Are you willing?

Alright people! Time to focus, and use your minds. I have highlighted questions in this post that I want all of you to take time and focus on, to be able to find direct truthful answers. God will show you something individually to each of you. I pray that He speaks into each of your lives as you continue on in this blog. I tend to think to much sometimes, but in doing so, God shows me so much! So I challenge you to really concentrate on these questions! So let's begin shall we?.. :)

Luke 22 reminds us of so many things. I want you to first read the passage on your own, and think about being in Peters position and try and answer these questions. Would you fight with Jesus if He told you that He knew you would deny Him 3 times by the end of the day? Would you stick up for Jesus even if you knew you could be killed for believing that He is the Messiah?

The first thing that it reminds us of is how often and easily we exchange our faith for worldly things that won't last forever. We so often let ourselves get distracted from God and our spiritual lives only to please others, and to do wrong things with them. Why aren't we as easily distracted from our friends and worldly lives to please God? Some would say because we are surrounded by worldly things, like news and gossip. I however, don't believe that. I use to, until just now actually. We are also surrounded by Gods love and beauty, whether it's the beauty He made for us to see within Nature, or individuals, children. Seeing the good and beauty in the things all around us. That is all from God, & why would/should we shut that out to fill our hearts, minds, and souls with junk that makes us lose our positive focus? It's just not rational, right?

The second thing that it reminds us is that we shall never put ourselves before others. We are of no higher class of any other individual on this earth, no matter what our ranking in society is. Jesus shows us this as He kneels down to wash His disciples feet. He made it very clear that He was a servant of God, and that was His duty on earth. We are also God's servants, which means we are servants to others as well. That is what God has called us to do. We need to remember to listen to God's directions for our lives, so that we can be the servants that He wants us to be. Are you willing to serve? Are you willing to give up everything that you have to become an individual child of God who is willing to serve others to show His love? We need to be willing to do these things, to show the differences between Christians and nonbelievers. It was what we were put on earth to do; serve Him, worship Him, praise Him, and show His love to others.

Some of us have a hard time acknowledging that Jesus was in fact human. Somehow we forget that during the crucifixion, Jesus questioned God on if this was really what He wanted Him to do. It's not like Jesus was all excited to get tortured, He had feelings towards the issue, on which He cried out to God asking questions. He needed the reassurance that this is what God put Him on earth for. He was a true servant of our Father, which shows through His crucifixion. God sent an angel down to tell Him that this is what He had planned for Jesus' life, to prepare Him for what was about to happen. Jesus now knew that this was His purpose on earth, what He was born to do. He did not run away from God's plan, He followed it, as we all should. Jesus ended up dying for a great cause, and we need to be willing to do the same if that is what God has called us to do. Are you willing to die for God? This is something you should really reflect on. No matter what we go through, if it's God's will, He will prepare us as He prepared Jesus. Maybe it won't be as clear as sending an angel down to us, but as long as we listen to His words, we can be positive that God is preparing us currently for whatever that has yet to come. He will always prepare us, and equip us with what we need to survive, as long as we have faith in His abilities, nothing in our lives will be lost, but everything will be gained. We just need to have enough faith to be able to believe that. Do you have enough faith?

Verses 47-53 got me thinking of how many times we let Jesus down, by acting out aggressively towards others, meanwhile He cleanses us from all sin. As Jesus was being put to be crucified, one of His disciples chose to act aggressively towards the guard who was bringing Jesus to be tortured. The disciple sliced the guards ear off, and Jesus was very disappointed in his actions. He stated that He has never shown or disrespected someone like that, therefore he would never want his disciple do such an act. He then repaired the mans ear, and by doing so, He shows us that we should be treating all others the same as God wants them to be treated, respectfully, lovingly, and kindly so that we can show them what God is like, and be an example to others. Instead of fighting back, we need to show God's love by doing something good for our enemies & no matter what the circumstances are, be strong in the Lord, and He will make you strong enough for Life itself.

In verses 54-65, we are reminded that no matter how hard we try and deny that we will sometimes lack faith, or become embarrassed of our faith, that we end up hiding it through tough times, these situations do occur. When we do these things, we are choosing to hide our relationship with God. When was the last time you hid your faith/relationship with God? Why were you embarrassed to show your love for God? Why did you find it difficult to share? Why did you feel uncomfortable? We need to think about these questions, and answer them truthfully. For each of us, the answers will be completely different. Reflect on these questions, because unless you do, you will continue to deny the Lord's presence in your life more and more each and every day of your life. We need to start looking at the problems in our relationship with God, and for all of us, I don't care who you are, this is the biggest problem of them all. It needs to be focused on, continuously. Each time you find yourself denying God, I want you to think of these questions as you're in the situation. Answer them truthfully, because if not, you'll only be lying to yourself, and God, in which both of you already know the truth, so there is no point in lying. Do not doubt God, He knows everything about you and your future, where as you know nothing. Do not contradict the Lords words to you, or His plans for you. You will only continuously make a fool out of yourself.

The last part of Luke 22 reminds us that God has always shown us and told us that He is real, that He is living in each one of us. Why should He fight against us if He has already given us proof of His existence? God is willing to take over, but He wants us to choose for ourselves that He is living, and the One Christ and to see how much we will doubt Him along with His existence. That is like saying I am nonexistent as I stare at myself through a mirror, as I type this with a witness beside me. It is obvious that we are living, it's just leaving our stubbornness aside as we move on with our faith.

This chapter is a great part in the Bible, and I really hope that it spoke to you like it spoke to me. I pray that God speaks directly in each and every one of your lives.

Sending lots of love, peace and blessings your way!

SaraKath.