The Cost of Following Jesus

Fulfilling God’s destiny and purpose will always require we leave what is comfortable.

I have experienced this personally in my own life. When my wife and I left America to be missionaries in China, it required us to leave behind our jobs, our possessions, and everyone we knew. In so doing, we received back the marvelous blessing of seeing many come to Christ who would have otherwise never heard about Jesus.

When our son was three months old, we left again for Czechoslovakia to live in a bus and preach on the streets. Communism had just fallen, and the nation was wide open to the Gospel. The journey required we leave what was comfortable, but we gained an amazing harvest of souls.

A few years later, we left a church we were leading to start an international student ministry called “Friends of Internationals.” At that time, Lezli was eight months pregnant, and our son was five years old. Once again, we left behind what we loved, with only a promise from God that He would bless us for our obedience. We experienced the great joy of seeing hundreds of students from all over the world come to Christ through that ministry, but it required we let go of the present.

Later, we moved again from Pensacola, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia to start Upward Church. As the church grew, we moved each time we planted one of our four current campuses. At present, we have seen hundreds of thousands of people come to Christ and millions more will in the future. In each case it required we let go of the present to inherit the future promise.

There is a journey of joy that God has planned for each of us if we are willing to leave our comfort zone and entirely pursue the vision God has given us. I believe there is so much more that God desires to do in all our lives, if we are willing to pay the price.

The leaving that God requires is not always a geographical one. For some, God wants you to leave “just attending” a church and move into serving in it. Some need to leave the pain of the past and let go of bitterness, unforgiveness, and regrets. Some need to leave relationships that are holding you back. Some need to let go of a lifestyle that is above your means to allow you to be free to give and do what God wants you to do in the future. And we all need to leave the dinner table more often in order to fast and pray.

Before we were able to reach the numbers of people that we are now reaching, I wondered, What does it take to make Jesus famous in the earth, and why doesn’t God use me more? I was so desperate to see millions of souls saved that I tried the most radical thing I could think of. I started doing forty-day fasts.

Please understand that I certainly believe that God honors any length of a fast; in fact, our church begins every year with a twenty-one-day church-wide Daniel fast. And please know that I am not telling you this to gain your esteem or admiration. I know that I am the little donkey that is carrying Jesus. But after much inner debate, I decided to write about this because I believe there is someone reading this as desperate as I was, and you will follow my example of fasting for souls. The cost of doing great things for God always requires we leave the comfortable behind, and that includes food.

I believe God is speaking right now to many of you as you read this. He is saying “My daughter, my son, there is so much more that I have for you.” “The plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11 NLT).

Every good farmer knows that hard plowing always precedes the harvest. The Word instructs us to, “Break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hos. 10:12 ESV). But our natural desire is to follow the path of least resistance. I can assure you that if you do follow the path of least resistance, you will fall far short of God’s best for you.

You must start doing the last command you heard your Master give. The rest will not come until you start. Movement is the precursor to great things. It is much easier to turn the steering wheel on a moving car than one that is stopped. Good things happen when we are moving.

Risk is inherent in this journey. It must be present to reach your God-given destiny. That is what faith is: “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1 KJV). God’s plans always require risk. The best stories of great miracles are reserved for those who prevail against all odds, who climb mountains and scale rugged peaks. Will you live a great story, one that is worthy of telling? You will do so only if you live a life that is proactive rather than waiting for everything to come to you. To reach your full potential, to realize all the plans God has for you will require that you leave behind something or possibly someone.