Four Simple Revelations Concerning How to Follow with Intentionality

I want to learn how to commune with God. I want to be so aware of His presence, that He talks to me as He talked to Moses in the Old Testament. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

God knows my desire. Consequently, He teaches me how to commune even when I’m not intentionally seeking an ongoing conversation. Recently, God used an everyday experience to talk to my heart about following Him.

Truck Issues

My sweet Pastor husband drives a truck, and the check engine light lit up with a warning. He scheduled an appointment to take Todd (our truck) into the shop. On the appointed day, the two of us headed into Boise to drop the truck off and then run errands in my car.

Following my Sweet Pastor Husband

As I zoomed down the highway, eyes peeled for a white Toyota Tundra, God’s Spirit took the opportunity to speak. He pointed out truths about following God as I attempted to follow my sweet Pastor husband.

Revelation #1

We think following most anyone is a simple task. We perceive following in terms of the game we played as children, Follow the Leader. In the game, the followers are close to the leader, they can easily see the person who is first in the line. The followers are challenged to mimic what they see the leader do.

The Holy Spirit pointed out to me that the enemy of our souls is always trying to distract us from seeing Christ clearly. For example, just as the red lights slowed me down and increased my frustration, the devil throws things in our path to hinder and dishearten us. We may allow our attitudes to sour because we can’t sail through obstacles and/or see our leader clearly.

Often, when we struggle to see God clearly, we choose behaviors that appear good, but don’t serve us well. I admit, I was tempted to drive faster than a little over the speed limit so I could catch up with my sweet Pastor husband. My brain performed exceptional rationalization skills in an attempt to persuade me to break the law, all for the benefit of “better following.”

We must recognize following Jesus is not a simple children’s game. Daily, we choose a life that is in opposition to the life the world promotes. As we follow Christ, we must be continuously aware of the devil and his schemes to distract us from following well.

Revelation #2

We must know where we are headed. When I was following my sweet Pastor husband, I knew where we were taking the truck. I was fully aware I would need to get on the interstate and drive fifty plus miles. So, even though the red lights slowed me down, I knew to get on the road and keep moving forward. If we had been going someplace I didn’t know, my sweet Pastor husband would wait on the side of the road for me to catch up. I’m convinced God behaves in a similar fashion.

Revelation #3

We must constantly be searching for where Jesus is. As I drove the interstate, my eyes were continuously looking further down the road for my sweet Pastor husband. At one point, I thought I saw his white truck, and I happily picked up my pace just a little. However, as I got closer, I knew it wasn’t my sweet Pastor husband.

As followers of Jesus, we must clearly know who Jesus is. We must do the things we know to do like study the Word, pray and worship with others so we confidently recognize Jesus, and what Jesus would choose to do. We must search with confidence and authority because we intimately know Jesus, wherever He chooses to lead us.

Revelation #4

We must trust who we are following. As I’ve mentioned before, I drive faster than my sweet Pastor husband. When I finally caught up with him, I had to push to keep up with him. I’m convinced one of our speedometers is not registering correctly.

Sometimes, when following Jesus, we feel the same uncertainty as I felt driving faster behind my sweet Pastor husband. We are to adjust our pace to God’s pace; He may choose to go slower, or He may choose to move more quickly than we anticipate. We must trust His wisdom. Christ knows what is good, and He knows we can manage anything when we are working alongside Him.

Follow with Intentionality

My sweet Pastor husband and I intentionally delivered our truck to the mechanic. We had a purpose and a goal. We must view following Jesus with the same mentality.

At times, we seem to separate our every-day-living life from following Jesus. We know we must go to work, take care of our family and home, find time for self-care as well as friends and relaxation. Too many of us choose the attitude that following Jesus is just one more thing we add onto the list of things we must do.

A couple of weeks ago, I followed my sweet Pastor husband on our way to the mechanic’s shop. As I drove, God held a conversation with me. He’s teaching me to commune.

Girl Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash