"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23-24
I've been asking the Lord what it looks like for me to deny myself and take up my cross daily. I've been praying for Him to show me how to do this each day before I go to work. Let me tell you it is painful. The first morning that I prayed about this I felt so good and sure that I was going to do Jesus proud. Little did I know the first test was before I even got out of bed! Right when I was going to get in the shower, I heard my mother in law start the shower downstairs. My praise Jesus attitude flew out the window. I was infuriated. I know it seems silly, but I am on a tight schedule in the morning, and she didn't have to start work until an hour after me. I was so mad. I had a moment of, okay think about what you've been praying for. Deny yourself, Jolene. But that thought was fleeting. I immediately called my husband to vent. Then when I heard she was done, I stomped downstairs and hollered "are you done in the shower?! Because I need to get in there!!" Just to make sure she knew I was extremely irritated. (To tell you the truth I get a little irritated just typing this! Ridiculous.) Anyway, after I showered and was ready for the day, I realized it really wasn't that big of a deal. And looking at it from a calmer perspective I realized that even if it was a big deal, I was not called to get angry and get even, I was called to forgive and DENY myself. I certainly did not do a good job that morning for sure. But I was thankful at how quickly the Lord showed me an example. So I'm camping on these verses, hopefully indefinitely. It is so the opposite of my natural being. I immediately want to defend myself and not allow myself to be wronged by anyone. But I think about Jesus dragging that heavy cross strapped to his wounded back on the way to his horrible death and it helps to put things in perspective. I absolutely love how God's ways are the opposite of the world's. Anyway, have a good week!
Jolene
4 comments:
Wow, this is crazy, I studied this verse just yesterday and got a book I hope to do this summer, it's all about that verse! Maybe we could do it together and see how it goes!
It's called "A Call to Die" by David Nasser! To be honest, I read the introduction when I got home and it freaked me out! I was like Lord I am sooooo not ready for this, let me put it on the coffee table and pray about when a good time would be to do it! Check the book out and see what you think. It's a 40 day type devotional with memorization and journaling type questions each day.
I'm praying for you! Great blog entry!
This is good...Luke 9:23-24 amplified.
23 And He said to all , If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].
24 For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].
I love looking up in the dictionary!
Interest.....
Preserve: to keep safe from harm or injury; protect or spare.
to keep up; maintain.
Love,
Stacy
Excellent post Jolene!
Hopefully writing this blog is a way for you to really take the objective perspective and be able to see when God gives you food for thought, just like you've seen here.
The world does indeed have all the pain and heartache we can imagine and not much else to offer (though people keep trying to look fr meaning in it anyway). How awesome that God requires us to grow closer to Him, away from the useless rat-race we humans invented to distract ourselves! :)
hey girl!
I love your love for the Savior, it is CONTAGIOUS!!! Thanks for being real, and revealing the little parts of your day that could have been used for Christ, its good to see those examples because it reminds me of all the little parts in my day that I could give over to God...thanks for helping me pursue Him in a deeper way!
love you girl:)
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