Following Jesus as Lover and Lord—Even When It’s Hard

I love the story at the end of Luke about two followers of Jesus who were traveling the afternoon after His resurrection. He walked up beside them and asked them what they were talking about. 

They were somehow prevented from recognizing Him, and they told Him the story of the last few days–how this prophet named Jesus was mighty in words and deeds but was handed over to the authorities and crucified. They told Him about the past and future, but they didn’t understand the past, and they didn’t know what the future held. Only when He revealed Himself to them later did He begin to explain what these events meant. 

That is a wonderful picture of how Jesus comes to us in the midst of crisis situations. We try to understand what happened and talk about how things are going, but we need to walk with Jesus to know where we are headed and why we are headed there. 

You probably are not looking for a journey in the midst of your crises. If you are like most people, you want a quick fix. When you’re hurting, you want to be healed right away. When you’re facing huge mountains, you command them to move and hope they obey pretty soon. Meanwhile, Jesus comes alongside to walk with you and lead you. He does not always want to fix things immediately. Sometimes He just wants the journey. 

God is raising up an army of lovers, and He will not be choosing those who feel qualified or have it all together.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” He said. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Do you think you’re harassed, weighed down, overburdened, at the end of your rope? Great! That is the perfect place to begin. This is just the right place to receive God’s love. Love never tells us we have to get cleaned up in order to come. We simply need to receive and start walking where He takes us. I love how Jesus puts it in this invitation. He does not bully people into learning how to love. 

His commandment is not a military order. He is not demanding subservience. He is calling His friends to take His yoke, and then He assures them that His yoke is easy and the burden is light. We get to walk along with Jesus in His strength. Does this mean there are no valleys or hardships along the way? Of course not. Jesus assured us that we would have troubles in this world. He also assured us that He had overcome that world. (John 16:33) 

Perfect Love in the flesh invited us into His fellowship, and his overcoming is our overcoming. His journey becomes our journey. His ministry becomes our ministry. His love becomes our love. 

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I’d like to invite you to join me on a 12-week journey as we discover the Blueprint to Kingdom Identity beginning on September 5, 2022. We are preparing for a powerful time discovering who we are and whose we are.

To learn more about the masterclass and to register, click here!