Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. By the time I finished meeting with the Living God this morning, it was pretty clear that it is destined to be a clear and beautiful day in Virginia. The sun was burning on my face while God was burning in my Heart, and the combination took my breath away. This image reminded me of how if the Light of my Faith is the Focus today, everything else beyond that will dim in comparison. My life is forever overflowing with things to do and if I’m not careful I could find myself attempting to lead instead of being willing to Follow. So, no matter what’s on my plate for this new day or how busy I know I’ll be, my first Priority is always getting ME prepared to do my Part ONLY according to His Will and not my own. Isn’t that the way you Prioritize your busy Life too?

Most people professing to be Christians today THINK they’re followers of Jesus, but I’m not so sure about that. I’m not questioning their belief system…I have no right to judge that at all. But believing in Christ is one thing, being a Follower of His is an entirely different story. While many may have convinced themselves that they are following Him, what they’re really doing is expecting Him to follow them. They call Him Savior, but do they treat Him as King? Do they ever really Surrender to His Will or are they too busy holding onto their own? Are they really ready to follow His lead, or do they refuse to “let go and let God? Are they ready to obey like a good Servant no matter what they’re told to do or where they’re told to go? Hmm…a new perspective for most. THAT’S what a surrendered Life looks like and what it means to be a Follower of the King. It’s ONLY when we Focus on the Light of our Savior that everything else dims in comparison, and Following Him becomes our greatest Joy…no matter where He leads us.

It’s human nature to want to take on the Leadership role in our Faith, and most of us feel better about life when we remind ourselves that He is always there. Some of us will drag Him around through life like our favorite toy and we brag about not going anywhere without Him. We want Jesus right there beside (or behind) us ready to Serve our Purpose or to fulfill our will when we call. Sometimes we may talk a pretty good game about our God, but when it comes down to it, are we truly allowing Him to Lead us, OR are we expecting Him to follow us so that He can take care of all of the needs in our lives while He’s at it? Jesus painted a very clear picture of what our lives “look” like if we are Willing to Follow Him. We feed His sheep – we Serve the needy – we Hunger to share the Truth – we mourn over lost people – we lay down our own lives so that we can Live for Him. It takes keeping the Light of the world blazing in our Hearts to be a Follower day in and day out. This is the Key to Purpose AND to Peace.

It’s pretty risky to ask God to “use me” because when you do, He’ll start preparing you, and you just never know what He’ll ask you to do or where He’ll tell you to go! Sometimes when He directs us to do something it makes perfect sense in the human mind, and sometimes it appears to make no sense at all from where we sit. If we’re leading the way in our Faith we’ll never do those things that make no sense to us. We might start praying about it, and some will say “I know what God wants me to do but I’m waiting for Him to work things out” but then they sit around and wait for things to make sense in the human mind before they’re willing to do what they “know God wants them” to do. These folks aren’t really willing to Follow at all…at least not unless it makes perfect sense in the human mind and unless God provides all of the puzzle pieces to snuff out their fear….the real reason behind why they won’t budge. But we can’t just pray as if things depend on God before we take action….we have to WORK as if it depends on us! It’s when we Follow His Lead AND work with all of our Strength that amazing things happen in His name!

I’m a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and I’m a Faithful Follower too. Sometimes I let doubt and fear get in the way just like everybody else does, but IF I determine for the Light of my Life to be my Main Focus each day, everything else will dim in comparison. I don’t want to find myself trying to live in MY Will…I want to remain in His Will all the days of my life instead. I’m determined to be a Faithful Follower of His and I’ll let Him do the Leading because when HE Leads miraculous things happen every single time, and when I lead, I stumble and fall.

How about you?

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” Matthew 16:24-25