Road to Reality - Discipleship-an All-Out Commitment Part Two — K.P. Yohannan

As we begin today's road to reality, K .P. Yohannan speaks of the importance of spending time alone with God.

The Source of Discipleship: Christ’s Life Within Us

What makes us what we are, who we are as disciples of the Lord, it is not activities and work we perform, but His life flowing through our earthen vessels. This you will never know unless you spend time with Him.

Following Christ will cost you something, your very own life, and unless you're willing to love Jesus more than anyone and anything, you cannot be His disciple. Sounds like a difficult road, doesn't it?

But it is the road to reality, and there's no better path to be on. This path of discipleship is what K .P. Yohannan will speak of today. Welcome to The Road to Reality. This is the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia.

We're about to visit Luke 14, verses 25 through 33, to be encouraged to embrace Christ's call to discipleship. He wants an all-out commitment from us, and He's so worthy of our allegiance. Here's K .P. with more.

Developing a Private Life of Prayer

I encourage you to start spending 10, 15, 20 minutes with the Lord alone. And talk to Him, and He will talk back to you. Increase that half hour. I encourage you to get an alarm clock to wake you up, maybe two in the morning or whenever.

Oh, your flesh will hate it. I destroyed half a dozen alarm clocks in my life. And I found out my flesh is not my friend. And I get up and wash my face in cold water. And I found myself years ago, I still like to lay on my bed and pray.

But I drag my body to the living room or somewhere I can kneel. And open the scripture and say, Lord, I embrace suffering in the flesh. I'm not going to be a friend of my flesh. I want to buff it to my body.

I want to know you. Please help me, Lord. It was a journey, but still I am the journey. But you see, my brothers and sisters, the scripture says, Unless you deny yourself and pick up the cross. A couple of weeks ago when I was in India speaking to a group of believers.

Spiritual Discipline, Responsibility, and Self-Denial

And I said, you know, you can pray all you want, do all you want to become godly and spiritual. You will not unless you understand the responsibility of doing spirituality. Abraham was justified not just by believing, but also he engaged, he took decision.

And he said, this is what I'm going to do. There is a responsibility rest upon us to make choices, decisions. And our own personal life and our flesh will always fight against us. You know, I'm certain we are all in the spiritual warfare.

Especially if you seek to follow the Lord. But there are times we blame the devil for everything under the sun. The devil did this to me, did it to me and all those things. And the poor devil sometimes says, I have nothing to do with this thing.

Stop blaming me. The problem is our self-centeredness. It's a bigger problem we deal with than the demons and the devil often. And I think it is like a little kid that is given a toy and it will grab hold of it.

I don't want to give it up, but then you give a better toy, a bigger thing. And the kid, the child will grab that. The same way, the more you get to know the Lord, the more you spend time with him. The more you fall in love with him.

You understand the joy that comes from knowing him and his presence. And trusting him so completely and see how he carries you along like the dry leaf in the wind. You'll be so surprised. It's the most beautiful life in the whole wide world.

And I think this is definitely the call the Lord gives to us. But may we choose to embrace this road. Amy Carmichael, most of you I'm sure read some of her writings. Someone who knew the Lord intimately.

And one time she prayed this prayer. From prayer that asks that I may be sheltered from winds that beat on thee. From fearing when I should aspire. From faltering when I should climb higher. From silken self, O Captain Free, thy soldier who would follow thee.

From sudden love or softened things. From easy choices, weakenings. Nor thus are spirits fortified. Nor this way when they're crucified. From all that dims thy calvary. O Lamb of God, deliver me. Give me the love that leads the way.

The faith that nothing can dismay. The hope nor disappointments tire. The passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be cold. Make me thy fuel. Flame of God. And of course these disciples, the Lord asked to follow him.

As much as they love him more than life. And embrace the cross. They also will experience the pain. The loneliness. The difficulties. The misunderstanding that comes from following the Lord. Who want suffering?

Nobody. This is what I like to share with you. I hope you remember this. You will not be able to understand the depth. And the meaning of godliness. Until you have come to the place of looking at the present.

Viewing Life Through Eternity

Your wealth, your health, your relationship. And all that you have and you are about in this life. From the perspective of eternity. Now, you go to the airport. And we all do. Wherever. We have to show them our ID.

Am I right? The driver's license or passport or something. And there on it you'll find your date of birth. The time you were born or the year. Yesterday I was sitting at the airport. We landed here in Philadelphia.

And I was waiting for John to pick up the suitcases. And the three or four people, these people rolling them on the wheelchair. People who could not walk. And I looked at a couple of these ladies. And I sat there imagining how these ladies looked and behaved and acted when they were 20 years old.

And I just imagined how vibrant, full of life. And going after everything they went after, whatever. But now crippled, curled up, sitting in those wheelchairs. And I pray that none of you end up like that.

I don't want to end up like that. But please understand. We are heading very fast to a place that we will not be able to have what we have today. Life will soon be over. A hundred years from now, we are not here.

So when you look back into time from that perspective. You realize, as Paul said, these light afflictions are nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us. Paul, what on earth are you talking about?

When I read 2 Corinthians, I read about hunger and starvation, rejection, betrayal. No money, no food, no clothes to wear, shipwreck, being stoned. And you talk about almost, you lost your mind, had a narrow breakdown a couple of times.

You're talking about these light afflictions and difficulties. And he said, nothing. And he will say, if you only could see what I see. If only you know what I know on the inside. You will say the same thing.

The Personal Cost of Gospel Faithfulness

My dear brothers and sisters, following the Lord will cost you something. It will cost you misunderstanding, betrayal. And people think you are stupid and crazy. I never forget one time when I came back home to see my mother.

The way she dressed, the old clothes she was wearing, I was so mad and so angry. And I said, Mother, what madness got into your head? Don't you see people in our community will think that we don't take care of you.

You're putting cow dung and shame on us, Mother. And I was really angry with her. Preachers can get angry. And I never forget this incredible smile, her eyes so bright, you know, this small frame of hers.

She looked at me and said, you little boy, you don't understand nothing. Someday you will understand. She never disclosed her private walk of giving away everything she had to preach the gospel. It's a lonely walk where her own son, who is a mission leader, couldn't even understand and abuse her.

For the way she didn't have fancy clothes on her, but she was exchanging all for the sake of preaching the gospel and reaching the lost world. People around you will think, why you keep on driving this old car?

Why you don't have these new things or why you are not having all the social life? And how come, you know, you are fasting more than you're eating food or how come you don't do this? I mean, listen, please listen to me.

When you stand before the Lord, your husband and wife and your friends and children and nobody is going to be there with you. You alone will face him, not to be condemned and judged, but just to hear from him what he will have to say.

Oh, what a beautiful thing it will be for him to say, my daughter, I just couldn't wait until you get here. I'm so glad you are here. My son, thank you for walking with me all alone. So glad you are here.

But then you will know it didn't happen without suffering, without pain, without difficulties, but it's worth it. Because our life on earth, as you know, is so very brief. Before we know it, it is over.

Eternal Rewards and the Priority of Knowing God

Well, as someone rightly put it, only one life to live will soon pass, and only what's done for Christ will last. Today on The Road to Reality, Brother K .P. Yohannan has encouraged us to let go of self-centered living and be more eternally minded.

That's also a central theme of a book he's written called No Longer a Slumdog. And if your desire is to make a difference for the Lord, help the suffering children of Asia, this is a must-read. I think you'll find it hard to put down as K .P. shares stories of children's lives radically transformed by God.

It's our free gift to you. Go to winasia .org for your free copy of No Longer a Slumdog. It's waiting for you now at winasia .org. Our friends in Canada are encouraged to stop by gospelforasia .ca or call 888 -946 -2742.

Here's K .P. once again.

The other day I was at this place to do my exercise, and there's a man there who helped me to do the right things and all those things. You know, I'm trying to stay alive so I can continue to preach the gospel.

And when he told me, do 10 more times, I said, I don't like you. He said, I know, but you will like me later. You know, the difficulties we go through in following the Lord, the time of fasting or prayer or giving or whatever you do, or humbling yourself or seeking forgiveness or coming clean, be honest, it's all difficult, painful.

But I assure you, in the long run, those difficulties will turn into beautiful, beautiful experiences with the Lord. And this is a journey the Lord is calling us for. I remember the day I turned 50. By the way, I was going to tell you this.

So this man in the gym asked me, so how old are you? He should have known that, I thought. I said, I'm 60. He said, what? I think he was lying to me then. He said, you look 40. I like that sound. But I remember the day I turned 50, and I took that day, and I said, Lord, it's been an interesting journey with you, and I love it.

How many more years I have left, I did not know. And I want to hear something from you this day. And I was alone. And late in the afternoon, it was an interesting thing. I didn't see him, I didn't hear him with my ears, but it was so real.

And he said, son, a few more years left. Get to know me. And you know, to keep in mind, in all my 43-some years of serving God, I have taken two vacations. And one was last year with my wife and my children and grandchildren.

We went on the ship. It was a weird thing you can do. But it was quite interesting, seven days. But before that, we took a three-day vacation. I don't know how many years ago. And I had three meetings during that time.

My life revolves around one thing, the Lord and his kingdom, and nothing else I live for. And as Paul said, I labor. I'm very hard. And I expected for the Lord to say something like this. I'm glad you spent this whole day with me.

I know your journey has been one of the most difficult. And you work for me, you labor for me. Two billion people wait to hear my name. And thank you for doing what you're doing and move forward and this and that.

And all kind of affirmations. But it's a weird thing. He didn't say any of those things. He simply said, son, just a few more years. Get to know me. And I cried. I sobbed. I wept. And I realized once again, he was saying, work is important.

The whole world needs to hear my name. That's important. Your sleepless nights and fasting and agony, it's all very important. But son, what I ask you, love me more. Get to know me better. And my brothers and sisters, what makes us what we are, who we are as disciples of the Lord, it is not activities and work we perform, but his life flowing through our earthen vessels.

This you will never know unless you spend time with him. So may I make just a few recommendations? Hopefully some of them are practical and you can do them. Average Christians in America, the study shows, spend less than eight minutes a day in prayer.

Three Practices for Growing in Godliness

That means a whole bunch of them do nothing. Would you consider asking the Lord for grace and make a decision to take maybe an hour a day just to be with the Lord? Please stop reading books about some new things that you need to learn.

No, this is a time you got your Bible and you and Jesus. Practice that. And you'll find the joy and it will cause you to increase more time. And maybe it will become two hours a day. Then see if you can take a day of the week for fasting.

No, you will not die if you fast a day. If you die, heaven is a better place. Why are you fast? Well, it will help you to lose some weight, but don't worry about that part. But you say, Lord, this is fast before you.

Why, Lord, I want to see you and know you. You'll feel hungry if you add two, three, four days, you'll find it a little more easier. But if you take a week or something like that, you'll find after a couple of days things get a little easier.

And I encourage you to enter into a world of spending time with the Lord, getting to know him in that way. And I please, I encourage you, don't feel guilty and bad because you are not doing it now or you don't know how to do it.

But someone like your shepherd here that walked with the Lord and know the way, I'm sure you will learn more how to go about doing that. The second thing I will ask you to do, what is godliness? What is knowing Jesus?

It is just being honest. The only way you can really know him is to be honest. When Isaiah was given the revelation of God, he became totally honest. He said, I am lost. I am undone. I just, I don't know what to do.

See, the longer you pretend to be spiritual by using the right words and doing the right things and this and that, we will live in our world of superficiality. And being honest and transparent before the Lord and before one another, that makes us to become more real before the Lord.

Rejecting Comfort and Materialism

And the third thing I would encourage you, one of the worst enemy that we have in our following the Lord is the love of comfort and materialism. Whether you know it or not. The amount of time you spend shopping around, buying things on sale, and crowding your life with stuff that just hurts you.

I do not know anything that bothers or hinders people than the love of material things. Anything money can buy to make life more comfortable and ease, keep on going after that. You know, life, keep it simple.

And so you will find it easier to devote your time for the things of the Lord. And I pray that your journey, when it comes to an end, you will say, Lord, it's been a good journey. And that's what you want.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for opening your hearts to the Lord. And my prayer is that the Lord will draw you close to Him. And He will.

You've been listening to K .P. Yohannan here on the Road to Reality. K .P.'s been talking about the terms of discipleship as described by Christ. It's an all-out commitment, yes, but all the rewards for following Christ, immeasurable.

In India alone, there are over 150 million child laborers. For millions of children in Asia, a toothbrush is considered a luxury. Clean clothes, a distant dream. Malnourishment in India is among the highest in the world.

Today, we'd like to tell you about a wonderful opportunity that we have to help. Think of it. For less than a dollar a day, you can sponsor one of these dear children. And impact a family and even a community for Christ.

It's called Bridge of Hope. And we would invite you to stop by winasia .org to learn about the children through their stories. And if the Lord leads you to even sponsor one of them, that's at winasia .org.

Or call 866-WIN-ASIA. That's 866-WIN-ASIA. For those in Canada, please visit us at gospelforasia .ca. Or call 888 -946 -2742. We would also invite you to get live updates from us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, too.

And look for the links on our website. Next week, we'll discuss the most important thing in life. That's right here on The Road to Reality with K .P. Yohannan.