Introduction
In our Christian walk, we must follow and obey the Lord Jesus and trust Him for our lives (John 12:26). However, as we navigate our daily lives, we must also ask ourselves if the Lord is with us and what we can do to ensure that He walks with us along our path. It is only when we follow the Lord Jesus, and He accompanies us, that we can be entirely fulfilled in our Christian walk.
Complete Following of the Lord Jesus
To understand our walk with the Lord, we begin with the Bible passage in Matthew 9:18-26, where we read the story of a girl restored to life and a woman healed from an issue of blood.
18 While He was speaking these things to them, behold, a certain ruler came, kneeling down to Him, saying, My daughter just now has died; but come, lay Thy hand upon her, and she will live.
This ruler acknowledges the Lord’s authority above all, both the dead and the living. He actually acknowledged the Lord Jesus as God in front of people.
19 And Jesus arose, followed him, also His disciples.
20 And behold, a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, having come behind, touched the fringe of His garment;
21 for she said within herself, If I only may touch His garment, I will be healed.
22 And Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, take courage; your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed from that hour.
This woman believes that if she touches something that belongs to the Lord Jesus, His power is also present. Her faith has paid her well. For more comments about this healing, see also Mark 5:25-34) and Luke 8:43-48).
23 And Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a commotion;
24 He said, Depart: for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they ridiculed Him.
“... the damsel is not dead, but sleeps.” The ruler’s daughter was not dead yet; she was just in a coma. Her spirit was still holding onto her body.
25 Now when the crowd had been put out, He entered in, took hold of her hand, and the damsel arose.
“… and the damsel arose.” The girl’s spirit was stuck in the dark and could not find the way back to her body. The body cannot wake up without the spirit. The Lord Jesus opened the path for her spirit to join back with her body. He commanded the spirit to join back with the soul and body and be at peace.
26 And this report went out into all that land.
From this story, we see that the disciples followed the Lord Jesus on His way, and the Lord Jesus followed the man to help him; this means that the complete following of the Lord Jesus for a Christian is a two-way process: we follow the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus walks with us. Therefore, for us to fulfill our Christian walk both ways, we must ask ourselves two critical questions:
- Why did the disciples follow the Lord Jesus?
- Why did the Lord Jesus rose and followed this man?
The answers to these questions can be applied to our understanding of fully following the Lord Jesus in our Christian walk; furthermore, by answering them, we can also learn how to avoid falling into the category of people described in verse 24, who ridiculed the Lord Jesus.
First, let us question ourselves: why did the disciples follow the Lord Jesus? Answering this question involves finding the call of the heart that the Lord Jesus has for our lives, hearing His call, and following it. The disciples found the call of their hearts and responded to their call; the Lord called them, as the Bible tells us, and they left everything behind and followed the Lord (Mark 1:16-20):
16 And passing by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And straightaway having left the nets, they followed Him.
19 And going on a little further, He saw James the Zebedee, and John his brother, and they were adjusting the nets in the boat.
20 And straightaway He called them; and having left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, they went after Him.
“And straightaway …” Pay attention to the fact that Simon, Andrew, James, and John left everything just by calling. They did not see miracles, but after hearing the Lord’s call, they left everything and followed, and that is why they are mentioned here to show their faithfulness.
In those times, fisherman was a commoner’s job. The disciples were also commoners, but they had a special call that referred to their hearts, not to their work.
If we pray and listen to the voice of the Lord Jesus in our hearts, we can find the call of our hearts. If we hear when the Lord calls us and we decide to follow, then, as a consequence of our following and commitment to the Lord, we always need to go with the Lord Jesus wherever He leads us in our life; He is our Master; then if the Lord Jesus rises and walks as we read in Matthew 9:19, we must follow. We must follow behind Him, wherever He leads us, for big tasks or small tasks. We can’t go alone to do the Lord’s work; we need to go with Him and let Him guide us. We must ask Him specifically to go with us and lead us. However, we see in verse 24 that some people laughed at the Lord. So, as a further lesson for us from this verse, even if we go to visit someone (do a small task for the Lord), we need to go with the Lord and ask Him to put the words in our mouths and guide us, because we don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we sin against God by our words or actions. . For example, we don’t want to find ourselves talking about a servant of the Lord negatively since, indirectly, we might speak negatively about our Lord’s work. Therefore, we should never forget the verses in James 3:4-12 and be mindful of our tongues when we talk to people.
Second, we can ask ourselves: why did the Lord Jesus rise and follow this man? Answering this question, we need to realize that when we need help of any kind from the Lord, we cannot order the Lord; we must worship Him and ask for mercy, and believe that He can help us, as this man did: he came in and knelt before the Lord, and then he expressed his faith in the Lord’s authority to heal his daughter. Therefore, in every situation, whether praying for others, our family, or ourselves, we need to worship the Lord first and then ask for His mercy and seek His guidance, so our words and actions align with His will. We need to align ourselves with the Lord’s will. Moreover, to understand His will in any matter in our lives, we need to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us. Then, if He wills, He will go, and all things will happen according to His will. In this story, we see that the Lord rose and followed him, so it was the Lord’s will to help this man. In 1 John 5:13-15, we read:
13 These things have I written to you, that you may know that you have eternal life, even to you that believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence which we have toward Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us; 15 and if we know that He hears us, if we might ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked from Him.
The Lord Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and makes petitions to the Father on our behalf as we pray (Romans 8:34). And we must remember that He sends the Father’s promise, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, to all believers so they may have His help and guidance in this life (Luke 24:49). As followers of the Lord Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the Comforter with us. We must always pray that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus lead and guide us, and whenever we do something for the Lord, we must ensure that whatever we do, we do in the Lord’s will and the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ walk with us along our path.
Conclusions
Fulfilling our call to follow the Lord Jesus is a two-way process: we follow the Lord Jesus as He calls us and leads us, but we must also ensure that all that we do aligns with God’s will. Therefore, we must be faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, trusting Him in all things and praying for guidance and understanding so that it is His will for us to do the work we want to do. Moreover, we must always pray and meditate on His Holy Word, ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, and listen to understand God’s will in our Christian walk.
Meditation Tasks:
- Let us pray and meditate that we find the calling in our hearts to serve the Lord, whatever it may be, whether a small or large task and that we always ask for the Lord’s will through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our walk so that the Lord Jesus walks alongside us.