The Priorities of the Kingdom 2: Marks of a True Follower

MARKS OF A TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST

Part 1

Humility, meekness and emptying yourself. These are the priorities of the Kingdom, the aim of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because these three constitute eternal life. Ministry, church planting or even evangelism or missions are not priorities if they do not have these three Kingdom priorities. Everything is garbage without the aim of the Gospel. 

Photo by Tobias Cornille on Unsplash.

You have to be born again. This trashes the old self and installs the new. It's not a gradual trashing but a thorough one followed by more trashings. Jesus said the branches that bear fruit are trimmed further to be more fruitful. But on day one of being born again the spring of living water that wells up to eternal life flows from within you at once. Just one drink from Jesus and you get it. This spring does not well up gradually in you. Once you drink Jesus' water, it bubbles up. You cannot be both fresh spring water and murky water. You cannot be both sheep and wolf. You cannot be a thistle that bears figs or a thornbush that bears grapes. 

And being born again really means Jesus' character replaces your rotten character totally. Jesus and your rottenness cannot live together in you. You'd be devoted to one and hate the other. The Jesus spiritual DNA, which has his imprint (humility, meekness and selflessness) becomes intact at the cellular level of your renewed spirit. No genuine change has taken place if you do not have Jesus' humility, meekness and selflessness. This is where people who are active in ministry but remain proud of themselves and cannot give up everything have a big problem. They have not really been born again. They just became familiar with church and active in it.

Humility

John the baptizer couldn't believe it when Jesus asked to be baptized by him. "You should baptize me," was John's reaction. But Jesus insisted because it fulfilled all righteousness. Humility fulfills all righteousness and you can just imagine what trash a ministry is, big or small, if it is not grounded on humility. More so a believer. Humility is when Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant or slave. Emptying yourself is a personal decision. Once GOD sees that decision in your heart the Holy Spirit empowers it. Without effort you find yourself always preferring to be the least. You stay low profile and quietly doing what GOD wants you to do. 

He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
Isaiah 42.2

Truly humble people possessing Jesus' own humility are always announced and promoted supernaturally by the Holy Spirit so that those of the same spirit will easily recognize them and support. John the baptizer saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. There were lots of people at the Jordan for the baptism but only John saw the vision and heard the voice. Andrew and another disciple decided to see where Jesus lived and when they did they concluded that "We have found the Messiah." These and many other encounters with Jesus were the promptings of the Holy Spirit, calling the attention of people GOD had chosen to do the genuine Jesus ministry. The Jesus DNA never prompts you to promote yourself. Just keep humble and obedient like Jesus and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. All churches today promote themselves.

Meek

Jesus washed the disciples' feet, but it was something private among themselves, right after the last supper which was a night filled with sorrow, uncertainties and fear, with Jesus knowing that he would be betrayed, apprehended and treated like a criminal soon after. A lot of poor imitations of the washing of feet in church programs today are done to showoff supposed "servanthood" in front of the congregation and promote (or display) one's "humility." Showed off humility is always fake. It's more fanfare than a legacy of meek servanthood impressed in the hearts of disciples. 

Meekness is our high treatment of others, deeming them better than ourselves--and doing this with truthfulness and all sincerity. An example was how John the baptizer claimed that he was not fit to even untie the sandals of the one coming after him, and that the Messiah was "more powerful" than he was. Many "leaders" can perform humility and meekness for a while, probably serve you drinks and food and offer their seat to others, but it's all theatrics, because you see them in their unguarded moments boasting about their greatness, great achievements and great ministries. In their hearts, they hate to be the least and their self-conceit naturally surfaces.

Selfless

Jesus emptied himself. He gave up everything he had and chose to be human and die on the cross. Just imagine GOD choosing to die helplessly as a human being. That speaks a lot about how Jesus gave up everything he had. And he chose to become poor though he was rich---so we worthless people can become rich. That's Jesus' selflessness that should be ours if we really have His spiritual DNA in us and growing. GOD wants us to give up everything we have. And he means, EVERYTHING. It's why he wants us to love GOD with "all," meaning all our mind, heart, soul, strength---and money. Jesus told us to give up our money. 

MANY CHURCH PEOPLE FAIL IN THIS, AND THIS IS CRUCIAL

This is another big problem for a lot of church people. They cannot (and will not) give up their money. They can give some of it, probably a tithe and offering, but not all. Even churches and denominations cannot give up everything they have. They won't do it. I would like to see a denomination give up all its properties---lands, buildings vehicles and money--and give them to the poor, not to their mission work that just expands their influence, increase their membership and therefore their income. Give them to the poor. That's what Jesus said to all his disciples. Are you a disciple?

Luke 12: 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

"Unless you give up everything you have you cannot be my disciple"
- Luke 14.33

Smart Alecks will probably say the above passages should not be literally interpreted. Well, the apostles and the Acts church literally did it. Church members voluntarily sold their properties and laid the sales at the apostles' feet to be distributed to the needy, not used for what churches today call evangelism, missions or church planting which are all merely to enlarge their denominations, their empires, not the Kingdom of GOD. The church in the Book of Acts, like Jesus, was selfless. 

Seflfess with Your Blessings

Are you blessed materially? Have GOD been opening doors for you financially? GOD does not bless you so you can showoff your blessedness in your testimonies. You show everybody how blessed you are and keep it all to yourself and loved ones. No, that's not the point. Blessings are not so you can keep a dead testimony. You got it all wrong, and many have been getting it all wrong. The only use for blessings is to give them all up and share with the needy. Period. If you don't do this, you fail the test. Blessings are not a sign of GOD's favor. They're all tests. If you don't give up your blessings, you fail. How can there be favor in disobedience? 

And when you finally give them all up, don't even announce it as a "testimony" of your faithfulness so others can be inspired. That's another garbage. GOD wants you to exercise your humility, meekness and selflessness in handling material blessings, and by "handling" we mean giving them all up to GOD and giving to the poor. Of course, GOD understands your needs. After you have all you need, share the remainder with the poor. Unless you do this, your spiritual life sucks to GOD. You are not blessed. You're a hoarder. GOD speaks both to individuals and to the church with this passage:

Luke 12: 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

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SURRENDERING TO JESUS 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord. Then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do (not your good deeds or religion or church), but because of God's grace and mercy through what Jesus Christ did on the cross. 

In Jesus alone is salvation. Jesus is: ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4] 

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His Word in the bible.

It was Still Dark When He Went Out

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [Mark 1.35]

I wonder why he had to go out of the house and go to a remote place. "Solitary place," says the NIV, which means secluded or unfrequented. No people there except Jesus. Waking up early and praying while it's still dark is understandable. A lot of us do that. But why go out? What's wrong with praying in the house?

Photo by Carolina Pimenta on Unsplash.

And why did the Holy Spirit move Mark, the Gospel writer, to record that in his Gospel? Why have it written for generations to read? Everything that happens--or God does or allows--is for a purpose, and this scenario is no exception. I believe it's important to note--and to see--how Jesus went out and looked for a solitary place to pray. He could've just stayed in the house to pray but he didn't. 

He Went Out

Jesus literally went out. We don't have to literally do so, too. But we need to "go out" in the spirit and leave behind all concerns "at home," getting away from it all. We have to be lost to the world and escape headlong to the throne room of God, into His darkness, deep into His quiet presence. We need to learn how to turn off everything in the earthly realm (without having to really leave our house at dawn, especially not in this pandemic) and be in His hiding place all at once.

“The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;" [1 Kings 8.12]

My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one." [Song of Solomon 2.10]

Solitary Place 

The Father loves to watch everything done for him in secret. Exclusively for his eyes. He is jealous when you parade it in public for everyone to see. And he wants you all to himself without interruption. I once failed to pay attention to what God was telling me. So he sent me a "thorn in the flesh" to keep me glued to my bed, unable to move a single inch without getting dizzy, weak and gasping for air. It was a mysterious illness that puzzled even doctors because all my test results came out normal.

When finally the Lord had me all to himself (imprisoned in my bed and room), he pointed to an old book gathering dust in my bookshelf. He'd been wanting me to read it. So I had ample time reading the book slowly but surely, seeing things he'd been wanting me to see, sealed words and "inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell." I lay in my bed "sick" for some 6 months, and all I could do was read the book and hear him speak.

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Where He Prayed

In another scene, we see Jesus excited to send the disciples ahead to the other side by boat and went up a mountain by himself. Again, in a solitary place. He had just performed an astounding miracle of feeding 5,000 men out of a few small bread and fish--which no doubt was super exciting to see. But Jesus appeared more excited in what was about to take place--he'd take a break with his Father.

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. [Matthew 14]

There's tremendous power when you pray in private, doing it in secret with the Father, as Jesus taught his disciples to "go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." He made it so private that he had to get rid of all the people and his disciples and climb up a mountainside and there pray.

How He Prayed

And there, he just relaxed and talked with the Father casually. Orderly, patterned and programmed prayer is for the religious (especially one that is read from a paper), designed for ritualistic worship and pleasing people--because you're being watched in public. It is impressive but zero in spiritual power. "They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners to be seen by people." It's also what they teach about prayer following the acronym ACTS--Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Religion is fond of doing that. 

When Jesus needed a miracle to feed the 5,000, all he did was look up and say "Thanks!" No ACTS prayer. And so with his other prayers for miracles. Publicly, he simply gave the Father short "signal" prayers, cues that motioned the timing  or commencement of a miracle. But in his quiet times with HIM, Jesus spent hours and even whole nights just enjoying talking with his Father. And he made sure that it was without interruption.

In the Spirit

Today, we can even do more than what Jesus did, "because I go to the Father," he said once. Moreover, true worshipers (and prayerful individuals) worship God in spirit and in truth (place is irrelevant, Jesus added). So, anywhere you are, you can enjoy "solitary places" you can go out to and talk with the Father at length--even if you're stuck in traffic, busy at the office, talking with someone, cooking, doing laundry or doing anything. While busy in the earthly realm, you can "come away" with the King to his Kingdom orchards and gardens, and then in his throne room, spending grand times with HIM in eternity.

You want to experience this? First, you need to surrender your life totally to HIM.

Surrendering to Jesus 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord. Then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do (not your good deeds or religion or church), but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. In Jesus alone is salvation. 

Jesus is: “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4] 

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.

He Found a Door to God

This is a true story. He was brought up in religion and grew up being more zealous for it than anybody else in his time. In fact, he described himself as among the fiercest leaders his religion had ever produced, a champion of it, and this religion followed the laws of God to the letter. He believed he found a door to God. He thought he had discovered real intimacy.

He hadn't.

Photo above by Sabrina Sölch on Unsplash.

Because one day, about noon time, as he was on his way to work, God Himself appeared and confronted him with his ministry activities that had gone haywire. Well, he didn't see God, but he saw a blinding light, brighter than the noonday sun. Consequently, he went blind several days because of it. He also heard God speak to him. "You haven't found a door to me. You've actually locked yourself out!" said the Lord, or words to that effect.

All his active religious life went down the drain. Pfft. After all his efforts to "serve God," he ended up estranged from Him and even kicking against the goads, so to speak. Suddenly, he was faced with the nagging truth that he really didn't know the God he claimed to serve. And these were the times he was really blind (when he thought he'd seen the light), groping around hitting the wrong targets he thought earned him points in heaven.

The bright light made him "blind" to the world and finally made him see truth--that everything in the world was darkness, empty, and wasn't worth seeing--especially all his so-called eye-opening theological studies. So God cut off his sight from them, from the temporary and false wisdom of man's religion. For three days he saw nothing but darkness, which was really all the world could offer.

Then God sent his servant, Ananias, to pray for him and recover his sight, which was now heaven's sight, making him see nothing but the King and His Kingdom in everything. Then God allowed him a door to His throne which allowed him access to the third heaven where he heard "inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell."

He, Paul, found a Door. And that Door was Jesus. 

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. [John 10]

The Door provides quick access to God's "pasture" (spiritual food) whether you go in or out through the door, whether in God's very Throne Room or in the midst of wolf territory in the world, even in a dry and thirsty land where spiritual drought rules over the dying land. You find water because the Door provides easy access to God's pastures, to His provisions, while the rest suffer unquenchable thirst. 

They hopelessly seek for God, to no avail, but you "see" Jesus in his sanctuary and behold his power and glory. You easily access the third heaven.

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. [Psalm 63]

Paul found that Door. And he testified that there is no other door between God and man except the man Jesus Christ. He is the Way, Truth and LIFE. He alone is the Door. This discovery was why he junked his religion and all his achievements and titles and trophies there, treating them as "garbage." He confessed that there's no other way to gain Jesus Christ but to trash all your religion, even if his religion was thought to be solidly bible-based.

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. [Philippians 3.8]

Because you cannot find the Door unless you treat your human religion garbage. You probably think you have found it, like Saul did before he became the apostle Paul. 

A vital part of finding the Door, Jesus, is surrendering your life totally to HIM. 

Surrendering to Jesus 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Then receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord, then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do, but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.

Making of a Jesus Stalker

 

Naturally, I'd want my very own story posted in this blog. How did I become a Jesus stalker? I was raised up in a strict Roman Catholic family and went to catholic schools in grade school. So I thought I was a Christian, a real Jesus believer. But fact was, I knew so little about his Word, if any, in the Gospel. I never opened the bible then to seriously study it so I could know Jesus better. I relied mainly on what I heard from Sunday masses or in religion classes at school.

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It was okay while I was a kid. There were even times I felt so close to God. High school was tolerable and I was even able to mix Catholicism with Taoism and some Chinese traditions due to my interest in Karate and Kung Fu. But college was a totally different thing. It was chaos. It was then I started rebelling and questioning God though I still attended church on Sundays.

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One afternoon my fraternity brother, Jonathan, (I joined a tough college fraternity in FEU known for its violent frat wars) started arranging a Jesus meet-up for me. I learned that he had recently "surrendered" his life to Jesus and was now living "a new life." And yup, he looked like he was a changed person. For one, I noticed how he started taking a bath regularly. Those times, it was a miracle. We used to have fun missing our baths (we were so busy with our junior theses in Architecture) for days and comparing smells. But that seemed over with Jonathan. It was weird.

Then he started saying that my religion couldn't save me from hell. Neither my family. I was pissed off. What did he know about my religion and my family? "Don't you know how we never miss church since I was a kid?" I rebutted something to that effect. "And are you saying I and my family will go to hell?" I felt that he was pre-judging us. But he politely showed me Romans 3.23 and especially Isaiah 64.6:

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

I was shocked, to say the least, especially the part where righteous acts were trashed, just like that. No one told me about this. I was speechless but still pissed off with Jonathan. I warned him never to talk about Jesus or eternal life ever again. He went away sad but unknown to him, what he had said and the bible passages he had shown me stuck in my mind the whole day. God didn't leave me alone. He kind of nagged me about it. I was going to hell?

Until I couldn't stand it anymore. I found Jonathan again another day and asked him to tell me about the Jesus and eternal life thing again, from start to finish. He looked shocked. This time, it was like I arranged my own Jesus meet-up. But later, I was to find out it was Jesus himself who did all the arrangements. Jonathan was just an instrument. After he was through, we parted ways. But Jesus, again, never let me alone. He kept repeating his words in my mind.

So that night, September 05, 1980, at about 8 pm before going to sleep on my native "banig" mat, I said a short, simple prayer. I asked forgiveness of all my sins, repented, received Jesus into my life as Savior and Lord and surrendered my life to Him. Then I went to sleep. The next day was just like other days, but the peace I had was different. I knew Jesus was in me, all 100 percent of Him. I knew my heart was changed. I knew it in my spirit. I was not the same person anymore.

And it was not my doing. I was sure that there was nothing I could do to change myself. It was all God. 

Moreover, through Jesus and by God's grace and mercy and his promises in the bible, I knew I had eternal life right there and then. If anything bad would happen to me then, I was sure that Jesus would receive me in heaven because of what he promised and did for me, by grace through faith. Not because of my religion or anything good I have done.

That started my life journey of surrendering my life daily to God in Christ. I've become a Jesus Stalker since. This means I stalk stealthily behind Jesus wherever he goes and whatever he does in the bible, watching him up close. I see everything clearly.

Surrendering to Jesus

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Then receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord, then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do, but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.