Jesus, Peter and the Young rich ruler

And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”  Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. MARK 10:20-22

Jesus was very direct with this man as to what he needed to do in order to achieve eternal life. He did not tell him you have to stop stealing or lying or cheating on his wife etc... In his case what he needed to do was sell all he had give it to the poor and follow Jesus.

This man's name is never mentioned in the bible, because those who don't sacrifice are forgotten, Jesus was calling this man to be one of his disciples be he turned down the offer and we don't hear anything about him anymore. "But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property."

on the other hand Peter when he was called he sacrificed everything and followed Jesus and not only was he remembered and became Jesus right hand man among the 12 and Jesus Himself changed his name "He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” John 1:42

 

Cephas means rock and Jesus took a simple fisher man called Simon with a failing fishing business and made him a great man of God called Peter all because right at the beginning he did not question or think to much about what Jesus was asking him to sacrifice he gave it all.

PETER'S life, name, and history changed forever.

The life, name and history of the rich young ruler never changed and he was forgotten even though from his youth he kept all the commandments.

He left as quickly as he came.

The same God that changed the life of Jacob is the same God that changed the life of Peter. He will be the same God to change the lives of all those who are willing to sacrifice what God asked from them in a heartbeat. 

Pr Samuel - Long Beach

How can you know if you are truly making a sacrifice?

Ask yourself these questions:

What is it that you cannot live without?

What are you afraid of losing ?

Jacob fought 20 years to conquer what he had but when his brother was coming to meet him he was greatly afraid and distressed and divided the people into two companies thinking if one is attacked at least one group could escape.  Genesis 32:7,8

He was afraid of losing what he had and his life.

But afterwards we see that even the ones who were with him he sent them over the brook and made them cross the ford of Jabbok symbolising his total surrender, letting go of everything and being left alone.

Sometimes we want to see the greatness of God but we don't want to let go of those things we have in other to conquer something better for example: car, house, family, money, title etc...

It is interesting to notice that the Angel only appeared when Jacob was left alone.

God can only show himself in our lives when we reach the point of not fearing losing what we have because He is the only one we cannot live without. When we are left alone, total surrender, total sacrifice then the transformation will happen.

What about you, are you ready to put on the altar what you could not live without in other to have something more valuable than that?

God Bless you

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No more delay

When Jacob saw the Angel he could not let go unless He blessed him.

And we are living in the days that we cannot wait anymore, God has to act, certain situations can't wait.

I share the same prayer Daniel did below. 

O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:19 NKJV)

What about you, can you keep waiting or have you had enough?

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Why money is important when making a sacrifice?

The other meaning of SACRIFICE is renunciation of something precious; it is very common in the church to hear people say that they surrendered body, spirit and soul on the altar, but most of the times we don’t see Gods answer in their lives, Why? It’s simple, we have two legs which takes us where we want to go , when we walk we put all the strength of our body on our left leg while the right one moves forward, then we put all the strength of our body on our right leg while the left one moves forward right? 

Sacrifice is also like that, there is the leg called spiritual and the leg called material. Many people put all their strength in their spiritual leg, in fasting, prayer, they stay away from sin but they are afraid of acting their faith renouncing everything that pertains to their body, spirit and soul on the altar.

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:33)

To renounce on the altar means having the conscience that everything we have, house, car, money, children, husband, wife etc, are Not ours, they were lent to us, and God can ask these things from us and we are ready to put them on the altar, even if it costs us everything.

O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own (1 chronicles 29:16)

Maybe you ask why is money important in a sacrifice?

We have heard many times in the news mother giving up their babies for adoption alleging that they don’t have conditions to raise them, but have you ever heard of a mother giving up a million dollars to someone? Alleging that she can’t take care of those green bills? It is possible to leave without children, husband and family but not without money, because the human being needs is to survive. When what we had, what we have and what we will have is in the hands of God, it symbolizes what we were, what we are, and what we will be on the altar.

If you don’t want to depend on someone like a crutch, but only on yourself and God to reach where you want in whatever area of your life, then use your faith on the altar using both legs, the spiritual and material legs. 

In this way you will not walk, but you will run after your success.

Think About it

The Power of words

At least be useless

Posted: 10 days ago | In: Spiritual Intelligence

                                                           

I wasn’t the one who said it:

In the same way, you, when you have done all you were ordered to do, say: We are useless servants; we have only done what we were supposed to do. Luke 17.10

According to the Lord Jesus, the definition of useless is not someone who is idle or just sits around and does nothing all day. His take on it was that the useless person is the one who does only what he should have done — in other words, nothing extra, no more than what was expected of him.

Of course, the goal is to become a useful servant, someone who exceeds expectations. But we know such people are rare.

The problem is that there are too many people who need to improve a lot just to achieve “useless” status. That’s because they don’t do even what they are supposed to.

If you have no ambition to become a useful servant, then at least be useless. Less than that is to waste your existence.

Source: www.renatocardoso.com 

Distorted Thinking