Go With Me Devotional

Go With ME

Embracing our Sacred Responsibility with Christ

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:13 – ESV

 There is an amazing fact that joined Jesus when He came on the scene to mankind 2,000 years ago.  The amazing fact is He uses ordinary men and women to accomplish extra ordinary things. As I have studied and prayed about this dynamic, I have come to conclude it is the ego driven “excellence,” which this world so greatly admires, that hinders His work in and through a believer’s life.  For this reason, if Christ will use a mere human to accomplish a great task, He doesn’t make the man great for the task.  He makes him ordinary.   Surprised? Have you ever in your entire life had someone tell you that you need to strive to be “ordinary?”  Of course not, for we are told early on in life that ordinary is bad and achieves nothing.  “Nothing good can come from ordinary,” we are told, or led to believe.  We hear it from parents, teachers, coaches and employers, starting early in life.  Therefore, becoming “ordinary” in our own mind, in order for Christ to work fully through us, is a foreign thought and not easily embraced.  This is why understanding Christ’s perspective is essential before we are invited to go with Him to make a difference in our world.  If our perspective is not adjusted, our ego-driven natures will become a trap that will ensnare us, and those around us, into a web of frustration, inadequacy and even danger.  Why then, must we become ordinary? In order for the Holy Sprit to flow though our life, and impact our world around us with amazing results, we must be emptied of our self, and become a vessel for Him to live in and work through. We must become “ordinary” in our own mind and realize how deeply dependent we are for His presence and power to work through our life.  We must conclude we can do nothing in our own power but accept that His power through us can accomplish anything, if we seek His glory alone.   When this perspective is embraced into our life, and becomes an essential part of our fabric, we then hear Him say, “Go with ME!” We have been prepared for our purpose, and are now given His invitation to join Him in going to a needy world. The title of my last devotional series was Watch with ME.  We spent a year seeking the perspective of Jesus through this series.  If you will look at the pattern Christ uses when He disciples a man, note that His work begins with imparting a new perspective into his life before He releases him. As an example, Jesus spent approximately 3 years with His inner circle of men, changing their value system, and helping them see life and their purpose differently.  Then, they were released to build His Church with the Holy Spirit.  With the newly converted Saul, Jesus had an enthusiastic convert who was ready to use his knowledge and credibility to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ is the Messiah they were all waiting for.  Paul was convinced his Jewish pedigree would persuade his counterparts in the Jewish leadership council.  Paul was a strong man, and he knew it.  Using the value system taught to him by the world and his upbringing, he reasoned he would use his strengths to convince and change the Jews, and this is why God had chosen him.  But what really happened?  Saul (Paul) was instead parked out in an obscure location in the Sinai desert for at least 3 years and was prepared for his public ministry.  I don’t know what went on in the privacy of this time with Paul and the Holy Spirit?  But, I believe it had to do with a perspective adjustment, as this Jew of Jews began to look at his life as Christ would have him.  I believe the cocky swagger the world so admires, and was in Paul, was removed and replaced by an “ordinary” man who was made ready to impact the world.  He would learn to use his weakness, rather than his strength.  Look at Paul’s own words to a get a glimpse into his new perspective. We read it Philippians chapter 3.  I think The Message gives a good interpretation: “The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book. The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.” (Paul of Tarsus) It is obvious to me that the man, Paul, who went into the Inner Chamber with Christ, came out a different man, and it began with his perspective adjustment.  Do you understand why I say we must become “ordinary” in order for the “extra ordinary” to be accomplished through our life? Bottom line?  It is all about Jesus being the hero, not our self. So men, if you are ready to “go with Christ,” and be His man to your world around you, it starts with a perspective adjustment.  Jesus must increase in our life, and you and I must decrease.  It is this man who people will say, “You know, I’ve known that man all my life, and he is not the same man I used to know.  He is now approachable, believable, and radically different.  There is a depth about him that conveys an incredible amount of moral authority, and yet he doesn’t even know it. He doesn’t even think of himself, and he is trying to impress no one.   I think I know why.  I believe it is because he has been with Jesus.” Abiding in the Vine, Rocky ***PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THIS DEVOTIONAL ON OUR "WATCH WITH ME" PAGE.  CLICK HERE TO GO TO THAT PAGE.