The Jesus Bible Reading PlanSample

FOLLOWING JESUS

God made it clear how the people were to follow him in their journey from the wilderness to the promised land. They would not have to guess as to where God wanted them to dwell and when he wanted them to move. During the day, a cloud covered the dwelling of God in the tabernacle. There, God communed with his people. At night, this cloud turned to fire, and the entire nation saw the all-consuming presence of the Lord. When God was ready for the people to break camp and set out to a new location, the cloud moved, traveling ahead of the people to the place God wanted them to go next. God’s instructions were simple: Stay put as long as the cloud and fire are there. When they move, you move. When the people did this, they could rest assured that they were following God and moving in the path he ordained.

The same simple message inaugurates Jesus’ earthly ministry. “Come, follow me,” he says to his newly commissioned disciples (Mt 4:19). Over the next three years, they accompanied the Son of God as he boldly proclaimed the availability of the kingdom of God and performed many miraculous signs that demonstrated the dawning of a new age. Following Jesus had much in common with the way in which the nation of Israel followed God in the wilderness. Where Jesus went, the disciples went, and there they received the blessing of his presence and provision.

Following his death and resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to provide all subsequent believers with guidance for how they can also follow Jesus. As believers are filled with God’s Spirit (Eph 5:18) and refrain from those practices that may quench his Spirit, they can follow the path that God has purposed for their lives. This path may seem less clear than following a cloud and fire in the wilderness or walking the earth following the Son of God. However, believers are now indwelt with God’s Spirit — meaning that the power to obey and follow Jesus now comes from within. Rather than following external signs, God’s people have the Spirit of God living within them and directing their steps to follow his ways.

Jesus, I thank you and praise you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Help me to be sensitive and obedient to his urgings. I want to fully follow you with every step. Amen.