Are you a Disciple?

**This is a repost from October 2010 God brought this post to my attention  afternoon after a very rough day. I wrote it in October last year, it seems to me God was preparing me for what He's calling me to do now even back then**

Are you a disciple?

We all have a purpose. There is a reason for the day you were born, the year..even the very minute you were born. There is a reason you have a certain gift or talent. There is a reason for your trials. There is a reason for your joy.

When God calls on us to act for Him, what's your reaction? Do you contemplate the cost? Do you start asking questions? Are you held back by fear or aprehension? Do you grumble, or complain or say "not now God, after this show, after this activity.."

I have a habit of second guessing myself. "Did I really hear from God, or was that just me being restless?" Is this post going to make someone mad? Is this just my imagination? That's why we have the Bible, to guide us, to show us the way, that way I know for sure it was God and not myself.

As I read in Matthew, some very interesting scripture are jumping out at me..

..At once they left their nets and followed Him..Matthew 4:20

...and immediatley they left their boats and their father and followed Him.. Matthew 4:22

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collectors booth. "Follow me" He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. Matthew 9:9

Our Lord could call on us at any moment to act. These men got up immediatley. Matthew left his job, some left their families. Are you willing to say "here I am, Lord use me!" Are you willing to leave everything to follow Jesus? We lay down our sins for Him and follow Him daily. What if He called us to do something "radical"...like quit our jobs, leave our families..go somewhere unknown...this is something I should be thinking about too.

When He calls, will you be ready? Our lives are in His hands, as my sweet sister says "He should be Lord of all, if He's our Lord at all.." The commentary in my Bible says this:

Jesus is clear about the cost of following Him. Not even love for family should be greater than love for Him. True disciples will pick up their crosses and follow Jesus, a reference to the Roman practice of requiring criminals to carry their own crosses as a public admission of their guilt. Jesus' followers admit His preeminence in their lives, a submission to His authority - even to death - that they willingly embrace. In the great paradox that believers over the centuries have discovered to be true, Jesus promises that only in losing our lives to Him, will we truly find ourselves