In order for Christians to grow in their fellowship with their Lord Jesus Christ, men and women need to develop a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. They need to become committed to fellowship with other Believers who love the Lord and have a heart to serve God. The purpose is to become self-feeders on the bread of life, Jesus Christ who is the word of God made manifest. It’s important to remember the men and women who planted the Word of God in our own lives ... those who walked alongside us to train us, mentor us, and raise us up to appreciate the love of God and the love of serving God’s people.
“Do you think that it’s possible for a man to be saved without making Jesus lord?” The popular Christian author Oswald Sanders said, “I thought that I was saved before I made Jesus lord of my life. This was because of poor teaching. But when I was taught correctly about the lordship of Christ, I dedicated my life to serve Him as Lord.”
According to Franklin Graham, the name of Jesus shouts out a choice: “To whom will you give your life?” The Apostle Peter said, “there is no other name whereby we must be saved”. He is not a negotiator, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. According to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
We must come to the Lord Jesus Christ on His terms, not ours. He is King of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth, We are His subjects, not His superiors. Christians are citizens of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, being as one that owes allegiance to a Sovereign and is governed by His laws, being under the power and dominion to submit, to be subservient and willfully obedient to our Lord and Savior. When you come to Jesus you are no longer your own ... you give up the right to yourself as lord of your live. Lord means owner. When Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, you have surrendered your life to Him. You have a King and it is not you. Christianity is not who we are but rather whose we are. As our Savior, Jesus Christ has rescued us from the destruction of sin in this world. He is our Savior and Lord. Lord means one who has supreme rank. Onward Christian soldier! A soldier falls in line according to his Lord’s command. A disciple is disciplined to man his post until he is relieved by his commander in chief. Lordship means absolute ownership. The Lord has sovereign control over the life of His subservient subjects who are bound to Him by the bond of love.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ is not politically correct. Oswald Chambers said in his devotional for November 1, “You are not your own. God will make your life a thoroughfare for the world when Jesus is Lord. No human can stand that on his own unless he is empowered by the Holy Spirit.” The point of the Christian life is to strive to become just like Jesus, so that people will be attracted to Him. Everyone is watching when you’re a “Follower of Christ”. God will bring us to the rugged reality where we no longer care what happens to us, so that He gets His way for the purpose of redeeming others in Christ’s name.
The greatest life lessons are learned through the greatest tests. You can’t have a testimony without a test. We get angry with God when there are trials, if we view God’s tests from the world’s perspective. To love God is to rest in the reassurance that he comes to us with the grip of his Son’s nail-pierced hands to take upon himself our own pain and suffering. If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in this world, then thank Him for breaking our hearts. There are many dangerous places in this world. The safest place is to be where the Lord has assigned us. When we are in the protection of His will, if God be for us who can be against us?
According to Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It’s an honor and a privilege to bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessing is to walk in fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, and one with another in the household of faith. Who is our Lord? According to the Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision, Christ Is All: Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably, may I ever love thee as I am loved. Thou hast given thyself for me, may I give myself to thee; Thou hast died for me, may I live to thee; In every moment of my time, in every movement of my mind, in every pulse of my heart. May I never dally with the world and its allurements, but walk by thy side, listen to thy voice, be clothed with thy grace, and adorned with thy righteousness ... that in serving our Lord, we may ever live to the praise of the glory of thy grace!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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