How Do I Follow Jesus

It is Monday, and my wife is frustrated. The same could be said for Tuesday through Friday, with a weekend hangover. The frustrater is her job. Her company assigns cases for her to review without adequate training.

Some of her fellow workers have recently quit because every gram of enjoyment had been squeezed from their jobs. The performance expectations are high, while the empowering resources are meager.

Many Christians are also daily frustrated. The Earth has made many orbits around the sun since they invited Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Their initial excitement has long since evaporated. They aren’t certain that they are saved, haven’t progressed very far, and experience very little joy in their faith.  

I grew up in a church that emphasized decisions for Christ but provided little to no guidance after that. Empowering resources were nonexistent. A Christian was defined, not by love for God and others, but by a list of behaviors from which they must refrain. The performance expectations were high, while the empowering resources were meager.

In my late teens, I had no assurance of salvation, joy, or progress in the faith. Transformed relationships as a result of my “Christian” faith were completely missing in my life. The gospel to me called for a confusing mixture of faith in Christ and my own performance.

Jesus did what He could, but I thought I had to add to it by how I lived. Of course, that is a misunderstanding of the by grace through faith gospel. Allow me to give some directions for the Christian road ahead that would have helped me, and I trust will help you.

I have spent thousands of hours preparing resources to empower you. I expect that you will become progressively more like Jesus, but it won’t be an overnight transformation.

It will be more like five steps forward, three steps back, repeated for the rest of your life. It is unrealistic to expect perfection of myself or you this side of glory, but I expect enough positive Jesus-like changes in our lives that others notice.

The short version is that we must lead Christ-centered lives (John 15:5), empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, Ephesians 5:18) to glorify our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). How do we do that?

Much of what I have learned about following Jesus is summarized in my free, digital book, His Power for Your Weakness: 260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. I suggest using it as a devotional for 260 days. Read a chapter in the New Testament each day as suggested. Write one to three life applications daily from your reading.

As of this writing, God has used this book in Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia) to teach 16,725 people to follow Jesus and lead 6,830 of them to salvation in Him.

When you finish His Power, you can also benefit by working through another free, digital book, 31 Steps Toward Spiritual Maturity. This book was written to help Christians learn to live Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-empowered, Father-glorying lives before I wrote His Power for Your Weakness.  May God bless you and make you a blessing to countless people! #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources 

See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com.

God has empowered me to write “His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength.” It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship eBook. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 6,830 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 16,725 people. I invite you to explore it.

https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/his-power-for-your-weakness 

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