Over the past few years, one thing that has weighed on my heart is seeing people I once thought had a close walk with God drift back toward the world, and others remain perpetually on the fence.
I understand those struggles, because when I first began my walk with the Lord, surrendering fully to Him wasn’t easy for me either. As we continue to see the signs of the times and prophecy unfolding, it’s more important than ever for us to draw closer to Him.
At the beginning of my walk, I struggled with a lot of deeply-ingrained behaviors and desires that had yet to be crucified.
I kept filling my mind with sinful, toxic secular music I once loved, never stopping to measure its lyrics against the truth of the God I wanted to serve. I continued to watch horror movies and dark TV shows, disregarding the serious spiritual impact and the doors they can open to darkness in a person’s life.
Another serious mistake I made was clinging to grudges against those who had deeply hurt me in my past, failing to bring my trauma to the Lord in prayer. There is a laundry list of struggles I could have avoided if I had surrendered to the Lord and depended upon Him.
We Must Truly Take Up Our Cross
Through all those struggles, I learned this crucial truth: We must stay deeply connected to Jesus, depending on Him, trusting Him, and pursuing a life that reflects Him more each day.
As the Lord said in John 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Tomorrow is not promised; what if Jesus comes back when you least expect it? While you keep procrastinating with obedience to God, saying that you will get your life right with Him later? How absolutely terrifying and devastating it would be to hear those words, “I never knew you; depart from Me.” (see Matthew 7:23).
This is why the false “once saved, always saved” doctrine is so dangerous and incredibly unbiblical for those pastors who teach it. You CAN lose your salvation; you can’t continue to live in habitual, unrepentant sin and expect to still make it into heaven. If you have been taught this and haven’t studied it for yourself, I strongly encourage you to read and study Matthew 7:21-23, Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-30 and 2 Peter 2:20-22.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” –Matthew 7:21-23
Every time you are committing sin willfully, you put Jesus to an open shame. As it is written in Hebrews 10:26-27, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
Do you know how much it grieves our Heavenly Father when we choose to satisfy our sinful fleshly desires instead of trusting in Him and His sufficiency and provisions?
What is Separating You from God?
Now is the time for us all to take a long, hard look at our lives and confess our sins before the Lord, repent and make the resolve to truly turn away from whatever is separating us from obedience to Him.
Whatever is holding you back from going all in for the Lord, take it to Him and be obedient to whatever it takes to get your heart, mind and spirit right.
For some, it may be holding onto unforgiveness and bitterness in their heart toward someone who hurt them in their past. You can’t be obedient to the Lord and choose not to forgive someone; He forgave you for all the sins and trespasses you committed against Him. Who are you to not give the same mercy toward another?
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” -Mark 11:25-26
For some, it may be that you are unequally yoked in a relationship (or in friendships), and you are allowing that relationship or friendship to pull you away from God. You may be in a relationship with an unbeliever and keep lying to yourself that one day they will come to God because of you. But, if it’s been years of you trying to bring them to the Lord and they haven’t budged, the sad reality is that this relationship may not be the Lord’s will for you.
When you are a follower of Christ, you need to be in a relationship with someone who has close to or the same intensity of faith as you so that they can fight alongside you in the battle, especially through prayer. If you are not equally yoked, you leave yourself open to being swayed back into the world, choosing that relationship over God, and that intimacy you once had with God, you risk throwing it away.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? –2 Corinthians 6:14
For others, it may be that you are holding onto a particular sin or addiction, afraid that by giving it up, you will lose part of yourself, part of your “identity.” This isn’t true, your identity is in Jesus Christ; if you are saved, you are a son or daughter of the Most High God.
Your identity can’t be found in drugs, alcohol or sex outside of marriage. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Choose today to fully surrender your sin and addiction to Him and watch Him break the chains of your bondage, setting you fully free. Watch Him breathe life into what you thought, and accepted, was broken beyond repair.
For some, it may be that you are a people pleaser and keep compromising to please others. I used to be guilty of this, especially when it once came to attending pagan “holiday” gatherings that I knew I should not have, as the “holiday” was in direct contradiction to my faith.
Maybe you haven’t fully reconciled the fact that being a true follower of Christ means that the world will hate you (see John 15:18-19). But we aren’t here please men; we live to please God. We need to stop compromising our beliefs to “fit in;” we should only desire to fit into the kingdom of God.
Or, maybe you are confused about your beliefs and haven’t been discipled properly by Biblical Christian teachers and mentors. Or, you have mixed a false religion, like New Age or Buddhism, with Christian teachings, a practice also known as syncretism.
As Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
It’s Never Too Late to Ask for His Help
Whatever the reason keeping you from going all in for the Lord, you need to reconcile it with Him. Cry out to Him and ask for His help. We must get right with the Lord before it is too late.
It’s spiritually dangerous to have one foot in the world and one foot out. We need to firmly plant both our feet in the Lord, follow his teachings and obey His Word, fully trusting in Him. You can’t serve two masters, as it is written in the Word (see Matthew 6:24).
I pray that this post has helped and been the encouragement you needed to pursue Jesus with all your might. Until next time, shalom to my brothers and sisters in Christ. 🙏
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