Deny, Take Up, Follow

We are hosting an event for Compassion International on 91.9,91.5 The Family today, so I will not be airing a Prime Time Devo. So I thought I would dig into the archives and re-post one from this date four years ago: # 511 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 8:34b “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Jesus says there are three things that His disciples must allow for. They must (1) deny themselves, (2) take up their cross, and (3) follow Him. Commenting on this passage, the 19th century Swiss theologian Frederic Godet said that “three things are necessary in traveling: first to say farewell, (to self); secondly, to carry our baggage (the cross); thirdly to proceed with the journey (follow Me). Today we will look at what it means to “follow Jesus.” It is not enough to deny self and to take up our cross, we must complete the journey. We must keep following Jesus. Through God-given faith, we are placed in the hands of Jesus for the journey, but He does not hold us with a clenched fist, we have the choice to cease following Him at anytime. The journey is long and treacherous, but He promises that no one can pluck us out of His hand. Oh the devil and his demons may swarm around us, tempting us and engaging in intense spiritual warfare, but we are safe as long as we choose to stay in the hand of Jesus, and we demonstrate our willingness to stay as we daily confess our sins, and live in His forgiveness. Father, help those today who may be tempted to give up. Thwart any and all efforts of the enemy to discourage them, give them Holy Spirit power to endure.