How to Follow Jesus. 3 Tasks to Complete First.
Choosing to follow Jesus, is not simply repeating a prayer after someone and then calling it a day while continuing to live the same life you had before. Salvation is a free gift, yes, but for those who believe, repent and surrender completely to God is it freely given. In this post I want to show you how you can follow Jesus using verses from the Bible and 3 tasks you need to do first.
How to Follow Jesus.
How do you follow Jesus?
Through a relationship with the living God, not through man’s creation of religion.
If you have read any of my posts, you probably know by now that my general audience is already following Jesus. They have given, or surrendered their lives to Him and come here to find encouragement in their walk. Some are also under religion and although have been “saved” are not changed, and are struggling….this blog is for those as well. I was one of those.
This post is for the ones who see the power we as children of God have in Him, have been changed completely, and are overcoming adversity, trials, hardships with joy to the fullest through them all and want it for themselves.
Do you want joy, hope, and peace?
If you are wanting to know how to follow Jesus, let’s start with scripture. Scripture in the Bible, is the literal word from God. It can be trusted because it is backed by historical and scientific data. It can be trusted because He is trustworthy. Ask the many who have truly given their lives to Him. They will all tell you, He is faithful. Their lives have been changed forever.
“And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved? And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well.”
Acts 16:30-31 AMPC
In this passage of scripture, Paul and Silas who are followers of Jesus tell the jailer who was guarding them, how to be saved. Or how to have salvation, to follow Jesus.
This is the same for you and I.
He’s saying if we trust in Him, believing Jesus is the son of the living God, surrender our lives, our wills, our wants and our desires, we will have salvation. We will be saved. This goes for anyone.
Repentance and Surrender.
To follow Jesus, we must repent and admit that we have made wrongs in our lives. That we are not perfect and we make mistakes.
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
1 John 1:9-10 AMPC
If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts].”
When we admit and confess our sins or wrong doings, he cleanses us! Confess them by name!
“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:24-25 NLT
To know how to follow Jesus you must know the why behind it. God’s design for humanity was broken when Adam and Eve fell into wrong doing by disobeying Him.
A curse then fell upon mankind and the only way that humanity could walk with God is by sacrificing a clean, unblemished animal, in order to be cleansed from their sins.
This became impossible because His law or rules were not attainable for humanity because of the curse of the fallen world…the result in Adam and Eves deception.
So people were constantly having to sacrifice these animals and work to have right standing with God. Talk about exhausting.
When God sent Jesus, Jesus was to atone for all sin for all people through the sacrifice of himself. The clean, unstained by sin, lamb of God.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29 NLT
When we have been born again or give ourselves over and follow Jesus, we are now covered by His blood. God no longer sees our sinful past but a new creation, and Jesus who lives in us.
Salvation is so simple yet so complex.
Baptism & Holy Spirit
When you give your life to Jesus and are made new there is something else that He commands us to do.
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 28:19 NLT
“What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’”
Acts of the Apostles 22:16 NLT
The water baptism is an outward confession to follow Jesus as well as symbolizing the washing away of your sins.
When we are made new we also have a helper, Holy Spirit!
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.”
Acts of the Apostles 19:2-6 NLT
Receiving Holy Spirit, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, will empower us in our walk in the earth. We will be over-comers and walk with authority given to us by Jesus to defeat the enemy.
One can not be “saved” without Holy Spirit according to scripture.
You become the vessel Holy Spirit uses to accomplish God’s will through your life.
How amazing, right!
Trust and Then Follow.
Once you have admitted you have done wrong in your life, repented, believe(trust) in Jesus that He is the son of God and have been baptized, you now will embark on a life long journey of surrender and dying to your self and your will daily. You become “born again”!
“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 NLT
Salvation, or “being saved” is an act of rebirth. You are now a new creation!
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
Christianity is not at all a life of perfection and ease. It’s actually quite the opposite because the enemy, the devil, does not want the Kingdom of God to advance. So he will try everything he can to throw you off the path God has called you too. We are all called to advance the Kingdom!
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NLT
Because Jesus overcame, we will too! He replaces our sorrow for Joy and our despair to Hope. He is Love. Through Him, dwelling in us, we can now access God and be a living breathing temple of holiness and righteousness. Not by work but faith alone!
What joy we have in Jesus to be with Him in eternity! Of course we along with everyone will die a physical death, but with Jesus’ work on the cross, we can now live on forever in eternity.
Heaven is Now Your Home.
If you decide to follow Jesus, this world is now not your home. Of course everyone is made in God’s image and He desires everyone to come to Him through His Son but unfortunately not all will come.
“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.”
Philippians 3:20-21 NLT
Walk with God daily my friend, He is faithful!
My hope is that this was encouraging to you. There isn’t a prayer I will share of salvation. It’s not biblical and it’s not a formula to get right but a lifestyle of devotion and surrender. A relationship.
If you made the commitment to follow Jesus, please get in the Word, the bible, and meet others who are spiritually mature, filled with the Holy Spirit, so that you can be discipled to grow with God. If you look for a church, make sure they let God’s Spirit freely move and do not have a institution or business mindset, but are about the Lord’s business. This can be tricky but pray and the Lord will lead you.
Remember, relationship over religion. Do your research but most important, let Holy Spirit lead you. Just ask!
If you’re a busy mama and would love to dive more into Bible study and prayer, scroll down below for a guided Free Printable Journal Entry so that you can start each morning with the Lord. The way He intended. Daily, in the secret place of prayer.
Related Post: How to Grow in Your Walk with Christ as a Busy Mom
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