Follow Me ─Why Do So Many Give Up? ─ Part two

"If anyone would come after Me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow Me." Luke 9:23

A lot of us tend to look at this verse and conclude that it is mainly about the missionaries in the field and about sharing the gospel.  What’s wrong with our view of discipleship is that we equate discipleship mostly with work. But, being a disciple simply means you are a learner and you are learning from Him. We must learn self-denial, waiting, patience, surrender, abide, complete obedience, humility and endure trials, etc, all the while, we are to cultivate a contempt for the world. There is no question that without the inward work done for us by the indwelling Spirit, the workers get easily discouraged and often give up because they are working out of their own self-interests and are unable to renew their strength in Him. 

So, as we focus on discipleship, if all we see is the outward work that can be done FOR God then, there is a strong chance that we have not learned to give up self interest yet. Because, as we learn to die to self, we learn to also get to know ourselves and we have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit’s challenge in making us His true disciples. The point is, Christ had so much more in mind when He told us to come after Him or to become His disciple. If we do not let the Holy Spirit influence the way we live out this life and it make sense that we get stuck and discourage and quit the process.

Christ has given us so much to ponder in verse 23. First we are to count the cost of our decision, second we are to learn to deny self, third we are to take up the cross He put in front of us” (not our own man made idea of what the cross should be) then we follow. Christ wanted to make sure those following Him understand what He was offering. By saying they needed to take up the cross and denied self, He was indeed saying, while at first this life might seems exciting because of the miracles, the word that seemed out of this world, and the power etc, but it would take more than mere curiosity or enthusiasm based on our own self-interests, to truly follow after Him.

Let’s think about it for a moment, any true Christian has one goal which is to follow Christ wherever He leads and where He is leading is none other than His Kingdom of course. A true Christian knows you cannot take your own navigation tools and decide you know a better way. God has never changed and He still wants us to do things, His way and it is only in learning things His ways that we can succeed. Most of the time, His way will not be the easiest one. For instance we see Him taking the Israelites by the longest route. In reality, He could have taken the Israelites by a different route and they would have gotten in the Promised Land in a few days. But that was not His plan and He had a good reason for it too. He needed them to learn to know Him and learn the art of fighting.  

What happened to the Israelites in the wilderness? First their enthusiasm gave in, then, resentment and disobedience set in. What was the result of it all? They were fascinated by the life of Egypt. In the Bible, Egypt represents sin and the world and even though they could not go back to Egypt in person, but God could never have their minds and hearts. Right until the end, in Jeremiah's book you can see the Israelites have never been able to give God their undivided attention, and truly consecrated their hearts to Him.

  

Personally I found when you count the cost of Christianity; the next step is the willingness to die to self. The biggest shock to my system was when one day it dawned on me that Christianity was not like that social club I thought it was. Then I thought to myself why is it this person told me at the beginning that I have nothing to do and I belong to the group going to heaven? Why is it the Bible shows there is much more to it? Even though I did not understand what that much more meant I knew I was lied to and the person who lied to me did not do it on purpose either. He simply never learned to count the cost, or learned to die to self.  Then I began to study the Bible just so that I could see what were asked of me, should I decide to follow. This is when I got upset and stopped making notes from my findings. It felt as if God was dangling something unattainable in front of me. I actually accused Him of being unjust. The only response I got from Him was: “well, surrender to me” That too was a few months of agony to get there.

Later on, I found out, He is the architect and He is the only one who possesses the plan as to what the building is going to look like when it is finished. As workers, all we can do is, to do as we are told and true Christian workers take their leads from the Holy Spirit directly. When we have not learned to count the cost and be led by the indwelling Spirit,   we go around saying that we are Christians, yet we have no idea why other people are making our lives miserable with stuff like higher life, dying to self etc. That is because we convinced ourselves the outward work and appearance are good enough and we have no solid foundation.  

 As for denying the self, books have been written about it but it is a life where you are aware that you are dying slowly as Christ is taking over more and more. (He must increase, I must decrease) My point here is to show you first off, the work that is involved in following after Him is actually harder than being a missionary overseas, or going abroad preaching the gospel. The real work is the inward work we are called to let the indwelling Spirit do with us in order to get us where Christ intended for us to be. The more we keep insisting on doing things our way, we only set ourselves up for disappointment. 

Help to Self-Denial

For the attaining of self-denial, let these rules be observed:

By thomas Watson, 1675

Be convinced of the incomparable excellency of Christ. He is the quintessence of goodness. He is compared to a head of gold—for riches, Song of Solomon 5:10; to the Rose of Sharon—for perfume, Song of Solomon 2:1; to a bright morning star—for beauty, Revelation 22:16. Jesus Christ is all that is good and lovely. He is all we can require for satisfaction, or that we can desire for salvation. He is fully commensurate to our needs. He has eye salve to anoint us, white raiment to cover us, and His blood to heal us. We shall never deny ourselves for Christ—until we see glory and a beauty in Him. Christ is all marrow and sweetness. He is better than life, estate, or heaven!

Endeavor after a vital principle of grace. Grace will do that which flesh and blood cannot do. A man may do that by skill—which he cannot do by strength. A burden of great weight may be lifted up by pulleys, which cannot be lifted up by strength of arm. Grace will teach one the art of self-denial, which cannot be done by strength of nature. In particular, labor for three graces.

Humility. A proud man admires himself; therefore he cannot deny himself. A humble man lays his mouth in the dust. He has lower thoughts of himself, than others can have of him. He renounces himself. He opens to God as the flower opens to the sun. He will have—what God will have for him. He will be—what God will have him be. He is like melting wax. God may set whatever stamp and impression He will, upon him. The humble man is the self-denier.

Love. Who will not deny himself for a friend whom he loves? He will part with anything he has. He will gratify him who he loves, though it is to his own loss. He whose heart is fired with love for Christ—will stop at nothing for His sake. Gregory Nazianzen said of his Athenian learning, that he was glad he had anything of worth, to esteem as nothing, for Christ. Love for God will devour self-love.

Faith. Abraham was a great self-denier. He left his kindred and country and was willing to travel to any place where God would have him. Whence was this? It was from his faith. Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham obeyed and went out, not knowing where he went." He who believes that Christ and heaven are his—what will he not relinquish for Christ's sake? The stronger a Christian's faith is, the more eminent will his self-denial be.

Pray much for self-denial. Prayer sets God to work, Psalm 10:17. Let this be your grand request—a self-denying frame of heart. Self-denial does not grow in nature's soil. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Beg God that He will plant this heavenly flower in your soul. Say, "Lord, whatever You deny me, do not deny me self-denial. Let me rather lack great abilities, nay, let me lack the comforts of the Spirit—rather than self-denial."

There may be going to heaven without comfort—but there is no going there without self-denial.

Self-Denial

By Richard Baxter

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

You hear ministers tell you of the odiousness and danger and sad effects of sin; but of all the sins that you ever heard of, there is scarce any more odious and dangerous than selfishness; and yet most are never troubled at it, nor sensible of its malignity. My principal request therefore to you is, that as ever you would prove Christians indeed, and be saved from sin and the damnation which follows it—take heed of this deadly sin of selfishness, and be sure you are possessed with true self-denial; and if you have, see that you use and live upon it.

And for your help herein, I shall tell you how your self-denial must be tried. I shall only tell you in a few words, how the least measure of true self-denial may be known: wherever the interest of carnal self is stronger and more predominant habitually than the interest of God, of Christ, of everlasting life, there is no true self-denial or saving grace; but where God's interest is strongest, there self-denial is sincere. If you further ask me how this may be known, briefly thus:

What is it that you live for? What is that good which your mind is principally set to obtain? And what is that end which you principally design and endeavor to obtain, and which you set your heart on, and lay out your hopes upon? Is it the pleasing and glorifying of God, and the everlasting fruition of Him? Or is it the pleasing of your fleshly mind in the fruition of any inferior thing? Know this, and you may know whether self or God has the greatest interest in you. For that is your God which you love most, and please best, and would do most for.

Which do you most prize—the means of your salvation and of the glory of God, or the means of providing for self and flesh? Do you more prize Christ and holiness, which are the way to God—or riches, honor, and pleasures, which gratify the flesh? Know this, and you may know whether you have true self-denial.

If you are truly self-denying, you are ordinarily ruled by God, and His Word and Spirit, and not by the carnal self. Which is the rule and master of your lives? Whose word and will is it ordinarily that prevails? When God draws, and self draws—which do you follow in the tenor of your life? Know this, and you may know whether you have true self-denial.

If you have true self-denial, the drift of your lives is carried on in a successful opposition to your carnal self, so that you not only refuse to be ruled by it, and love it as your god—but you fight against it, and tread it down as your enemy. So that you go armed against self in the course of your lives, and are striving against self in every duty. And as others think—it then goes best with them, when self is highest and pleased best; so you will know that then it goes best with you—when self is lowest, and most effectually subdued.

If you have true self-denial, there is nothing in this world so dear to you, but on deliberation you would leave it for God. He who has anything which he loves so well that he cannot spare it for God, is a selfish and unsanctified wretch. And therefore God has still put men to it, in the trial of their sincerity, to part with that which was dearest to the flesh. Abraham must be tried by parting with his only son. And Christ makes it His standing rule, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).

Yet it is true that flesh and blood may make much resistance in a gracious heart; and many a striving thought there may be, before with Abraham we part with a son, or before we can part with wealth or life; but yet on deliberation, self-denial will prevail. There is nothing so dear to a gracious soul, which he cannot spare at the will of God, and the hope of everlasting life. If with Peter we would flinch in a temptation—we should return with Peter in weeping bitterly, and give Christ those lives that in a temptation we denied Him.

In a word, true self-denial is procured by the knowledge and love of God, advancing Him in the soul—to debasing of self. The illuminated soul is so much taken with the glory and goodness of the Lord, that it carries him out of himself to God, and as it were estranges him from himself, that he may have communion with God. This makes him vile in his own eyes, and to abhor himself in dust and ashes. It is not a stoical resolution, but the love of God and the hopes of glory—which make him throw away the world, and look contemptuously on all below, so far as they are mere provision for flesh.


Search now, and try your hearts by these evidences, whether you are possessed of this necessary grace of self-denial. O make not light of the matter! For I must tell you that self is the most treacherous enemy, and the most insinuating deceiver in the world! It will be within you when you are not aware of it and will conquer you when you perceive not yourselves much troubled with it. Of all other vices, selfishness is both the hardest to find out and the hardest to cure. Be sure therefore in the first place, that you have self-denial; and then be sure you use it and live in the practice of it

Follow Me ─ Why Do So Many Give Up? ─ Part One

As I was comparing Oswald Chambers’s devotion for June 12 and June 13, I grinned with a pain in my heart knowing full well, those two little words “follow Me” are jam-packed with unexpected surprises and detours. I don’t think you will ever meet a true Christian who has decided to follow and was not shocked at finding out what Christ’s standards of “follow Me” meant.  When we find out what “follow Me” truly means to Him, we find we have two options. We either keep going through the toils and the snares or you let the tiredness of the journey gets to you, and you stop walking with Him.   As we chose the last option, we never realize that the next step is backsliding. Although, it makes sense that we backslide when we stop following, because true Christianity is a journey where we have to keep going forward with the Holy Spirit.

I remember one Sunday after service I was talking to an elder of the Church and he was also the past chairman. I guess because he did not see me as a threat, he was telling me how he got tired on the road with no courage left to pick up and follow after Him. Since he knew I was part of the prayer team, he told me to pray for Him. But, as he kept talking I found out this man stopped following so long ago, even before he became an elder. He knew exactly which event took place in his life that caused him to stop. Yet as he was talking he kept saying, it was other people’s fault that caused him to be discouraged. In the meantime he had no idea that I was shocked beyond beliefs. 

This happened after I just started the wilderness path with God, so I did not have enough knowledge and the boldness that comes from walking with Him, to respond to him.  As I assessed what I was being told, I realized this mild mannered man knew the Scriptures well enough and carried himself in a manner that would make anyone who is not walking in the Spirit, to appreciate and trust him enough to make him chairman of the Church. Yet, from what he told me, even though I was not mature enough, I knew he did not get to the place where he stopped following after God, because of other people. His problem was only his need to follow while holding onto his own self interests. He wanted both at any cost.  

In my limitation of God way and knowledge, I could see one of his major problems was learning dependence on God.  In all the leadership positions he held, he could not understand why it was so hard to get other Christians to do things as they are told and to understand they were working for the Lord. Ironically, he could not see this was exactly what he was doing to Christ. By then I was a Christian for about seven years and I just started the process of following Him in the wilderness. Not knowing what those words “follow Me” fully entails, I kept asking myself how did this man manage to get to this stage with God?

You see, in my mind, I had a good idea what it meant to follow after Him, I knew I needed to die to self and I knew I needed to depend on Him. What I did not know was, thinking and reading about dying to self was not the same thing as experiencing it. Even though we read some of the apostle’s stories in the Bible, along with people like David and Joseph, they do not come close to preparing us to go through Christ’s demands as we follow wholeheartedly. When God decides to deal with you so you can shed the self-life, you find out, what those people endured over two thousands years ago, is still going on right now because God, being in the business of making holy people one by one, He is still acting in the same way today. By the same token, we have no idea until God shows us who we are, that our self interest has a life on its own, so much so it seems bigger than life. And in the eyes of God this self interest life got to go.

I don’t think there is one of us who has not found out the hard way at our own expenses the meaning of those words “follow Me” Through finding out at my own expenses, I know, as the Spirit of God works in us, we can see that the path forward is so not appealing that we are not looking forward to it. Yet, God has a way of burning the bridges right behind you and you find out you cannot go back. What I find interesting about God, is that He would burn bridges which prevent you from going back, but He will not force you to go forward because the only way you can keep going forward is through dependence on Him. Because your measure of dependence on Him will depend on your faith in Him, to some extend, it make sense that He cannot force you to go forward with Him.

Letting go of our self-interests, is soooo painful and the pain does not seem to end because there is always something we are holding onto that needs to be surrendered to Him.  

Walking With God

Walking with God leads to receiving his intimate counsel, and counseling leads to deep restoration. As we learn to walk with God and hear his voice, he is able to bring up issues in our hearts that need speaking to. Some of those wounds were enough to break our hearts, create a rift in the soul, and so we need his healing as well. This is something Jesus walks us into- sometimes through the help of another person who can listen and pray with us, sometimes with God alone. As David said in Psalm 23, He leads us away, to a quiet place, to restore the soul. Our first choice is to go with him there-to slow down, unplug, accept the invitation to come aside. You won't find healing in the midst of the Matrix. We need time in the presence of God. This often comes on the heels of God's raising some issue in our hearts or after we've just relived an event that takes us straight to that broken place, or waking as I did to a raw emotion.

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever. (Ps. 86:11-12)

When we are in the presence of God, removed from distractions, we are able to hear him more clearly, and a secure environment has been established for the young and broken places in our hearts to surface.

Courtesy of : the Ransomed Heart Minitries  http://ransomedheart.com/

When Nothing Makes Sense To Us, Praise Him!

John 9: 1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Nobody will ever outgrow Scriptures. I have read John 9 countless times. Yet today was different. First of all, the whole chapter gave me goose bumps and teary eyes. But the things that struck me was the fact that this man or his parents have done nothing wrong. (This does not mean they were sinless)  It was decided since he was in the womb to be born blind because God had a plan that He shared with no one. His plan was to use this man years down the road to open his eyes and redeem his soul. He also wanted to share with those willing to believe, that He was indeed the son of God.  He also wanted to share with his disciples, use it as a stumbling block to the Jews who were dead set against His teachings and also share with us today so that we might be comforted and learn to trust His plans for us. Without knowing what God was doing in the background, this man was called to live out a lifelong blindness as a beggar, with no hope.

But, imagine being this man’s parents to find out your beautiful baby boy is born blind. The pain this must have caused them and all the unanswered questions they must have had. There is no doubt since the Jews regarded this as the effect of sin, that they had no compassion for the man and perhaps people were pointing fingers at the parents too. This man’s life has been affected completely since he grew up with his blindness well through adulthood.  

I guess the reason I had teary eyes and goose bumps was the display of God’s sovereignty, the way He design things for us, through us and in spite of us. We are wrong to think God NEEDS us to receive glory because if we do not do it because of our love for Him and gratefulness for who He is, then the stones will cry out. (Luke 19:40)

Sometimes we cannot explain why life is what it is. Our endless trials and grievous calamities have purposes we have no way of knowing the impact and the depth unless we keep going on, in faith and steadfastness. We can find strength to go because we know He is Sovereign, He is a just God,  His goodness is beyond measure and His compassion limitless. In His appointed time, He will bring it all together for us.

 So, would you please find the strength in Him to hang in there even when nothing makes sense to you? In Him there is healing and there is hope.

Prayer:

Holy, Lord God Almighty, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. We praise you and worship you. We give you thanks for who you are. You are worthy to receive Glory and honor. Great are the works of your hands, Hosanah in the highest. Lord I pray that you would bring relief to the heart of those who are in pain. I pray that you would put your healing touch on them, and give them the patience needed to go through it all. Please give them such confidence in you that they would not be able to deny your presence. May your grace fall upon them. May you guide their actions, protect them from the evil one who is able to use their sorrow against them and against you. Through the darkness that surrounds them right now, may you become their light and allow them to see you through their despair. Most of all my Lord may their sorrow be used for your glory. To you be the glory my redeemer and I love you with all that I am, so please hear my plea. 

A Four Fold Salvation — Part 16 Last One!

A Fourfold Salvation

Arthur Pink, 1938 

The theme of Exodus is redemption—how striking, then, to see that God begins His work of redemption by making His people to groan and cry out under their bondage! The portion Christ bestows is not welcome—until we are made sick of this world.

Second, in Exodus 12 we have a picture of God's people being delivered from the penalty of sin. On the Passover night, the angel of death came and slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians. But why spare the firstborn of the Israelites? Not because they were guiltless before God—for all had sinned and come short of His glory. The Israelites, equally with the Egyptians, were guilty in His sight, and deserving of unsparing judgment. It was at this very point that the grace of God came in and met their need. Another was slain in their place—and died in their stead. An innocent victim was killed and its blood shed, pointing to the coming of "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The head of each Israelite household sprinkled the lamb's blood on the lintel and posts of his door and hence the firstborn in it was spared from the avenging angel. God promised, "when I see the blood—I will pass over you" (Exo. 12:13). Thus Israel was saved from the penalty of sin—by means of the lamb dying in their stead.

Third, Israel's wilderness journey adumbrated the believer's salvation from the power of sin. Israel did not enter Canaan immediately upon their exodus from Egypt—they had to face the tribulations and trials of the desert, where they spent forty years.

But what a gracious and full provision did God make for His people! Manna was given them daily from heaven—a figure of that food which God's Word now supplies for our spiritual nourishment. Water was given from the smitten rock—emblematic of the Holy Spirit sent by the smitten Christ to dwell within us—John 7:38, 39. A cloud and a pillar of fire guided them by day and guarded them by night, reminding us of how God directs our steps, and shields us from our foes. Best of all, Moses, their great leader, was with them, counseling, admonishing, and interceding for them. This is a figure of the Captain of our salvation, "Lo I am with you always."

Fourth, the actual entrance of Israel into the promised land foreshadowed the believer's glorification, when he enters into the full enjoyment of that possession which Christ has purchased for him.
The experiences Israel met with in Canaan have a double typical significance. From one viewpoint they presaged the conflict which faith encounters while the believer is left upon earth, for as the Hebrews had to overcome the original inhabitants of Canaan before they could enjoy their portion, so faith has to surmount many obstacles if it is to "possess its possessions," The land of milk and honey into which Israel entered after the bondage of Egypt and the hardships of the wilderness which were left behind—were manifestly a figure of the Christian's portion in Heaven after he is forever done with sin in this world.

"You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). First, He shall save them from the pleasure or love of sin by bestowing a nature which hates it—this is the great miracle of grace. Second, He shall save them from the penalty or punishment of sin, by remitting all its guilt—this is the grand marvel of grace. Third, He shall save them from the power or dominion of sin, by the workings of His Spirit—this reveals the wondrous might of grace. Fourth, He shall save them from the presence or in being of sin—this will demonstrate the glorious magnitude of grace. May it please the Lord to bless these elementary but most important articles to many of His little ones, and make their "big" brothers and sisters smaller in their own esteem