Following the Lord Involves Receptivity

Following the Lord involves receptivity. The Lord’s ways are perfect, so how can we say, “We follow the Lord” when we live in a hap-hazard lackadaisical way? Haphazard lackadaisical actions are disorganized, unplanned, and characterized by a lack of enthusiasm or care. “Lackadaisical” describes someone who puts forth minimal effort. [1]

God looks at the heart. [2]

The Psalmist describes the paths of the Lord to follow:

“I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.” [3]

He follows the Lord with the ponderances of his heart and with his eyes. He follows the Lord in the kinds of influencers he embraces and shuns. He follows the Lord in the kinds of speech he accepts and rejects. (By the way, lies and deceit often flow from TV programs.) He humbly and meekly chooses the Lord’s perfect way, though it denies his flesh the sinful food it craves.

“The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.” [4]

There are numerous examples of people who followed the Lord in the Bible. The Lord honored them by including them in His story.

The prophet Ahijah had a word from the Lord for King Jeroboam. He declared, “My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; but you have done more evil than all who were before you...” “Therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone.” [5]

David followed the Lord, Jeroboam did not. God spoke of Jeroboam as trash to be taken out. God trashes those who trash Him. Hell is an incinerator, except that the soul does not die, so it suffers forever in that place. [6]

The Lord sets forth the apostle Paul as a good example for us to follow. Paul kept his eyes on Jesus and relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus.

“I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” [7]

Paul experienced many trials as he walked with the Lord but knew by the Spirit of God that dwelt within Him that the Lord would richly reward Him for trusting in Him. He wrote...

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” [8]

Why was Paul so sure of the Lord’s blessings?

“God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” [9]

Following the Lord involves receiving from the Lord. The Holy Spirit gave Samson strength. The Holy Spirit gave Gideon courage. The Holy Spirit gave prophets and apostles God's Word. Even Jesus spoke of being anointed by the Spirit to do the works that He did.

“The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Jesus said, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [10]

Paul pointed his followers to the Holy Spirit for training and discernment.

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [11]

Lately, I’ve been praying at the on-start of my prayer time, “Holy Spirit be the wind in my sails. Help me to pray.” He does. The Lord is the best leader and the best supplier of what we need to follow Him. May the Holy Spirit help us to follow the Lord when the herd around us is going in the opposite direction, but also help us to bring the herd with us, if possible, by the power of the Holy Spirit working via the Word of God in Christ Jesus.

[1] vocabulary.com
[2] 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 21:2, Jeremiah 17:10, Luke 16:15
[3] Psalm 101:2-7
[4] Proverbs 15:33
[5] 1 Kings 14:8-13
[6] Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 50, 25:46; Luke 16:24; Revelation 14:11
[7] 1 Corinthians 2:2-5
[8] 1 Corinthians 2:9
[9] 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12
[10] Galatians 6:17; Matthew 26:41
[11] 1 Corinthians 2:13-14