Whose Footsteps Are You Following?

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me ;

and where I am, there My servant will be also.

If anyone serves Me , him My Father will honor.

John 12:26

       Everyone on Earth serves someone or something-and no one is an exception .  Either we will serve God (by following Him) or not .  In the final analysis , whom you serve determines whom you become like .    

      Who are you going to walk with today?  Are you going to walk with people who worship the ways of the world?  Or are you going to walk with Jesus Christ?  Jesus walks with you.  Are you walking with Him?  Hopefully, you will choose to walk with Him today and for every day of your life.

And do not be conformed to this world ,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind ,

that you may prove what is that good

and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

He has shown you , O man ,
what is good ;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly ,
To love mercy ,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

      In Micah 6:8 where it says, "And what does the Lord require of you..", the word require in Hebrew is a command not a suggestion.   So what it really is saying is, "And what does the Lord command of you..."    Now what is it that the lord requires or commands us to do in this verse?  Well it says that we are to, "...do justly, to love mercy...".    Justice--be fair to others and treat them as you would want to be treated.    Mercy-a kindly abatement of what we might justly demand. Do not just show mercy, but love to show it.  Give others the same measure of mercy you wish to be shown.  Then we are told to, "walk humbly with your God."  If we remember who God is and how awesome He is, then we will be able to have a humble heart.  

“I would not advise any of you to try to be humble, but to be humble. As to acting humbly, when a man forces himself to it, that is poor stuff. When a man talks a great deal about his humility, when he is very humble to everybody, he is generally a canting hypocrite. Humility must be in the heart, and then it will come out spontaneously as the outflow of life in every act that a man performs.” (Spurgeon)

“True humility is thinking rightly of thyself, not meanly. When you have found out what you really are, you will be humble, for you are nothing to boast of. To be humble will make you safe. To be humble will make you joyful. To be humble will make music in your heart when you go to bed. To be humble here will make you wake up in the likeness of your Master by-and-by.” (Spurgeon)

      

      Today provides another glorious opportunity to put yourself in the service and follow the One who was whipped, beaten, bruised, pierced, and died for you.  May you seek His will, may you trust His word, and may you walk in His footsteps-now and forever.

  

Being In the Center of God's Will

Below is a speech that I wrote and gave to some friends and family, that I hope will speak to your heart the way that it did mine.

              Whether you know it or not, God has a plan and a purpose for your life and the lives of everyone around you.  Now when God reveals those plans to us, we are faced with a choice.  We must decide if we are going to sit around and ignore God's will for us, or are we going to fully embrace it with a burning desire to follow God in our hearts.  Five young men were faced with this choice and the decision they made would change the lives of their families and enemies forever.

             I'd like to show you the obedience, courage, and sacrifice that was evident throughout the lifetime of Jim Elliot.  By examining Jim's life, I hope to reveal to you the importance of being in God's will, even if it means that we have to sacrifice everything.

            The problem in today's society is that people don't want anyone telling them how to live their lives.  They are comfortable where they are at and do not want that to change.  In fact, there are not many who are willing to be in the center of God's will and even less who are willing to sacrifice for it.  They do not seem to understand the full impact of what Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."  In other words, why worry about our carnal body, when it will indeed pass away, but our soul will live on forever.

               Jim Elliot was born in Portland, Oregon during the year 1927.  When he was just 6 years of age, he asked Christ into his heart and had a burning desire to serve God with his whole being.  At 18, he attended Wheaton College, where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Howard.  A few years later he was called by God to become a missionary to Ecuador.  He made the choice to follow God, and leave his fiance, Elizabeth, behind.  After a long wait Elizabeth joined him in 1953, and became his wife.  He was then assigned the fateful mission of reaching the fierce Auca tribe with the gospel.  After months of persistently dropping gifts to the tribe by plane, in order to prove that they were friends and earn their trust, Jim and four other men, Peter Fleming, Ed Mcully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian, decided it was time to meet the tribe face-to-face.  When Elizabeth asked him not to go because of danger, Jim simply replied, "I am called".  On January 8, 1956, Jim and his four friends were murdered by a group of Auca Indians, who had no love for outsiders, leaving behind five widows and nine children.  The outcome of these martyred lives you may ask, was that many of the Auca tribe came to believe in Christ and build friendships with the families of those five men.  Also it sparked the coming of missionaries who became determined to reach out to the lost.
             If Jim had not listened to God's call, those Auca Indians may not have come to Christ and their horrible lifestyle would have continued all of their lives.  As Jim said, "There is sheer joy of being in the will of God and the knowledge of His direction".  The Bible says in 1 John 2:17, "And the world is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever."  So I ask you this, "Are you in the center of God's will and would you be willing to sacrifice everything, even your very life for it?"