7 Powerful Traits of a Jesus Follower!

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What are some of the characteristics of a follower? Everyone has a personality and that plays into the answer but what unique attributes does every follower need to have? Here are some:

Tenacity. When we follow Jesus, we must never, ever give up. As we follow, he unfolds our life before us. We are inspired by scripture and the voice of God with a call to action – to do something specific for his Kingdom and glory. This call to action is necessarily big and impossible. But, with God’s help, we succeed. Sometimes it takes a long time to get traction. So we need to cling to the call. What if it takes two years or more to see results? Can you stick with it? That’s why we need tenacity!

Endurance. This sounds like the previous characteristic but I think it’s a bit different. Endurance helps us to show up every single day. It keeps us going through the hard times. In following Jesus, especially, we need endurance. There will be great testing and trials in the everyday of life! We endure because we have an awesome hope!

Faith. Faith fuels our day. Faith in God or in the dreams he has given us keeps us moving. Faith means we believe all the promises and all the power that he gives. Faith means we have our sights set on something more powerful, more possible, more positive than anything we can actually see with our eyes.

Consistency. A great follower will consistently do the things that need to be done. When we follow Jesus, we read our Bibles, we pray, we worship – no matter how we feel. Remember a follower has answered those ten crucial questions (read it again here). When we follow that call to action that God gives us we are consistently doing what needs to be done to complete the task – even when it is impossible! 

Joy. When we follow, we find joy in the journey. There is something about releasing our inner motives to a higher purpose, giving up our agenda for Jesus’ agenda, that frees us from stress and worry. It is easier to find joy in following because we know that the one we follow is fully faithful and he will not fail!

Peace. Just like joy, peace is a bi-product of being a follower of Jesus. He is ultimately responsible for the path we are on, so we have peace about every twist and turn. While there may be momentary times of worry or stress, those moments quickly pass as we realize that we are okay! Jesus leads, we follow, we live in peace!

Good habits. A follower cultivates a life of habits that strengthen their ability to follow. They have a written or mental list of things they must do to continue to follow. Then, these things become a habit in their lives. We cannot have consistency, without having the good habits to be consistent with! We learn these good habits from those on the journey with us.

What do you need to do today to become a better follower? I would love to hear from you. Contact me at jim@jimthefollower.com.