John 13:36 “Lord,” Simon Peter said to him, “where are you going? ” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.”

      Peter asked an important question that we all need to ask the Lord. “Quo Vatis?” Where are you going, Lord? John 13:36 “Lord,” Simon Peter said to him, “where are you going? ” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.” I would venture to say that later is now! We need to know where Jesus is heading and take the time to ask where He is going with His church today. We want to go with Him, because Jesus has the words of eternal life. John 6:38 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. The Lord is the head of His church, and we are to follow along with His plans for the body of Christ, rather than our elaborate programs of performing religious activities.

      History demonstrates that when we stop following Christ and take our eyes off of Him (who happens to be the author and finisher of our faith,) it does not take long before we are following a Christ culture fad and selling Christ and Christianity as a commodity rather than bringing the good news of salvation to a lost world. This was one of the problems that the Laodiceans found themselves needing to confront. Their state of being and fulfilment was weak and could easily be bought with worldly possessions. Rev. 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. They stopped asking Jesus, the head of their church, where He was going with His church. It is through prayer and a personal relationship with God that we receive our directions on what the Lord is doing within the body of Christ.

      We tend to forget that as Christians, our raison d’etre is not to stay here but to prepare our hearts to move toward eternity with the Lord. Everything God does within our hearts is to equip us to live our lives in the light of God’s infinite plan. For us to simply work our whole lives in the world system to retire in some gated community is not the goal God has set in our hearts. We are not citizens of this world; we are citizens of heaven, and we are seated in heavenly places at this moment. Eph 2:6 He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In this lost world where many are looking for direction, it is a heartfelt blessing to know that we are following the One who knows what eternity holds for each one of us.

      We read in the Gospels concerning the life of Jesus how He would pray, and soon after, He would obey what God the Father had instructed Him to do. It is written that Jesus spent the night in prayer. Luke 6:12 Now it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God. In the morning after prayer, Jesus chose from the disciples the twelve men who would become His apostles. Luke 6:13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles. There is a lesson here for our lives. Jesus spent the night in prayer, finding out God’s plan for the ministry at the time. Isn’t this what we are to do? Find out what Jesus is doing with His church, and obey the instructions that will help bring Christ’s plan to fruition.

      In another scripture, Jesus prayed to find out where to go next. Mark 1:35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. Jesus spent quality time in prayer, inquiring where and when He should move on to the next town. After praying, Jesus received His instructions. Mark 1:38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Asking the Lord for insight and direction as to whom we should hang out with and where we go in this life should be a normal part of our prayers. If we have committed our lives to following Jesus, but we keep creating our agendas as to what we will or will not do in God’s kingdom, then it will not be long before we are lagging and trying to catch up to where the Lord is going.

      When we read the scriptures that say Jesus prayed or was praying, we see His corresponding action to follow God the Father. It is as if Jesus was always asking, “Father, where are you going?” Then Jesus would head in that direction. John 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. He did this all the way to the cross so that the will of God would be fulfilled and that we, through His sacrificial blood, would have the same privilege to live in a close relationship with God Almighty. When Peter asked Jesus, “Where are you going?” Peter had no idea that Jesus was heading toward securing the Father’s love for each person to have the Holy Spirit alive within anyone who accepted Jesus Christ as Lord.

      We need to ask ourselves, “Where are we going?” Are we being led by God’s instruction, or are we making up the agenda as we flounder through life? The Lord rightly said that His sheep knew His voice. Let us hear and move ahead with Jesus because He is writing our life stories to reflect the love and blessings God has given us. This is our God-given life’s agenda. We are heading home to be with our Saviour. What a day that will be.