“And he [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” – Luke 9:23
Luke 9:23 gives us three steps for following Jesus. The first thing we must do is deny ourselves, and we all have a hard time doing that. Why? Because the hard truth is that we have not fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. The word deny is Strong’s G#533, meaning to deny utterly, i.e., disown, abstain. It has a root meaning to disavow and reject. In order to truly follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and submit to the Spirit.
The instrument we use to deny ourselves is taking up our cross, to put down the desires of the flesh and yield to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
The cross is not something we acknowledge at salvation and move past. Daily, we must put the desires of the flesh to death and live unto righteousness. I often mention the book The Crucified Life by A. W. Tozer because it is the most succinct book on what it means to live completely surrendered to the Lord.
The truth is, for most of us, we love the Lord, but we have not fully surrendered to Him. We have areas we keep for ourselves; there are things we know we need to do, but we let fear stop us from moving forward.
Philippians 3:12-16 “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”
Hebrews 12:1-6 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
It’s easy for us to look for a prophetic word or an encouraging teaching, but do we look for the chastening of the Lord Himself? We so easily look to man to give us the Word of God, but how often do we go to the Word for ourselves? How often do we sit silently and wait on the Lord? I know that I have become too dependent upon man, and I am pulling away with the Lord. We can easily let good things take us away from God; we can even let God-ordained things like teachers pull us away from Him without even realizing it.
Each of us has a cross; it is not a corporate cross; it is a personal cross. No man can tell you how to carry your cross. No man can give you God’s plan and purpose for your life. Take the time to pull away from all other noise, get alone with God, get to know Him, not what others say He is, but who He shows you He is in His Word and in prayer.
God desires to have a relationship with you, and while He has given us gifts of pastors, teachers, prophets, and more, ultimately, the Holy Spirit is your teacher, and Jesus is the vine you abide in.
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