Deny yourself, take up your Cross and Follow Jesus

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake, he is the one who will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].
Luke 9:23‭-‬24 AMP

Glory and honour be unto God for the blessings of a brand new day and the opportunity to rejoice and be glad in it.

Jesus laid down the conditions required for the disciples to be able to work effectively and efficiently in the ministry. These conditions are applicable to us today.

Firstly, He called for self sacrifice(deny yourself of the pleasures of the world) to be able to follow Jesus Christ, set aside self interest and look at the bigger picture of serving the Lord selflessly.

Be ready and willing to go all out for Jesus! The willingness to endure any challenge that might come for the sake of the gospel reaching the utter most part of the world.

Pattern your life after Jesus Christ so that as the world sees you they are reading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus’ life without any compromise so that your life will point others to Christ.

May Jesus be seen in our lives, may we be the carriers of the gospel, may we be instruments of God’s love and may the lost be saved through our obedience. God bless you. Amen.
abmingle

Take up your Cross and Follow Jesus

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].
MATTHEW 16:24 AMP

Praise God for the blessings of a brand new day and the opportunity to rejoice and be glad in it. Let us make time today to fellowship with other brethren.

Jesus laid down the conditions required for the disciples to be able to work effectively and efficiently in the ministry.

Firstly, He called for self sacrifice to be able to follow Jesus Christ, set aside self interest and look at the bigger picture of serving the Lord selflessly.

Be ready and willing to go all out for Jesus! The willingness to endure any challenge that might come for the sake of the gospel reaching the utter most part of the world.

Pattern your life after Jesus Christ so that as the world sees you they are reading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Follow Jesus’ life without any compromise so that your life will point others to Christ.

May Jesus be seen in our lives, may we be the carriers of the gospel, may we be instruments of God’s love and may the lost be saved through our obedience. God bless you. Amen.
abmingle

Take up your Cross and Follow Jesus

Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].
MARK 8:34‭-‬35 AMP

Glory and honour be unto God for this beautiful day and the opportunity to rejoice and be glad in it.

Today’s passage is very long and the reason is that Jesus does not want any half hearted people to follow Him so He has taken His time to explain what it takes to follow Him.

Is your mind made up to follow Jesus? Are you ready to deny yourself of the pleasures of this world? Are you ready to sacrifice for the sake of the gospel?

Be ready to follow Jesus Christ’s example by going all out to preach His gospel to all no matter the challenges that come our way. Defying the odds to send the gospel to the world, criticism and allegations, open rebuke and rejection, the absence of resources etc should not hinder the preaching of the Gospel.

Be fully available to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all at all times without any form of holding back.

May God grant us the grace and strengthen our faith to stand firm and hold high the banner of Jesus Christ to the world till His coming. May the Grace to endure to the end locate us in Jesus Mighty name. Amen.
abmingle