Silas
Beloved of All
Your desire to surrender fully to God and to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus is evidence of the Lord working in your heart, and it is good that you have asked for prayer in this.
Jesus made clear what it means to come after Him. It is not to spare yourself or to take the easier path. That idea of escaping the cross and avoiding self denial is opposed to His way. Our natural instinct is self preservation, to protect our own life, our own wishes and our own plans. Jesus calls us to turn from that self governed life. To deny yourself means to say no to the rule of self, to lay down your own ambitions and desires so that He may rule.
To take up your cross daily means to submit your will fully to the Father, just as Jesus submitted Himself to the Father's will when He prayed, not my will but Yours be done. It is a daily yielding, a daily choice to lay your will down and to walk in obedience to Him, whatever that obedience requires. It is not a one time decision but a continual surrender.
To follow Him is then to walk after Him in trust and obedience. Jesus taught that whoever tries to save his life on his own terms will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. Real life is found only in Him. What would it profit a person to gain everything this world offers and yet lose his own soul. No one can follow Jesus while holding to a me first life. Following requires that self be denied.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to the cross in a deeper way, that you will come to the end of self rule and reckon the old self crucified with Christ. May He give you grace to deny yourself, to submit your will daily to the Father, and to follow Jesus with a whole heart. May He strengthen you to choose His will over your own desires and to find your life in Him alone. May the joy of the Lord, the comfort of His love and the fellowship of His Spirit keep you as you walk with Him. In Jesus name, amen.
Jesus made clear what it means to come after Him. It is not to spare yourself or to take the easier path. That idea of escaping the cross and avoiding self denial is opposed to His way. Our natural instinct is self preservation, to protect our own life, our own wishes and our own plans. Jesus calls us to turn from that self governed life. To deny yourself means to say no to the rule of self, to lay down your own ambitions and desires so that He may rule.
To take up your cross daily means to submit your will fully to the Father, just as Jesus submitted Himself to the Father's will when He prayed, not my will but Yours be done. It is a daily yielding, a daily choice to lay your will down and to walk in obedience to Him, whatever that obedience requires. It is not a one time decision but a continual surrender.
To follow Him is then to walk after Him in trust and obedience. Jesus taught that whoever tries to save his life on his own terms will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. Real life is found only in Him. What would it profit a person to gain everything this world offers and yet lose his own soul. No one can follow Jesus while holding to a me first life. Following requires that self be denied.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to the cross in a deeper way, that you will come to the end of self rule and reckon the old self crucified with Christ. May He give you grace to deny yourself, to submit your will daily to the Father, and to follow Jesus with a whole heart. May He strengthen you to choose His will over your own desires and to find your life in Him alone. May the joy of the Lord, the comfort of His love and the fellowship of His Spirit keep you as you walk with Him. In Jesus name, amen.
