My Utmost for His Highest - July 2nd

I read this, this morning and just needed to share it! God has been speaking to me alot lately about true discipleship, so I know for me this is one more statement he is making. Thought it may bless you too!

July 2, 2009
The Conditions of Discipleship
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother,

wife and children, brothers and sisters,

yes, and his own life also . . . .

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me . . . .

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple

—Luke 14:26-27, 33

If the closest relationships of a disciple’s life conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ,

then our Lord requires instant obedience to Himself.

Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause.

Our Lord never proclaimed a cause— He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself.

To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus.

Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not truly devoted to Jesus Christ.

No one on earth has this passionate love for the

Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him.

We may admire, respect, and revere Him,

but we cannot love Him on our own.

The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit,

and it is He who has "poured out in our hearts" the very "love of God" (Romans 5:5 ).

Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you,

He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is a life characterized by true and spontaneous creativity.

Consequently, a disciple is subject to the same charge

that was leveled against Jesus Christ, namely, the charge of inconsistency.

But Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God,

and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to

the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines.

People pour themselves into their own doctrines,

and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas

before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.