...take up his cross, and follow me. - Matthew 16:24 (KJV)
Several times Jesus would say to his friends, “Follow me.” And every one of them will follow him to become Christ's Apostle.
The closer I look into the phrase “Follow Me.” It is not referring to what we think Jesus meant. God was saying that we should be more like Jesus; follow his ways to the truth and everlasting life.
You probably thought, “Yeah, right, but we can’t perform a miracle as He did.” True, but I think you have missed the point. God has no intention for us to have superpowers like Superman. Sorry to spoil you, but you can perform much more power than that. It’s called prayer.
Let’s have a brief Sunday School lesson here. To the point, God made us a little lower than Angels at the beginning of time. God developed a relationship with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and other famous biblical characters. They didn’t have superpowers. It was them who prayed with God, and God provided.
The same is true for Jesus. Jesus prayed before healing the sick, reviving the sparrow, unblinding the blind man, etc. It wasn’t just him who had all the power but God. He PRAYED to God to help perform those miracles because God gave Jesus the authority to do the work. They worked together and still working today! God sent Jesus, His Son, to show us the way.
We are to be more like Jesus in praying. We surely cannot raise someone from death. Jesus did that so that people could turn to God. God wants us to depend on Him first before anything else. When Jesus was nailed on the cross, Jesus said, “forgive them for they do not know.”[1] Do not know as to do not understand while the obstacles get in the way. Jesus arose from the dead was the moment to prove that God can do all this because Jesus prayed. Jesus made God known to the lost and poorest soul. Jesus put God first in everything.
Many people will criticize that prayer is overrated because it hasn’t performed any miracles on them or they haven’t witnessed any miracles of their own. It takes a relationship with God to gain the trust to do beautiful things with Him. There are no shortcuts.
Pray. Go into a room and shut the door. God will be there to listen. Continue to pray for 40 days. God wants trustworthy souls who earnestly pray the proper way before any miracles happen. When that happens, your life will turn around, and you WILL see things differently than before.
Seek God first, and pray for compassion, love, and wisdom. Put yourself last and put God first while everything else is in between.
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[1] Luke 24:34
Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash.
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