Dear Bros in Christ,

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Brothers in Christ, this monthly devotional is sent and meant to be an encouragement to
all and to build up and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord
has put this on my heart to send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-
ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with
Him.
Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none
of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."
PRAYER REQUESTS: If you have any prayer requests please send them and I will send
them out to the bros for prayer, if privacy is needed I will send in a discreet way.

SEPTEMBER 2010

“FOLLOW ME”
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24 NKJV).

What are you chasing after today? What are you in pursuit of? The only way you can know what and
who you are following is to evaluate what you are chasing after… Is your heart set upon the things of
this world, keeping up with the latest trends; new car, new cell, stylish clothes, latest hair style or rug,
body art, ipad, face lift, day spa, deluxe vacation, riches and luxury, extra fine dining or climbing that
ladder at work…? Some of these things might be kind of cool for the moment and some necessary too,
but if they are controlling your latitude totally to follow the Lord it might be time again to measure
yourself against the Word of God. The Bible tells us to examine ourselves. “Let us search out and
examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD…” (Lamentations 3:40 NKJV)
I believe you and I know this is the best way because the Word tells us to do this. We should be doing
this always in everything we do seeking the Lord diligently and searching His scriptures daily to help us
follow Him. When we need His directions in every decision no matter how big or small then we ought to
be taking it to the Lord instead of thinking or saying I hope the Lords in this thing without ever having
brought it to Him in the first place, we need to stop and pray first and lay this matter before the Lord.
Now I also know there are times when we feel led to step out in faith in some area and we are totally
trusting and believing that the Lord is leading us and we are not running our own game and we have
also bathed the matter in much prayer.
There are times when we feel like we might not be in the best place in our walk with the Lord it’s those
times and before those times come we ought to be in His Word searching, examining, listening, waiting
and then following Him. If you are following Him from afar, remember back when Peter was following
Jesus from afar, he denied Christ, but the Lord tells us to deny ourselves not Him so stay close, and be
close enough to touch the hem of His garment… to be able to hear His voice and receive His instruction.
He gives us freedom but He does not want us to stray away just because He doesn’t have us in a
headlock so we won’t run away. Sometimes we might be acting just like our dog (if you own one) that
has superior hearing compared to us humans- but ever notice when they start sniffing with their nose to
the ground they slowly and methodically move farther and farther away and all of a sudden they quit
responding to your commands and instructions- it’s like they can’t hear you anymore, their superior
hearing just abandoned them, totally weird how this happens and I know many of you know exactly what
I am talking about here… even kids do this- even us big kids… But now that they have supposedly
moved out of hearing range they think that you think they can’t hear you because of this supposedly out
of hearing range sindrome - yet again… and now they have a legitimate excuse to keep moving further
away from you and ignoring your instructions for them. Does this sound like something we do with God
we get further and further away from His Word, prayer, Bible studies, fellowship, worship and following
Jesus and His written instruction that we can’t hear Him anymore. We put our noses into other things
that distracted us and caused us to lose focus and put us onto the scent of something other than God
that quickly led us into enemy territory, we took the bait… next thing you know “bam” how did this
happen, how did I get here so quickly, when did I leave my Master, didn’t I hear His commands, I just
kept moving away from God and not seeking His instruction for me, I didn’t let up for one second to seek
and ponder His Word, to seek Him, to seek His counsel, to bathe whatever it was that I was needing
direction on in prayer, to turn to Him or turn back to Him to follow Him.
If anyone desires to come after the Lord and really desires means “needs to” and we always need to
come after Jesus to be following Him then Bros wake up and deny yourself get your nose out of where it
does not belong and deny yourself those things that you chase after, take up your cross, sacrifice your
wants, your desires, give it up to the Lord and follow Jesus today and you will never go astray. You can
never drift out of range of hearing Him if you keep letting Him hold your hand and heart and your mind,
keep your eyes and focus always on Him, stay close to Him and keep following Him. Stay in the Word,
stay on your knees in prayer, stay in fellowship, stay tuned to the things of God and follow hard after
Him only, know who you are chasing and know that if you are following Jesus you will be chasing after
Gods own heart. “My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me” (Psalm 63:8 NKJV).
"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone
serves Me, him My Father will honor” (John 12:26 NKJV).
Following Him,
Daniel Wright
Iron Man Oikodome
Proverbs 27:17
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