13 Ways to Pursue More of Jesus


Every day presents a fresh opportunity to pursue a closer relationship with Jesus – and the more you have of Jesus in your life, the better your life will be. So don’t settle for just occasional encounters with Jesus in some parts of your life. Keep pursuing more of Jesus until your whole life is saturated with His power.
Here's how you can pursue more of Jesus:
Go for the maximum, not the minimum. Choose to go after more than just the bare minimum God has to offer you. Make your faith about more than just trying to escape hell and get your ticket punched to heaven. Invite God to completely transform you: bending your will, awakening your conscience, breaking your heart, transforming your mind, overcoming your prejudices, soaring in your spirit, and conforming you into His glorious image.
Pursue more of His voice in your ear. Out of the many voices you hear speaking to you each day — through other people, circumstances, etc. – you need to learn how to discern what's truly God speaking and what's not. Keep in a mind that any authentic message from God is biblical (straight from God's Word), personal (in the language of your own life), and powerful (resulting in lives either changed for the better or saved). If someone claims to have a message from God for you, test it by making sure that it's in accord with and confirmed by the Bible. Remember Jesus’ promise that He would go ahead of you to guide you in every situation. Learn how to recognize Jesus' voice by getting to know the Bible well (reading it, studying it, understanding it, applying it, and living by it) and then trust His guidance when making decisions.
Pursue more of His tears on your face. Jesus understands and cares when you're crying tears of pain. Remember how much He suffered on the Cross, and see your own sufferings as opportunities to draw closer to Jesus. No matter what you're going through – the loss of a job, a friend's betrayal, a health crisis, a spouse's unfaithfulness, a child's rebellion – Jesus is crying along with you and will meet you in the middle of your suffering with His presence.
Pursue more of His praise on your lips. It's easy to praise Jesus when your life is going well, but Jesus is still worthy of praise even when problems and pressures darken your circumstances. Make the deliberate, conscious choice to praise Jesus every day, no matter what, to honor Jesus and learn how to walk by reliable faith instead of shifting feelings. Praise Jesus for who He is by frequently thinking of one His many wonderful attributes and thanking Him for it. Praise Jesus for what He has done by thanking Him for specific blessings in your life on a regular basis. Real praise is affirming your faith even in the midst of desperation when you choose to cling to Jesus alone.
Pursue more of His death in your life. Death produces power that leads to more blessings in life. Just as Jesus died on the Cross so you could be spiritually alive, He wants you to die to your own desires and yield to His desires for you so you can experience the best life possible. God uses pressures, problems, and pain in your life as nails to pin you to cross of your own. If you submit to Him while you go through them, you experience what it's like to die to yourself so God's power can live through you. Every kind of brokenness you experience can lead to a corresponding blessing if you're willing to die to your own: will, goals, dreams, desires, expectations, plans, rights, and reputation. If you choose to die to yourself, God will pour out blessings like a character that reflects His own, a witness that leads to other people's lives being transformed, and rewards from God himself.

Adapted from Pursuing More of Jesus, copyright 2009 by Anne Graham Lotz. Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nashville, Tn., www.thomasneison.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our shopping trend and culture

It has been said that one is what he sees, watches and feeds on but also one can be what his buying habit and culture is. Most often will always find our supermarkets floors highly occupied by shoppers be it on good or harsh economic times. Human beings thirst for satisfaction never ends and the cycle affects everyone of us irrespective of our ages. The youth in our society form a potential market target for manufacturers of various products in our stores. Majority of product advertisers try to lure the youth into buying their products which is done with an effort to win acceptability by these group. A kind of youth group aged between 18 – 25 years do have a peculiar shopping habit. Their peculiarity is observed in the general trend among them of their more willingness to spend than save. This is brought about by them making impulse purchases or simply spending beyond their means. The difficulty of balancing wants versus needs is a problem experienced by nearly all but the most adver...
Read more

WHAT DO YOU WANT IN LIFE?

A story is told of a tourist who docked his boat in a tiny African village coastline. The tourist complimented the African fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. “Not very long,” answered the fisherman. “But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the tourist. The fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. The tourist asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"  The fisherman answered, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife.  In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.  I have a full life."  The tourist interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!  You should start by fishing longer every day.  You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger bo...
Read more

All hail the politician

Politics is a science and also an art. All the people involved in it are to understand the fundamentals within it. In Kenya, former President Moi used to say “Siasa mbaya, maisha mbaya” whereby bad politics leads to bad life. Unlike in business where what matters most is the bottom line that is are you making profits or loss; politics is about service that is the aspect of human contact. Business you make decisions in politics you make the right decisions but have to bring people along to believe in your decisions that you are proposing. Quoting Simon Thompson, Lastminute.com Chief Marketing Officer, he says “Leadership is about people. Management is about output. You will be respected based on successful leadership, you will be promoted based on successful management.” Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell says about leadership as the art of accomplishing more than what the science of management says is possible. In leadership what needs to be understood is that there are goi...
Read more