Discovering your cross
Daily, take up your cross and follow me. Jesus carried his cross, we ought to carry ours.
“And he 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
What is your cross and how do you recognize it?
How do you take it up daily and follow Jesus?
The cross for Jesus represented the place and point of his suffering.
The cross was the physical representation of his spiritual ordeal.
What was his ordeal? Separation from his father.
When you're going through a situation and you don't see the Father, you feel alone and unsure. You desperately want the whole thing to stop and go a different way.
It is in those moments you must choose daily what you will do with the situations you face. (Your cross).
Whatever you are dealing with, for any reason, if that thing pulls you away from, separates or threatens to separate you from God and his love for you which is in Christ Jesus, then it becomes a cross.
Jesus became our sin and was nailed to the cross. When you don’t believe that God is able to work everything out for your good and his glory, it is sin and it needs to be nailed to your cross.
Your cross will bear your sin.
Your sin, (your cross), is the place in your life where you left out Jesus.
Anxiety? Jesus is absent.
Stress? Jesus is absent.
Fear? Jesus is absent because HIS perfect love casts out the spirit of fear. 1 John 4:18.
There is no power in your cross, so what will you do with it? Either your cross will weigh you down or you will take it up and follow Jesus.
What did Jesus do with his cross? He picked it up, carried it, and nailed sin to it. In that moment even though it looked really bad on the outside, sin no longer had dominion over you because Jesus conquered death, hell and the grave on that cross.
What should you do with your cross?
Pick it up, by acknowledging there is a problem or situation.
Pick up your bible and look for Jesus.
Apply his words to you situation.
Choose to let your trust and confidence be in Him.
Believe in his word and activate your faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
The situation is temporary. Do not let it overtake you. Jesus, he carried his cross and then the cross carried him.
We first avoid our cross, then we are bogged down by worrying about the cross but Jesus said to carry our cross and follow him.
When we take up our cross and follow Jesus, eventually we dominate that situation and the cross becomes subject to us. John 15:16
Where have you separated yourself from Jesus?
Stop, turn around, take up your cross, look for your Lord, and follow him. He will lead you to the Father, and there you will find peace and rest for your soul, because His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Matthew 11:29.
