Always Ask Yourself Why

So you want to disciple others for Christ...

...WHY?

Why?  Isn't it obvious?  Jesus commands us to go and make disciples.  It says it right in Matthew 28:19!

He also told us to count the cost.  (Luke 14:28-33)  Have you done that?  Have you counted the cost of discipling another?

People have babies all the time and never once consider the late night feedings, hours of constant screaming, tons of poopy diapers, the financial cost, and the utter lack of FREEDOM.  This my friend is just the beginning of the cost of discipleship.

Just as babies grow up into teenagers and rebel so do disciples.  Children love you one moment and want nothing to do with you the next.  so do disciples.  Children listen to their friends and trample all over your words of wisdom.  Children arrive at a time in life when they think they know it all.  Children are self-centered, hate work, love junk food, and test your patience.  So do disciples.

But just as children eventually arrive at a place in life where they have endured the trials of life, have their own children, and become wise enough to see how much their parents have truly invested emotionally, again financially, and spiritually, so do disciples.

So, my friend, if you have considered all this and you're ready to lay down your life go for it.

In the end it will all be
worth it and you will receive your reward!!

*The pic above is of my 6 lovelies!!!  And yes they are worth it!

Wood, Hay, And Stubble

How much time do you spend building treasure in heaven?



How much time do you spend thinking that one day Jesus Himself will hand to you your eternal reward?



Most people who call themselves Christians give very little thought to their future reward.  They are too busy building earthly treasure to ponder heaven.



Consider this scripture...



Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw.  But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.  If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.  But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. 1 Cor 3: 13-15



Here on earth there are people who are called investors.  These men and women spend alot of time researching commodities to find out where to best invest their money.  They have financial portfolios, stock market reports, and properties.  We call them wise.



I say we can learn from them.



The Kingdom of God is sound.  Unlike the stock market there is no danger of heaven "crashing".  Yet God's people hesitate to invest.  We hold on to our time, treasure, and talents (even or spouses and children) with greedy or fearful hands and begrudge to give even a little to God.



The Holy Spirit is speaking to anyone who has an ear to hear.  He says in a still, small voice...



INVEST!  Your reward is in my hands.



To those who are listening there is an urgency in that voice, though it be quiet.  Daily He says it, over and over...



PREPARE!



The wise are listening for that voice because He will guide them.  Even as worldly investors hire stock brokers to help them invest well God has provided through His Spirit a broker.  He is speaking to the heavenly investor...



give this, give that, serve, love, help, minister, forgive, preach, share, pray, read, study, draw near, worship, disciple, let go and GO! 



Every step of obedience to His voice is an investment of...



 gold, silver, jewels



A window has opened in time and for the wise this is an opportunity that will culminate in rewards beyond our imagination.  Blessing we can't contain.



But for those who are ignoring that voice all they have to offer God is the...



wood, hay, or straw



of their fearful, self centered, and opinionated lives.



But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. 1Cor 3:12-15

I love God....?

                   

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind...."  Luke 10:27

Can you say effort?

To love God means we must exert some force.  That we push, sweat, tire ourselves out, and be spent in our quest to know Him.

Loving God is anything but  passive.

To love God there must be some sort of fight within you.

You must have a ruthless determination that every word, thought, and deed will honor God.

Loving God is not some casual pursuit but a drive to make everything and everyone second to Him.  If there is anything fighting to be first in your heart....

IDOL

...let that thing be as sin to you.

Loving God needs no qualifiers.  Either you love God or you don't.

If there is anything in my heart that I prefer more than God then I do not love Him.

God wants ALL of us and will settle for nothing less.

It is better to be honest with God and admit we love other things more than Him than to go on pretending.  It is better that when Jesus comes He finds us repenting and fighting to love Him with everything that is in us than to go on offering Him this listless, lackluster thing we call love.

 He will not accept it.

Ask of God and you will receive the grace to love Him as He deserves.   Place Him on the throne of your heart and let their be no more rivals for your affection towards Him.