For a few months now, I’ve been sending my squad weekly emails, sharing whatever I’m learning, issuing a challenge to them, and/or relaying whatever the Lord has put on my heart for them! It’s been a fun way to write out my thoughts while corporately encouraging Gap G!
Well, a week or so ago, my World Race teammate Brad (that blessed human who got all 11 months with me) kindly called me out on how I haven’t written a blog in…a long time. Sorry, y’all! But I immediately thought, why don’t I ever blog about the things I send to the squad?? Surely God has something to say through these revelations to a person or two beyond Gap G. So, for this last leg of the journey, I’ll finally be posting some blogs! Better late than never, right? 🙂
This brings me to the big question, something the Lord has been asking me lately…
What would Jesus do?
It’s the classic question that was super trendy back in the day. But, I think when we really dig into it, there is so much power behind that question – especially if we’re willing to listen and act on the answer.
I’ve really been pursuing oneness with Jesus, and so this question has been one that’s been on my mind constantly lately. I wanna know what Jesus would do, because I wanna be with Him!
The simplest yet most true and profound answer to this question is simple: Jesus only did what his Father told Him to do. It’s really the only answer to that famous question, #WWJD?
“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:19 (NIV)
Jesus makes it so clear: He only did what God led Him to do. So if I want to be one with Jesus (John 17:22-23), offer my body as a living sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1), and truly bring His Kingdom to earth (Matthew 6:9-10)…I simply need to ask God to give me His eyes, to guide me.
The way Jesus did that was also pretty simple! He got away to be alone with His Father and pray all the time (Luke 5:16), and then He followed God wherever He led Him. Jesus wasn’t physically on His knees asking God what to do every other minute, but He remained in that heart posture of constantly seeking His Father (John 15), whether or not He was alone in the “secret place.”
The more constant contact I have with God, the more room He’ll have to move through me. I think that’s what 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is really getting at. If I’m expecting God to move and pursuing unceasing unity with Himself…he’s gonna move! HOW COOL!
But there’s more. As I’ve been mulling this over, the Lord has given me even greater – albeit challenging – understanding of what this really looks like.
Jesus was always doing something that required dependence on His Father.
The verse above says, “the Son can do nothing by himself.” NOTHING. 100% of the time Jesus was completely depending on God. That’s the only way He was able to live a perfect life, and that’s the only way He was able to bring Kingdom.
So here’s my question for all of us: What does it look like to “do only what [we] see the Father doing,” wholly and completely depending on God? What is God asking me to step into that will undoubtedly require Him to come through?
I can guarantee you it doesn’t look like scrolling through Facebook or Instagram…that’s something God bluntly showed me I was slipping back into when I was sick a few weeks ago. It probably also doesn’t look like vegging out on Netflix, or talking to anyone except whoever’s physically in front of you, or filling your schedule to the brim just to be “busy” …or anything else that could distract us from what God is doing here and now. Might sound harsh, but I know that God has more for us!
So I challenge you, friends. Ask Jesus what He’s doing, and do it with Him.
(This is what happened when Brandon and I did that in Phnom Penh!)
