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How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross?

 
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How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross? - 11/3/2009 10:43:01 PM   
MyCatSmokey2006


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According to several verses in the Gospels, including Mark 8:34, Jesus told the disciples that "if anyone wants to come after ME, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." I did some Bible study on this subject and discovered that this meant that I needed to lay aside my own desires, dreams, needs and wants and do what God wants me to do. In other words, to sacrifice myself and lay all these things at the foot of the cross.

As for taking up my cross, I'm not sure what that means. Am I interpreting this verse correctly? If not, then what am I missing?

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RE: How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross? - 11/3/2009 11:05:18 PM   
insndreamer

 

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Taking up your cross means to crucify the flesh, which is the same as what you said: "lay aside my own desires, dreams, needs and wants and do what God wants me to do". That's it in a nutshell, just maybe harder for some than for others (I'm one of the people that finds it harder). But the beauty of it all, is that when you give your life to God, and trust that He knows best, He will actually fill your cup over with your desires, dreams, needs, and wants. They will just be different (but better) than they were before you gave it up.

I have experienced this in my life, once as a teenager, and then I lost it and found it again ten years later. Now I've lost it again, and need to remember how to find it. Thank you for your post.
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RE: How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross? - 11/3/2009 11:57:05 PM   
prolifepj


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Reading this I'm reminded of a few things

- Yeshua praying in the garden said in a nutshell, if it be Your will, let this cup pass from me...nevertheless, NOT MY WILL but Yours be done-

- The rich young ruler said that he had kept all the laws since he was a youth. Yeshua not wanting part, but all of us said to him- sell all you have and give it to the poor, THEN follow me. Take this 'thing' that is precious to you and surrender it to G-d...I'm not talking about money.

To me, to take up my cross and follow Him means to surrender to Him everything I have, everything I am and everything I aspire to be.

Its not easy and frankly I don't like the process myself, but it is necessary and it is good.

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RE: How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross? - 11/4/2009 12:56:43 AM   
deermousie


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quote:

ORIGINAL: insndreamer

Taking up your cross means to crucify the flesh, which is the same as what you said: "lay aside my own desires, dreams, needs and wants and do what God wants me to do". That's it in a nutshell, just maybe harder for some than for others (I'm one of the people that finds it harder). But the beauty of it all, is that when you give your life to God, and trust that He knows best, He will actually fill your cup over with your desires, dreams, needs, and wants. They will just be different (but better) than they were before you gave it up.


Well said, Insndreamer.

The flesh Insndreamer refers to is not your muffin top but the part of us that wants its own way and pouts when it doesn't get it. It stands in opposition to the spirit (small s), the part of us that communicates with God and responds to Him in obedience.

When we want revenge on someone who hurt us but we tell ourselves that God said to not get revenge but He'd handle it, then we do good to the hurter, or at least walk away without smashing their face in, and we just crucified the flesh. The temper tantrum didn't happen but we obeyed God instead.

God will either draw the hurter to Himself in repentance (eventually), or his hurting you will be on the list of his unbelieving acts and Jesus will say He never knew him.

Prolifepj had good examples. The one about Jesus offering to drink the cup when He didn't want to is classic.

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RE: How Do You Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross? - 11/4/2009 1:11:39 PM   
LastofAll

 

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We see how to deny our own will by Christ in (John 5:30), which is when our evaluations, determinations, and conclusions are just. It is when we no longer seek our own will, but God´s will only. As for taking up the cross, it means to carry our own load.
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