The Way of the Cross, Your Cross

This week’s post is meant to help us prepare to follow Jesus intimately. It is our prayer that you will be edified and equipped. We also ask that you share our weekly post with others, tweet, repost, email to your friends, or just tell someone about them.  Enjoy the read!

Mark 8:34-38, “….. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

A Moment to Meditate

This is where we are tested in our thinking and are forced to examine our belief and faith. This passage may be the most important passage about discipleship or following Jesus stated in the New Testament. As we grow in our faith, we must be willing to be challenged in our fundamentals. Have you ever thought about what it means to deny yourself? What is the self and how do you deny it? What exactly does Jesus wants us to do when it comes to cross bearing? Are there incentives involve in denying ourselves and taking up our cross? Think about what Jesus actually told us that we each should have a cross of our own. He is not asking us to bear His cross but to bear our own cross.  As we study the passage, be reminded that Jesus never tells us to do something just because, He provides reason and rewards. That is very good news and contrary to popular view concerning becoming a disciple and surrendering your life to Jesus.

Let us examine this chapter and verses to see our role in this:

Mark 8:34-38 - “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Notice that there are two (2) major parts major, four (4) main fundamental parts, three (3) criterion and four (4) motivations that are involved in this command of cross-bearing. When the text says For, this means because or why and there are four reasons provided in the text. He also starts by calling the crowd to him. So there is a call, end result, direction, criteria and reasons or in another way of looking at it and consequences. Another amazing part of this statement indicates that our life depends on it. This is capture in the first For and represents how critical this command is and how it is linked to our life.

If anyone would come after me (Jesus) or to follow me let him do three things, Jesus says.  The come after me could be the same as follow me, but it is not really. Come after me has three parts and that included following Him. So He says he or she is to:

1. Deny himself 

2. Take up his cross

3. Follow me 

We are led to believe that “take up his/her cross” and “deny self” plays a massive role in coming after him. In the interest of time, lets take a look at the two major parts that we should touch on each of the components involved.

1.One Take Up Your Cross

What do you know about the cross? It was a horrible instrument of execution it was done by the Romans. They nailed people to a cross, they let them hang there until hey suffocated or if you didn't suffocate they broke their legs. The lungs would collapse so in order to breathe they had to push up their body while nail is the only resistance to push against, It was a horrific way to die. Yet Jesus says if we want to be His disciple, want to come after Him and follow Him, then pick up our cross. He was going to the cross to conquer it so that we would have the power to take up ours. Imagine the implications of a cross on our shoulders, it would mean a few things. It meant official opposition, to be officially opposed comes with it. Facing crucifixion is an execution meant for a criminal so be ready to be treated like a criminal, they were killed in public so it was utterly shameful or humiliation, they were stripped naked, beaten hung up for everybody to see. It brought unspeakable suffering, thinking about what it took to breath and it ultimately led to death.

The things implied about taking up your cross: 

1. Are you willing to endure official opposition? 

2. Are you willing to be shamed or treated like a criminal? 

3. Are you willing to suffer, publicly?

4. Are you willing to die? 

2. Self Denial

Self-denial, what is that? The self does not like the things mentioned above, the self says no I don't want to be in opposition I don't like being shamed, I do not like suffering and I don't want to die. Self would mean our right to ourselves, our right to run our own lives. It signifies what I have come accustom to doing and to self-deny we must refuse to accept or associate with the self that is oppose to Jesus. There are two (2) selves implicated there, there is an old self and a new self when Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Recall what we need to do to be saved, John 3:16, however when the new self is being formed or birth by The Holy Spirit we have a new self that plays the role in following and being led. The old self that says I want to live opposition free, shame free, suffering free and death free. The new self is saying I want Jesus more than I want that comfort, an opposition free or suffering free life. Jesus and the Gospel means more than all the four things above associate with the things that without Jesus I would run from. Again, He is not saying that you should mindlessly suffer, but suffering comes as a result of the battle with righteousness, sharing and living the gospel.

Why? For “Me”, Jesus and my message.. Notice this is for “My”, Jesus, sake and The Gospel's and this is not random suffering. Are you willing to do that for me? That's what He's saying if you are, you can be my disciple. If you're just playing games with me you're not willing to die and suffer and be shamed and be opposed with me then you can go follow somebody else. What happens when you hold on to your way of living, words and thoughts? It will cost you if you keep living the way you want.

Respond and Implement 

1. How are you responding to this command?

2. How do think about denying yourself? What is practically involved?

3. What was the “old self” and how do you describe the “new self”?

Grace and Peace Be With You,

Is God Controlling us?

This week’s post is meant to help us prepare to move out of the way and allow God to sanctify us. It is our prayer that you will be edified and equipped. We also ask that you share with others, tweet, repost, email to your friends, or just tell someone about them.  Enjoy the read!

Read & Meditate

James 1:20: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”.

Read & Meditate

Biblically, all anger is not necessarily considered wrong. However, in most cases, what a person feels is “righteous anger” is simply his or her way to justify sin. As such, we need to be equipped to address sinful anger in a way that honors God and brings repentant change within our hearts. Did we see the equation represented  in the passage from James? First take note, second quick to listen, third slow to speak and then anger is slow in us. We see James, the brother Jesus, offering us options of how to treat our anger. We have a focus on our training and equipping while we are on earth and addressing anger is a primary way we sin. No excuses Church! Anger not expressed on thought of the same way God would is sure tell sign that He is not our Lord or King.

If we struggle with Anger, it is a tell sign that God is not controlling our life? Anger is conceptualized as an amoral emotion that simply builds up inside a person. We have to take responsibility for our own emotions by confessing the emotions that do not support God’s redemptive nature. We may have heard at one time or another, the phrase, “You make me so angry.” Implying that the cause of our anger is external and has a cause and effective relationship. This is not a biblical view and we are to do everything to train ourselves to fight anger, matter of fact to get rid of it the apostle Paul writes! If we use this statement or follow this belief pattern, it ultimately exhibits a refusal to own up to our responsibility over our own attitude, thinking, and behavior. If this is not addressed, then ultimately the cure for our anger resides in the offender changing, leaving us hopeless and forcing us to accept a very dismal conclusion: “If the other person doesn’t change, we cannot change.” Fortunately for us, the Bible’s views on anger and its origin very differently from our traditional view. As such, it may be helpful to consider the words of Jesus at this point. Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” 

Respond and Implement 

1) Do you agree that unrighteous anger is sinful?

2) What is one thing you are going to do to address your angry thoughts?

Grace and Peace Be With You

THE WONDERFUL COUNSELOR - SPEAK LIFE

This week’s post is meant to help us prepare to lean into God and find our home. We ask that share our post with others, tweet them, repost them or email them to your friends, or tell someone about them.  Enjoy the reads!

Read & Meditate

Deuteronomy 30:19, 20: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” 

Reflect & Restructure

Is your tongue aligned with The Wonderful Counselor? “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

The Spirit of God wrote these words with Moses’s hands. Many scholars believe that the book of Deuteronomy was Jesus’s favorite book due to the number of times that He quoted it. Moses submission and his writings left enough of an impact on Jesus himself would He would refer to Deuteronomy in His ministry. He quoted many lines from this book evidenced by when He spoke the scriptures in the wilderness when He was tempted by the devil. The scripture states that we are to choose life and not death just as Jesus did in the wilderness. He chose to speak the scriptures to the devil using words of truth and life, using it to counsel the devil. We are to choose to speak life even during tough times. God encourages us, disciplines us, guides us with the main goal of drawing us back to Himself mainly using the book of life, His Words.  Remember to give thought to our tongue, an instrument the bible says can bring death or life and who we are supposed to be in Christ.

If we call ourselves disciples of Jesus and children of God, we are identified by the seal with the Holy Spirit. The psalmist states that the power of life and death are in the tongue (Psalm 18:21). James 3: 9-11,”With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?”. Further down on James 3 is tells that nothing can tame the tongue with an exception that the tongue within a person who is fully submitted to God can actually be obedient when it refers to wisdom.

James urges us not to speak as the world speaks, as we who are called children of God to live a life of purity.  We are to use our partnership with God’s Spirit to invite heaven on earth with our words. We are to follow God’s example, just as He spoke life into existence in the same way we are to speak life into each other. Genesis 1:1-3, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light”. Did you catch that? And God Said. Speaking life is in God’s character and His purpose is always about reconciling. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian’s church states that we are to especially pursue prophecy, (1 Corinthians 14). What is that? Are we to pursue telling the future?

We are not in the business of fortune telling, we are in the business of truth telling and helping others see themselves how God sees them. This is more than just telling someone good job, it is more about speaking into people’s spirit. We are to encourage people, good job is good to express and we should continue, however we are to focus on their spirit, what gives them purpose. We are to reinforce hope and provide faith- boosting energy in all situations. We are to do everything to build each other up and stir up each other for good works.

Respond and Implement

1.    Write out blessings for your spouse, children, your boss, your neighbor and those you love.

2.    Send a Scriptural text message to someone. 

3.    Write an email to someone who means a lot to you. …..+Speak life!

Grace and Peace be with you, Dane

Pray Know God

Enjoy the read!

Read & Meditate

Mathew 16:13-20: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Reflect & Restructure

We can tag along with someone’s faith and be encouraged by them for a season. However, there is a point when we have to get grow past Moses or Joshua and calling Him the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. If He's not our God that means we have not been with Him, which means we don't know Him. So many of us know God of the Word but we don't know the God that lives inside of us. Jesus said, Who do you say I am?, in Mathew 16. Why would He ask that question to people who have spent time with Him? This does not make sense, but it did to Jesus. We all have to answer that question for ourselves and in our own hearts. We have to know that the answer to that question decides how we operate in all our interactions and relationships. The answer decides how our file of life is going appear to others and to God himself. What we believe is what we see and what we believe is how we conduct our life. Our life lived has nothing to do with our speech or how passionate we are about things but has everything to do with how our faith is revealed.

There are few things that God will reveal to us about who we are and how we are. We must recognize that it is not the same way that a human, finite being would reveal it. Therefore do everything we can not to use their treatment of us or their words to define us. James 3 actually says that when we are mistreated the person is partnering with the devil so there we have it. We are not to place so much stock on other people’s opinion or view of us. Instead, our Father will reveal the areas He wants to work on in partnership so that we can experience the right view of who He is. How many of us and others we know who have fallen away due to the actions of another person? The bible says that God opposes the proud but give favor to the humble. Pursue meekness become a person who is willing to go along with whatever He wants to do. A meek person is some that goes with the flow even when they are treated unfairly. God wants to strongly support us but we have to make Him personal and He has to be the reason for every season. We have to know God, allow him to show us ourselves, surrender to His prompts so that our lives will show evidence that He lives in us! Do everything in our power to keep the unity with God and make Him ours. Afterall, He is our God, right?

Respond and Implement 

When you fast set your minds on the attributes of God!

Example of Attributes of God:

1. God Is Immutable – He Never Changes – Malachi 3:6

2. God Is Omniscient – He Is All-Knowing – Isaiah 46:9-10

3. God Is Omnipresent – He Is Always Everywhere – Jeremiah  23:23-24

His Grace and Peace Be with you!

Prayer, Scripture and Soul

Prayer, Scripture and Soul

This week’s blog is meant to help us prepare to lean into God and find our home. It is our prayer that you will be edified and equipped. We also ask that share our blogs with others, tweet, repost, email to your friends, or just tell someone about them.  Enjoy the read!

Read & Meditate

2 Chronicles 7:14:“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

Reflect & Restructure

Prayer is, at its heart, the communication that is the fabric of the human being relationship with its Father, God. Praying together was one of the hallmarks of the church from its start. In Acts, they gathered to pray in the days after Christ's death -- this is even before the big event in Acts 2 that started the church. Then right after that first event, they devoted themselves to prayer. How do we start? Just pray, offering whatever we're thinking and feeling to the Lord. Whatever we bring, it's a start. As we pray more regularly or more often, the usual experience is that a strange thing starts happening to us. We start being more truthful in prayer, we start turning away from what we did wrong, our attitude become more confident, we start taking the time to listen, we start looking for the signs of divine dialogue in our daily life, we start  hungering to read the Scriptures, we start wanting to pray with others, we also think less and less about ourselves.

This year, in 2025, why don’t we start with inviting God to speak into our spirit to help enable full surrender of our souls. This year start with what we could call “extended time of soul searching”. Start with focusing more on soul searching with God is always a good thing and will bring ourselves to a place of awareness of the need to guard our souls. This is accomplished through more time alone with God and is not because lengthy confession or repentance is more acceptable than brief confession or repentance, but because we need time to dig into our souls with scripture and The Holy Spirit in order to discern where did that response come from? Why is difficult to forgive? Why does that keep showing up in our life? It does take time to mediate on how scripture that will divide and dive into our souls to help us discover those things and begin to get free from them.

Utilize your time in prayer and reflection, meditation, lingering in the presence of God to lead to change rather than trying. This will assist us with recalibrating our minds for another battle and other challenges that will come our way. We must schedule time for it, even in an extremely busy schedule, late at night or early in the morning.

God is no hurry, He wants to spend time with us and knows our heart. Why don’t we seek out the still, quiet moments to allow Him to show us our heart?

Respond and Implement 

• Read the scripture and pray it back to God before you start your day without cell phones, ipads or technology. 

• Pray when we have trouble concentrating or have a decision to make

• Send an email prayer to a family member, coworker or friend

His Grace and Peace Be with you!

Be Led By Jesus

When seeking help, being discipled, being shepherded or following leadership these are 3 things you should ponder and pray about.

Read, Ponder, Pray and Set Expectations

 Humility

Colossians 3:12 - “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, tapeinophrosunē [humility].”

The uncommon virtue of humility. Virtues are habitual exercises and inclinations of the heart for good things. Virtues are truly valuable, important or yours when you desire them want to receive and you want to provide for others. Virtue consists in the beauty of those heart-exercises and of the actions that flow from them. Uncommon virtues are in limited supply both in world and in the Body of Christ, sounds weird doesn’t it? But mainly, and most importantly, uncommon virtues are those habitual exercises of the heart rooted in what makes us disciples of Jesus. In other words, the uncommon virtues flow from our union with Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by definition, no unbeliever exercises any uncommon virtue. They exercise common virtues, which have external similarities to the uncommon virtues, but they are radically different because they have no roots in a person’s relation to Christ. Humility involves the possibility that you are wrong in your thinking, words, actions, and emotions no matter how smart you think you are or how many times you have read the scriptures. More importantly, it means allowing Jesus to lead you even when it does make sense to you.

Sacrifice

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,...”

To be “a living sacrifice” is to be fully at God’s disposal—to be available and willing to obey Jesus in whatever he asks, invites you into or commands. Come with a total allegiance and submission to the Bible — the Christian Scriptures — as our only infallible authority. This means you come with no authority except what you can see in the Scriptures, to savor in your own soul, and to show in the power of the Holy Spirit for the upbuilding of others. John Piper: “Christ’s sacrifice was so complete, so glorious, so full, so decisive that it secured an eternal redemption. If you have Christ, you have eternal forgiveness for all sins.” Offering your body as a living sacrifice to God is to make a daily decision that your desires must die so that you can be free to do with your body what Jesus desires. In the same way that you once used your body to serve yourself and fulfill the lusts and passions of your flesh. In the Old Testament, when someone offered an animal to be burned, it was meant to symbolize a larger truth—that everything they have is at God’s disposal. Don’t give Jesus your leftovers.

Trust 

Jesus gives you the strength to endure grief, disappointment, or hopelessness but the process can be lonely and scary. You have two alternatives: you can cry in sinful disdain over the work that Jesus is doing in and through you, or you can lament deeply with hope in the joy that is set before you. The weeping itself is not the issue — that is probably the most God-glorifying response. But if your weeping comes simply from angered pride, or the shattered shards of your sinful nature, others' sin or your brokenness or other’s brokenness, you’ve moved away from lamenting the way things are to resenting that things are not the way you wanted them to be. The author of Hebrews tells us Christ’s cries were heard because of his reverent submission (open to reason, decided to put Himself) to God (Hebrews 5:7). You are broken. The great thing about being broken is that if God is the Maker, your Maker, He always puts you back together in a way that looks more like Christ than before. In the process, painful though it was or it might be, you will see He also has a son or daughter with special needs: YOU. Relying on God is not a matter of mental willpower; it’s a lifestyle. It’s a holistic shift in daily focus, and it involves mind, body, and soul. Your anxiety/worry is often rooted in trying to avoid suffering. You rely on God by trusting He will do what’s best, even when you experience suffering, loss, and sacrifice. You rely on God that He is a loving Father.

 Read, Ponder, Pray

 His Grace and Peace Be with you!

LET US LOOK AT GOD: WHO IS HE

To find out the true identity of something/someone, you have to start with the original/origin. In Exodus 34:6-7, God fills out His own birth certificate and describes to us who He really is. It is this self-description that is referenced time and again for the rest of Scripture. This is the identity that ought to shape our lives. Our lives or our witness ought to be shaped by the true identity of God not our identity. Our lives are not to be shaped by what's in style or what draws a crowd, but rather by the true identity of God. Hear these words about God's true identity (Ex. 34:6-7, NIV).

Read: Exodus 34-6-7 6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh![a] The Lord !The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.”

He starts with "The Lord, the Lord" or "Yahweh, Yahweh El." God begins by reciting His own name twice followed by "El," the biblical designation for "Deity." This is the only place in the Bible where this repetition is found, but it serves two purposes.

1. It causes us to pause and take notice as He announces His name twice. This is to emphasize the name of God and reminds us of His name "I am that I am" (e.g., Martha, Martha; Peter, Peter).

2. It connects us back to the first description of his name with Moses in Exodus: "Moses, we have had this same conversation before" (vv. 3:13-15).

He restates the name He had given to Moses already: "I am was. I am is. I am will be." He doesn't stop there but then begins to unpack what the "I am that I am" means.

• Compassionate and Gracious God.

• Loving and Faithful God.

• Forgiving and Just God.

Read: Ephesians 1:5 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure

God gave as an identity that is rooted in His sacred truth granted as stated in the Bible. As such, we are not left with the freedom to act independently to try figure out who we are. He has constructed our self-identity and provided us with divine revelations that explicitly shapes our understanding of the self. God reveals that all if us are people are created in the image of Him. In part, this means that humanity is ultimately designed to bear God’s image, be like Jesus and to magnify His glory. This is most evidenced when we live out the call of Jesus to love the Lord with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:13-21

He also shaped us by His redemptive narrative of the Gospel as viewed through the themes of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. As God’s Creation, all of humanity was perfectly designed to worship Him and love him. As we were subjected to the Fall, all people now bear the identity of sinner since the heart resides in a state of death wherein people place self at the center and are no longer concerned with God’s glory. A person in this state is identified as condemned. As partakers of Redemption, by grace, a person is enabled to place faith in Jesus Christ, at which time sins are forgiven and due to God’s mercy, the identity of condemned is replaced with the identity of redeemed. 

God securely made us and see us rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Though still prone to sin, wander and rebel, His gift of the new self is no longer ultimately identified by sin, but by what Jesus has accomplished on behalf of those who place faith in Him.  This identity (who are are) is gifted to us by God and cannot be earned by good deeds. Since all those who put their trust in who God is and who they are (the Believer) become united to Jesus by faith, all that is true of Jesus becomes true us them. Therefore, in Christ, the Believer is holy, perfect, righteous, accepted, approved, valued, and loved by God.

Who we are is continually being transformed by the Holy Spirit. Though considered perfect, righteous, holy, and loved in Christ, God is also committed to working in the heart. This work is actually to create perfection, righteousness, holiness and love in the inner man to progressively resemble the character of Christ through and through. This transformation is ongoing and lifelong and will find its completion at the conclusion of this earthly life.

God the Father who is using every situation or circumstance in life, both joyful and distressing, to conform those who trust who He is and who they say He is into the image of Jesus to assure completion to the new self.  He uses This transformation to rewire the heart to align with His heart, and places Jesus as center of all things. His workings progressively restore humanity to operate by its original design.  The original design is journey and growing with yearning to love God and others becomes to the end that it becomes our purpose, central motivation and joy of life. 

His Grace and Peace Be with you!