ARE YOU FOLLOWING CHRIST?

"Repeat this prayer after me and you will be saved"...that is what the preacher said and I followed the instructions......this was back when I had just joined High school ....I repeated that prayer every year whenever a 'good' preacher came to school to preach....then I finished my High School education......

Oh boy! This is when the rubber met the road....transitioning from living in a regulated environment full of girls to a world where I did not have anyone telling me to be somewhere at a specific place and all the boys around.....mama mia! I went on to enjoy life and 'experiment'....which led to a lot of heartache and pain ...but what was constant was a feeling of emptiness that never went away for like 6 years...I tried to take the feeling away by getting into relationships thinking that is what I needed.....PAUSE

...remember I had said that prayer that the preacher asked me to say and I knew I was saved and going to heaven but why did I not feel different? why did I not walk away from compromising situations? why did I go to places that you would not expect to find a Christian? why? Wasn't that prayer enough? why didn't my life look any different?

Fast forward...to when I was 23 years old...when the feeling of emptiness was at its peak! I was in a 'good' relationship with a 'good' guy...we looked cute together...everyone said we were meant to be.....but why was I so unhappy? why did I always feel like I chose that man over God?......

I mean...I heard the preacher say that once you say that prayer you are saved....and you will go to heaven but in my heart I knew I was heading to hell....

The day, I truly gave my life to Christ...........

This is how it looked like:

1. I walked away from my then boyfriend, because I was living in sin.......it broke my heart

2. I repented to God my sins and never looked back again...this was so hard!

3. I started spending regular time with God in prayer and reading His word

4. God put this blog in my heart and I wrote the first post ( this one) and scriptures flowed into my mind

5. I changed the music I listened to and the movies I watched....

So what is the difference?

The first time, I only said a prayer but I never truly repented.........the first time I did not think following Christ would cost me my life.....I just thought I would go back to how I lived....

So what does it mean to follow Christ?

1. Denying yourself

Math 16:24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

This means you will have to go against your feelings.....your comfort....your normal way of life...in short it means you will have to forget yourself and focus on pleasing Christ.

It means you will have to let go of certain relationships, you will have to stop going to certain places and you will have to change...you will have to change the music you listen to , the books you read and the movies you watch........and in some places it would mean losing your life for His sake....

2. Making Christ first

Luke 14:26: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.

Definitely, He did not mean for us to literally hate them, but in the sense that....if you are to be His disciple you have to put Him first above ANYONE else in your life........in the way that you will always choose to follow His commands above pleasing anyone else.....

3. Spreading the good news

Luke 9:59-60: And He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."
This means more than anything else, the most important thing for you as a Christian is to proclaim the good news.....this should always be something that comes first...that moves you everyday to make it your aim to spread the gospel........

At the end of this life I would hate to be told:- (Actually my biggest fear is to be told this)

Matthew 7:21-2:Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!

Many of us live in the illusion that being a follower of Christ means we only get to say a prayer and then we go back to living our 'perfect' lives where we live our lives the way we want.....claiming we believe in Christ.......but it takes more than just believing ...our lives have to change!!!

So no...you do not qualify to be a Christian just because you repeated a certain prayer...you only become one when you repent of your sins( completely turn around) and follow Christ...when you deny your self for His sake......

Look at the lives of all the people who had an encounter with God from....Abram to Abraham( father of faith) , Moses, Paul,......the disciples all these people...their lives changed and it showed that they are living for God more than they are living for themselves....

I do not write this because I am there but to urge you to make it your aim everyday to die to yourself so that Christ may live in you.....go beyond just believing that He died for you and live it out......