In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”

“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”

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September 23 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Good morning Lord. This seems to be a study about Your will; a study that tells us we are to pursue Your will regardless of the consequences. I suspect most of us agree or plan to do your will, as long as the consequences are not too, too difficult. But when the times are hard, the future obscured and predictable outcomes appear painful and unthinkable….well, it cannot possibly be Your will that we go through trials and difficulties of that kind… could it?

And God says…”All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. What is it you say in church …?”God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.” When you agree to follow the will of God, you agree that God knows better than you. You agree to pursue the will of God, because you truly believe God has the very best in mind for you, regardless of what your current or future outcomes look like; regardless of how your five senses interpret your current or anticipated future circumstances. Acknowledge Me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight, delight yourself in the Lord and I will give you the desires of your heart. When you let go of your desires to look right, feel right, look good and to be in control, you free yourself to live in the will of God, and, over time,  to be transformed into the very likeness of Christ.”