First the Verses…
Matthew 16:19-25 (KJV)
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
Matthew 10:37-39 (NKJV)
“37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Lately, the verses that speak about the way Jesus lived His life have been leaping off the pages of my Bible to me. It started with the verses in John 5
19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. “
There has been a growing desire in my heart to follow my Lord and Savior… He Himself did only as He saw the Father doing. This is so very significant as Jesus came in the flesh in part so that we could have a much greater revelation of the Father. He said if you have seen Him you have seen the Father (John 14:7). And to do and do likewise in following Jesus’ leading in every part of my life. Now when I read that Jesus withdrew from the crowds to fast and pray, in my heart I am thinking, Wow, Jesus himself had to do that in order to do what He did..
So I Have been crying out to the Lord to lead me into that place, of peace, of Joy, of truth, of power, of authority and most important of Abiding Love that I might fulfill HIS plan for my life.
And so the revelation has come. Jesus had to go through the cross, through the crucifixion of His flesh to fulfill God’s plan for His life. We can miss that even in this He was showing us the way, the only way, to the victory, the life that God has planned for us to have from before the beginning of time. Praise God that the death and resurrection of our Spirits is paid in full by the Lord’s own sacrifice. It was so excruciating an experience that He Himself cried out in agony and prayer to avoid this pain filled trial but chose not His own will, but the Father’s. However, the Bible clearly spells out that we are the ones assigned the work of “taking every thought captive unto the Lord Jesus Christ” and with the work of renewing our minds and thoughts. Our own bodies confirm every that the renewing of our physical being, our bodies, is something that didn’t happen instantly at the time of our baptism and the salvation of our spirits. The Word says “Beloved I pray above all else that you would prosper and be in health just as your soul (mind) prospers.
Here is it… Taking up our cross is making the choice and commitment to see our old carnal self and nature die a slow and painful death. The cross is an instrument of torture that ends in the death of the flesh. That is its sole purpose. Notice that no other person can carry our cross for us.. This verse calls us to pick up our own cross. Yes to willingly follow God and His will and His plan and His way even though it will surely cause grievous pain that will end in the death of our flesh.. our old carnal selves. This might not sound so terrible when you read these words on the page.. but make the choice and you will find out just how loudly the flesh and carnal thought patterns protest when you choose zero tolerance for their ways and appetites.
I have been kind of living it out like this.. Ok Spirit you get a turn now, ok flesh now is your turn to get what you want… I was making concession left, right and center.. Ever heard those media slogans like “you deserve it”… “satisfy your craving” “go ahead, indulge yourself”. Here are a few examples…
Whew… wow that was a really hard thing I just did… I deserve a treat.. a little something to make myself feel good, to comfort myself, to reward myself… I fully admit that this has been common in my thought life.
Dinner, it turns out for years I have been cooking based on what my flesh craved and not was actually good for the maintaining and building up of the “temple” of the Holy Spirit. Sure there was a nod to making it as nutritious as possible but the reality is that my flesh and “lusts” were so in the driving seat of that part of my life.
Sleep… what an idol I have made of sleep at times. Basing my expectation and joy of the day in how many hours I have slept instead of the provision of the Lord Almighty. At times, staying up far later than I knew I was supposed to and at others, lazing about far longer than my gut told me was reasonable.
Emotions… the list is far too long here. How often have I let that tidal wave take over instead of choosing self-control and the law of kindness and meekness as so perfectly displayed in Christ?
Hopefully the gist of what I am trying to express is clear. Taking up the cross is not a program, it is not a diet, it is a permanently, far-reaching choice to continuously choose that which is painful to the flesh to choose obedience to the Lord and the leading of His most Holy Spirit at every turn. And awesomely, astonishingly and mercifully, it is a road that once you take the first few steps, you will discovered is paved with the joy and peace of the Lord. Turns out a lot of the burden that we are hauling around is directly the product of all the work, effort, costs and emptiness of satisfying the insatiable never-ending, at times cruel, demands of the flesh. So many of the thought life battles are simply the ongoing battle between the Spirit and the flesh and our own double-mindedness about which side to agree with. There is such peace in even this endless squabble been silenced.
It is the only path, the only way, to be a true disciple, to see the victories continually so lavishly spelled out in the Word, to fulfill the very purpose and call that we were created to do and to experience the fullness of the life more abundantly that Jesus died and rose again to provide.
I am discovering that passage after passage echoes this tremendous Truth.
Healing and Discipleship 