the narrow path

by Will Brannon

​Following God is a series of choices.The first choice is to accept him into your heart as your Lord and savior, when you do this you will be filled with holy spirit and your sins will be washed clean. Now what?

We have the spirit and must now walk in it. What does that look like?

These are just a few examples…

Do I allow my pride to seek its vengeance, or do I choose to forgive?

Do I spend time out partying, watching movies, playing mindlessly on my phone, or do I read my Bible?

Do I allow my laziness to reign over my decisions and stay home, or do I go to church?

Do I allow depression and intrusive thoughts to take over my mind, or do I choose to seek God, and allow the peace that is in Him to rule in my mind?

Do I put my life first, or do I deny myself in pursuit of service to Him?
 
Jesus tells me to deny myself, to bear my cross daily and follow him.

Some days are easy and my cup is overflowing with grace and joy, others I feel far from God, like I can't even feel, see or hear Him. I’ve learned that in those times if we stay true and do not stray from His path, that feeling is unfailingly replaced by a peace like no other. 

I will not lie, it can be hard to be in a world saturated in sin, such as the one we live in now. We trip and stumble on that sin, then feel shame and despair. But when we walk in the Spirit, we can see sin as it truly is, our eyes are opened to the Truth. We can take heart in the fact that those who do not have Jesus in their heart cannot feel that way. The simple truth is that feeling that way is our reminder that the Spirit lives in us, that the path isn’t closed to us, as I know it can sometimes feel. 

Here’s the corrected version:
Remember, we are all trying to walk the same narrow path together, but it’s not good enough to walk it. When we walk past others on the same path who are tired and weak, who have stumbled and need help to stand, we must stop to pick them up, help them walk, and give them encouragement. Otherwise, we are just stepping over God's children in order to get ourselves where we want to be.
Imagine your child falls down. Everyone ignores their pleas for help, walks around them, steps over them as they are too weak to stand, then those people come to you and say I'm here, I've finally made it. What would you say, seeing what they had done to your child? 

I have a pretty good idea of what God would say, but I definitely know what I would say.

Jesus told us about the importance of love, how we are called to love each and every person as we love ourselves. If we have no love in us and God is love, how can we say that God lives in us? 

Please my friends, understand you are not alone. God is with you and so am I. If you ever need someone to talk to, If you are struggling, I am happy to be here for you. I chose to devote my life to helping those who believe they can’t talk about things, feel doubt, feel weak, feel as though they can't stand. It's ok to talk about it. You aren't the only one with these thoughts, these feelings, these fears. We are all real people, we can't hide from what makes us human. Sometimes it's not pretty and that's ok. God has given me the strength and the desire to be of help. I hope anyone who's in need and wants to talk will approach me anytime. In church, after church, you can facebook me, we can chat in person, texts, email, whatever you most comfortable with. You only have to make the choice to open up.

I am not a professional, I'm just your friend in Christ.