What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus in all one does with Christ in your heart and in fellowship with the Creator of the universe and everything in it as Abba Father?

This personal Abba Father relationship or fellowship is impossible to have by natural man. Why? The Bible teaches that all have sinned or done wrong and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) And each of us know this by our natural conscience (given to us by God). This means in man's natural fallen condition, a person can sense there is a God and even try to serve Him in Right living, but there can be no personal fellowship, as such, with God.

In order to have personal intimate spiritual fellowship with the Creator of the universe and all that is in it, one must personally accept the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross for one's sins. One must accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of one's life, no more to it than that.

In a real sense, personally accepting this atoning work of Christ on the Cross for our sins is no big deal because it costs us nothing. And it is easy to do; simply pray the following prayer: “Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the Cross for my sins and I accept that death for myself and turn from any sin in my life. I commit to follow you as Lord all the days of my life; come into my heart today, come into my heart to stay. Amen”

Technically when one prays this prayer the Person of Holy Spirit literally comes into one's heart to dwell and He gives a fellowship in one's heart with both Jesus Christ and God the Father as now, Abba Father. (1 John 1:3)

More than this, when the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell in our hearts, He gives us a new heart to God. This is sometimes called being born again or made regenerate (from our fallen human condition in Adam), and it is here we enter into new spiritual Life in Christ.

So, what's the catch? There is no catch unless one does not want to sign on to be a follower of Christ, then there is a big catch. Why? Because faith without works is dead. We are saved “unto good works.” One cannot be a true Christian (follower of Jesus) without really being a Christian follower of Jesus.

Essentially, when one says “I do” in a covenant vow for the reconciling work of Christ on the Cross for one's sins (as in the above prayer), one is signing on to follow, just as one gets married simply by saying an “I do” covenant vow, but at the same time, one promises to be faithful to one's married partner. This is no different than promising to be a faithful Covenant follower of the Way of Christ in all that one does as one says “I do” to personally accepting the atoning work of Christ for one's self.

Personally accepting the atoning work of Christ for one’s self is known specifically as Evangelical Christianity. So, the big question becomes: What does it mean to be a faithful follower of Christ in all that one does?

The answer to that question is surprisingly simple because Jesus said all the Law and Prophets can be summed up by the Two Great Commandments of “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

The Second Great Commandment of “love your neighbor as yourself” is generally associated with the Golden Rule of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The Golden Rule is generally associated with doing no wrong or harm to others and with helping those in need as you would want to be helped if you were in their situation of need. This is also the agape love of the Bible says Paul in Romans 13:9-10, and it is not continuously doing a selfless sacrificial service helping the least among us, though it can no doubt entail such helping others at times.

Seeing agape love as supposedly only selfless service to others or to the collective is a fallacy of the heresy called neo-orthodoxy associated with the infamous apostates Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr. Neo-orthodoxy rejects the moral virtue of the Golden Rule as the point of Christianity and replaces it with an amoral and utopian selfless service to the socialist collective as supposedly the only “moral” good or virtue, where there is no legitimate moral or mutual self-interest.

Loving one's neighbor as as one's self (which one does as a faithful follower of Christ) is primarily about the moral reciprocity (of moral or mutual self-interest) and treating others as one wishes to be treated. Simple enough. The key take away is the (morally) Right living of the Second Great Commandment is the Golden Rule, and it is the Moral Good Life of Solomon and Socrates lived in Wisdom or Right Reason. (Basically in life one serves God or one serves self.)

However, for the born-again Christian with Christ in his heart, Right living is a matter of doing the Two Great Commandments in a (Holy) Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life that is well-pleasing to God and that only comes for those who have personally accepted Christ's atoning work for themselves. These people have not just Christ in their hearts but also the peace that passes all understanding from being in Christ and being “saved” from the Final Judgment and condemnation of God. (Philippians 4:7)

Besides Spirit-filled and Wise morally right living in all that we do in order to be faithful followers of Christ, the Christian has direct access to God in prayer without the need of an earthly priest because Christ is now our High Priest, and we can in the realm of the Spirit of God go directly to God the Father through Christ, who is God the Son.

The Kingdom of God is wherever the Spirit of God reigns. The Kingdom of God came on earth in the realm of the spirit at Pentecost for all true believers in Christ. The totality of these people is called the Church, and it is called the City of God by the great Saint Augustine, while he calls the lost and unregenerate rest of mankind the City of Man (of humanism and of the godless and the devil).

The much prophesied Kingdom of God in a larger political sense began in substance to emerge in a major way beyond simply having a Christian monarch with the British Glorious Revolution of 1688 based on the teachings of John Locke, and then in a more explicit way with the American Revolution of 1776 also based on the teachings of Locke and Blackstone stated as the moral “Laws of Nature and of Nature's God” by Jefferson and the American Founders.

The moral Laws of Nature and of Nature's God are the truths of the Natural Revelation of the Greco-Roman tradition interfacing with the truths of the Special Revelation of the Bible in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Christians who are faithful followers of Christ are to be working and praying for the Kingdom of God to come on earth both in Christian evangelism to expand the Kingdom of God spiritually and in Just government as such opportunities present themselves. This is very easy to remember because the major theme of the New Testament is Justification (that is, salvation in Christ), and the major theme of the Old Testament is doing Justice and Righteousness.

Justice is where the state does the (common good) right thing for the whole body of the commonwealth, and Righteousness is where the individual does the morally right thing personally, and both are based on the moral Laws of Nature and of Nature's God done in the Spirit of Christ, not anti-Christ.

The most common error and demonic deception here is that Christians are to do Social Justice and not classical Justice. Social Justice is a false Socialist “Justice” or, that is, socialism, which is a false good evil and an injustice.

In classical Justice one gets to keep the fruits of one's own labor. In Socialist “Justice” one does not get to keep the fruits of one's own labor; rather the state takes them to hand out to others supposedly equally. A classic definition of slavery is not getting to keep the fruits of one's own labors. Hence, Socialist Justice seeks to enslave the entire population, and therefore, Christians should never vote for a Social Justice candidate if at all possible. (The (U.S.) Democrat Party and (UK) Labour Party are generally parties of Social Justice.)

The Kingdom of God come on planet Earth in all its fullness is where the will of God by the Spirit of Christ reigns in Justice and Righteousness all areas of life, society, and culture and not just in the Church and in Just government.

All these various areas of life, society and culture are sometimes called “mountains” or areas of life where the Spirit of Christ will reign in a Kingdom Era. The seven main areas of life and culture some Christians talk about are church, government, education, the family, media and communications, marketplace and economics, and arts and entertainment. However, in actual number, there are dozens of areas of life, society, and culture where Christians should show leadership with standards of excellence.

Such Kingdom-of-God work for a Whole Counsel of the Kingdom can in fact seem like a daunting and unsettling task on the surface, but in truth that would be a misunderstanding of the Christian life which is actually one of peaceful contentment and true human fulfillment in all areas of life and society and for all people. How can this be? Paul tells us.

Wisdom and Logos Rationality

And, further, when all these above things are done in all areas of life in all nations, the Spirit of Christ will reign in a Kingdom Era come on earth. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Wisdom and Logos Rationality.

Jesus famously summed this up as “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and God's Righteousness and all these things [of this life] shall be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33)

The Righteousness of God is found both in Christ by faith in His atoning work and then in doing the morally Right thing of God in our daily lives. Both true Justice and true Righteousness are found in the Higher Moral Law of God, and when Wisely practiced it is like building your life and nation on the Rock of the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 7:24), which are both moral and practical.

I believe Jesus died on the Cross for my sins, and I personally accept that atoning sacrifice for myself, and I turn from all sin and invite the Christ of the one true God of this universe to come into my heart and to come into my heart to stay, and in covenant commitment I do vow to follow Christ faithfully all the days of my life in practicing to the best of my ability the Two Great Commandments to “Love God with all my heart, mind, and soul and to love my neighbor as myself” in the Way of Truth, Justice and Righteousness in all that I do, so help me, God.