“FOLLOWING HIM FOR THE GOOD REASONS”

Acts 9:3-6
3. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone
around him from heaven.
4. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

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5. And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

6. So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

After Jesus had blessed five loaves of Bread and two fishes to feed more than five thousand people. The people came en-mass looking for Him the second day. They hired boats and went after Him, searching about for Him. When they found Him, they said:
John 6:25-27
25. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him,
“Rabbi, when did You come here?”
26. Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me,
not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

He knew the reason why they had jumped into boats searching around for Him was not because they needed the Word of life, not because of salvation of their souls, not because of Heaven, not because of desire to please God, but because of physical food; because of self-gratification, because of material things.

We have all those wrong reasons today. That is why the Salvation of a lot of christians are not genuine. Many had come to Christ for the wrong reasons. Many had come to Christ for the physical food, and when they got the food, they had left the Christ in their heart, though they still go to church. Many had come to Christ for employment, many had come to Christ to look for a child and many had come to Christ in search of promotion in their places of works. And when they got what they wanted, majority would not found any reasons to stay with Him any longer. This is what The Lord Jesus called: “laboring for the food that perishes”.

We were recently invited to a church for a series of program; and the Pastor told us about a particular fervent and highly dedicated sister whose husband had stopped from coming to church. Both of them had been members of the church until they gave birth to a baby boy, then, the husband stopped coming to church and then, stopped his wife too. When the pastor asked why the man decided not to come to the church again, the man said, they did not need to come again because they had seen what they were looking for: a child, a male child.

They had come to Christ for help and had received the help and then, they had stopped to follow Him any longer. They came to Him for a wrong reason. They came to Him for the “food that perishes” So, Jesus told them the reason He must be sought after:
27. “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you,”
Are there not sisters who are seriously following the Lord today, because of their desperate need for a life partner, and not for the purpose of serving the Lord Jesus for who He is? Are there not brothers who are seriously fervent in the church and faithful in church activities today because of their desperate need for help in the areas of their personal, domestic and marital problems? And whenever those needs are met and the problems are solved, they cease serving Him as faithfully as they used to. They labour for the food that perishes…not for the one that endures to everlasting life.

Acts 9:5-6
5. And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”Then the Lord said,
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6. So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”
Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city,
and you will be told what you must do.”
When Paul encountered Jesus on the way to Damascus, and Jesus had revealed Himself to him, the next pertinent question, the most important question a person who comes to Christ should ask Him is: “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
Not, “Lord, what would You do for me?”
Whenever, a person comes to Christ, the next thing that should be paramount in his or her heart is How to serve the purpose of His Calling into Christ; how to fulfill his or her purpose in Christ; how to fit into the Agenda of God; the earthly Purpose of his Salvation; the reason for his existence. Not, what God would give him; not, what has he or she has to gain for coming to Christ; not the food, the car, the issue of the womb, the employement, the job, the life partner, etc.
the Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 6:31-34 KJV
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Seeking for the Kingdom is, laboring for the food that endures to everlasting life. Living for Kingdom of God. Serving the Lord and following Him for the Good Reasons…the heavenly Reasons…not for the food that perishes.
– Then you would receive and operate in His Power.
Then you would enter into your Seasons of Harvest.
Then, you would live and operate under Open Heaven…WHEN YOU FOLLOW HIM TO WORSHIP HIM WITH YOUR SERVICE, NOT FOR WHAT TO EAT OR MATERIAL THINGS TO GAIN.