Galatians 5:19-24  KJV  “¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

Matthew 16 ” From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!^[e] This shall never happen to you.”²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance^[f]to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”   ²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life^[g]will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Jeremiah 6:10 English Standard Version (ESV) ” ¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning,      that they may hear?   Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,      they cannot listen;  behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;      they take no pleasure in it.”

Romans 8:5-7 King James Version (KJV)  ⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

1 Corinthians 9:27 Amplified Bible (AMP)  ²⁷ But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service].

Romans 8:7 NIV”The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

James 4:4    You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

Matthew 10:39 English Standard Version (ESV)  ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 9:29 English Standard Version (ESV)  ²⁹ And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^[a]

Matthew 6:21-23 ” Berean Bible “21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your vision is poor, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!…”

Ezekiel 44:9 King James Version (KJV)  9 Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

1 Corinthians 3:2-4 English Standard Version (ESV)  2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What does denying ourselves, picking up our cross and follow Jesus really mean?    I think a lot of us have heard the expression quite often:   “Oh that is just my cross to bear” referring to any uncomfortable thing that we “believe” we have to live with over a long period of time.  I have begun to question this.   The cross was not something Jesus was indefinitely yoked with.

What is the cross after all.  An instrument that puts the death slowly but surely to death.  We follow Jesus’ example and willingly commit bearing our cross until like our Lord, our flesh is dead to itself and now we are truly free to live for Christ.    I am so encouraged that Jesus is not still carrying around the cross.   Nope, once his flesh died, the cross had fulfilled its purpose.   This gives me hope that carrying our cross is something we do for a season and that I will get to the point where my fleshly mind is truly dead.

Denying SELF is essential.   The image that pops to mind are the African slaves being walked across the plains with the neck and hand and feet shakles on.  Even if the slave trader disappears, those shackles will limit them until every single one is removed.   I believe that a fleshly wordly mind shackles the Kingdom in us.   The flesh shackles us with entitlement, fear, unbelief, anxiousness, doubt, self-centreness etc.   Thank God the answer is always Jesus.   He empowers us to do all that He asks.    Bringing our bodies into subjection are not optional but also not possible to the natural man.   What jumped out to me this week was the verse from Galatians that scripture assumes that those who are walking with Christ HAVE ALREADY crucified their flesh and the appetites  that go along with it.   This actually encourages me immensely.  Yes, self dying is painful.  We cannot carry our cross painlessly.   It is where all that we hold dear that is not part of the Kingdom dies.  But it is purposeful and it is temporary.

Prayer and fasting, taking everythought captive, anything and everything that scripture commands us to do that is hard or impossible in the natural, is part of picking up that cross.   When we choose to do what is biblically right against all of our feelings, emotions and physical sensations, we are bearing our cross.   When the flesh screams for cheesecake and we fast or eat a carrot, we are denying ourselves.   When someone gets right up in our emotional faces and pushes our buttons HARD and we turn the other cheek and choose peace and gentleness, we are dying to self.   There are infinite ways to die to self.   For me this starts in earnest today.

For much of my christian walk, I have been fighting with my flesh.  This was a true lightbulb moment for me.

Other benefits of cutting off the fleshly, worldly bits of our lives:

Jeremiah says that it is due to an uncircumsized ear that we cannot properly hear God.   The more I cut off the worldly inputs in my life, the better I hear God in my life.   Prayer and fasting improves this even more.    Spending set apart time with him daily also makes a huge difference.     Choosing thanks giving and joy and to magnify Him and His Word even when the circumstances seem contrary.  Each one of these acts of obedience opens my ears and heart to Him more.     That other  stuff that I let into my head through my senses literally blinds me and deafens me from hearing and seeing God clearly.

Scritpure also refers to uncircumsized lips, uncircumsized hearts, uncircumsize flesh.

A couple of word studies for those who want to dive in for  deeper study

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=circum&qs_version=KJV

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=KJV&quicksearch=uncircum&startnumber=26

Let’s look at this verse one more time:

Luke 9:23 ESV  “²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Who is Jesus directing this invitation to?

• Anyone who wants to become His disciple.   These are Jesus’ instructions right from day 1 for anyone who wants to walk with Him.    These things are foundational to a victorious life in and for Christ.