FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY!

                 The first Bible I read was one Lois loaned to me, called, ‘The Way.’ It was written in contemporary English, which was nice because it was easy to read and understand.  It was the Bible that she had as a young girl and was also very popular among the hippies during the Jesus Movement.

                 Later I found it interesting that ‘The Way’ is what Christians were called before the term Christian was used.  They were known as followers of ‘The Way’ and used this descriptive phrase to describe themselves after the passage in John 14:5-6 in which Thomas asked Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

                In Acts 9:2 we find that Paul, “went to the high priest and asking him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

                Later in Acts 22:4 we find Paul saying, “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,”

WHICH WAY DO WE GO!

                We lost our way when Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden and from the daily intimacy they had with our Father, In Genesis 3:23, after our Father banished them, he place a flaming sword which flashed back and forth to guard or keep us from  the way back to the Garden which contained the Tree of Life.  V.24

                Adam and Eve’s children have been trying to find their way back home since the day they were banished from the garden.  The garden was our home and the last place we experienced any peace, tranquility and rest for our spirits.  Deep within our heart is the desire to return to that place our Father created for us, that place of perfect rest, our home.

                Mankind asks, “Where do we come from?” followed by “Why are we here?” and “What happens to us when we die?”  These questions have plagued our hearts since Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the garden .  There is something in our hearts that knows that if we could just find our way back home, if we just knew where to go, everything would be all right.  We have truly lost our way back to the Father.  Right after Jesus told Thomas that he was the way to the Father, Phillip continued the conversation, in verse 8, and asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  The disciples knew that Jesus was the way back to the Father but weren’t sure yet how they were to get there.

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

                The truth of the matter is this, “How did we lose our way?”  We lost our way because Adam and Eve didn’t believe or trust in what our Father told them.  Father told them in Gen. 2:16, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden’ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”  Pretty straight forward wouldn’t you say?  Don’t eat of it because if you do you will die.  But the sad part is they didn’t believe him and did what he asked them specifically not to do and lost their way, crossing over from life to death.

                 Seems astonishing doesn’t it, that we would lose our way by not believing?   But not believing goes hand in hand with not trusting our Father.  We willfully disobeyed him because we did not trust him anymore.   But what is it to ‘believe if trusting is not a part of it’?  It says in James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  Even the demons believe, but the difference is whether or not we trust our Father enough to turn our wills completely over to His perfect will.  Even Jesus required his will to be subject to his Father’s will, “Not my will but yours be done.”  The sin nature is considering equality with God something to be grasped but in Phil. 2:6 it says, “Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.”  Our wills in line with His will is the only way to trust and obey.

                If the way out was by not trusting and believing that our Father had our best interest at heart  then it stands to reason that we can find our way back by believing and trusting in our Father once again.  Jesus said in John 5:24  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”  And again in John 12:44 Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.”

               Mankind has been offered the opportunity to accept the truth, providing us a way back home and out of this sin filled life.  We are slaves to the sin nature because we were born into bondage, into a prison that we cannot taste, smell or touch.  A prison of our mind, will and emotions.  We can tell you what the truth is but you can only enter in and fully experience it when you believe and trust in Jesus by faith.

It says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks, what door is he knocking on?  Could it be the door that leads us back to the Father that same door that Adam and Eve exited when they were banished from the garden.  Mankind asks the question, ‘What work does our Father require of us so that we can return home?  Jesus answered them in John 6:29, “The work of God is this; to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, Rev. 3:20–21.  When we answer he asks us, “Do you believe that I was sent from the Father and will you trust me to get you back home again?

LIVING THE LIFE!

                The way back is by believing and trusting in Jesus.  Once we accept not only are we guaranteed to spend eternity with our Father again in our new home, but we are also guaranteed a better life while we remain here on Earth.  Jesus said in  John 10:10  “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full; till it overflows).”  Not our will but yours be done, Jesus said.  The translation is simple, ‘Not my way but yours Father.’  Only then will we find the abundant life promised by Jesus.  Whether our life goes through seasons of good or bad, rich or poor, health or sickness it doesn’t matter because we have entered into a supernatural life of abundance with Him.

                Being, ‘Followers of the Way’ has a good sound to it doesn’t it.  We pray that your will is aligned with His perfect Will for your life and that each one of us will experience the Abundant Life!