“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”1 Corinthians 15:5
Do you have a “personal” commitment to the Lord? You need to! I know whom I believe in and I am not ashamed. Are you ashamed? Do you deny Him when hard times come your way? Well, I, personally am committed to Jesus and thank Him from the depth of my heart for saving me and allowing me to be around Him.
We must choose who we serve. Are we hot for the Lord, cold for the Lord, or just lukewarm? God says we must choose. He’d rather we be hot, but if you are cold He will honor that choice as well…but if you are just lukewarm He will spit you out of His mouth.
We must be “all in” or “all out”
The choice is what you have. As for me, it is a settled commitment…a final decision, and it is not negotiable. I can’t be bought to leave the Lord, I can’t be bribed, challenged, or coerced. Jesus is my Lord and I declare before you and all of the heaven my choice in choosing to follow the Lord.
I stand firm in Him knowing that there is no better place to be.
If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
A Non-Negotiable Commitment Can’t be Bought, Bribed, Challenged, or Coerced“
Joshua 24:14=15 “14Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
James 1:5-8: “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
1 Kings 18:21: “How long will you falter between two opinions?”
1 Kings 18:21: “If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, follow him”
Our commitment must be real, it must be personal, and it must stand in the good times we go through as well as the bad, difficult, and hard times. We cannot be wishy-washy. We must trust in the person that we claim to be our Lord and the one we follow.
There is no set way to ask Jesus to come into your life. You just need to talk to Him. You ask Him into your life, you confess you are a sinner, and ask Him to forgive you. Here is a prayer you can use or your own words. Jesus is a personal Lord. No one is closer than He is no matter how much you love them. Jesus must always be first in your life. When He is first then all the rest falls into place.
“Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died on the Cross for my sins. I am a sinner and I need to be forgiven. I confess my sins to you and I repent of them (turn from them). Please forgive my sins, come into my life, and make me Your child. Save me Lord. I now receive You as my Savior – and commit myself to You as my Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins. Thank You for giving me new life. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and give me strength to follow You. For You, Jesus, are my Lord and my Savior. Amen.”
As I said, He is a personal God. He is as close to us as our own breath. We pray to Him (talk to Him) tell Him the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ask Him things, then listen. God really does talk to us in many different ways. What we hear must line up with His word. God doesn’t change His word to suit us. We must change to suit Him.
Sometimes when you don’t know what to say….just tell Him that. Open us His word and study it…Pray for those you know, those who are hurting, those that are happy, whatever comes to your mind. Just be truthful with Jesus. Believe me…He knows when you lie or when you are holding something back from Him. So be honest at all times. There is nothing He has not heard, and nothing we do surprises Him.
Let this be your motto:
“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.” Psalms 5:3
In this world we live in….people let us down. Parents let us down, spouses let us down, kids let us down, friends let us down, schools let us down, doctors let us down, employers let us down…everyone is human and everyone sins and has their own problems. They might try not to let us down…but people just do. However, Jesus will never, ever, ever let you down, lie to you, or cheat you. He can’t lie! He can’t sin! And He is trustworthy. So each and every day of our life we should honor our Lord and spend quality time with Him. That way when we go about our day….we know He goes along with us.
So, I ask you: Are you all in….or are you all out? You have a choice! But remember this you can’t be on the fence and be luke warm. You can’t love Him one day and discard Him the next. It is all or nothing!
As for me…I made my choice. I choose Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I am so far from perfect that even amazes me….but what I am is committed to following Jesus and letting Him fix me. I don’t want to fall any more. I don’t want to sin anymore. I want Jesus to take that potter’s wheel and spin me around till I am a vessel that is pleasing to Him. I found out that I don’t want to go even one day without Him. He has helped me so many times in my life and picked me up. He was with me through some of the darkest times ever…and got me through them. Where else would I go? Only to Him. I hope you feel that way also. If you prayed the prayer above and meant it…
“Welcome to the family of God” (clap, clap, all of heaven is rejoicing with me to welcome you into the family of God)