By Marni Montanez
Luke 9:23 New King James Version
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
The cross has represented death, but if we look at it through the eyes of Jesus it takes on a whole added meaning. Jesus is the giver of life.
We as human beings, tend to look at things through a faulty lens when it comes to spiritual insight; especially if we are carnal Christians who walk in the flesh.
God looks at things through the lens of love, mercy, hope and possibility. Everything He does is to bring this into our lives and to sustain it in our walk.
When we die to ourselves it is a life giving endeavor and as each area of us that is fleshly, dies, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is able to pour into those places and sprout new life there that is of peace, joy and supernatural strength. God knows the wickedness of our hearts if we are left alone. He is trying to rescue us from ourselves. This is a great treasure. Denying our self sets us on the road to abundance. The road can be long, dusty and difficult, but at the final destination we gain more than we could ever lose.
When Jesus asks us to follow Him, He requires complete abandonment of our own desires, without condition.
God has offered His best; His Son, Jesus. We can do no less; we need to offer Him our best.
Our best is what He created…ourselves. Though He created us with free will, He still desires us to Choose Him. We simply submit to His plans and His direction and accept when He allows difficult times. The cross shouted freedom to the world. It shouted death to our flesh, which comes with a high price to our sinful nature. It is a lifelong process of denying oneself and requires moment by moment faith that is tenacious and is willing. Our walk is about Jesus alone and it calls us out past our discomfort zone. It is a calling that is challenging beyond our ability to cope, but, because Jesus defeated the enemy when He chose to die on the cross, He ended all power Satan had over us. Our victory depends on us and continuing to walk the walk with God.
Challenge: Pray for strength and wisdom every day so that in the season of troubles you can withstand the pressure. Lean into God; especially when you feel you are drowning. There is no force on earth or in heaven that can compare with our Lord. He is our help in times of trouble.
God bless
Marni
Go on to: Luke 10:38-42 Heavenly Will
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The
purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate,
and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through
Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord
require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your
God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or
crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the
standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for
the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not
Christian.