WILL WE DEPART ALSO?

Dearest Saints When I feel lead to write my experiences based on the Word of God, to give Him the glory and encourage others to receive the best that only He offers, this is what I long to do. Not only do I love to encourage, but to also challenge each of us to go further. We cannot afford to stay in our comfort zone and expect to be blessed of God and used by Him if it is not going to cost us anything. Costing us something doesn't always refer to money, but it may refer to your time invested with the talents God gives you to seek the benefit of others or energy. I can't think of anytime that Jesus didn't want the best for each one which is why He went through the trouble of leaving that awesome Throne Room of Heaven to come down to earth for you and I. I had a few people tell me straight forth to remove them from my Blogs without even a "please" or other reasons about the possibility of having too many emails, etc. It used to offend me, but I am grateful to God that I am no longer in bondage to being offended. I make NO apologies for sharing my heart in what God has taught me in my life experiences in order to benefit others. When any of us are lead of God to minister to others, correct or train others in righteousness (Prov 1:3; 2 Tim 3:16; Heb 12:11), or lead in some other service to others as unto the Lord, we should never apologize or feel guilty whatsoever. Just like the Apostle Paul says: if he were still concerned about being a people pleaser, he would not be a true follower of God (1 Thess 2:4). This reminds me when Jesus had a multitude of Disciples (Luke 10:1; Luke 10:17) who were once His followers and the majority of them went away no longer following Him (John 6:66). This was by no means a small minority of people, but we are talking a large percentage of those people who made a commitment to follow Him, but found His teachings too difficult (John 6:66). So when you add 72 and the other 12 Disciples, there is 84. But after this encounter, Jesus had the remaining 12 Disciples. And even one of those Disciples betrayed Him (John 6:70). So if you take 11 from a total of 84, you are talking 87% of the people who decided to stop following Jesus. Jesus didn't stop His people from departing Him because He doesn't violate our free will, but He encourages us to do what is best for us. These Disciples who turned away from Him are no longer heard of in the Bible. The reason why I believe these Disciples were once committed is the fact that to be considered a Disciple of Jesus, we have to take up our Cross (decide to put Jesus above everything that we value in life) and follow Him (Luke 14:27). When these Disciples left Jesus, He turned to the other 12 Disciples and asked them if they were going to leave Him also. I like what Simon Peter says: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Only You have the words to eternal life" (John 6:67,68). We should say the same thing. It is going to be far more difficult to walk away from following Him which will only lead to living in regret for the rest of our lives and into eternity then to give up on anything that holds us back in this temporal life and choose to follow Him regardless, even in hard times. Even though I love to encourage others, I feel lead to challenge each of us (including myself) to be ever more committed to following Him. The biggest challenge I find is dealing with pride because there is no person in the world who has preached for many years that can't ever listen and learn from a little child or a simple person when they have a Word from the Lord. Remember, God used a donkey to speak to Balaam (Num 22:28). If we have a hard time learning from anyone who may have a Word of exhortation, encouragement, correction, etc., we have a problem with pride! When following God seems far more difficult than it would be to go our own separate ways, think of the eternal consequences. When you think of the Apostle Paul who suffered hardships, hunger, loneliness and other challenges, what he went through is nothing compared to the richness of sharing in the glory with Christ for all these past centuries and for the eternal endless hope he continues to look forward to. No matter how hard the messages you may read or the road you may be travelling on right now, "Hang in there" because this life is very temporal compared to eternity. It's like comparing a little drop of water to the oceans of this world. There is no comparison!! When I think of the trials I go through in this present life, I am encouraged to read and acknowledge this wonderful scripture from Romans 8:18 that truly does strengthen my with hope: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us (Amplified Version)! Knowing this, Jesus asks us: Will we depart also?