{"id":14789,"date":"2026-06-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=14789"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:27:15","slug":"joy-in-following-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/joy-in-following-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy in Following Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross. In other words, we surrender control, loosening our grip on our plans, preferences, and pride and choosing God\u2019s way over our own. In a world that says, \u201cfollow your heart,\u201d <\/em>Jesus says, \u201cfollow Me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremiah 17:9<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hearts deceive us; they carry bitterness, jealousy, false testimony, slander, and a myriad of other things in them. From our human perspective, we can get a distorted view of situations and circumstances. Because we only see in part, we only know in part. However, when we give our lives to Christ and allow Him to take up residence in our souls, He helps us rid ourselves of the negative and replace it with His love, grace, and mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galatians 5:22-23<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we learn to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus, we will begin to produce different fruit in our lives. Instead of hurting people with our words and actions, we\u2019ll encourage and uplift them as we begin to produce the fruit of the Spirit, which only comes when we give our lives to Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Jesus turns our belief into movement. When we walk where Jesus walked, loving as He loves, forgiving as He forgives, trusting as He trusted, we will spur on the movement. We will choose humility over recognition, forgiveness over resentment, obedience over convenience, quiet, unseen decisions that no one applauds, but heaven notices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In God\u2019s upside-down economy, when we let go of self, we find life in abundance. The path of surrender leads to freedom, not loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Where is God asking you to release control or comfort so you can follow Him more fully?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy Thought:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every step of surrender leads to a more abundant life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-minute read. To follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross. In other words, we surrender control, loosening our grip on our plans, preferences, and pride and choosing God\u2019s way over our own. In a world that says, \u201cfollow your heart,\u201d Jesus says, \u201cfollow Me.\u201d \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things… Continue reading Joy in Following Jesus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14789"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14793,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789\/revisions\/14793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}