Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. When I met with the One who died for me, I asked Him for Wisdom for a few areas of my Life that would be impossible to successfully Navigate without it, and I am confident He’ll Provide it because His Word says all I ever need to do is ask Him. I seek His Face for everything in this Journey of Life! I seek His Will above my own every day! I see the Work of His Hand everywhere! I’m pretty sure that most people see only a picture of the fog in this image…but when I look at it, I imagine what seeing the Shikinah Glory of God will be like one day. I look for the Most High God with great anticipation in everything, and I see Him doing “Great and Mighty things”…not because I’m special…but because I seek His face. By the time I finished Praising the Author and Perfector of my Faith this morning, He had already begun to answer my prayer for Wisdom – so I’ll be putting into Action what was only on my Heart before God took Control. 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 the condition of the Heart at all. But believing in Christ is one thing, being a Follower of His is an entirely different story. It’s painfully obvious that while many professed Christians 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 revere Him as King? Are they working out their salvation “with fear and trembling,” or are they living on Easy Street without a care in the world? 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…that’s a new perspective for most, but 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 “out there” somewhere. 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 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 Joy, Purpose AND to Peace.

It’s pretty risky to ask God to “use” you 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 doesn’t make sense at all from where we sit. If we try to take the Lead 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 before they’re willing to do what they’re already confident “God wants them” to do? These folks aren’t really willing to Follow at all. At least not unless it makes perfect sense in their mind and unless God provides ALL the pieces and removes ALL of the guesswork to allay their fears first…the real reason behind why they won’t budge…they don’t Trust Him to Lead. In reality, 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 fear and doubt creep in when I’m weak, just like everybody else, BUT IF I determine for the Light of my Life to be my Main Focus each day, everything else will dim in comparison. As long as I look for the Shekinah Glory with Great Anticpation, I can’t go wrong! 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, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” Matthew 16:24-25