If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23; NLT).
I follow you
As best I can: Jesus Christ,
My Shepherd King.
I praise your name,
And worship you: Jesus Christ,
To whom I cling.
I trust in you,
And want to serve: Jesus Christ,
Though I’m so small.
I offer you my love,
My life: Jesus Christ,
My All in All.
🖤
Christ is all, and is in all (Colossians 3:11; NIV).
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live forever;
and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.
(John 6:51; NLT).
My flesh is real food (John 6:55; NLT).
Lord,
You are food for our bodies;
Your way is food for our minds.
Your words are food for our hungry hearts;
Your life is food for our souls.
Lord,
You are food for our bodies;
Your truth is food for our minds.
Your love is food for our fainting hearts;
Your peace is food for our souls.
🖤
The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
(John 14:27; NLT).
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15; NIV).
Lord,
As we kill, pollute, exploit
And burn,
We’re moving backwards
All the time –
Back to the very dawn
Of this ancient world.
Lord,
If we don’t repent
And change our ways,
We’ll render your fertile planet
Lifeless –
Barren, flooded, and dark,
As fast as we can.
Lord,
With blind eyes, closed minds
And greedy hearts,
We’re blundering back
To the start of evolution.
Empty, extinct, formless and void –
This Earth will cease to exist.
Then,
All will be as it was
Before creation –
Before your Spirit
Brooded over the deep;
Before you spoke, Lord,
Long before time began.
✝️
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:1-5; KJV).
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15; NIV).
Maker of land, and sea,
And sky:
We have done wrong;
May we lament.
Author of darkness, cloud,
And fire:
Lord, we have sinned;
May we repent.
Sender of drought, disease,
And flood:
Teach us to care,
And change, as well,
For you give us birth, and life
And death:
But we turn your Eden
Into our hell.
✝️
The end of the world is coming soon (1 Peter 4:7; NLT).
We were born but yesterday and know nothing.
(Job 8:9; NLT).
May I know nothing but your love,
Before my birth, in life,
And after death;
Seek nothing but your narrow gate,
See nothing but your perfect light –
Because your way is best.
May I want nothing but your wine,
Before my birth, in life,
And after death;
Need nothing but your living bread,
Crave nothing but your perfect truth –
So I may serve afresh.
May I fear nothing but your fire,
Before my birth, in life,
And after death;
Bear nothing but your healing pain,
Find nothing but your perfect peace –
Then, I will share your rest.
✝️
With his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5; KJV).
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you (Isaiah 26:3; NLT).
My soul finds rest in God (Psalm 62:1; NIV).
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!”
(which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
(John 20:16; NLT).
Lord,
Show us your Son
Till all of us turn to him.
Show us his fire
Till our icy hearts burn.
Show us his peace
Till all of us trust in him.
Show us his truth
Till our stubborn hearts learn.
Show us his way,
Till all of us follow him.
Show us his love
Till our hearts are made new.
Show us his light
Till all of us worship him.
Show us his life
Till, at last, we see you.
✝️
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”
(John 14:9; NLT).
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
(John 14:6; NLT).
1. May I grow like you, Lord,
For you’re the missing link –
A little more like you, my Way,
In everything I think.
2. May I grow like you, Lord,
For you’re the guide I seek –
A little more like you, my Truth,
In every word I speak.
3. May I grow like you, Lord,
For this is all I ask –
A little more like you, my Life,
As I face every task.
4. May I grow like you, Lord,
This is my only plea –
Then it will be no longer
I who lives, but you, in me.
🖤
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
(Galatians 2:20; NLT).
References
1. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6; NLT).
Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart (Deuteronomy 15:9; ESV).
2. We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ (Ephesians 4:15; NLT).
3. Do everything with love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14; NLT).
4. We will be like him (1 John 3:2; NLT).
The Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18; NLT).
Let love be your highest goal.
(1 Corinthians 14:1; NLT).
1. Love, repentance, faith:
Each day
May these form
My narrow way.
2. Love, forgiveness, patience,
Prayer:
May these be
My constant care.
3. Love, rejoicing, kindness,
Peace:
May my striving
Never cease.
4. Love in thought, and word,
And deed:
May your life
Become my creed.
🖤
Jesus told him,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
(John 14:6; NLT).
Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love –
and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13; NLT).
He lit up the way before me
and I walked safely through the darkness.
(Job 29:3; NLT).
Jesus,
Help us when we falter:
May we share your steadfast faith.
Lead us when we walk through darkness:
Show us, Lord, your narrow way.
Jesus,
Help us when we stumble:
May we share your constant hope.
Guide us when we live through darkness:
Teach us, Lord, your truth today.
Jesus,
Help us when we suffer:
May we share your changeless love.
Hold us when we pass through darkness:
Give us, Lord, new life, we pray.
🖤
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
(Psalm 23:4; KJV).
Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
(1 Peter 1:22-3; NLT).
Unless you are born again,
you cannot see the Kingdom of God.
(John 3:3; NLT).
Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.
(Ephesians 4:21-4; NLT).
Father,
Being born again
Means starting life afresh
With you;
Jesus,
Being born again
Means learning how to love
Like you;
Spirit,
Being born again
Means praying day and night
In you,
Because,
Once we are born again,
We believe and trust
In you.
💙
Not for deeds that we had done, but by his steadfast love alone, he saved us through a second birth, renewed us by the Spirit’s work,
and poured him out upon us, too.
(Titus 3:5-6; ISV).