Denying Oneself to Follow Christ

[AreYouReady?]

I am interested in testimonies from people's thoughts of what it means to deny oneself to follow Christ.

Does anybody have a thought on this?

[mfblume]

I preach on this a lot. I believe it ultimately means we die with Christ in His death through salvation and must thereafter live a life that acts as though that is true. OUR WILL AND OUR WAYS are set aside for HIS WILL. We carry our crosses. We allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him. His Spirit enters our lives and we actually allow Him to live through us. It's way beyond mere religion of do's and don'ts.

In everything we set to do, we ask His will to be done in it. We yield to God as people who actually died and are resurrected again to do the will of God first and foremost. All the things our flesh wants to do by way of sin and so forth is disallowed by ourselves, since we know it hinders His Spirit from being able to live through us and direct us.

That sort of thing.

[Amanah]

I preach on this a lot. I believe it ultimately means we die with Christ in His death through salvation and must thereafter live a life that acts as though that is true. OUR WILL AND OUR WAYS are set aside for HIS WILL. We carry our crosses. We allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him. His Spirit enters our lives and we actually allow Him to live through us. It's way beyond mere religion of do's and don'ts.

In everything we set to do, we ask His will to be done in it. We yield to God as people who actually died and are resurrected again to do the will of God first and foremost. All the things our flesh wants to do by way of sin and so forth is disallowed by ourselves, since we know it hinders His Spirit from being able to live through us and direct us.

That sort of thing.

I'm so happy you are back, you have been missed terribly . . .

[Godsdrummer]

I preach on this a lot. I believe it ultimately means we die with Christ in His death through salvation and must thereafter live a life that acts as though that is true. OUR WILL AND OUR WAYS are set aside for HIS WILL. We carry our crosses. We allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him. His Spirit enters our lives and we actually allow Him to live through us. It's way beyond mere religion of do's and don'ts.

In everything we set to do, we ask His will to be done in it. We yield to God as people who actually died and are resurrected again to do the will of God first and foremost. All the things our flesh wants to do by way of sin and so forth is disallowed by ourselves, since we know it hinders His Spirit from being able to live through us and direct us.

That sort of thing.

Mike well said could not have said it much better myself. Esp the part about trying to mimic Christ rather than let him live through us.

[Sabby]

Mike well said could not have said it much better myself. Esp the part about trying to mimic Christ rather than let him live through us.

Same here, Mike. Good post. Hope you're blessed in Cold Country :penguin

[Sabby]

Good to see you again Drummer

[Sandy]

Amen Mike. Nobody, that i know of, can preach and teach that message better than you.

[AreYouReady?]

OUR WILL AND OUR WAYS are set aside for HIS WILL. We carry our crosses. We allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him. His Spirit enters our lives and we actually allow Him to live through us. It's way beyond mere religion of do's and don'ts.


I think this is what stands out...to allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him.

I read in many places where when Jesus taught, it astonished people as if they never heard of what he was teaching about God.

Many of Jesus' teachings likewise provoked jealousy in those who wanted to remain in control over the people.

In your studies on this subject, what would you say would be the earthly things Jesus would want us to deny ourselves with?

Likewise, what kind of "cross" would modern day man or woman be carrying?

[mfblume]

Hi all, thanks for the kind remarks!

[bbyrd009]

I think this is what stands out...to allow Christ to live through us, rather than try to mimic Him.

I read in many places where when Jesus taught, it astonished people as if they never heard of what he was teaching about God.

Many of Jesus' teachings likewise provoked jealousy in those who wanted to remain in control over the people.

In your studies on this subject, what would you say would be the earthly things Jesus would want us to deny ourselves with?

Likewise, what kind of "cross" would modern day man or woman be carrying?

I believe that's because His message was Life! Go be a Sprout! And fed the people what they needed, energizing them to do just that--which is all that could really provoke jealousy from those in control; loss of the pruning shears : )

Deny yourself the response of "death" to someone who needs to hear "life"
might be a good reflection?

[AreYouReady?]

Does denying oneself necessarily mean denying oneself of money or substance?

[bbyrd009]

Man, personally, I would have to say that since I completely abandoned focusing on that a year or so ago, now, after no time, I'm eating smoked elk, and reclining in a lodge, lol...I think it's the focusing part. So no.

Wow, but to answer your Q another way; yes, I consciously denied myself money and substance, for a time, hmm.

[Amanah]

I am interested in testimonies from people's thoughts of what it means to deny oneself to follow Christ.

Does anybody have a thought on this?

I'm sure these are baby steps, but for me it means that I put God first in my day. Each morning when I awake I spend time talking to God, and reading his Word. Then I try to make choices during the day according to what I think would please him.

But I would say that my morning time with God is more pleasure then self denial.

[TyronePalmer]

Love would have to be included in what it means to deny yourself and follow Christ.

Everything Jesus did was out of love for His own, He came to His own but His own received Him not. Jesus lived a perfect life of self-denial out of love for us and for the will of the Father.

Jesus said greater love has no one than this, than he lay down his life for his friends.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

One of the great commandments, 'Love your neighbor as yourself', who are my neighbors?

The homeless, the widow, the orphan, the broken hearted, the sick, the mentally ill, the abused and battered of this world.

If you do unto the least, you have done it to Jesus.

Go when He tells you to go, not when you want to, say what He tells you to say, not what you want to say.

Denying yourself is realizing that you are no longer your own, but you have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ and you will be willing to die, to give your life for Him and the gospel.

We see it in the saints who gave their lives in the 1st century to proclaim the name of Jesus, they were sawn in two, fed to the lions, beheaded, crucified, and tortured looking forward to a better resurrection.

If you love Jesus, you will obey His commands; Yes, love is definitely included in denying yourself.

[AreYouReady?]

I'm sure these are baby steps, but for me it means that I put God first in my day. Each morning when I awake I spend time talking to God, and reading his Word. Then I try to make choices during the day according to what I think would please him.

But I would say that my morning time with God is more pleasure then self denial.

But in a way, it is somewhat self denial because many people just skip putting God first every morning and just head on into the day without reading of the Word or prayer.

[AreYouReady?]

Denying yourself is realizing that you are no longer your own, but you have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ and you will be willing to die, to give your life for Him and the gospel.

We see it in the saints who gave their lives in the 1st century to proclaim the name of Jesus, they were sawn in two, fed to the lions, beheaded, crucified, and tortured looking forward to a better resurrection.

If you love Jesus, you will obey His commands; Yes, love is definitely included in denying yourself.

Okay. This smacked me right between the eyes. I have to ask myself, would I be willing to deny my life for Jesus and the Gospel? Would I be willing to be sawn in two, fed to lions, beheaded, crucified/tortured for the Gospel of Christ?

We think that this won't happen in our day and age and in America, but I pretty much think that America is going to be a place so different from what most of us grew up in...in just a few more years. I think that the worldly order is just itching to try to remove all vestiges of Christ from this country; that seeing His church go underground will be a reality, rather than a possibility.

I don't know why I remember this, but when I was a little girl, I had to sit in catechism classes in the RCC. The nuns were not happy about having to educate public school children on Monday nights. They were of the mind that we should have been enrolled in Parochial School rather than public schools and got this education during the day. But anyway I digressed from what I wanted to say.

I was a little girl and the nun looked at me and asked me if someone threw a crucifix on the floor and told me to spit/step on it, would I do it? Of course, being a little girl I answered, "No". It was her comment that I remembered. She looked at me with the stern look she always had and replied, "Well...we will just see" as if she knew that someday we might face making a decision such as this. Back then, I thought that something like this would never happen in America, but since 2001, we have seen so many changes that I do not see that scenario, perhaps in a different way, as an impossibility.

[AreYouReady?]

But of course, a crucifix is just an object, a symbol. What more likely we will be told to do is to deny Christ from our heart and lips....then to take that hellish mark as a token for the denial if we want to live. Some believe that the church will be raptured before this happens, but a small voice says to me that we do not know what day or hour Christ will come. Who knows what type of tribulation the Christians must go through before He comes? There are many in the world today that are being tortured for the name of Jesus. It just hasn't come to America...yet. What makes us American's think we will always be immune from evil people who hate Him?

I guess what I am trying to prepare myself for is that if I cannot currently deny myself of small things for Christ voluntarily, how will I find the strength to deny my life, if need be, for the testimony of Christ?

Peter, who walked with Christ and developed great faith because of the miracles he's seen and also was given power to perform, failed because of fear when "they" came to get Christ and took him to Pontius Pilate.

It's something for me to definitely pray about...to deny myself not only for Christ, but likewise for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Are we spiritual enough to deny ourselves for our brothers and sisters also?

But then maybe we should just rely on the Holy Ghost to give us the words we need when that day comes...and I feel that that day will come to us soon.

[Amanah]

Does denying oneself necessarily mean denying oneself of money or substance?

I think it can mean that. We struggled with one car for years to be able to pay our tithes and offerings and send my son to the church's christian school (public school was preached against so it wasn't just a whim on my part). Getting everyone to work/school was difficult on all of us.

Our sacrifices as a church enabled us to build a Gymnasium for the school/youth group, also the Pastor's family was able to live in a very exclusive neighborhood.

---------------------------------

that was then, this is now.

I'm trying to tie in to a church body and go to one church consistantly. The church I visited on Sunday is the one I'm thinking about connecting with long term. The Pastor was out and the evangelist preached on the wise men and how they gave gifts to Jesus. The gifts were probably all they had and were what they needed for their traveling expenses. The evangelist said we needed to leave church empty and give all we have on the altar, empty our wallets on the altar so to speak. If I connect with the church I plan to commit to giving, that is not in question. But before I empty my substance now, I really want to know more about what the plan is for how it's going to be used.

[TyronePalmer]

Okay. This smacked me right between the eyes. I have to ask myself, would I be willing to deny my life for Jesus and the Gospel? Would I be willing to be sawn in two, fed to lions, beheaded, crucified/tortured for the Gospel of Christ?

We think that this won't happen in our day and age and in America, but I pretty much think that America is going to be a place so different from what most of us grew up in...in just a few more years. I think that the worldly order is just itching to try to remove all vestiges of Christ from this country; that seeing His church go underground will be a reality, rather than a possibility.

We all have to ask ourselves the same question!

Today we are seeing more and more opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the word of God. There is no doubt that we will face again what the 1st century Christians faced, many already are as you noted! The scriptures in Matthew 24 tell us we will be hated by all nations for His name. And Revelation 13 tells us that the whole world will worship the beast, all whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life.

I pray everyday to be ready for what's ahead and I encourage all to do the same!

[bbyrd009]

I think it can mean that. We struggled with one car for years to be able to pay our tithes and offerings and send my son to the church's christian school (public school was preached against so it wasn't just a whim on my part). Getting everyone to work/school was difficult on all of us.

Our sacrifices as a church enabled us to build a Gymnasium for the school/youth group, also the Pastor's family was able to live in a very exclusive neighborhood.

---------------------------------

that was then, this is now.

I'm trying to tie in to a church body and go to one church consistantly. The church I visited on Sunday is the one I'm thinking about connecting with long term. The Pastor was out and the evangelist preached on the wise men and how they gave gifts to Jesus. The gifts were probably all they had and were what they needed for their traveling expenses. The evangelist said we needed to leave church empty and give all we have on the altar, empty our wallets on the altar so to speak. If I connect with the church I plan to commit to giving, that is not in question. But before I empty my substance now, I really want to know more about what the plan is for how it's going to be used.

Ignoring everything else, i'm led to say that there is only one Church, and you are already a member. And it follows from that that no one else on the planet has as good an idea of what your substance should be used for than you, led by God. I note that I never hear stories like "preacher, you had me empty my wallet here; you should really spend a little bit more on yourself..." lol--it's always "you have a Bentley, a mansion..."

[thaddaeus417]

http://www.calvarytabindy.org/media.php?content=

If you follow the link and click on the sermon by Rev. Mooney titled "Take Up a Cross and Follow Me" you'll have my opinion. This is a very powerful endtime message. I feel very strongly that the Lord telling the church to get ready...

[KeptByTheWord]

Love would have to be included in what it means to deny yourself and follow Christ.

Everything Jesus did was out of love for His own, He came to His own but His own received Him not. Jesus lived a perfect life of self-denial out of love for us and for the will of the Father.

Jesus said greater love has no one than this, than he lay down his life for his friends.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

One of the great commandments, 'Love your neighbor as yourself', who are my neighbors?

The homeless, the widow, the orphan, the broken hearted, the sick, the mentally ill, the abused and battered of this world.

If you do unto the least, you have done it to Jesus.

Go when He tells you to go, not when you want to, say what He tells you to say, not what you want to say.

Denying yourself is realizing that you are no longer your own, but you have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ and you will be willing to die, to give your life for Him and the gospel.

We see it in the saints who gave their lives in the 1st century to proclaim the name of Jesus, they were sawn in two, fed to the lions, beheaded, crucified, and tortured looking forward to a better resurrection.

If you love Jesus, you will obey His commands; Yes, love is definitely included in denying yourself.

This is the answer to the whole matter - how to deny oneself to follow Christ... Denying yourself is realizing that you are no longer your own, but you have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ and you will be willing to die, to give your life for Him and the gospel.