Shoulder to Shoulder with Jesus by Rocky Fleming (7 Day Devo)
Have you ever felt alone, even though there are people around you? Have you ever felt your interests have changed, but you do not know why and what to? Have you ever felt Jesus so close to you that you don’t want to leave those precious moments you have with Him? Have you ever felt that it’s just you and Him, even though there are many people around you? I know these questions might seem to conflict with one another. But I believe they are relevant. Let me explain why, for I am going through just such a period in my life. In fact, the next seven days I will be on this trek with you as we see how relevant my questions are in our walk with Jesus.
Recently I’ve felt that “aloneness” I speak of. Oh, I have plenty of people in my life, and they are very important to me. I am not lonely for relationships. But I feel that I’m lonely for a closer walk with Jesus and I’m being conditioned for something special that God wants to do. I feel that this hidden longing in myself and other Christ followers surfaces when He’s preparing us for something special that He wants to say or do. In some ways it’s confusing or maybe disconcerting when it happens. But I feel that He wants our full attention, and the competing voices or influences must stand aside for a while. We will be glad they did.
I’m a guy who has many varied interests. They have been the fun part of my life, but also the essential part of me that seems to be me. And yet, God has been teaching me that I’m more than those things, and I haven’t discovered it. I feel that some intensive discipleship by Holy Spirit will be my teacher, and He will open my eyes and heart to it. But He must have my attention just as intensively.
Every now and then I feel God’s presence so close to me that I don’t want to take a breath for fear of a distraction from it. I find that this shows me my hunger for that intimacy with Him, and yet it is so rare and too delicate to take for granted when it’s there. This too tells me that it requires my intensive attention to draw close and stay close to Him.
The next seven days I’d like for you and me to walk on our narrow paths with Jesus. This path is wide enough for only Jesus and our self. You and I will have our own paths that we join Him on. But, by Holy Spirit’s leadership I will attempt to convey His invitation and what he wants to discuss with us. Even so, these next seven days are for you and Him alone. Why don’t you journal through this time with Him so that the messages you hear from Him will be remembered. You’ll be glad you did. Here we go.
Day One
Abide and Resist
Here’s a challenge I have with going to the deeper intimacy with Christ that He wants for me. Maybe you struggle with it as well? It’s those distracting voices, or noise within me that tells me that I don’t have time to sit and listen. “There’s so much to do …” I think. Those things pop into my mind almost as soon as I dedicate my time and effort for being alone with Jesus. Does that happen to you? Think it’s coincidental? I don’t think so. We need to understand that Satan is a big distractor. He wants to divide us from the truths God wants to bless us with that are relevant to our lives, and it is his effort to distract us from them. So, the question becomes will we allow him to victimize us, or will we use God’s power and authority to resist and overcome it? Here’s what Jesus told His disciples.
Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” Luke 10:19 (The MSG)
I feel that Jesus is teaching those of us who He is drawing near to Him to use His power to resist the distractions. We are to resist and take His authority over them. Let’s begin that now. Pray out loud thanking God for the power and authority that He has entrusted to you in the name of Jesus Christ to bind and cast away from you the distracting thoughts and voices that draw you away from your intimate, shoulder-to-shoulder walk with Jesus. Speak against the distracting thoughts that are no doubt whispered to you by the distractor’s voice and then embrace an assurance and blessing that by having your mind and heart fastened upon your Savior, He will provide you something needed more that those distractions require.
This is our first day with walking shoulder to shoulder with Jesus on our narrow path with Him. Embrace it. Enjoy it. As you leave your private time with Him today, invite Him to join you throughout your day, and with all that you need to do. He will go with you and help you. In fact, in many ways this is how He proves that He is with you and for you. That’s a privilege that we must respect and honor, as He invites us to come closer to Him.
I believe it is important for us to cultivate a sensitivity to His voice. Yes, we can hear His truths and promises spoken to our heart from His Holy Word, if we commit to self-feed in it and then ask Holy Spirit to deepen our understanding of what we read. There is so much treasure below the obvious. Tomorrow I will introduce a preparation for hearing His voice that I use. Perhaps it may help you as well.
Prayer:
“Dear Lord God, Almighty. Is there something that You want to say to me that I’m not hearing? I ask You to open my ears and my heart to Your precious voice, for I need to hear You. It is in the Jesus name that I ask this.”
Day Two
Abide in Your Secret Place
“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. - Matthew 6:6 (NASB)
Jesus spoke of going into a private room in our prayer and then shutting the door behind us. What did He mean? I’ve been intrigued with this visual guidance from Jesus about prayer, for not only did He go against the popular, elevated prayers that were big on show, personal recognition and insincerity, but He also gave us simple instructions with how to truly get the Father’s ear. I think we should agree that Jesus knew best about prayer, and with approaching His Father God. The question is, was He literally speaking of an inner room in one’s house or a closet that some other versions describe? Is it limited to a physical place that we go to? I don’t think it is limited to that. I believe that most importantly it is a spiritual place that wherever we are, whether it is a room, a closet, or in a coffee shop surrounded by people, He is with us and we are alone with Him? I think Jesus was showing us that true prayer is a conversation with God and His child that can be spoken, whispered, or prayed to Him even within the privacy of our thoughts, for He knows them.
Jesus, by Himself, went to lonely, isolated places just to be alone with His Father in Heaven. But did it end there for Him? I don’t think so, for He had to co-exist as fully God and fully man, and as man He needed the same constant connection with God that we do. I think He took that alone time with God He had with Him, as He remained connected to His Father God. I believe it is within that demonstrated, seamless relationship with God that Jesus shows us the secret place that He was referencing. Have you discovered this wonderful place with Him? If not, I’d like to share what I’ve discovered.
That place is real within me, and the more I go there with my questions, my thoughts, and my worship of Him the more it is affirmed. It now makes sense, for Jesus described abiding in Him to be a permanent connection with Him. Too often I hear followers of Jesus indicate that their abiding relationship with Him is only a special time, such as a great quiet time or occasion such as going to church. It seems that they don’t connect that He never leaves us, and that He abides in us constantly.
A Christian monk named Brother Lawrence (born Nicolas Herman; c. 1614 – 12 February 1691) came to understand the secret place that Jesus spoke of. There was a book written posthumously of his writings and thoughts on the subject. The name is The Practice of the Presence of God. In essence, Bother Lawrence said that he abided with Jesus all day long and in every occasion, and the practice of realizing His presence with Jesus kept him mentally connected all day. It was not just a good quiet time. It happened even when he was washing dishes and doing menial chores. He had it figured out, and it showed.
I ask you to consider this. As you go about your day today, why not practice being aware of Jesus walking shoulder-to-shoulder with you? Maybe you will find that secret place He speaks of? I know He wants it for you.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus. Will You lead me to this secret place You speak of? I desire to stay connected with you constantly and aware of your presence all day. I ask for Your help to find it.
Day Three
Abide and Listen
Question: Do you believe that God speaks to His children? Some people will say yes or no, some say yes but not to them, some say on special occasions, some say they don’t know. It’s a varied response. Next question: If you do believe that He does speak, does God have a voice? What does it sound like? How does He speak, when He speaks? Can you trust that voice? I believe He does speak. He has a voice, and I believe His voice can be trusted. Now don’t stop reading this, for I’m not off based with this scripturally. Let me explain.
There are safeguards to protect us from a voice that is not God’s, for we know that there are deceiving spirits that also speak. What are these safeguards, and how can I learn to listen to only the voice of the One who I walk shoulder to shoulder with on this narrow path? Let’s begin to find the answers by looking at the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for this is where God’s voice begins, is witnessed, and is interpreted. Let’s focus on this verse:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 (ESV)
When you read or see The Word of God, what do you think of? Most likely you think of the Bible and the scriptures in it. This is true. It is the written Word of God, and it is there that God’s voice begins to be seen, for He is the Word. When we hear His voice, it must always be sifted through God’s written word for it to be truth and accurate. But it’s not only there that we hear God’s voice, for that is only the beginning of it. It is also through the Living Word of God that we witness God’s voice in action. Look at this passage only a few verses later in John 1:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (ESV)
As God the Father is the Word, and His written Word is inspired by Him, Jesus is the Incarnate Word and is the visible expression of the heart and love from God in the written Word. That is why He is called the Incarnate Word of God, the Living Word. Jesus said He did not come to abolish but rather to fulfill. He is the walking, talking, and loving human expression of God’s Word to mankind. The Apostle John said that they had seen this glorious Word of God walking around and spending time with them and His name is Jesus. But there’s also another One who helps us understand and interpret God’s voice to us. He is Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. This is what Jesus said about Him:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14:26 (NASB)
God wants us to listen and learn from Him as He instructs us. Learning to listen and hear God’s voice on the narrow path walking shoulder to shoulder with Jesus is His invitation to us. It is the greatest living privilege that we will ever have, and it certainly deserves our intensive response to it. Will we take this invitation and continue to seek a deeper walk with Him on this path we are on with Him?
Prayer:
Dear Holy Spirit. There is so much I want to know about the Triune God who I worship. I ask You to teach me the deeper meaning of prayer and the still small voice of God who teaches me all things good. I ask this in Jesus name.
Day Four
Day Four - Abide and Listen, then Speak
A meaningful conversation has two parts … listening and speaking. Have you ever been trapped by someone who only wants to talk and express themselves? Have you ever waited for someone to take a breath so that you can respond or ask a question or state a different point of view, but they never do, and you never can speak? I must be honest. I feel imprisoned in their barrage of words to a point I can no longer hear them.
A good conversation is a respectful balance of talking and listening to one another. Note that I said balance. Now let’s talk about prayer. Have you ever considered how out of balance we can get in our prayers? Most of the time we do all the talking, don’t we. But where do we respectfully listen to God within our conversation with Him? It is needed, if we abide in Christ, for He has a lot to say, and we need to hear what it is.
Yesterday I introduced you to listening to God’s voice, with our shoulder-to-shoulder walk with Jesus on our two-person path with Him. This walk with Him carries on a conversation in that He speaks to me, and I respond to Him concerning what He said, then I speak to Him and He responds to me with what I said. Can you get your head around that? You will if you will accept by faith that He is very attentive to your prayer, your concerns and He has a desire to help you. But He also wants us to serve Him and respond to His leadership. Remember the importance of God’s Holy written Word being the foundation of Jesus’ voice to us? That’s where we begin to hear His voice.
I’m an advocate for verse memorization, especially key verses that speak to my heart and as well my mind. This allows me to hear His voice in the different situations I face and respond in the way He leads me. I’m also an advocate of daily self-feeding on God’s Word, for it begins to saturate my conscious and unconscious mind with the foundation for hearing His voice. It becomes an awareness of His leadership, as He walks me through life on this two-person path we are on. There are many times I want to rush to Him and just blast away with prayer requests because of an urgency that I feel. But then I hear His voice spoken in this passage:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.”
- Philippians 4:4-5 (NASB)
What does He say to me in this verse, you may ask? I hear, “Calm down. Don’t panic. I’m here, so start rejoicing. Now what is it you want to ask of Me?”
Respectful conversation that flows from being aware of Jesus’ presence with us, and our interest in one another creates respect and balance where we really feel the heart of each other. I feel that is what Jesus wants for His family. Will you try it?
Prayer:
Dear Lord. I ask You to forgive me for rarely pausing to listen to what You may want to say to me. I ask You to teach me how to truly converse with You. You are my dearest friend as well My God, and I want to hear your answer to my prayer, and Your voice of guidance in all things. It is in Jesus Christ name I pray.
Day Five
- coming Sep 15, 2025 -
Day Six
- coming Sep 16, 2025 -
Day Seven
- coming Sep 17, 2025 -