The Unseen Follower

 

 

As I read Shirley Corder’s blog post, Cyber Visitors, she referred to the day she noticed she had a reader whose location was cyberspace- probably a satellite provider. She began thinking of an unknown reader of a different sort, the One who reads our every thought. She reminded me of the fact that we gain some knowledge of our followers and a bit about their location and maybe their families.

Another blogging friend, Gina Burgess, at refreshmentrefuge. wrote a paper-blogging-is-new-town- for her college class that pointed out that all bloggers really don’t know who will read their essays. A lot of bloggers have what we call followers- readers who are interested in our blog. These readers return to our blog pages regularly.

I have the same thought about my weekly online column. I know of one person who told me he has read my thoughts on God’s Words for US. www.liveasif.org(Link to Live As If.org). You can imagine my surprise as I heard my pastor say something complimentary about an article I had written.

Shirley’s words set me to thinking about that Follower that every Christian believer has. Yes, our Leader can also be our Follower. When we follow Him, He guides us through the difficulties of life. When He follows us, He gives strength when we need it. You know His name- His name is Jesus.

Jesus follows us throughout each day. He sits with us in the ICU waiting room as we sit with a friend’s family. He accompanies us as we pay respects to a family that is in grief. Our Lord listens in as we hear the report from the surgeon. (Christ Jesus traveled with our family when we took our son to all those check-ups at the children’s hospital over the years.)

I have a friend who recently asked a doctor who was going to do a procedure on her if he believed in prayer. His answer was “Yes I do, I pray before I work on every patient.” God had orchestrated for her to have a doctor who believed in the power of prayer

I am more convinced than ever that we should be more mindful of our unseen Follower as we go through our days. How do you feel about knowing that Jesus is following you and me around as we gp through life?

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God Guides the Ones Who Obey

 

 

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” Psalm 73:23, 24 (NIV)

This is a psalm of Asaph, a Gershonite Levite choir leader. Twelve of the Psalms have been assigned to him. Gershon was a son of Levi. Asaph had gotten discouraged by the wicked people always prospering. As he enters God’s sanctuary, he repents of his ‘attitude’ and makes the statement that is our focus passage.

“. . . I am always with you. . . “Asaph was truly committed to God. Can we say the same thing?

” . . . you hold me by my right hand.” When young people are dating, they sometimes hold hands. When an older person is unsteady on their feet, a companion will hold their hand while walking. God holds us by our hand as we go through difficult circumstances of life. When we follow God’s direction through the valleys of life, we gain wisdom and strength.

“. . . afterward you will take me into glory.” This is Asaph’s statement of faith. He knows God will do as He has said.  As 21st Century disciples, we need to remember that our final destination is with God in heaven.

“You guide me with your counsel. . .” God speaks to Asaph and imparts wisdom to him. With Asaph being a worker in the house of the Lord, I believe he and God had many occasions in which God talked and Asaph listened. Even today, we have times where we seek his counsel and, in order to hear what God tells us, we have to listen.

What the Lord Asks

 

 

“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and to observe the LORD’S command and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.?” Deut. 10:12-13 (NIV)

 Have you ever wondered what you were supposed to do when faced with a dire situation? I have several times in my life.

One time, I chose to follow the WWJD way of dealing with a sticky situation only to get burned by two tenants in one of the rental units I was managing because my dad was in a nursing home. Had I been able to talk to them early on, I may have handled the issue better. For a while, the action I took with dealing with these women was one of my regrets.

 I found this scripture as I looked for another one. It spoke to my heart. I re-learned some of the basic concepts of Christianity from what this passage says.

“Fear the LORD your God . . . . “ We are to respect God. Revere His word. Hold Him in high esteem.

 “. . . to walk in all his ways. . . “Whatever we do, we are to do as if He were beside us-because He is. Brother Andrew wrote of this exercise in his book, Practicing the Presence of God. I remember hearing and then seeing this pithy statement on a church signboard: “Do you feel away from God? Guess who moved?”

” . . . to love him. . . .” When we love another person we try to be patient with them. We try to understand his or her position with certain issues. When we love God we adore Him, obey His commands.

” . . . to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. . . “We are to be His hands and feet, consider the other person’s viewpoint, their loss, or their circumstance. We are to put our complete selves into the service of the LORD.

 

Remain in His Love

 

 

“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s command and remain in his love.” John 15:10 (NIV)

As small children, we may have been guilty of telling an adult, “I don’t have to do that, you aren’t my mom or dad.” I remember coming home from work and going into a babysitter’s home to pick up my son. She’d had an incident with him. She had told one of her older girls to watch him. The older girl corrected him on something and he told her he didn’t have to mind her.  When I heard what he had said, I got his attention and let him know that if the lady told one of her girls to watch over him that he was to do as he was told. I never came home to a problem again. Had I not dealt with the issue as I did, I believe to this day I would have lost a babysitter.

When we obey another person’s wishes, things are more pleasant, less strained for all involved. When we follow God’s guidance, we don’t have as many regrets, ‘what if’ thoughts, or ‘why didn’t I’ notions. God loves us, even when we wander away from following His direction. His love for us is more evident when we obey His word.

Obeying God’s Will

 

 

 

“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

1 John 2:17 (NIV)

“The world and its desires pass away. . .” A few years ago, I watched a documentary on television that showed what happened to concrete if it was let alone and nothing was done to it and its surroundings. Time photography showed it morphing back into its original state- that of soil and vegetation. Our desires change as we mature. So it is with the desires of our world. Our wishes began to be seen in the light of reality.

”. . . .the man who does the will of God lives forever.” John tells his readers, including us, the reward of following God’s will is eternal life. Simply stated, if we obey the Father, follow His guidance for our lives, and live out that will before others, we will be granted entry into His heavenly home.

When we realize we may have not obeyed God, we still can humble ourselves before Him and say we are sorry for not following His direction. He will forgive us and erase the transgression from our slate and allow us to enjoy His presence for the present and for the length of eternity.

Obedience to the Spirit Brings Peace

 

 

“Whatever you have learned or received or seen in me or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Phil. 4:9 (NIV)

               The apostle Paul gives his readers very good guidance here. His readers in the first Century received the word to “put into practice’ whatever they learned from his letters, heard in sermons, or saw in his practice.

               When we are new Christians and start studying our Bibles, we are taught that we are to apply what we learn to our hearts in order to experience growth in our spiritual lives.

               By applying what we learn to our lives and our hearts, two things happen. First, we grow a little more like Christ each time. Second, when we display godly traits, we model Christ for those around us.

                Godly traits can be the extending of grace to a neighbor, holding a door for an elderly person or anyone, taking the time to do something for a friend.

               Recently, I had a problem about the way something was handled by a lady. I didn’t want to cause hurt feelings with a mutual friend. I called the mutual friend and got her voicemail. I left the message asking her to pray for me. Later that morning, she called me. I found myself telling her what was wrong. She had already prayed for me; while we were on the phone, she listened. She took the time out of her busy day to listen to me. I felt blessed.

 

Obedience Results in Confidence

 

 

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask; because we do what pleases him.” 1 John 3:21-22 (NIV)

” . . . if our hearts do not condemn us . . .” If our hearts are clear, we are right with God. We can have answers to our prayers because we have done what makes Him smile. However, if we harbor unkind thoughts, it is our responsibility to present them to God and let Him take us through the healing process.

“. . . we have confidence before God. . .” We can go without fear before the Father’s throne knowing He will hear us, accept our requests, and act upon them. We don’t have to cower in fear before God.

” . . . receive from him anything we ask. . .” We know He will answer according to His will. Sometimes, His answer is not what we have asked for but what He sees best for the circumstance.

“. . . because we do what pleases him.” When we choose to follow God in obedience, He allows us to have rich answers to our prayers. These answers are according to His will and not necessarily ours.
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