Jesus, You are my hiding place and in followship of You, I am preserved from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance, peace that surpasses all understanding, unspeakable joy and abundant love. Selah. Ps 32:7 KimberlyMac Rewrite
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9
Our Human Condition
We have a human condition, and we should not rely on our thoughts, impulsive nature and great ideas. The bible says that our hearts are “desperately wicked” who can know them. I don’t look at my heart as being desperately wicked, I think I am good. Yet, I have sudden great ideas, which I, not dependent upon God, follow after and then in that simply-significant way, I am disappointed, as I dead end in frustration and soul hurt. These great ideas are usually as I have termed “fix it” impulses. I can fix this. I take on the role of the Holy Spirit, I become “the fixer”.
“What lies behind us, and what lies ahead of us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Influenced By God
Our hearts lean toward self-gain through self-centeredness, this selfishness is the natural bent, the way of our humanity. Self-authority, knowing no power higher than self, is the fake reality of a culture deceptively influenced by our enemy. Being all about us first, by devaluing others, is the way of a depraved humanity. Jesus modeled and taught us the opposite: humility and selflessness are the most powerful way of living; being positioned under the authority of God is the way of favorable influence and miraculous living; living for God first, is the Kingdom way, with God writing our life story, produces God glory, in results we can’t even begin to imagine or hope for. Followship is the way of overwhelming victory. When we follow after God first, leaning into His Sovereign Sway, there is unlimited peace and we are navigated by God’s wisdom and strengthened by His joy, which soul saturates us in unspeakable delight.
Listen Up To God
Alvin VanderGriend writes a lot of books on prayer. He wrote one called: “Patterns For Prayer” which the Holy Spirit uses quite frequently to speak truth into my life and keep my heart on course with Him, in followship of Him, wholly-holy aligned with His Word and in followship of His Holy Spirit. God uses the gifts and talents that He pours into His people and His people, in followship of Him, pour out into others. God spoke His God servant, Alvin, through the book he wrote and once again took my humanity of impetuously quick fixes, my great idea, I had currently on the table and changed it up to followship of Him, before I created another human mess. Listen up to the God-given wisdom from Alvin VanderGriend:
Confess your desire to rely upon your own strength. Commit yourself to doing everything through Him, Who gives you strength. Ask God to cause you to serve Him with the strength He provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. Alvin VangerGriend
The Theology Of Followship
My great ideas to fix things, impulsively following after my “bright idea”, I have crashed and burned. Waiting on God in prayer, in constant conversation with Him, listening to Him speak truth into my life as I wait on His specific direction is how I follow. I wait on the clarity of God’s lead, discerning and navigating through prayer and listening. Following after the Holy Spirit is an incredible way to live. It is followship and this is my personal theology of followship: God becomes my “Proof” in the all of my everything, Jesus becomes my “Proven”, the One I model my life after and the Holy Spirit becomes my “Prover”. This is the wholly-holy spiritual beauty of followship. Follow Jesus.
Philippians 4:13-14 I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. You’ve so graciously provided for my essential needs during this season of difficulty. The Passion Translation
Bible: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
Followship is all about leaning into the wisdom and strength of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. How? I don’t have to know the proof of the all of my life, the Proof is in my Creator, His Image is stamped on my inner core, I put my identity in Him. I don’t have to know the how to my living, the Bible reflects the life of My Proven One, and as I live and breathe upon this earth, for as long as I am here, the Word of God is my Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Get in the Word of God, let it’s wisdom navigate your life.
1 Peter 4:11 For example, if you have a speaking gift, speak as though God were speaking his words through you. If you have the gift of serving, do it passionately with the strength God gives you, so that in everything God alone will be glorified through Jesus Christ. For to him belong the power and the glory forever throughout all ages! Amen. The Passion Translation
I Am Not The Fixer – God Is
I don’t have to prove anything, fix anything, strive at anything to make it work out the way I think it should work out. I don’t have to fix anyone. I have a “Prover” He lives in me and through me. I can think, act, live and have my being. All that I do will prove nothing if I am not connected heart to heart with God’s Holy Spirit, Who, is the favor, power, authority of my life, the only One Who can prove or approve my motives, what I think, what I do, and what I say. God knows my every motive, thought and action before I do. God thoroughly knows the condition of my heart.
I Have No Control Over God’s People
I can’t change a person’s heart, I can’t change anything. Transformation is only found in the power of the Triune God. Our God is the changer, Who changes things up. I had a great idea once to fix a problem relationship in my family. I thought it was pretty good idea. I did not seek counsel about it, I did not listen to the Holy Spirit, I did not even ask God to be a part of it. I thought I could fix this relational problem through my great plan that involved sacrifice on my part, so how could that end wrong? I set out on my own to do so, it was a good thing. Truly, I was doing what was right in my eyes, and doing so independently on my own, following an impetuous thought. I could fix this, thought I could, even though I did not really think it all the way through. I learned me being in control, is not a good thing, controlling others by what we do, does not end well. The only control we have over situations, and over others, is to pray it up to the Only One who can change the heart course of another person’s heart, Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 6:7-8 We commend ourselves to you by our truthful teachings, by the power of God working through us, and with the mighty weapons of righteousness— a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Amid honor or dishonor, slander or praise— even when we are treated as deceivers and imposters—we remain steadfast and true. The Passion Translation
Followship Blessing ~ Surrounded
We don’t always know what we “think” we know. My impulsive decision, it ended up in failure and is irreparable, to this day, remains a split in my family. Dead relationships. I was not “the fixer”. I did not have the right power behind me. The Proof, The Proven And The Prover, I left them behind to carry out my bright idea, which left me broken and in soul torment. It was a good idea, but good is not enough, if God is not in it. I learned this lesson the hard way, with painful consequences. The best way is followship of The Proof, The Proven and The Prover, remaining steadfast and true to our Triune God, being wholly-holy His, aligned with Him in spirit and truth. When we follow after God first, our followship yields the blessing of being surrounded on all sides by our Father God, His Son, Jesus and The Holy Spirit.
Thanks for coming to The Bridegroom’s Café and partaking in this nutritious meal, prepared by the Miraculous Musing table. Your soul has been fed, your spirit will grow. You can stay in a “Constant Conversation” with God. God is speaking to us all day long, all we have do is learn to “Listen Up”. I highly suggest my personal devotional book, “The Bridegroom’s Voice”. Through the daily God Adventure in this book, you will learn to listen up to God’s Voice first, giving God total access to your mind. God still speaks and He is speaking to you. In this Journey with Jesus through the book, “The Bridegroom’s Voice” you will learn to discern His voice, His heart, His way above all others this culture offers.
