"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." - (Matthew 16:25 NKJV)
If Christ is the kind of Savior He claims to be, He can obviously save His people from the bondage of sin. This is not to support the man-made doctrine of “sinless perfection”; it is rather to declare the God inspired doctrine that it is possible to “walk in the Spirit” and so “not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Gal. 5: 16 NKJV) The Spirit has the power to enable us to walk in all the light that we have received and to no longer walk in willful sin. God has made provision in the cross of Christ for His children to be delivered from the yoke of sin.
John 12:24 KJV - [24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit.
There is no other way to this Life in Christ except by the cross of denying ourselves daily, as Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “…If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
Many insist that this is beyond our ability. Our real trouble, however, is in our unwillingness to die to our own will and ways. The Cross touches self and exposes the old willful nature. Here is the inbred sin that everyone receives from Adam. But we must go into our ownGarden of Gethsemane and choose to take His way of the cross. Only then can He begin to
work in the supernatural, which includes His scourging work, to bring about the
end of the old flesh-life.
Many insist that this is beyond our ability. Our real trouble, however, is in our unwillingness to die to our own will and ways. The Cross touches self and exposes the old willful nature. Here is the inbred sin that everyone receives from Adam. But we must go into our own
When
we have a hunger or thirst for something from this world, when we are being tempted by the devil, there
are two ways of quenching those desires. It will either be by giving into them
by taking the easy road that the Lord called the “wide road” that leads to
destruction, or by fighting the good fight of faith and submitting to the cross
of Christ in a willingness to suffer with Him by denying those fleshy evil
desires and desiring only His will to be done. This is the “narrow way” that
leads to Life. Only after being approved by continuing to choose the harder
path, i.e. the “narrow way”, will the Lord impart a new life in us and begin to
display His nature through us.
James 4:7: Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:10 KJV - [10] But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his
eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you
perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you].
Every
downward step, every dying to self, every embracing of the cross—whether in the
form of denial or degradation, of suffering or separation, of false accusation
or humiliation— all these and a hundred other things that might be mentioned,
are not a descent into misery but actually an ascent to life and power on the
throne. Our call to embrace the Cross is a call to reign with Christ.
Have
you truly become a follower of Christ? There is no other way to find His life.
If you are attempting to find a way into the heavenly realms other than through
the cross, you are deceiving yourself. Listen to Jesus: “You will indeed drink
the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be
baptized.” (Mark 10:39 )
L.E.
Maxwell said: “He who is joined to the
Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor. 6:17) Listen fellow believer. The
promises of the Lord are sure. “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with
Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
(Rev. 3:21) It was only by overcoming the self-seeking and self-exalting ways
of this world that He gained this eternal position. The only way up is down.
I have never learned more about what taking up my cross really means than I have since I met you and began reading Steve Bray's writings. I thank God he brought you guys (and Joe) into my life. It has greatly helped my faith by showing me what death to self looks like in day to day life. Church NEVER even came close. Yet I thank no man but God only.
ReplyDeleteI will press on in the faith until I am truly dead at which time God will raise Christ to life in me! Praise God for giving me the understanding that I don't have to "wait til I die and go to Heaven" for this resurrection life. (I can die and go to Heaven before I die and go to Heaven!!)