FollowingJesusUS.com

Because leading a “righteous” life will help us to live a happy life 🙂 You see, God made us and so He knows which choices will make us happy. We need to remember that God is helping us by teaching us how to live 🙂

The Bible really is our guideline, our roadmap, God’s Gift to us. All the pages are really good for us to read and follow. But there are three verses in the Bible that especially tell us how to live:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

“to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness” – Isaiah 61 :1-3

Please Father, in Jesus’s Name, help each one of us to be the Oaks 🙂

Following Jesus includes Love. It includes Worship. It includes Prayer & it includes Gratitude.

Following Jesus includes so very many things. And it includes Following Jesus on every single day, not just the Sabbath or Sundays.

And Following Jesus also includes “Works”. Because “Faith without works is dead”. Because if we truly have faith in Jesus, we will want to do “works”.

We get to go to Heaven by accepting Jesus as our Savior. But a Gift can not be received, if it is not accepted.

And if we truly accept Jesus’s Great Gift Of Salvation, we will truly Follow Him. And that means that we will Follow God’s Word, we will live as God has taught us, and there will be “works”.

We won’t be perfect at any of this, but we will give it our all and we will repent when we do not. But if we live a life of loving and worshiping Jesus, we will find that the works come easily.

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! -James 2:14-19

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” – Ephesians 2: 8-9

Heaven is a Free Gift, given to us by Jesus. And because of that great gift and His great sacrifice, we worship Jesus. And our worship of Jesus is about Jesus’s great love for us and our great love for Him.

It’s about the love that we have for Jesus that comes from the very depths of our being and our gratitude for all that He has done for us. And if we truly believe in Jesus, if we truly accept Him as our Savior, we will love and worship Him and we will want to truly Follow Him and do all that Following Jesus includes.

We get to Heaven by accepting Jesus as our Savior. For after all, if a Gift is not received, it is not accepted.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14

God’s Mercy: Heaven is God’s Final Mercy. No matter how hard we try, we can’t earn Heaven. It’s a Gift. Unearned, but Accepted. The Garden of Eden will now always be our Home. A Home so glorious, so filled with light and joy, and everything we could possibly want or need. A place of rest and peace. A Home where we are loved, and filled with peace and joy for all eternity! A Home where we will be with God for all eternity.

God’s Justice: Hell is God’s Final Justice: A place of torment and punishment. A place filled with fire and demons. A place where there is never any rest. It is a place of horrific suffering. There is no escape. Those who exist here, and there are many millions, will exist here for all eternity.

Heaven & Hell are as real as the earth we stand upon. And it is while we are on earth that we make our choice for all eternity: Heaven or Hell.

It’s our choice. Given to us by God Himself!

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” – Psalm 121:1-2

There can be no doubt that we all face our own challenges. For some they are health related. For others they may be their job. And for others, feeding their families may be the challenge. And for still others, war and overwhelming poverty may be the challenges they face.

But irregardless as to which challenge we are faced with, the answer is still the same: Jesus Christ.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18

Will those who so deperately need the love of Christ, see Jesus in us. Or will they be afraid of us? If we want to be like Jesus, should we not be close to the “brokenhearted”?

There is hurting all around us. Brokenhearted people who we don’t even notice. The lost, the hungry, the poor, the lonely…Will we listen to their story? Will we feed them?

Will we reach them with Christ’s Love? Will we encourage and help them? Will we hug and welcome them as our brothers and sisters in Christ? Will we listen to their story?

Or will we keep walking???

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

There is no greater gift than the one that those who serve in our law enforcement give. It matters not whether they serve in our local police departments, the FBI, ICE or our military. They all risk their lives to keep us safe.

And yet so often, they are unjustly criticized and ridiculed. This is NOT what Jesus would do. Because Jesus loves each of them. And He loves their families. And so should we.

We need to love them and be grateful for their selfless courage and sacrifice. For if not for them, we would all suffer-alot. Afterall, who is it that we call when there is a disaster like September 11th or when we are in danger of any kind?

But it’s not just the members of law enforcement that we need to love and encourage, it’s their families.

For each one of them pays a price for all that their loved one risks. Everyday, they must worry if their husband or wife will come home safely. As their children grow, they also start to worry. And as they say good-bye to the one they love, they know that they may never see them again. They know, that even if they live, they may come home wounded. Perhaps dreadfully so.

How many of us would do that for a complete, and sometimes unappreciative stranger?

We need to pray for each of these brave souls. We need to encourage and thank them. And we need to love them like Jesus does.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

There is no doubt that Justice will come. But Justice belongs to God.

What belongs to us? Mercy. How many times do we walk past someone in pain. The homeless and suffering. A mother who struggles to work and care for her children, but finds herself just stretched too thin. There is the father who works so very hard to provide for his family, but, through no fault of his own, is failing. The brokenhearted…

There is the immigrant who came here to provide their children with a better life. A chance. And if we are honest, if our children were in trouble, we would do the same thing. They speak very little English and yet they found the courage to come here for their children’s sake. How often do we walk by them without even a smile of encouragement?

So often, we don’t even see the hurting and broken hearted. But we can ask Jesus to show them to us and then pray for the courage and strength to be there for them. To give them the hug, encouragement and compassion they so desperately need.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

Trusting God seems like such a big ask. After all, it’s not like we can see God. How do we trust something we can not even see?

The answer is that we look back. Because when we look back on our lives, we can SEE all the times God answered our prayers, all the the times He walked through our troubles with us, and all the times He shared His Peace with us.

And When we look back upon our lives, we can SEE just how present God was, and still is 🙂

“ For with God nothing shall be impossible.” – Luke 1:37

Prayer not only connects us to our Lord; it makes us feel connected and this is so important!

There are so many distractions in our lives, in our world. We need to be sure that we are taking some time out of our day to focus on what matters most: God.

For when we focus on Jesus,

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13