Brothers in Christ, Take Up Your Cross Daily

My wife and I are attending a class at our church, Biblical Self Confrontation, which is a great 23-week course I feel every Christian should take. It is presented by The Biblical Counseling Foundation and is a course one would take prior to the Biblical Counseling course.

Before you even think that you are not a counselor, remember we are all called to counsel at one point or another in our life with Christ. We are nearly halfway through the course, and I wanted to share a section that I thought was very good at examining self. 

Your contentment in all circumstances is dependent on your obedient response to God in your deeds (thoughts, words and actions) (Gen. 4:7, Ps. 119:165, Is. 26:3, Luke 11:28, John 15:10-11, 2 Cor. 4:7-10, 16-18, Phil. 4:6-11). By obeying the Lord in your daily walk, you show your love for the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:15, 21, 23-24, 1 John 2:4-5 ) and demonstrate his lordship in your life (Matt. 7:21). 

You will face constant temptations of self-centeredness that lead to thoughts, words and actions that are devastating to the body of Christ and your own walk with the Lord. Because they characterize your life apart from Christ, these sins must be confessed and overcome if you are to mature as a child of God. 

I always tell Christian brothers and sisters that if they want to experience a full and abundant life, and blessings beyond their imagination, the key to it all is complete submission and obedience to the Lord.

When you practice complete submission and obedience to the Lord God, you will enter what I have heard called “second vision;” this is where you will experience supernatural things of and from God. So brothers, I challenge you all to examine your relationship with Christ. Is there something in your life that is holding you back from entering second vision?

Remember Luke 9:23-24, which says, “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.'”

God Bless all you warriors. 

For the original blog, visit nomatterthecost.org.