PRAYER FOR THE JOURNEY AHEAD (C)

Jesus is the solution for every man’s malady. Some people realize this fact only when they are about to depart. We are so privileged to realize it now. There was a very brilliant young professor who never believed in God, on his sick bed however, he prayed to God but it was too late. He died. It is a very wonderful privilege we have to have discovered the way and to be in that way. You must place value on this. When we gave our lives to Christ back in the seventies, we used to sing,

“I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back.”

Today, the Church is busy producing weak Christians who are gambling with their Christianity, those looking for a God to use and not a God to serve, not a God to worship. Something is seriously wrong. We need to start producing worshippers and get it right at the foundation level. Those who place one hundred percent value on their relationship with God and are not ready to substitute it for anything. I want you to be such a person.

Pray

• Lord, any wrong foundation upon which my Christianity is built, today, I hand it over to you and ask you to demolish it. No other foundation can anyone build than that which you built which is Christ Jesus. I ask that you build my foundation on my consolidated relationship with Jesus Christ, your eternal Son, in the name of Jesus.
• Help me, O God, to walk with you, in Jesus name I pray.

Luke 9:23-25, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” Divine prescription for discipleship is the cross; the cross is a symbol of self denial. That is what the modern day Church goer does not want to do; he does not want to deny self but wants to impose self on God. Many pastors have lost their shepherd’s staff and as such caged by their members. It is not easy to be a pastor; it is fraught with a lot of occupational hazards. The cross is a place where you empty yourself of self. Before Christ came to save us, he emptied himself of all his heavenly privileges and we are supposed to be his disciples. A disciple is a disciplined follower.

Pray

• Lord, make my Christianity authentic in the name of Jesus Christ. May I never be deceived. May I never be drawn away by the lust in this world in the name of Jesus. May I never be distracted. May I never be deluded in the mighty name of Jesus.
• I ask that you grant me grace to take up the cross and be a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ, my redeemer, my savior and my Lord in Jesus name.

TO BE CONTINUED…….