IT IS NOT EASY TO FOLLOW THE LORD

 

• Signs of the Kingdom, Part XI
  Rick Joyner

         When the civil powers of Israel threatened the apostles if they continued to preach in Jesus’ name, they did not pray for more miracles, healing, or prophetic words so they could be more persuasive. They prayed for more boldness (see Acts 4:23-31). Boldness is the willingness or ability to be decisive and take risks. When we recognize the difference between the two trees in the garden, we can boldly make the right choices between them. 

         A basic choice everyone must make is to trust the Lord and believe His Word or trust the devil and his lie that the Word of God is not true. Satan’s first lie was to cause doubt in God’s Word, and this confusion caused the fall. This tactic worked on them and many people since. The Lord could have made everything easier for us by binding the devil immediately after His resurrection, but God uses the devil to make things more difficult for us, thereby making us stronger.

         The Lord calls the weak, but He doesn’t want us to stay weak. Things will be easier for us if we become His disciples, because He makes us stronger. And we will become much stronger when we settle the question whether God’s Word, the Bible, is true. This is still the enemy’s primary way of turning men away from God and away from the path of life. 

         This lie of Satan to make us question what God has said may sound compelling, just as the fruit of the forbidden tree looked very good. The temptation is difficult to resist. God’s Word is deeply challenging and contradicts most of what people believe or want for themselves, but if it did not deal with our basic self-centeredness, we would continue to eat from the wrong tree. The choice is meant to be difficult because our calling is difficult, but it will be much more difficult the longer we hesitate between two opinions (see I Kings 18:21).

         Those who decide to follow the Lord because they were told how easy it would be, and thereby believe that following the Lord will be easy, will not last long. Jesus said, from the start, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). The first step on the path of life is to give up our selfish life to do His will. 

         Without question, to follow the Lord is always the best choice. This will ultimately be much easier than choosing not to follow Him. This is meant to be a difficult choice. We must not try to make this an easy decision, because this will cause many to fall away when life becomes difficult, which it certainly will. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He required them to leave everything and to die daily. He did not try to further persuade or change the minds of those who made the choice not to follow Him. It was better for them not to follow Him until this issue was settled.

         If we are not preaching this same challenging message that Jesus preached, it is not coming from Him. He never changes. People try to make the call easier out of “compassion for humanity,” but that is contrary to God’s compassion and the worst we can do for them. The Lord made the call difficult because He is the Truth, and He knew that following Him would be the most difficult thing we would do. He was truthful about this from the beginning. In fact, He was emphatic. Everyone who starts this difficult walk experiences a difficult calling.  

         The fact that 80% do not want the freedom to choose their own destiny but rather want someone else to decide for them is evidence of how far we have fallen. This is also what compelled the Israelites in the wilderness to want to go back to slavery in Egypt. Everything was easier when they were slaves. Likewise, when the Iron Curtain fell, many who had been under the worst yoke of slavery ever imposed, Marxist communism, said they longed to be back under this bondage! Furthermore, this is why inmates who have been imprisoned for a long time will purposely commit a crime after they are released, just so they can be caught again and return to the security they felt in prison, where they didn’t have to make decisions. 

         Freedom is difficult because of the bondage every human being has toward sin and toward the ultimate slavedriver, Satan. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (see I John 5:19-20). There is a difference between power and authority. One can have power with usurped authority, like Satan. But “all authority” has been given to Jesus, and He will soon display His all-powerfulness. He is only waiting for those He has called to rule with Him to be ready. Are you one of those for whom He is waiting? 

© 2023 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.