“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'”
(Luke 9:23 ESV)
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
(James 4:8 ESV)
The song, “Next To Me” by Jordan Feliz kept running through my brain yesterday:
“You put the X on my faded map.
“Next To Me” by Jordan Feliz
Draw me a line back to where you’re at.
Patient when I try to move too fast,
I get this feeling.
I get this feeling. I get this feeling in my spirit when I’m low.
I hear it calling like a compass to my soul.
Saying, child, come on back now
You’ve been gone too long.
Let me lead you back where you belong. Right next to me.”
Isn’t that just like a loving Father? Always willing to lead you back when you stray too far away?
Jesus leaves the 99 to find 1 is a line from the parable of the lost sheep, which appears in the Bible in Matthew 18:10–14 and Luke 15:1–7. In the parable, Jesus compares God, or the shepherd, to having 100 sheep, and when one goes missing, the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and looks for the lost one. When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he rejoices more than the 99 who didn’t go astray, which Jesus says is how God will rejoice when a sinner returns to Him.
Have you gone astray? Are you wandering around lost? Jesus is looking for you. He wants to bring you back to the fold. Jesus will keep looking until He finds you. Don’t hide yourself away from Him. Don’t think He will be ashamed of you because of something you did. He already knows. He knew before you were even born.
But God has a built-in escape plan for everything you do. Just give the problem to him and let Him fix it. I did just that yesterday. I had a flat tire the other day. I took it to get it fixed. It was just a nail. Easily patched. But I prayed for a cheap, easy fix. God honored my prayer.
Have a great day, everyone.
Kathy Keller
Writer and Prayer warrior with Answers2Prayer Ministries
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