January 5, 2016
"Jesus answered, 'Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow later." (John 13:36)
Ancient mariners were well familiar with the value of a lodestar. It was any prominent star in the night sky over the ocean that was their guiding light, long before the days of GPS. They looked to the stars to navigate their journey accurately. Spiritually speaking, Jesus and His Spirit are the Lodestar I am to be looking to . . . for inspiration, for a model to emulate, and as a guide in all the moments of my life.
In the first half of my days "in Jesus", I was following my Lodestar, but from a very external place. It was out of my flesh and my will that I began to follow. But I am finding in this second half of my journey "in Jesus", it is becoming a following that flows out of acts of 'internal martyrdom'. It is the kind of following that comes from keeping my eye on the Lodestar in everything in each day. It is a following that comes from continual crucifixion of my flesh in order to partake of the inspiration of the Spirit, to imitate the life of Jesus modeled before me in the Word, and to obey the directions of my Lodestar Guide.
If that is to be the case, then I can depend and rely on nothing but the Lodestar. I must lay down every other form of lodestar, primarily me! Jesus and His Spirit must be the ONLY Lodestar. My vows, my resolutions for the new year, my determination and will can never execute transformation in me. There is no power in me that is not the Lodestar at work.
PRAYER
Jesus, my Lodestar, come and invade me by Your Spirit. Let me no longer trust is past changes, but instead, let me look always forward and upward to the new changes You desire in me. Let me this year come to the full end of myself and all of my wicked self-sufficiency! I want to simply follow You, my faithful Morning Lodestar. The 'later' has now arrived for me. It is time to follow only You!
"Jesus answered, 'Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow later." (John 13:36)
Ancient mariners were well familiar with the value of a lodestar. It was any prominent star in the night sky over the ocean that was their guiding light, long before the days of GPS. They looked to the stars to navigate their journey accurately. Spiritually speaking, Jesus and His Spirit are the Lodestar I am to be looking to . . . for inspiration, for a model to emulate, and as a guide in all the moments of my life.
In the first half of my days "in Jesus", I was following my Lodestar, but from a very external place. It was out of my flesh and my will that I began to follow. But I am finding in this second half of my journey "in Jesus", it is becoming a following that flows out of acts of 'internal martyrdom'. It is the kind of following that comes from keeping my eye on the Lodestar in everything in each day. It is a following that comes from continual crucifixion of my flesh in order to partake of the inspiration of the Spirit, to imitate the life of Jesus modeled before me in the Word, and to obey the directions of my Lodestar Guide.
If that is to be the case, then I can depend and rely on nothing but the Lodestar. I must lay down every other form of lodestar, primarily me! Jesus and His Spirit must be the ONLY Lodestar. My vows, my resolutions for the new year, my determination and will can never execute transformation in me. There is no power in me that is not the Lodestar at work.
PRAYER
Jesus, my Lodestar, come and invade me by Your Spirit. Let me no longer trust is past changes, but instead, let me look always forward and upward to the new changes You desire in me. Let me this year come to the full end of myself and all of my wicked self-sufficiency! I want to simply follow You, my faithful Morning Lodestar. The 'later' has now arrived for me. It is time to follow only You!
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