Follow Me

Show me, God, how to

deny myself,

take up my cross,

and follow You

TODAY

not just in the hazy future

where intentions evaporate,

but Today

for, Lord, sometimes I forget

that what matters

is TODAY

The enemy wants me distracted

and to keep my mind

on what I might do tomorrow

and the next day

and the next

or on the past

But TODAY is important

and it is the day

I choose Who to follow

and I choose who to love

I choose

You, God,

TODAY

– Susie Stewart

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”

– Matthew 16:24 (NIV)

If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.

– Joshua 24:15 (MSG)

You should therefore be most careful, my brothers, that there should not be in any of you that wickedness of heart which refuses to trust, and deserts the cause of the living God. Help each other to stand firm in the faith every day, while it is still called “today”, and beware that none of you becomes deaf and blind to God through the delusive glamour of sin. For we continue to share in all that Christ has for us so long as we steadily maintain until the end the trust with which we began. These words are still being said for our ears to hear: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’.

– Hebrews 3:12-14 (PHILLIPS)

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”

– Luke 22:61 (NIV)

Photo by Gracie Oertli

I know your hand is outstretched

and I know You are trustworthy

so I choose to reach up to You

to grasp Your hand tightly

and to follow where You lead

The world is reaching out its hand to me too

with empty promises

and things that don’t fill

and roads with dead ends

I choose not to reach down

and take the hand of the world

for it will never satisfy

and there are many broken, plastic, soul-starved people

appearing fulfilled,

but are not

as they hold the hand of the world

I follow You, Jesus.

For every life has sorrow

and every life pain

and every life has its struggles,

but no matter the road

I want to be holding on to You

and despair will not come

You will strengthen

and comfort

and uphold

and inspire

and defend

and always Love

I am IN this world,

but holding tight to You

I will not be pulled downward

For I am IN it

but not OF it

I am free

My otherworldliness comes

by citizenship

in Your beautiful Kingdom.

I will follow the King.

– Susie Stewart

If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your strength will support me.

– Psalm 139:9,10 (NIV)

So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
living according to their own ideas.
Oh, that my people would listen to Me!
Oh, that Israel would follow Me, walking in My paths!
How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
How soon My hands would be upon their foes!

– Psalm 81:12-14 (NLT)

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

– Luke 14:27 (NIV)

Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

– Isaiah 30:21 (NLT)

But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

– Mark 9:27 (NLT)

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

– 1 John 2:15 (NLT)

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given Me, because they belong to You. All who are Mine belong to You, and You have given them to Me, so they bring Me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to You. Holy Father, You have given Me Your name; now protect them by the power of Your name so that they will be united just as We are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name You gave Me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

“Now I am coming to You. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with My joy. I have given them Your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your word, which is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by Your truth.

– John 17:9-19 (NLT)