must first acknowledge our blindness and our impotence in producing anything of eternal value in our lives.
If anyone wishes to follow Jesus, wherever they are at any given time, you must deny yourself, carry your cross daily and follow Him. For if you desire to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life for Jesus sake, you'll save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?
We see here that it is impossible to follow Jesus if you live the way you think your flesh tells you to. The cross has two bars, a horizontal and a vertical one. The vertical one is always longer than the horizontal one. The horizontal symbolizes my will, my desires, my wisdom, my, my, my,....the vertical bar symbolizes Gods will, God's ways, God's desires, Everything that is of God. When these two cross each other, i.e. God's will and my will, I take up my cross by denying my will to do the will of God. This I have to do it Everyday. This means that in all the decisions I make daily, in many parts, my will and my ways will cross Gods will and ways and I have to decide in everything that I choose to always deny my will and do God's will. This shows that today I can please God and tomorrow I can thoroughly displease Him. We cannot rely on our past obedience to God's will, we can backslide after a day after doing God's will for many years. Be watchful and sober. You are yet to arrive. Continue denying your self will and do God's will everyday.
The many things you can gain by not doing God's will but you'll lose your soul. What will it profit you. They are temporary fleeting pleasures of life but doing God's will has eternal value. You have a choice everyday whether to do God's will or go your own way.
For whoever is ashamed of Me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father and of angels.
Are you ashamed of Jesus? Are you ashamed that you don't want to be known as a Christian by some people? Are you ashamed of His words? Are you ashamed to be true to Him who publicly died for you, humiliated without clothes before everyone, beaten beyond recognition? Are you ashamed of the one who gave His life for you? Are you ashamed of His words and try to modify them to suit your tastes or make them say what you feel they meant? If Jesus did not mean what He said, why then did He not say what He meant? You are ashamed of shame that comes for being a disciple if Jesus, whose approval are you seeking or who are you trying to please? Whose opinion do you consider, man or God's?
You are blessed to be a blessing
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@Blessed Mshindi Mambo
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