DAY FIVE
With All My Heart
by Carolin Sadler

In the early church, the followers of Jesus were known by the way they lived and how they acted. They were called followers of “The Way” and sometimes people would ask, “Are you a follower of “the way” too? What was it about them made them different from other people?

Let us look at the following verse.
(John 5: 19GNMN) I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on His own; He does only what he sees His Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does.

What does that mean? It means that Jesus obeyed Father God and didn’t do anything unless He saw the Father doing it. Because of that Jesus had the power and authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, and forgive sin…because that is what the Father wanted as well. (Matt. 28:18) They were one in heart. Followers of “The Way” were recognized by how THEY followed the teachings of Jesus in the same way with all of their heart.

Here on earth God has given us, TODAY the chance to practice that. But He hasn’t left us on our own; he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us. Look up John 16:13.
But when He, the spirit of truth comes, He will _____________ into all the truth.
But… the Holy Spirit can only give you as much help as you want.

Let me tell you a story.
There was once a little girl who hated being told what to do. She would often do what was expected of her, but only would do it the way SHE wanted to do it. She also had a temper and would stamp her feet and sometimes even scream when she didn’t get her own way. After awhile though, she learned to control it. She pretended to be obedient, to smile at the right times, and would not let anyone know when she was angry…or tried to. She wanted to be good but didn’t want anyone to tell her what to do. She wanted to be the boss and make her own decisions. Because of that God was not able to talk to her very well as she didn’t really want His advice either.

When she grew up she was finally on her own and could do as she pleased. She had a good job and lots of money. She could party as much as she wanted, and no one would tell her to be careful of what she ate, or did or who she hung out with. But she wasn’t happy.

She had a friend at work however, who always smiled and seemed happy inside as well as outside. One day, the little girl, now a big girl asked her friend what her secret was as she was visiting her at her home. She wanted to know how her friend could be so happy even though she didn’t have some of the nice things that she had.

“Well” her friend said, “I know I am a friend of God. It doesn’t matter where I live or what I have because He is always close to me and loves me. I love listening to what is on His heart and I try to be obedient. That is what makes me so happy. ”

She paused and after awhile continued. “You however have something in your life that is keeping you from being close to God. You think you don’t need anyone else and can do just as you please. You don’t need anyone. You seem too proud to take any advice or help from anyone.”

Well, frowned the little girl, now a big girl, “HOW DARE you insult me, I am NOT proud!” See she didn’t like to be criticized any more than she liked anyone telling her what to do.

“Tell me if I’m right, but I think you have been doing your own thing all your life,” continued her friend. “When you were a little girl and couldn’t run away from home, did you just pretend to obey, but really went ahead and quietly did what YOU wanted when they weren’t looking?”

OUCH! The girl stormed away and slammed the front door as she left. After awhile she stopped running, sat down, and quietly started to cry. Boy was she mad, but her friend was right. She wasn’t close to anyone, not her parents her friends, or God.

God gave us some steps to follow to become His sons and daughters. He gave us parents so that we would learn to love, honor and obey them and then to take those same attitudes to learn to love, honor obey and trust Him. When we have a wrong attitude towards our parents, that same attitude will come out in our relationship with God. You need to learn to submit to your parents, and those over you, and obey them while you are young. That is how God planned to teach you to learn how to obey Him. This is what Jesus did with His Father; He submitted to His Father and obeyed everything Father God told him to do. THAT gave him the authority to do the things He did on earth. That is why they were so close.

Think for a moment what it would have looked like if Jesus wanted to do his own thing. God saw someone crippled and wanted to heal him, but Jesus got a text message about a neat show that was on T.V. and felt like going to hang out with his friends instead. Jesus didn’t even see the crippled man as He didn’t have on His kingdom goggles. So the man didn’t get healed. Now there is nothing wrong with hanging around with your friends, Jesus loved parties and hanging out, some people even criticized him for doing that. But as a King’s Kid we need to spend time with Jesus and ask Him to show us what is on His heart for us to do as well.

To be able to bring God’s kingdom on earth we need to learn these things. If Adam and Eve had obeyed and not wanted to try things their own way, the close relationship with God, would not have been broken.

This is very important to understand. Nowadays as children, (and adults) we are encouraged to be independent and think for ourselves. We are told of our rights but not our responsibilities. What is the result? Families are falling apart. They thought that rules were old fashioned and lame and wanted to do their own thing. But God still knows best and HIS guide book has not changed.

THINK ABOUT:

Go someplace by yourself and take along your journal and Bible.
   • Think about what was shared in this story.
   • Is there any part of you that is like that little girl in your heart?
   • Be still before God and ask Him to show you.
You could be that way at 3 years old, or 18 or older. This is a secret sin that often doesn’t really hurt someone else, at least at the beginning, but it keeps you from being close to your family and to God. Just like a tomato seed grows into a tomato plant and gives off fruit, this attitude is a seed. It is a seed of something that could lead to rebellion and being involved in all sorts of things when you are older that could seriously harm you and pull you far away from Father God.

What kind of seed are you growing?

Write down in your journal any thoughts that God brings to you.

Prayer: When you are ready, pray a prayer like the following one.
“Dear God, I’m sorry for trying to do things my own way. Please show me the way to come close to You. I realize I can’t do things on my own and need your help. Please Holy Spirit, I want to accept your offer of help, so that I can become more and more each day like Jesus. Help me to wait for your Spirit to guide me and not run off on my own. I want to love you with all of my heart.”

Do
Let us co-operate with God and start to practice to an even more than you are doing now to be obedient to your parents, and to honor them. Make things right by asking for forgiveness, if you need to. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you until people will ask when they see you, “Are you a follower of ‘The Way’?”
 

Carolin has been working with King’s Kids (a ministry of Youth With A Mission) for 11 years.  She has written 3 books, "Warrior Bride Arise", "On Daddy’s Knees", and "The Blessing".  She also is the moderator of a blog for equipping kids called Kids of the King Arise! (http://kidsofthekingarise.blog.com)  Her work with her husband Doug has led them to equipping kids and teens in intercession and international reconciliation ventures. At present she lives in Winnipeg and is the mother of 3 grown children.

Carolin can be reached by email at carolin@watchmen.org