Pick Up Your Cross And Follow Me

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If any would come after me. let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

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.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 8:35-38, 9:1)

The cost of discipleship includes being able to follow Jesus and to confess Him courageously. I wrote a couple days back regarding the attacks I had been receiving due to being courageous or my newfound boldness rather in speaking publicly in my blog which breadandwater.blog happens to be reaching people all over the world about Jesus Christ the Son of God. Just because people aren’t beheading me, or imprisoning me for speaking out about Jesus, there are people that don’t agree with me and will say and do things to try to shut me up. That is a type of persecution here in America. Over the past few years I have learned about surrender and that is what it is going to take to pick up your cross; complete surrender to God. It is a daily decision to deny your own selfish desires, put your ego and personal plans to death, (that’s what kind of death he is talking about), then follow Jesus’ teachings no matter the personal cost, that’s obedience. Jesus commands this in the Gospels, it is an absolute requirement for being His disciples, (Matt.16:24), (Mark 8:34) and (Luke 9:23).

Jesus meant that a true follower must be willing to put their old, self-centered life to death in order to live for Christ. Choosing God’s will over our own comfort, reputation, or worldly success. It is a daily willingness to accept the challenges and sacrifices that come with living righteously. It is a willing, active choice of surrender and obedience to God. These are areas I have been trying to exemplify for the past three years. I admit the cross can get pretty heavy at times, but I know the end results of picking it up and carrying it. I have been in another group as an admin. with a lifelong friend of mine for the past 6 years called Encouraging Each Other. I believe the Lord would have me step away from the administration part of that and pour my heart, soul and strength into my Blog. For one, my blog is under the direction of the Holy Spirit, there is an anointing on it and He tells me what to write. Encouraging Each Other can be anything that would lift another person up; such as positive sayings, quotes and testimonies of the wonderful things the Lord has done in people’s lives and I have shared many of those myself and plan to continue to. All of this is absolutely great. Except I believe the direction of my breadandwater blog is going more toward life instruction, growth, relational, and testimonial as well reflecting on the way we are living versus the way God tells us to live and of course the message and the urgency of salvation. I have been blessed to have been an administrator of Encouraging Each Other, one of the greatest parts of it for me, was welcoming new members into the group. I love seeing all the people that enjoy this group and how much it has grown. But, now it is time for me to pick up my cross and follow Jesus to where he is calling me. It has taken me forever to learn Surrender and Obedience and one day I want to hear well done good and faithful servant. As much as I want to see where he is leading me right now.

Now don’t hear what I am not saying as a Pastor I know once, actually many times would say. I am not asking y’all to leave Encouraging Each Other, matter of fact I am not leaving, but I won’t be admin. anymore, nor will I be posting my Blog on there anymore after today, but I will post words of encouragement when I have them and I will definitely be reading yours. I would like to ask any of you who have not already subscribed to my Blog if you find it of interest please do go ahead and subscribe. You will receive an email every time I post by subscribing. Or feel free to just pop in from time to time. I love all of you who are supporting me by reading now, y’all are the best and we are still family. And keep on Encouraging Each Other.