Embrace the Within no. 216

“For with God, nothing is impossible” (Luke (Luk) 1:37). I pray that is one thing on which we can all agree. And that is why so often He tells us to not be afraid. There is no need to worry. There is no need to fear. He is enthroned. He is in control. He has a plan. He has overcome.

There are a lot of ways we can lack faith in God BUT we do that mostly by not letting Him have sovereignty. We do not let Him be in charge. And there are a lot of reasons for that. I struggle with giving Him control because I know He has a plan. And that plan is not the same plan I have for my life.

There is a cost to following Him and I think we need to make that clear to everyone before getting them into following Him. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Don’t you sit down and estimate the cost, to see if you have enough capital to complete it? If you don’t, then when you have laid the foundation but can’t finish, all the onlookers start making fun of you and say, ‘This is the man who began to build, but couldn’t finish” (Luke (Luk) 14:28-30)! Following Him and being His talmid requires careful thought and weighing the cost of discipleship. If we want to study Him and follow Him, then we have to stop being afraid of losing ourselves because we have to lose ourselves. We have to embrace Him within us.

“So every one of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has cannot be my talmid . Salt is excellent. But if even the salt becomes tasteless, what can be used to season it? It is fit for neither soil nor manure — people throw it out. Those who have ears that can hear, let them hear” (Luke (Luk) 14:33-35). Following Him is serious business that takes denying self, taking up our execution stake, and following obediently. And it costs a lot. Am I willing to give it up for Him?

The Kingdom of God requires everything that I am. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, hid it again, then in great joy went and sold everything he owned, and bought that field” (Mattityahu (Mat) 13:44). If I want to follow Him, there is everything to lose and everything to gain. Have I considered the cost?

When the plague hit and I started this journey at being all in for the Kingdom, the commonwealth, the Way of the Lord, I was not ready for the cost. BUT when God starts to move you can either follow or not. And no matter what the cost, I am invested in seeing this journey out. I didn’t look for partial change to my life when the plague hit, I was looking for total change. I was looking for physical, mental, and spiritual health. And that is the journey He took me through since then, now, and continues to lead. “Then Yeshua told his talmidim , ‘If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake will find it. What good will it do someone if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or, what can a person give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come in his Father’s glory, with his angels; and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct’” (Mattityahu (Mat) 16:24-27).

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH