Simon Peter and Andrew were doing their ordinary day to day tasks when Jesus invited them to follow him. They did not know, yet, of Jesus’ true nature, yet they accepted the invitation to follow him.
We are very blessed to know the Word of God. We know fully well that he is inviting us to follow him. We know who he is and what he has done for us. Yet, it takes us a while to follow him completely.
Our hesitations to completely follow his ways are born out of our material attachments which may come to be perceived as blessings. We remember the devil’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The devil quoted Bible verses, too, when he offered materiality to Jesus. But Jesus thwarted the devil saying: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10).
So when our materiality and material attachment come as a hindrance to follow Jesus, we can quote Matthew 4:10 as we pray to Jesus to strengthen our faith.
Dear Jesus, please look into my heart, a heart of a wretched sinner. I have pure intentions to follow you because I know You are the Son of the living God. Yet, I am a frailty human being who gets attracted to materiality and material attachment. I succumb to temptations. I am hindered to follow you completely. So I rather hold you at a distance in fear that I may lose my material attachments. Sometimes I may be blinded by the devil’s temptations and perceive things differently as though these are blessings.
Dear Jesus, please give me the Holy Spirit of God so that I will earn His mantle of protection. I need the Holy Spirit of God to remind me of all Your ways, the simplicity in life that You lived while walking in the streets of Galilee, the commitment to follow God’s will.
Dear Holy Spirit, please look into the darkest inner room of my soul and see my frailties, my shortcomings, my cunning ways, my vested interests, my pride, my sins and my sinful ways. Please draw me to Jesus with a repentant heart. Please cleanse my heart and refresh my soul. It may take you a while to overturn me from my wickedness but I pray that you will persistently hold the reins and take control of my life. Please let me love Jesus. Please let me delight him in my simple ways.
This I pray in Jesus’ Mighty Name. May God be pleased.
Just Snippets 