Necessary Adjustment!

(Luke 9:23-24) If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.

What changes are you willing to make in order to serve God? What are you unwilling to change? What changes in attitude and outlook are necessary for you to follow God's will? How much inconvenience will you tolerate for the sake of Christ and the Gospel? These questions make us uncomfortable because they reveal our selfish nature.

We like to say we are seeking and following God's will. The reality, too often, is that if doing so requires us to venture out of the cocoon of comfort we have built around us, we decline.

But if we are to follow Christ, and join him in the work he is doing, it will be necessary for our lives to change. We will, at the very least, be inconvenienced, and we may have to make major adjustments. As the author of 'Experiencing God,' Henry Blackaby, says, "You cannot stay where you are and go with God at the same time."

Dr. Blackaby states; “When God speaks, revealing what He is about to do, that revelation is your invitation to adjust your life to Him. As you adjust your heart and mind to Him, His purposes, and His ways, you are in a position to obey. You can’t continue business as usual or stay where you are and go with God at the same time. This truth is clearly evident in the Scriptures” • Noah could not continue life as usual and build an ark at the same time. (see Genesis 6) • Abram could not stay in Ur or Haran and father a nation in Canaan. (see Genesis 12:1-8) • Moses could not stay on the back side of the desert herding sheep and stand before Pharaoh at the same time. (see Exodus 3) • Rahab could not obey the king and save the lives of the Israelite spies. (see Joshua 2:1-24) • Ruth could not remain with her relatives and join the people of God in Israel. (see Ruth 1:16-18) • David had to leave his sheep to become king. (see I Samuel 16:1-13) • Amos had to leave his sycamore orchard to preach in Israel. (see Amos 7:14-15) • Jonah had to leave his home and go against what he had been taught in order to preach in Nineveh. (see Jonah 1:1-2; 3:1-2; 4:1-11) • Esther could not remain silent before the king and save her people. (see Esther 4:14) • Peter, Andrew, James, and John had to leave their fishing businesses in order to follow Jesus.

(see Matthew 4:18-22) • Matthew had to leave his lucrative tax collecting job to follow Jesus. (see Matthew 9:9) • Saul had to completely change direction in order for God to use him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. (see Acts 9:1-19)

We say Christ is Lord, and that he can interrupt our plans anytime he wants, we just don’t expect him to do it. We want him to affirm everything we are doing and never ask us to change anything we have planned.

If you want to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus you have no choice, you must be willing to disrupt your life completely, make whatever adjustments are needed to follow Him

Please listen to me until you are ready to make any changes necessary to follow and obey God what God has said, you will be of little use to God. I believe we want to be used by God mightily. I believe people reading this post want to be used by God to impact the world for Jesus Christ.

1st acknowledge that, Say it with me, “I want to be used by Jesus Christ to Impact the world” 2nd ask God to show you what adjustments you need to make to be obedient to his call on your life. • Your circumstances (job, home, finances), • Your relationships (family, friends, business associates), • Your thinking (prejudices, methodology, planning), • Your commitments (to family, church, job, plans, tradition), • Your actions (how you pray, give, serve), • Your beliefs (about God, His purposes, His ways, your relationship to Him).

Let me close with this “Any adjustment God expects you to make is for your own Good”

"Make this hymn your prayer today All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee my blessed Savior I surrender all"

With Gods help, you can do this. Say it with me “With God’s help I can do this”