PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Matthew 16:22–24
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
CONSIDER THIS
Have you ever wanted to be in two places at once? Maybe you received two invitations for the same day and the same time. You wished you could say yes to both, but you knew it was impossible. You had to make a choice.
As Jesus begins to invite the disciples into the knowledge of what would happen to Him, Peter reacts forcefully, standing his ground. But Jesus responds with just as much force telling the disciples that they have to make a choice. They cannot want what is divine and what is human. They must deny one of these thoughts. The gospel writer uses the word thelō, which is more than just a mental decision made by weighing two options. It’s a heart decision. Jesus is asking about the desire of our hearts. Surrendering control requires us to release our desire. Does your heart long to come after Me?
The disciples had to make a choice. They could not follow Jesus and follow themselves at the same time. That would be like having two different maps to two different locations and trying to follow both at the same time. If any wish to come after Him, they must let go of the wish to control their own plans and be willing to follow Jesus wherever that may lead. How many of us try to pursue earthly gains and spiritual gains simultaneously? The truth is, we cannot hold two desires at the same time. This doesn’t mean that we won’t enjoy success in our lives and businesses, but only one pursuit can control our minds and our hearts.
But this surrender doesn’t just ask us to lay down our lives and our desires. No, we also have something to pick up. It asks us to willingly pick up our cross. Just as the cross became the instrument of Jesus’s earthly death, it becomes the place of our own death. Death to controlling our lives. Death to our own plans. The cross is an intentional and daily commitment to give up control of our lives for the sake of Christ.
Jesus asked His disciples to make a choice. Every person will come to a point when they, too, must make the same choice, which is probably why my favorite verse in Scripture is in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21). You cannot live in two different directions. Jesus is asking you to choose. Are you willing to make that choice today and carry your cross?
THE PRAYER
Lord, the desires of our hearts lead us astray. They move us away from the plans and purposes You have for us. We surrender our own desires, and we pick up our cross so we can follow only You. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
Have you ever felt divided between what you desired and what you felt God desired for you? How did you handle the struggle? How do you know God has the best plan for your life?
For the Awakening,
Susan Kent
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3 Responses
Unfortunately, this foundational teaching about discipleship is both hard but totally necessary if we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It truly is the first step in a continuing journey, and is one that we’ll be required to make each and every day. And it is also true that this will also play out in a culture that strongly opposes this death to seal by declaring that we need to be “true to ourselves “ in order to find happiness in this world. Also there’s the false theological teaching out there that once we’ve made that initial decision to receive Christ, that our eternal salvation is “locked in”, therefore we can continue on secure in our knowledge that we could never leave the true path. The truth is that we must fight the good fight until our race is won. All of this is only possible if we abide in Christ until the very end. No one or nothing can pluck us out of His hand, but we are still free to walk away.
Death to self, not death to seal.
When I woke up this morning this poem was forming in my heart. I call it “The Inner Click.”
Go to your settings.
Click on “Allow Christ,”
So Jesus can start
To notify your heart
What He’s wanting you
To say and to do.
My human concerns are a stumbling block to the concerns of God. My desires resist what God requires. They cause me to turn off Christ’s notifications in my heart.
Discipleship requires cross-bearing and self-denial. To be able to follow the living Jesus I have to be willing to be constantly aware of and focused on Christ’s inner notifications and to continually give up my control, my desires, and my plans to His Lordship and authority.
What I want and what God wants don’t align. Moment-by-moment, I have to choose whose will I will do. Will I be led by God’s Spirit? Will I give Him my heart and let Him steer it? Only as I die to self-will will I begin to live with the holy thrill of daily following and obeying the risen Jesus.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Every time Jesus knocks on your heart, click on “Give Access” so He can fully live in and through you.