Deny Self and Follow Christ
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:23
This is the spiritual battle we face, deny self to follow Christ. We following self by following the Word and schedule assignments, but we follow Christ in real-time through the Spirit. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:3) Christ communicates with us through the Spirit by placing thoughts in our minds, changing the desires of our hearts, and through other people. However, we must be still inside and have the desire to follow Christ. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
There are many things in our life that we justify that keeps us from denying self. The problem we all face is that we get in way of following Christ, we mix following self and following Christ. When we follow Christ, we pray about every decision we make, that it will be pleasing to the Lord; and we always follow the Lord in every circumstance.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58) Love drives us to be steadfast and immovable in serving the Lord. Nothing will stop us following the Lord.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. (Psalm119:35) We pray for the Lord to guide us each day, and be with us in ministering to others. The Lord is pleased to be with us because we delight following Christ because it is our priority in life. There are times when we are tired and we may not feel like following Christ and picking our cross. However, the love in our hearts motivates us to go, and while following Christ, our Spirits are on fire, and later there is great peace and comfort that comes from following Christ.
Today pray that you can follow Christ to do his will. This is the Lord plan for us each day, and without following Christ how can we know his plan?
Prayer: Lord help me to follow Christ though this day, and always increase my desire to follow for Christ, deny self, and to pick up my cross.. In Jesus name, Amen