Sell All/Take Up The Cross/Invest

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mk. 10:17-22

This post boasts all the subjects that I have listed in the title above.

One would need to write whole books and more to dissect this small portion of scripture, so I will not attempt to do that here. Instead, I will just home in on verses 21 and 22. The Bible says that Jesus beheld this young man and He loved him. That singular fact is of great importance to us in understanding God’s heart for us.

When Jesus loved this young man, it is clear from scripture what Jesus did. The account says He told this young man:

“… go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

We cannot assume that, if Jesus truly loved us, that He would tell us anything less than what He told this young man. But the first thing is to be sure that Jesus does love us. Does Jesus truly love us? You bet He does. He gave His life on the cross for us. But the flesh has a problem with the love of Jesus for, when Jesus says He loves us, the flesh would want Him to shower us with American dollars and houses and lands; and the occasional private jet. Unfortunately, this is the prevailing gospel in the church today. But it is a worldly gospel, of the flesh, and demonic.

But, on the contrary, when Jesus turns His loving gaze upon us, He only has one thing to say to us:

““… go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

Jesus asks us to sell all that we have, to take up our cross and follow Him!

Now, we might not be rich like this man was, and we might have a problem with the “sell whatsoever thou hast” when we probably have nothing to sell. Not all of us have things to sell. But “selling all” here does not necessarily mean giving away or parting with our material riches. More importantly, it means denying ourselves for the sake of the gospel. When you deny yourself, you have “sold all”!

And the poor here might not be referring to the materially poor. But what if the poor here refers to anyone who might need something from you; say, for example, someone feels they need to rob you, or to insult you, or to hit you on the cheek. That’s a poor person right there, and you need to “sell all” and let them have their way with you. Actually, the gospel of Jesus Christ is that demanding.

The gift, or joy, of denying ourselves! The pleasure is all mine, said the Apostle Paul:

“9… Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

The flesh is against the cross. There is nothing in all what Paul writes here that the flesh can rejoice in. But Paul, who in the Spirit saw the beauty of the cross, rejoiced in these contrary states of affairs, things contrary to everything that the flesh stands for. They were the things that would make him spiritually rich.

Denying oneself means exactly that: denying your rights! That is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:38-42:

“38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”

In all what Jesus said to do here, there is a denying of self. In the Spirit, you gain your life by losing it.

Finally, let us see something slightly different but equally important. Scripture says that Jesus beheld this young man and loved him. Now, even in ordinary life, when you love someone, you want the best for them, don’t you? Jesus saw this man, He saw in the Spirit the worldly wealth that this man had and Jesus immediately knew that He could turn this young man, whom He had taken an instant liking to, into one of the top “billionaires” in God’s heavenly Kingdom. All the young man needed to do was… invest. In the Spirit, Jesus saw what this man’s worldly riches were worth in heaven if he could invest them wisely. Jesus decided to inform the young man of the Good News.

“Friend”, He said. “I have for you the best investment proposition that both heaven and earth can offer.

“… go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor”.

Jesus said,

“… and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.”

But, sadly, the rich young man could not see in the Spirit. Unfortunately, he did not see things as Jesus saw them. He did not see the great reward that would be his in heaven if he followed Jesus’ advice to sow in the flesh and reap in the Spirit. He could see only in the flesh; and all he saw was his valuable wealth – and someone (Jesus) trying to take it away from him.

[A woman and a young man meditating]

Seeing Into God’s Kingdom – Part 2

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 2 Cor. 8:1-5

In every epistle that Paul wrote, he reminded the churches of what they first saw in the Spirit. As the prime example of one who had adhered to the revelation of the gospel in his heart, Paul, speaking to King Agrippa, said,

“Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19).

Paul obeyed the heavenly vision that God had given him! What a grace!!

But the heavenly vision that Paul saw was the same vision that the churches had seen through Paul’s preaching – the crucified Christ and the spiritual riches connected with His resurrection – and it was this same vision that he was beseeching them to obey.

In the Kingdom of God we cannot talk about money, nor material wealth. As important as we often tend to think these things are, yet they do not constitute the spiritual riches that God wants us to know of and to possess. It is due to our fleshly weakness that we put so much emphasis on these things. But you could be a billionaire believer here on earth and yet be a pauper in God’s Kingdom.

This is made abundantly clear in our key scripture here through the example of the Macedonian church. Notice they were in “deep poverty”. Do you know what it means to be in deep poverty? Coming from Africa, I do. If you go to the small neighborhood shops particularly in the poorer sections of town during the evening and just hang about, you will hear wonders. You will hear (mostly) women and children buying… half a kilogram of maize flour (which is probably for the entire family six to ten souls); a quarter kg. of sugar; etc. Things like bread are an unbelievable luxury. In fact, much more bread goes stale in some of these shops than is sold. I lived in one such neighborhood and not one shop sold margarine. Such things are unheard of. That is why when you are trying to take a photo in such places and you tell people to say “Cheese!” they will look at one another in perplexion instead. They don’t know what cheese is – and it is not a matter of not understanding the language.

Now, normally when we hear such tales, we feel sorry and we wring our hands in agony because we can’t imagine the sufferings that these poor people are going through. But in the Spirit, we cannot feel sorry for ourselves simply because we do not have cheese to eat. Nor can we say we are suffering because we are financially poor. On the contrary, we suffer in the Spirit when we do not have the grace of God. The sorriest mess of a person in the Kingdom of God is the man or woman who does not have God’s grace in their lives. He/she suffers and God also suffers or grieves in His heart.

That is why, although the Macedonians were dirt poor, they did not feel sorry for themselves, nor did they allow Paul to feel sorry for them. They were upbeat because they were rich in the Spirit. They told Paul, “Paul, we are sticking to the revelation of the gospel that you brought us!” In fact, these guys were so rich – so rich in grace – that they turned the tables on poverty.

They went ahead and brought out the riches of the grace of God that was in their hearts. So much so that Paul was overwhelmed. And when we say that Paul was overwhelmed, it is a given that God was also overwhelmed. For Paul followed Christ; he was a faithful representation of God’s grace and God’s character.

So, therefore, the Macedonians first “gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God”. The abundance of God’s grace in them enabled them to do this. After they gave their own selves, through that same grace, they then gave of their material possessions and finances “beyond their power”!

We are not talking about good people here. We are talking about people who broke through into God’s Kingdom and possessed their inheritance, God’s grace. God’s grace comprises His spiritual riches.

I will end here because one could not possibly write enough about the Macedonians.

But we cannot help noticing that as the Macedonians were exercising the grace of God by giving their lives, the Corinthians, who were much more affluent, were holding tight onto their purses. They had promised Paul that they would give to the poor saints in Jerusalem and a whole year had gone by without even a dime given! Now Paul had to send Titus once again to try and pry some money from them!! Incredible.

May God give us the grace to see into His Kingdom and to partake of His spiritual riches, His grace.

Seeing Into God’s Kingdom – Part 1

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power… Eph. 1:15-19

I have a brother, a fellow pastor, who goes from one conference to another, from seminar to seminar, and I have come  to discover that all he is really after is money. Most of the conferences that he attends are hosted by organisers who promise numerous perks to the attendees: return tickets, free food, free accommodation and even, sometimes, pocket money. The truly big fish that a preacher can land in these meetings, of course, is to ‘connect’ with a wealthy ministry that can support him financially.

In my heart, I have refrained from judging this brother because I was once in exactly the same boat that he is in right now. There was a time when I thought that “gain is godliness” (1 Tim 6:5)!

But the revelation of the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ has helped me to know that God’s Kingdom has absolutely nothing to do with anything of this world, much less its material and financial propositions. Therefore now, even though I may not have everything that I need in this world, yet my eyes are not set on these things.  I run a different race now, a difficult one in the flesh, but refreshing in the Spirit.

Notice, in the above scripture, that Paul prays for the Ephesians that, as believers in Christ, their spiritual eyes may be opened to the end that they may see or “know” something different from what the world is chasing after. The things that he wants them to see are spiritual:

• The hope of God’s calling upon their lives;
• The riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints; and
• The exceeding greatness of God’s power in us who believe.

The Letter to the Ephesians is an incredibly powerfully spiritual letter. Right from the beginning, it compellingly portrays our spiritual inheritance in the Spirit. But for us to know these things, our spiritual eyes must be enlightened.

Most people assume that, because they are saved, that they can see everything, that they know everything. But that is a wrong assumption. Notice how Paul addresses the Ephesians in verse 13:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise…”

In other words, these were people who had believed in Christ Jesus. They were saints. Moreover, they were filled with the Holy Spirit (“… sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” – refer Acts 2:39). The Ephesians were Spirit-filled, tongues-speaking believers!

And yet the Apostle Paul prays for their eyes to be enlightened. How can that be?

It is scenarios like that of my pastor friend that show that the church’s eyes are not enlightened yet, even though we are saved. When a baby is born, it is born with its eyes closed. The mother looks for nothing else but the eyes. She eagerly anticipates the moment when her baby’s eyes will flip open and, as she looks deep into her baby’s eyes she says, with deep emotion, “Welcome to the world, baby!”

It is even so with God. God’s earnestness is for us to see into His spiritual Kingdom. Not until our spiritual eyes have been enlightened to see into His spiritual Kingdom can God feel truly satisfied and say, “Welcome to My Kingdom, my beloved son/daughter!”

[Below: “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Ps. 24:1. Many nationalities, including Chinese, are welcome in Tanzania]

The Cross For Our Worship

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Mat. 4:8-10

Let me begin, at the very outset, by stating the most important thing that I set out to say in this post.

What I want every reader to understand is that as far as the believer is concerned, the devil has only one goal – only one: to blind the believer to God’s plan and purpose in the Spirit. The devil’s singular goal in your life is to blind you to God’s spiritual purpose and instead have you focus on the material life of this world – and thus worship him.

Seeing this is the singular point that I wanted to make in this post, I probably need to write that in bold capitals:

THE DEVIL HAS ONLY ONE GOAL IN OUR LIVES: TO BLIND US TO GOD’S WILL AND PURPOSE IN THE SPIRIT, AND THEREBY WORSHIP HIM.

THAT IS NOT HIS NO. 1 OR NO. 2 OR NO. 3 GOAL: RATHER, IT IS HIS SINGULAR GOAL IN OUR LIVES.

Very few men would not stop to consider it, even if it were momentarily, if they were tempted with a substantial amount of worldly wealth. And no amount that the devil would give any man would hardly compare with what he was offering Jesus here: “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”.

Jesus was under severe, intense temptation here. The master of this world was offering Him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”! Just stop and think about that. The devil’s “if” indicates that our Lord Jesus was about to lose and lose it big.

But in Jesus, Satan met more than his match. At every step of the way, Jesus did not miss a single beat. He met the devil’s challenge word for word – and the devil knew Jesus meant every word He said. Try as he might, the devil could not crack a chink in Jesus’ spiritual armor and finally he had to leave.

Notice in the scripture above that it is about whom we worship. If you told a believer today that they were worshipping Satan, they would have you arrested by the state police. Literally. But this scripture proves to us that, without a doubt, many believers are actually worshipping Satan.

Colossians 3:5 states:

“… covetousness… is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

Idolatry is the worship of false gods, and the Bible teaches here that coveting the things of this world is equal to worshipping a false god – in this case, Satan himself.

Satan was trying to get Jesus to commit the sin of idolatry. He was showing Jesus the glory of this world and trying to get Him to lust and covet after it. Mind you, Jesus here was not God; He was as much man as you and I.

But Jesus was dead to covetousness. Long before He would be crucified physically, Jesus had crucified his flesh in the Spirit. He had not an iota of desire for the things of this world. As far as this world was concerned, for Him, the words of the Apostle Paul applied:

“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1 Tim. 6:8).

Walking fully in the Spirit, Jesus made short work of the devil’s strenuous attempts to have him worship him by coveting the world.

Today, Satan has no such problems with the church as he had with Jesus. As a matter of fact, today, there is a gospel that is fully dedicated to worshipping the devil – and this gospel is alive and well in a born-again, Spirit-filled, tongues-speaking church. It is called the gospel of prosperity. A vast majority of the church of Jesus Christ are under the influence of this gospel.

The gospel of prosperity is vast in its scope. This gospel begins by saying that Jesus promised us that “… all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat. 6:33). From there on, it reverts into free-for-all mode, where any teaching is acceptable as long as it brings material and physical gain to the recipient.

The healing ministry, today largely an inherent part of the prosperity gospel, has itself become a big money-spinning industry. There are healing ministries, healing churches, and even healing schools! One of the most diabolical offshoots of the healing ministry is the wildly acclaimed ‘deliverance’ ministry, where the devil is clearly running things in person. At present, under this ministry, the hottest-selling commodity is something called anointing water. Whatever this water is, it has taken on a life of its own and it has become the life-support for many believers.

Incidentally, in many places of worship and even on the streets, this water is being sold at exorbitant prices.

Under the guise of ‘deliverance’ people are being made to eat grass, snakes, frogs… the list of horrors is endless.

Under the prosperity gospel, every other ministry – the worship ministry, the prophetic ministry, the apostolic ministry, and every all other ministries – have been hijacked to cater only for the physical and material well-being of God’s people. And, apart from the fact that these ministries no longer cater to the spiritual need of the church, today, all these ministries are million-dollar money- minting machines.

The devil loves to be worshipped and he will use everything in his power to achieve this goal. That is why he was willing to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if only He would worship him. If you know anything about how the world runs, you will acknowledge that what the devil was offering was a sure deal. Jesus would have become the most powerful man on earth!

Now, we all know that although the devil has power over all the material wealth in the world, yet he is the stingiest and most selfish soul alive. He is extremely rich in two these qualities. But here we see him willing to give Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”!

This shows the extent to which the devil will go to blind God’s people. If you have a problem with money in your heart, he will use money to ensnare you. He will bring money into your life. Of course, he will begin by giving you small amounts since it is not in his nature to give. But if he sees that the amount he is giving you is not enough to get you away from seeing into the Spirit, he will increase the bounty. But the devil goes even further than that. He will sacrifice everything if the catch justifies it!

That is why all the top preachers today are wildly moneyed. You cannot take someone who was powerfully called and anointed by God – as many of these men were initially – and try to con him with a ten-dollar bill! If you are serious about your mission to derail such a preacher, then you will have to think in terms of “releasing” private jets and million-dollar mansions. And, believe me, the devil knows all this and he is willing to pay the price.

He had no problem giving the Son of God “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”!

Today he is giving preachers dollars and material wealth.

Of course, with Jesus, the devil was patting in the dark. Jesus did not exhibit even one carnal trait upon which Satan could hinge his traps on. But he tried anyway.

But with us, he knows our weak spots. If you lust after anything, the devil knows it and he will give you tons of it, if need be.

But there is no way we can claim to be living for God if we love the world and the things in it. On the contrary, we need to die to the flesh and to the world. That is why we need to thank God exceedingly that He has brought us, once again, the revelation of the cross. Through this revelation, the Pauline doctrine of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2) has become alive again! Praise Jesus for that!

And we should be extremely grateful that this gospel is being revealed in our day. How much God loves us! And how is it that God has brought about this revelation in our day?! We are not blind, and we can see the damage being done by the charismatic gospel. How much grateful should we be to God for bringing the cross into our hearts?

The cross “…by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14).

What glorious words! Being crucified to the world, and the world to me, beats “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”!

It is the only way I can worship God in truth and in the Spirit.

What You See…

44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46

A brother and I were discussing this verse recently and he asked me whether I had ever seen a pearl. I told him no. He told me he had also never seen one.

To our amazement we found that neither of us had ever even heard of anyone who had seen a pearl, let alone own one.

From the scripture above, it appears that a pearl is something of incredibly great value. Jesus compared it with hidden treasure. He also said this pearl was something for which someone – in one instance an astute merchant man – was willing to go sell all that he had to come buy it.

You notice also that the men mentioned in these verses of scripture were seeking after something – something of value. And when they found it, they let go of everything they had, that they might gain this thing, which was the object of their heart’s desire.

I might never live to see a pearl in the natural. But I do know that I saw something the day I heard the gospel of the cross preached. There is no doubt about that. I found what my heart had been seeking for all my life long. In the revelation of the cross I found Truth.

When I heard the gospel of the cross, it shook me. I will be forever grateful to God for enabling me to see something of value in the cross. When I say “me” I mean my spirit, of course. Were I dependent on my mind, I would have run away from it, it shook me so bad. But I saw something. I can never explain what it was that made me to stay around after I had heard a gospel that brought the sword to my heart. But I am sure my spirit saw something, and that was why I stayed. And I am still right there.

One of Apostle Paul’s prayers for the churches was that their spiritual eyes might be opened. “What you see is what you get”, they say.

I once heard of an ‘apostle of money’. In other words, this ‘apostle’ sees money, and he preaches money. No doubt his followers also see money.

Today there are ‘apostles’ for every commodity, on earth and in heaven.

But the revelation of the cross causes you to focus on the all-important aspect of the gospel – the crucifixion of the flesh.

A lack of this revelation leads to a gratification of the flesh. There are many Christians today gratifying the flesh “in the Name of Jesus”.

The Apostle Paul knew where to find the life: it was in identifying his life with the sufferings and death of Christ. Have you ever wondered why Paul would want to “know” nothing among the Corinthians “save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”? (1 Cor. 2:2) There is much food for thought there.

Ever since my heart grasped the revelation of the cross, my focus has been drastically changed. I desire only one thing: to know Him and His sufferings and death that “if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11). It is the life of Christ that I seek after. I am not perfect, which makes me wonder how long it took these gentlemen to “sell all they had”. Certainly not as long as I am taking; but I am assured in my heart that as long as my eyes stay focused on that pearl – the cross and the grace to be found therein – I will one day find myself in God’s perfect will.

[Below: God’s Kingdom is way deep down in a man’s heart]

Naomi pt.1

Some days ago my fellow pastor Joshua and I went to visit a couple who had recently been blessed with a baby girl. When we inquired what the new baby’s name was, the mother replied, “Naomi!” I looked at Joshua and we exchanged broad smiles. The story of Naomi had been featuring prominently in our conversations lately, and we were both struck by the coincidence of it all.

When we told the couple the source of our rejoicing, they were exceedingly happy. We took time to thank God for His grace, for we felt His hand was upon this child.

We are living in a time when the Book of Ruth, and particularly the life of Naomi, is so very relevant for the Church. I would like to take some time this week to meditate on some of the lessons that we learn from this great book. To begin with, let me point out that the Biblical Book of Ruth is actually the story of Naomi. Without Naomi there would have been no Ruth. It is also a story about perseverance. Through her perseverance Naomi caused Ruth to live another life and come into the line of bringing our Savior Jesus Christ into the world.

Naomi lost her husband and her two only children in the land of Moab. She was left with nothing. There is nothing remarkable about Naomi losing her entire family. Misfortunes of this sort affect people in every generation. But, you see, when we take up our cross in circumstances that God allows into our lives, God is able to move on many different fronts. Nothing is written about Naomi’s lifestyle, but I am convinced the Godly life that she lived in the sight of her two Moabite daughters-in-law is central to the message in the Book of Ruth.

Ruth must have watched closely Naomi’s lifestyle. She must have watched as she lost, first her husband, then her two sons, one after the other. During these times of tragedy, many things must have happened. Maybe words were discreetly spoken behind her back. Questioning glances thrown her way. After each burial, her Moabite neighbors would no doubt go back home wondering about this “cursed” woman.

The pain and sorrow in Naomi’s life must have been plain for Orpah and Ruth to see.

And yet, Ruth must have seen something else in Naomi’s life as she struggled with her misfortunes: faith in a living God. Most likely Naomi did not react in the natural, like other people. She probably sang songs of praise to God like Paul and Silas would do much later in prison. She probably called in her two daughters-in-laws after every tragedy, and consoled them, and told them of hope in God, and of life after death.

Through her resoluteness Naomi proved her faith in a living God. Her beautiful faith was clear to all. Probably Orpah did not look hard enough, and when the opportunity came to separate from Naomi, she quickly exited the scene.

For Ruth, however, when that moment arrived, her decision was firm. She would follow Naomi. “And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me” (1:16-17). 

When we take up our Cross and follow Jesus, God works miracles. Through that living faith we allow others into God’s Kingdom. Evangelizing, preaching and witnessing for Jesus are all vital components in bringing people to Christ, but what will get people firmly rooted and attain to the full realization of God’s purpose in their Christian lives is the divine power that can only come from lives that are totally surrendered to the Lord; lives that are suffering and dying daily with Christ.

The Apostle Paul explains it this way: “So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12). We all have our share of worldly tribulations, tests, trials and temptations. But these all occur so we may learn to take up our cross and follow Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 4:12-13 Paul says: “…being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat.” Why would the early apostles go into all this trouble? The answer is: to bring life to others. There is no other means to achieve this other than to lose our lives through the revelation of the Cross. Had there been an easier way, Jesus would most definitely have taken it.

Are we living for ourselves, or for others? We cannot have our cake and eat it. If we are to live for others then we must die; and when we die, we reap a glorious, heavenly reward far beyond our wildest dreams.