Following Jesus is Costly...But It's Worth It

There truly is a cost to following the Lord, but the beautiful thing is if you give the Lord your full yes, He empowers you with His Holy Spirit to go forth and walk out what He has called you to. 

Sometimes this walk can be lonely. Sometimes you may feel discouraged. Sometimes it may feel like too much but remember the Lord is worth it. In the end, you won't remember all the bad, but you will rejoice that you chose Him over the world! 

Be encouraged Body of Christ! I pray this podcast episode encourages y'all in Jesus name!

Transcript

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It's actually crazy to me how like beautiful God's creation is. Anytime I feel like I'm lacking peace, all I gotta do is touch grass. And it's like I'm reminded of God's goodness. But what's up y'all? Welcome back to another episode of Image Bearers. Anytime I need peace, I would just come to this lake. It's like 15 minutes from my house. I don't even think y'all can see in the background, but y'all can hear the waves and the water splashing up. Um it's like really splashing. Lord, protect it, Lord. Protect the camera, Lord. Um, but no, yeah, anytime I needed peace, I would just come to this lake and just spend time with the Lord. And I think this is just a special moment for me. It's just so the Lord uh essentially today, He put on my heart, on my spirit to talk about the cost of discipleship. And I think this is just a holy moment for me because by the time I release this video, I will be on the way to a new destination. Some of y'all know that the Lord had called me to move to Houston for about six months, and when I was there, changed my life. I went to Houston, I didn't know anybody there. I had some mutuals in Houston, but I've met some of my best friends today. I've learned so much, got connected with some amazing people, and now the Lord is calling me to do it all over again, but this time it takes a bigger leap of faith. And I've just been feeling heavy these past couple of days. Um just because I think a lot of people don't talk about the cost. Well, actually, scratch that. A lot of people do talk about the cost, but I think talking about it and like actually having to experience it for your own on your own is like it's heavy, you know. There's certain things you grieve, and this isn't like any time of transition ultimately, because the things that were once familiar and comfortable to you, the Lord calls you to a whole new thing, you know, and so that's what it's been for me. And I've mentioned this in a past podcast, but a sermon I watched by Pastor Brian was talking about how the Lord will give you zig lag moments where nobody else around you understands. And you know, I have a couple friends who have also been, you know, in the midst of in the midst of a transition, so they get it, but it's it's just heavy, you know, and I believe that the Lord allows for things like that to happen so that you don't go searching for water anywhere else. Like when you're thirsty, you go to the living water, you go to Jesus. He's the one that understands you, and he doesn't hold your feelings and your emotions against you. He actually delights in you praying raw prayers and telling him how you feel. And I think that's also something that the Lord has really been ministering to me is like I don't have to put on a mask in the secret place, I don't have to act like everything is you know peaches and creep. Well, he gives me a peace that surpasses all understanding and a joy that is like no other. There are still feelings and emotions that you feel when you're walking this thing out, and ultimately it's the cost of discipleship, and so today that's kind of what the Lord put on my heart because essentially when I move to this place, I don't know where I'm staying at. Like, I genuinely don't. It's kind of just a big faith thing. He's giving me the instruction to just go into the city and he'll tell me what to do when I get there. But yeah, it's heavy, you know, it's heavy, and uh, I've already seen him move and work miracles. Like, I will be dropping a testimony video soon in regards to how the Lord, you know, blessed me with a whole brand new car, which is like I would have never thought it's giving Ephesians 3.20, but yeah, I kind of wanted to just chit-chat today about the cost of discipleship. Let me tell you something. If you are not willing to die daily, if you are not willing to crucify your flesh and pick up your cross daily, if you are not willing to allow the Lord to teach you what true biblical love is, not this mushy gushy feeling that the world pushes out, but like true sacrificial agape love, this walk is not for you. But the beautiful thing is all of us in our flesh are unable to present that agape love, to move in that agape love. It's only by his spirit, and so I've just been noticing, man, the more incapable I feel, the more insufficient I feel, the more I recognize that I can't lean on my own understanding, I can't lean on my flesh. The Holy Spirit empowers me to just lean on the Lord, and he reminds me that this is ultimately fellowshipping with him, this is understanding his perspective on things that he had to walk through, and it's the cost of discipleship, the cost of discipleship to count the cost, but it's all worth it, man. Like, this is why we gotta keep our mind fixated on the eternal things because if we start thinking about the carnal things, we're not gonna see a point to all this. You know what I mean? Especially when the Lord calls you to move in blind faith. And so I really want to just get into Luke chapter 9 and walk through a couple verses with you guys if that's okay. And so it's actually T because Luke 9, the end of Luke 9, which is what we're gonna read, is all about the cost of discipleship, and then Luke 10 is when the Lord sends out the disciples, and you know, there's certain questions I have for the Lord on like Lord, what's he? Like, why am I going out there? What's waiting for me over there? But ultimately, that's exactly this is exactly how Houston went for me. There's obviously little tweaks. Again, this is a bigger move of faith, but and I literally need him to do it because in my own strength, I will I can't, you know. But yeah, in Luke 10, he sends them out, and Luke 9 is the cost of discipleship, and so that's kind of where I'm at. That's kind of why my heart is kind of heavy because it's like you have to grieve so many things when you enter into new realms of who he is. I'll give you an example, marriage. Like, and I'm not married, but I know that when you are called to the ministry of marriage, because marriage is a ministry, it's a second, it's like a whole other death, y'all. Like, it's sacrificial. You have to, and you grieve that single life because you're no longer gonna be in the comfortability of oh, you can go wherever and whenever you please. As a woman, there's submission involved and things of that nature, so it's like in every level of our lives as we go higher, there is like a grieving process that I feel like a lot of people don't talk about. And you know, lately I've just been feeling that heaviness, and the enemy's been trying to just flood my mind, but also my flesh is just reminiscing on like memories of you know, friends I had to let go, people I had to let go, even relationships I had to let go in the faith. Like when relationships and friendships are seasonal, like it hurts, you know, it hurts, but it's counting the cost. How far are you willing to go in obedience by the Lord's grace to just be where he wants you to be, you know? And so let's get into it. I always feel like I just ramble on the videos, but Holy Spirit ends up speaking how he wants to speak, and I would be lying to you guys if I actually like enjoyed, I don't really enjoy doing social media anymore. If it was up to me, y'all, I would just be a stay-at-home mom. Listen, but we move in obedience, however, he wants to receive his glory in my life is what I will give him. Because it's only by his grace. I don't do anything, I just say yes, but let's get into it. Holy Spirit, I just pray that as we get into your precious word, Lord, that you would just breathe upon the scriptures, that you would reveal the Son unto us, that he would just be edified and encouraged by your precious word for your name's sake. In Jesus' name. Amen. So let's get into it. Luke chapter 9, verse 57 is where we're starting at. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Let's pause right there, because that, y'all, that is the scripture the Lord really spoke to me in regards to like not knowing what is to come with this move. But it's the cost. Like, I think so often we we don't understand the weight of the words that we say and the weight of the prayers that we pray. And a lot of the times we'll find ourselves complaining about where we're at right now, not realizing that we're actually living in an answered prayer. Like when we ask for patience, the Lord just doesn't say, Okay, here's patience. No, he will put you through trials and tribulations for patience to have her perfect work. You know, when you ask the Lord, I want to fellowship with you, I want to know you, he's not just gonna give you a bunch of head knowledge because he knows that knowledge puffeth up, but love edifies. So he will put you in situations and circumstances where you actually begin to see from his lens, you begin to see from the life that he lived, you begin to see that you are one with him, and as you are one with him, you are gonna walk out the same things that he walked out. As Jesus has his Judas, had a Judas, you will have a Judas also. As Jesus was told to pick up his cross, you will have a cross to pick up also. You will have a Garden of Gethsemane moment, you will have all these moments that Jesus had in his life, you know, and that comes from the prayer, Lord, may I know you. And so I love this because, you know, it says someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. But what if the Lord says, okay, I'm sending you somewhere where you won't know where your next meal is coming from? I'm sending you somewhere where you won't know where you're staying at. Do you trust that the Lord is Jehovah Jirah? Do you trust in his word? Do you trust that he goes before you? There's a scripture in John 10 that talks about how, you know, Jesus is the shepherd, and his sheep know his voice. And it says that in verse 4, I'm paraphrasing, it says that he goes before them, and then he calls unto them, and they hear and they follow. And this is where discernment and stepping with the Lord is so important in the secret place because you need to know his voice. Because in the following verses, it says that to another, to a stranger, they will not follow that voice. And the enemy is going to mimic the voice of the Lord. The Bible says that he is like an angel of light. He can he can manifest himself as an angel of light. And so if you do not know the difference between the Lord's voice and the angel of light that can be the enemy, that is how you will get led astray. But again, ultimately, this is a faith walk, and so you put all your hope, all your trust, all your faith in the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, and not in your own ability, not in your own flesh. And so there's ultimately this breaking that comes when the Lord calls you to go deeper in him. There's a breaking because where his glory is, there has to be a death. His glory was shown on the cross when his flesh was crucified. His glory that was shown in his life was because he did the father's will and not his own. He put his will to death. You know what I mean? And so that's ultimately how it is. When you follow him. And so I love that. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, he was going from place to place, from house to house. You know what I mean? And so it's for some of us, right? He's not gonna call all of us to live this kind of life, but for me personally, that's where he's called me. And you know, it takes real faith in his character that he has gone before me, that the doors are open before me. And I've seen it time and time again. And so, you know, that's when you have to reminisce and praise him from your inner soul, like, Lord, thank you, Father God, that I've already seen your mercy, I've already seen you provide for me. I don't have to strive, I don't have to stress. You know. Verse 59 says, Then he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. The Lord says, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. You go minister how your encounter with the Lord Jesus has changed your life. You go and minister that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that the Holy Spirit now lives in us, that we are able to walk in such power. We have the power to say no to our sin. Rather than dilly-daddling and saying, Oh no, I'm not ready yet. No, let the Lord use you, let the Lord move in you and through you. If you say yes to Jesus, it's no longer about you. And while yes, you may have these feelings and all these things, and he doesn't hold it against you. That's why you gotta count the cost, count the cost, Lord. Am I really willing to give up my friends, my family, my hometown, if you call me to move, that job, that dream? Am I able to cast my cares upon you? Because I know that you care for me. Am I willing to live a sacrifice life, a life laid down to give you all the glory? Verse 62 says, But Jesus said to him, No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. And so that literally reminds me of Lot's wife, you know, and that's what I always, that's the scripture I always wore with when the enemy tries to flood my mind with all these emotions and feelings and nostalgia of how I used to live in the world. I remind myself, no. I have my hand to the plow, I am not about to look back because when you look back, you're you're stagnated. How are we? It's like driving forward, but looking in your rearview mirrors. How are you to drive forward into what God has for you and you're looking backward? Eventually you're gonna crash if you're not looking towards where the Lord is taking you. And it reminds me of in the book of Philippians, yeah, he says, verse 12 not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. And I love that. I love verse 15 that it says, if we be mature, let us have that mind that we do not look to the things behind, but we press upward, we press toward the mark of the high call. I love that. And then it says, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. He is faithful to reveal to you, and he's done it to me in these seasons of transition, in these crushing seasons, like Rachel. You haven't healed from this area of your life, or there's a part of you that still low-key desires that. Bring it to me. Let me prune it out of you, let me press it out of you. So are you pressing toward that goal? Are you forgetting the things that are behind? Are you reaching toward the things that are ahead? And he's so faithful to show it to you. You know? He's so faithful to show it to you. And that's what I love about the Lord. Like, he understands that we are just dust, like we are of dust. He understands our feelings and our emotions, and that's why I love the book of Psalms, how David pours his heart out to the Lord. It reminds me again of that story with Mary of Bethany, who pours out her oil upon Jesus' feet and washes his feet with oil, with tears, and with her glory, which is her hair. Because it's like, who am I that you would call me to walk in your footsteps? I am nothing but a lowly sinner, that without you I am nothing. Without you, I am wicked, without you, I am evil, without you, I am sinful. Yet you call me yours. You want to become one with me. And so if it means that I kiss your feet with my lips and I pour out my oil, everything that I have, this is all I have to give you is brokenness. And he turns it into beauty. And so rather than shying away from that, rather than because I've been in that place where I would put on a mask in front of the Lord, like, oh yeah, everything's cool, everything's straight. But what I've realized it's in those moments of brokenness before the Lord that he actually begins to like manifest his presence like I've never seen before or felt before. Because it's in that realness, it's in that closeness to him, it's in this revelation of who is this holy God that even though I am nothing but dust, he desires to become one with me, he desires for me to partner with him in his will, he desires to have my heart, to have my love, to have all of me. You recognize how wretched and disgusting you are. Just as Isaiah had this epiphany, like, oh my gosh, I greatly abhor myself. Because in his holiness, in his holy presence, you see how unable you are, how insufficient you are, how he calls you to these great and mighty things, and you're like, Lord, I'm not capable of doing this. But those things that he calls you to, that is not the reward. He is the reward to become one with him, that is the reward. To give him the gift of his suffering, the rewards of his suffering, which is you, your life, when you say yes to him. That is what he was thinking about when he was carrying up his cross. And so we have this same mindset when we go through, Lord, I choose you, I choose to be discipled by you and for your glory. We gotta count the cost. And so we say these prayers so lightly, like, Lord, I'll give you everything, I want to be everything for you. Forgetting that there really is a cost to it, you know, and like this walk gets lonely sometimes. This walk really does get lonely sometimes, but it's in those moments where you feel like nobody can understand what you're going through that God is calling you deeper unto himself. He wants to show you different facets of his character that he can only show you in those moments. It's so important to just let the Lord have his way however he wants and not to run anymore from the call. Again, Jesus is the call. We shouldn't be walking this thing out because we want a platform or you know, we want any glory. And that's why I love this. Because verse 15 of Philippians 3 just gives that facet of his character that he is like faithful to reveal anything in your heart where your mind is not like Christ's. And I love that. He's so faithful, he graces us to do what he calls us to do. And so, you know, I encourage us not to be discouraged, I encourage us to be real with the Lord. The Lord loves raw and real prayers, and to just continue to count the cost, but lean in on the grace that he bestows upon you. You don't have to do this thing on your own, you know? And of course, we need the body, but I'm telling you, there are seasons where the Lord will literally shut up all the voices around you and just call you deeper unto him. That was literally me for the past December to now it's March. No, January to March for like two months. The Lord is like, no, it's just me and you, girl. But how kind is it that he wants all of you? He doesn't want some of you, he wants all of you, he wants everything, and he turns everything beautiful. He really does, and so yeah, that's all I have for y'all today. I love y'all. God bless you guys. I'll see you guys when I move, essentially, maybe, God willing. I don't know what the Lord is gonna do this year, but revival's on the horizon, man. Revival is on the horizon.