Make Jesus Lord!

In simple terms, ‘Lordship’ means supreme power or rule. When we say Jesus is Lord, we mean that He is the Supreme Power in our lives. He rules over everything in our lives; our emotions, our choices, our attitudes, our thoughts, our actions, everything we say, think, do and believe in. He is Supreme. He has His way. We follow where He leads, we do what He says and we believe what He says. He is the Overall Boss. We surrender to His will, completely.

That is what it means for Jesus to be Lord of our lives.

He expects to be our Lord, those of us who believe in Him and have received Him. We receive Him as Lord of our lives. That is the invitation we give Him, as we come repentant before Him. We say, ‘Lord, I have tried my own way, it isn’t working. Come and be Lord of my life. Come and have Your way. I surrender all to You’.

But, do we indeed recognise Him as Lord, beyond the words we speak? Do we treat Him as Lord? Do we allow Him to be Lord?

If we are to be truthful to ourselves, we are all on the journey of making Jesus Lord in our lives. True, we have received Him as Lord, but, as the Bible rightly says, we are saved, we are being saved and we will be saved. (We are saved: Acts 16:31, 2 Tim.1:9; We are being saved: 1 Cor. 1:18, 2Cor. 2:15; We will be saved: Rom.5:9-10, 13:11, 1Pet.1:10, 1 Thess. 5:8) It is a process and a journey.

The initial salvation experience is like a bus ticket to take the ride with God. Jesus purchased it with His blood and gave it to us free of charge. Thereafter, the journey commences and we begin to experience God and learn of Him and we have our hearts re-tuned to be like His. According to 1 Cor.2:16, we have the mind of Christ. This happens when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:1). The word of God washes us, renews us, changes our thinking and conforms it to the mind of Christ. So, we are continually refined, renewed and rejuvenated to become saved. And when our journey on this earth ends, or when Jesus comes, whichever is earlier, we enter into our salvation.

How wonderful God is!

Looking at the example of the story of the Israelites in Egypt; they were saved when Moses came and told Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says. Let my people go’ and Pharaoh agreed in Exodus 12:31-32 saying, ‘Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also’.

So they left Egypt. That was salvation. But they journeyed through the wilderness and fought many battles, until they entered the Promised Land through Jericho. Then when they had conquered Jericho, they still had to fight many more battles to expand their territory and fully occupy the land, to the extent that God had given them by His word. That is being saved. They did not receive the ultimate salvation, which would be given only by the Messiah, because Messiah had not yet come. (Heb. 11:13-16,39-40).

We are the fortunate ones, to whom the Saviour was revealed. We have the opportunity of full salvation. Our target, our goal then, should be that since we have started the journey, we must continue to seek to make Jesus Lord in every area of our lives. As we know Him better, we know His will better and we obey Him more and involve Him more in our lives. He will not force His will on us. His desire is that we seek Him daily, and receive His guidance and instructions. As we obey Him, and He sees our hearts are tuned to Him, He will draw us closer and continue the work of redemption in our hearts, transforming us from the inside out.

Sometimes, as human beings, we have an idea in our head of how our lives should be, and the things we want to achieve. Sometimes, we carry our old dreams and ideas into this new stature and things don’t meld with God as we expect them to. We tend to forget that He is our Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. When our ambitions and plans don’t align to His, He derails our plans and scatters our expectations. Why? So that we can get back to His plan. He knows best and He sees well beyond our imaginations. He has the blueprint and the master plan to all of our lives. He has planned the end of our lives even before we were formed (Ps. 139:16) . So, He is the best One to lead us through this uncertain, unknown paths of life that we aspire to attain.

Sometimes we feel disappointed by the things we feel ought to be and are not. Sometimes, we get carried away by other people’s achievements. We allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the things that we don’t have, the things that we have asked for and not received. At times like these, we need to cry out to God and let Him know our challenges. Ps. 61:1-2 says that when our hearts are overwhelmed, He will lead us to the Rock that is higher than us. He is that Rock. When we don’t know the way, He does. When we don’t know the solution, He does.

His plans and His provisions for us are greater and higher than we could ever imagine. We don’t know everything because our sight is limited and our knowledge is limited. But, if we believe, He has given us promises that will open His treasuries unto us. We only need to ask in faith. Everyone who asks according to His will, receives.

What do we need to do? We trust Him. We take Him at His word. We surrender to His will because He has good plans for us. We make Him Lord. Then we can travel the route that He sets us on, without comparing ourselves to others, or comparing our lives with others. We can discover His unique path for us. We will realise that He recognises each one of us as His own special child. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture (Ps.95:7). Just like a shepherd nurtures each sheep and cares for it, so the Lord will nurture us, if we allow Him. He will guide us with His eyes (Ps.32:8) He will lead us to the Promised Land. Triumphantly!

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you. Isaiah 46:4 NKJV

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 1 Thess. 5:23-24 NKJV