Hebrews 12:2a: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...” Scripture says looking into Jesus. In following, Jesus is the standard. Anything outside Him is wrong. Pressing into the realm of the Spirit outside the route provided by Jesus is demonic. So our gaze must be on Him at all times. If you see yourself becoming something outside Christ, please run and retrace your steps, you have stopped following Jesus.
Steps to Following Jesus
- Desire
- Decision
- Determination
- Discipline
- Death
These are the five (5) steps to following Jesus, I call them the "5 D's" of Followership.
Mark 8:34: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”. The 5 D's of Followership can be explained with the above scripture.
1. Desire: The first thing and foundation for anything in life is Desire. Someone said you can't acquire what you don't desire. So, to follow Jesus, the first thing to do is to desire it. Desire works with passion, When a man desires something, passion comes into it. So once you desire to follow Jesus, the passion will show forth.
2. Decision: It's not enough to desire to follow Jesus, we need to make the decision too. Have you thought and desired to do something but because of indecisiveness, you couldn't do that thing? Many people desire to follow Jesus, but their mind is not made up yet. They are still in doubt or still contemplate. And in following Jesus, you can't be indecisive. Your mind must be made up. Your decision must be revealed through your confession. Once you have settled it in your heart then confess it with your mouth by so doing your decision becomes solid if possible write it down. Some of us are yet to decide to follow Jesus because we are still considering some things, we don't want to let go of some lifestyles or something. But if we must follow Jesus, then we must release those things and take that decision. Following Jesus will surely cost us something and until we make that decision, it won't work. So I encourage us tonight, forget about the economy or whatever is affecting your decision to follow Jesus. Make that decision tonight and surely it will pay off.
3. Determination: Once you have made that decision, there will be many attacks, challenges, inconveniences, discomforts even pains that will come your way. It might not be immediately but as you keep following Jesus. And all these are attempts to stop your Followership and that's why you need to be determined. Determination is the strong will to forge ahead no matter what. Determination is one of the best self encouragement tool. Many Christians fall short of this factor. We easily give up, we easily stop following Jesus when things are not working well. We have not built tenacity and rugged trust in God. Many Christians have stopped going to church, they have stopped praying and fasting just because of challenges involved in following Jesus. I remember those days in school, some workers in the fellowship came to meet me and said they want to stop being a worker and when we asked why, they said it's affecting their academics. In fact some left the fellowship completely to focus on academics. Following Jesus is not bread and butter and it's not all bed of roses. Except you are determined to stay put, you might surrender and give up. I pray for as many on the verge of giving up, let hope and faith be restored to you now in Jesus name Amen.
Let's know your view about this in the comment section below. Thanks for reading and upsharing.
Also published on my whaleshares blog