Living Like Jesus In 2013
Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 NLT
How did Jesus live each day? Is it really possible for us to live as He lived? Here are five things to consider:
The first is His dependency.
So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way. John 5:19 AMP
Jesus lived each day dependent upon His Father. He did not live independently, think independently, or act independently of His Father. He spoke what His Father wanted Him to say and He did what His Father wanted Him to do. He received from His Father all He needed for each day.
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. John 15:5 AMP
We can also live each day in complete dependency upon the Lord. He is our strength, our life, our sufficiency, and He is the source of all we need.
The second is His faithfulness.
Think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest.For He was faithful to God, who appointed Him. Hebrews 3:1-2 NLT
Jesus lived each day in faithfulness to what His Father called Him to do. Jesus stayed true to His Father’s plan and will for His life. He didn’t drift away from it or follow it half-heartedly.
‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Matthew 25:23 NKJV
As followers of Jesus Christ we can be faithful to what God has called us to do and do His will whole-heartedly.
The third is His obedience.
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42 NKJV
Jesus lived each day in obedience to His Father’s will. Jesus not only obeyed His Father, but He obeyed Him without delay. He obeyed willingly and joyfully.
So you must live as God’s obedient children. 1 Peter 1:14 NLT
Obedience to God’s will in our lives is a choice we can make each day. As God’s children, He trains us to be obedient because He knows what is best for us. It is through our obedience that we know the meaning of a joy-filled heart and a meaningful life.
The fourth thing is His motivation.
And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. John 8:29 NKJV
The reason Jesus lived the way He did was because He wanted to fully glorify and please His Father. He lived to please only His Father and have His approval.
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:9 NKJV
The motivation of our hearts should be to please Him. There is nothing higher than that. When we live to do what is well pleasing in His sight we will know His smile of approval upon our lives.
The fifth thing is His empowering.
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free.” Luke 4:14, 18 NLT
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived each day in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. All that He did in His public ministry was under the anointing and empowering of the Holy Spirit.
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Ezekiel 36:27 NKJV
Be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 KJV
Since His ascension to the right hand of the Father, Jesus has made it possible for each of us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to have His power in our lives. It is by the Holy Spirit’s presence, fullness, and power that we can walk as Jesus walked and live as Jesus lived. Ask Him now to fill you, empower you, and lead you step by step into His plan and purpose for you in 2013.
So much truth and instruction for our journey! Thank you!
very helpful
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful thoughts yet based on the scriptures.
This is an uplifting to go on in this difficult world we are living in.
Be blessed
Certainly blessed will we be if we could live like Jesus in this new Year
Thank You. Good reminder for me.
How excellent! Focusing on Jesus life answers the profound question, “How then shall we live?”. Thank you for the insightful instruction complete with Scripture references.
Every time we turn from our flesh emotions (which is the veil) that veil that keeps us from seeing the truth.
Every time we overcome our self, the flesh;ego/pride/jealousy/envy/lust/anger/fear, fear is the hardest of all to overcome and as we die daily to these natures by overcoming them. We make the choice to put on the nature of Christ. Peace/love/Joy, long suffering, patience, all the fruits of the spirit. Takes time,this doesn’t happen overnight, takes a life time of changing our minds daily as we put on the mind of Christ. Phl 2:5 ¶Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: WE are the only ones that can control our minds and it all begins there. Changing the mind.
Little by little, line upon line, as we understand the power to choose life. God life or flesh life. Each time we change our thoughts from flesh to Spirit, we are changed in a twinkling of an eye..not all at once but little by little we are changing our nature to the nature of God. Don’t give up, we fall but we get up and we are not failures unless we quit! So always get up and run again and again..till one day we have changed and we are like him. The Holy Spirit is one with God and in us if we listen and obey we will convert our mind and body’s. WE can change. REV. Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Thank you for this insight.
I love this. It is true that outside of having that close relationship with Jesus, we can do nothing, but His love and grace, through The Holy Spirit, empowers us when we are connected to The Vine. Thank you once again for your insight.
very encouraging.
So, so, so, important, daily truths we should live our life by. If we could all remember to live our life like Jesus, this world would be a much better place. Dreaming about heaven.
Thank you Roy for this excellent piece for the new year. Am richly blessed.
Nice brief.
OBEDIENCE is the key…then the blessings with flow!!!!!!!
THANK YOU, HOLY SPIRIT, for helping me to BE more like Jesus!!!!!!!
obedience is the key like you say obey the 10 commandments don’t go astray always try to help your fellow man. physically or prayer.
Good word , it was great teaching pray that I will be more like Jesus!
Jesus was obedient to the Father, and obedience to the Father does bring about a blessing, however I wanted to share something that the Lord shared with me a couple years ago on this subject. He said that the real “key” is BELIEVING. Obedience will not flow until we truly believe whatever it is that God is instructing us to do. Sometimes God will test our obedience and ask that we do something without understanding, but I believe most of the time we cannot obey an instruction from God until we truly believe Him first. This is what He said to me: “The kingdom of Heaven is with you, in you, upon you, and around you. Do not fear. I am the hedge around you, the voice inside you and the love that keeps you. Take another step. Take another step of faith. Look up. Look around, look within. I AM is with you. I am keeping you. I am holding you. I am loving you forever. You must obey to see my victory, but obedience itself is not the key. Believing Me is the key to victory and success. Believing is what leads to your obedience. You cannot obey Me if you do not believe Me. Believe Me and you will see the obedience follow and then comes the victory.” Not sure who this may be important for but I wanted to be “obedient” to share it.:-)
Thank you Meg. Those encouraging words can only come from the Father of love. In a world filled with hate and violence, every reader should seek to find out the secrete for living- hearing him, believing him and obeying him. We need faith to please him. Shalom!
Beautifully stated! That is exactly how I worship.
Thank You so much. God Bless Always … awaiting His Return
“The kingdom of Heaven is with you, in you, upon you, and around you. Do not fear. I am the hedge around you, the voice inside you and the love that keeps you. Take another step. Take another step of faith. Look up. Look around, look within. I AM is with you. I am keeping you. I am holding you. I am loving you forever.
Beautiful words that spoke to my heart. I lost my husband to cancer 18 days ago after being happily married for 49 years, 8 months and 1 day. Thank you.
Dear Wilma,
your Husband is not lost but has gone to wait for you in heaven.May God Almighty console and comfort you in Jesus Name. Amen.
Wilma, I am sorry for the loss of your precious husband. Praying The Father’s Presence will fill every void and do mighty things for you and through…and us all. Bless you, in Yeshua’s name!
Dear Wilma,
Encouraging and enriching response which topuch my heart.I pray for you and your family. May God bless you abundantly. I pray for the departed soul too. I am from Kerala State, South India.
With prayers
Alias
Percious! And powerful! Thank you Meg for sharing this
Thank you Meg! I don’t read blogs/posts very often but just read yours today. It is very insightful and so encouraging!!! And since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, the more time we spend listening, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating on God’s Word, and obeying, the more faith will grow and become stronger in our lives, producing more devotion and obedience to the Father. Isn’t it encouraging that the Lord always gives us what we need! Living Water! Bread of LIfe! And His Spirit to guide us in His truth! And it is all for His glory!!! And produces in us true and lasting joy. Have a blessed 2013! Your sister, Angela
VERY GOOD TEACHING. THANK YOU!
I like this type of messages very much. Thank you
Thank you for this message in 2013. I want to live like Jesus. Pray for me and my family.
Pray for my family an i’ll try to pray for everyone i can. I can’t do anything physically as i’m handicap
OUR first work as Christians is to pray in GOD’S presence with the confidence that the HOLY SPIRIT will do a good work in us and for others! Being a prayer warrior is a daily way to abide in HIM! And I pray now for YOU dear Judy!
Sanjeeva & Judy, thank you for asking for prayer. May HE hear and answer you as you seek after HIM. It is good to pray for one another and though I do not know you, He certainly does and I look forward to that day when all The family of G-d will meet face-to-face and celebrate together. Until then, may the Holy Spirit fill us with love to follow the Father, depend on Him, obey Him and serve Him faithfully through Jesus.
Sanjeeva Rao
We will pray for you and your dear family…I am happy to know you want to follow Jesus Christ…to even say Jesus is Lord we need the Holy Spirit….Read the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew …and you will come to know what a follower of Jesus is called to believe and be….God bless you and your family for seeking the Truth…
Your insight into the Scriptures is always inspirational, informative, and just a real joy to read. “Thank-you” for being Yeshua/Jesus’ messenger, sharing His “Light unto our paths” for so many in the darkened world in which we now live.
Thank you. I think I need to hear this every day.
I think everyone needs to hear this ever day.
Thank you for reminding me how to live like Jesus, continue to pray for me and my family, for the people of the Bahamas….for all those who mourn in their own way….. for those who care for the sick and shut in, and for those who are hurting….also let us remember our brothers and sisters throughout the world….amen
All of these attributes are what i am working on to walk with Jesus.
Great encouragement and spiritual growth, beautiful and warm feeling upon those who live in him.
What a blessingto be strength by gods word. We can really use this great food for thought in 2013.
Thank you
Blessed and encouraged. Thank You!
Yes thank you!! We need to live like Jesus, and to be a blessing to those who do not know Him, and preach his Word to everybody starting this year 2013
Such a rich word! Thanks. May 2013 be a year of becoming more like the Son!
Thank-you for this very uplifting message from the Word of God.
Greatly needed for this world and for me at this time.
Blessings to you, Roy!
I’m Italian and it’s nice to share with you some comments regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Holy Word: yes, to be a faithful servant we must be dependent, faithful, obedient to Him and our power is the daily prayer which can enforce our spirit. God bless you all.
Such Truth resonates with my spirit, like fire shut up in my bones!
This is a wonderful outline for living as a follower of Jesus. I love that you give an easy “handle” (the five words dependency, faithfulness, obedience, motivation, and empowering) to help me remember. Thank you.
A much needed message to help us remember to live like Jesus in the insecure year ahead. Thank you for your insight.
how true
This is totally true. It is not an easy journey, but with God’s help all things are possible.
Blesses 2013 to all!
Now that’s getting to the essence of how we live our lives–thank you Roy! Remininiscent of Francis & Edith Schaeffer’s writings.
So true and ecouraging! May the Lord help me to live like Him in 2013.
Thanks Very useful,will do my best to follow
Forgetting what we have and what we want and living like Jesus is the only way. God said “this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.” So if we listen to Jesus as he listened to His Father we can be like him. The journey we are on is rough but following the way of Jesus will bring us to a everlasting life filled with joy.
Thank you! I needed to be reminded of His empowerment while I face some big decisions in 2013.
Very true, and if this is passed to everyone we come in contact with we will really have a more peaceful and Happy New Year – 2013.
May God bless every reader who takes this to heart.
Pastor Dean
Thank you and God bless you!
This Epiphany has been very special and personal to me.
Thank you for the special reminder…God is good!
To all my Brothers & Sisters in Christ, Amen!
This impressed and opened my heart to receive what you wrote especially because you quoted from the versions of the Bible that do not have a controvery attached to them. Thanks so much.
Klaas
Encouraging, instructive. i really need to apply it in every aspect of my life. i need to please God from now on and do His will. Thank you .
Living a live for christ is the one and only way.I need you apply the principle of christ in my everyday live. Thank you for you prayers and christian guide line in walking into the foot step of christ. Thank you for your continuos prayers.
Happy New Year to all.
Very encouraging. More of Him, less of me.
I believe we can follow His ways because the One who strengthens us in all things is in us as recorded in Philippians 4:13.
Thank you for this message to be more like Jesus. I will do the best I can each day.
THANK YOU
Thank you for this soul serching reflection.
It is very challenging to live like Jesus, but I want to.
Please pray for me and for all those to whom I have sent this.
God bless
I am blessed by this message. It is one of the best at this time of the year.
THE ONLY TRUE RELIGION ON EARTH IS THE ONE THAT JESUS BROUGHT US!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LOVELY GOD’S WORDS. IT IS LIKE A BALSAM IN OUR HEARTS LIVING IN A VERY CRUEL WORLD!!
Professor Michaels
I Am so biessed with this write up.I understood total summition to God is total diminish of ourselves image and will and then total appears of God’s will.
Thank you God for your Holy Word and for using this humble man of God to share what you have put on his heart with us. I have been blessed reading about the five principles we should follow to live like Jesus in 2013 and always. My prayer is to depend, be faithful, obedient, motivated and be empowered/anointied by God. Help me each day Lord to live like Jesus, AMEN!
GOD’S blessings and a Happy New 2013 to all, as I sit here and ponder on these 5 words I can truly say that it doesn’t take much to follow them. We live in a busy world and I am sad to say that I am one of them that continually says “I don’t have the time”. I don’t want to make a resolution but lets call it my “goals”, it is to be more like JESUS. Take time out for my self, pray more, read the BIBLE and love like JESUS did. So simple to do but without JESUS I am nothing and can do nothing on my own. So please pray for me and this New Year that I can acconmplish my gosls. AMEN!!!
Hi Marie from Bermuda,
I have prayed for you and believe with you that you will accomplish all that you endeavor to do for the Lord in 2013. Many blessings to you and your family.
Grace & Favor in Jesus Name!
Cora
Thank you…so uplifting and inspiring. May our God give us much Grace and Mercy to Believe, Obey and be like Him. Please pray for the church…there is so much evil going on in leadership (control, anger, mammon, deceit, manipulation, etc.), and so many people are being hurt.
thank you so very much. i am /was really blessed by the devotional. it is my first time. the good Lord increase you and grant you growth in every area of your life and ministry.
Thankyou so much for this timely word.
The message of The Cross will never loose its power.
This will be a year of digging deeper into the Word of God.
Thanks for the challenge. I needed it.
Praise Lord and He is so faithful always!
God’s timeless message of hope is waiting to be received.
inspiriring and encouraging to live as Jesus lived
I think this is so very very true. I love my Lord & am Thankful for what he does for me. My daddy instilled in me how great our God is.
Thank you for an encouraging and practical word as I began a new year.
This article is contains the basis of our Christian walk. Thank you
Thank you to Dayspring for the encouraging and uplifting messages you leave with us. It is a daily blessing.
Thanks and its really blessed me. As the follower or Jesus, We have to live as Jesus lived
Jesus’s messages are simple and his yoke is light. Thank you for keeping the message of the gospel simple and real. Much needed reminder anytime of the year. Blessings!
Great message for any resolution – to be like Jesus in 2013.
Thanks and its is a blessing to me today.
Yes, Yes, Yes…I want to do the things the way you mention them in the reading. These things that please my Heavenly Father each day as He guides me into new ventures day by day filled with His Holy Spirit to accomplish His will as He takes me into new places to share His Love, Grace and Mercy with the people who are ready to receive Jesus in 2013. He provides all that I hath need of to go…here I am send me, with the Peace and purposes of The Father at Hand.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I have been very blessed.
Very touching and meaningful for us. Need to read every day. Thanks!
Very encouraging indeed! Thank you so much
Thank you for this insight.Very encouraging.Lord help me to live like you daily in 2013
Dear Mr. Lessin, Thank you so much for this devotional. It is one I want to refer to frequently when thinking of how to walk as Jesus walked. I have often wondered just how to walk as He walked and found your writing to be very insightful and encouraging!! Thank you so much for your ministry. My family and I have been blessed through your writings in DaySpring cards for years. God bless you, your family, and your ministry abundantly. In Christ, Angela
Thanks Roy… Dayspring has been a blessing to many!!! Many articles are really led by the spirit. Thank you for writing.
Thank you so much, Roy. You are truly a useful vessel for the Lord. I have benefited much from this write up and I will pass it on to others. Remain blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much for sharing this devotional with me. I am so glad that I was able to read it and it has provided scriptures with it to support what our walk with God she actually be like…to be live like how Jesus Christ lived and empowered by His spirit to live a holy life.
Very firm, strong, and comforting.
I am always blessed by your sharing.Thank you.We really need to try to live like Jesus.
Shirley-Ann
Thank you Day Spring Family for such encouraging words of wisdom. I am so reminded of when Jesus was baptized, our Father looked upon Him and “said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus who now lives in us and through us, as we submit and follow Him we too can be well pleasing to our Heavenly Father. May this year be the best year ever in all you do. I am glad that I have joined with such a loving and kind group of Christians.
Blessings to you always.
God has so blessed you to reach out to us to be blessed, and I am grateful. At the crossroads of life, once again, I pray we sell our home soon, today would be okay, and be guided to a place where my ailing husband and two boys still struggling to soar in life, can gather to find peace, resolute to serve our best God given purpose. Thank you for this site. Thank you for serving God’s wisdom. Thank you for reminding us of His love. Thank you for the good you provide in these very difficult times in our nation.
Thank You Jesus! And thank you Roy, for backing your words with the words of the Holy Book! Your and our success is from God and to God for everlasting Life and Glory !
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.