Matthew 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

What does it mean to deny yourself?  It is different for each of us. I looked it up in the dictionary and the 4th meaning says “not to allow yourself something. to refuse to gratify your own needs or desires”.

Yep that pretty much sums it up. That is what Jesus is looking for. Some people who will refuse to gratify their own needs or desires in deference to the Lords will for their lives. He wants people that will TRULY surrender all. We have all sung the hymn before in church but probably not really thought about the gravity of what we are saying.

Are you sold out for the Lord?

Have you made the commitment to do whatever He tells you to do?

Or are you living on the edge of His will for you?

Are you settling for scraps when you could be sitting at the banquet table enjoying the lavishness of His destiny for your life?

Some people are scared to let go of (supposed) control over their lives. They think that if they were to give their lives, their plans, their goals, and their dreams over to Jesus He might send them somewhere they don’t want to go. I promise you that He loves you so much that He would never do that to you. He begins a subtle work in your heart when it is fully given over to Him. He puts desires in your heart that will line up with your destiny. He doesn’t do it overnight even though it seems like it sometimes. One day you will wake up and have a burning desire to do something that you never thought you would have a desire to do.

Mark 10:21-22 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Stuff is just stuff. He owns it all anyway. I’m not saying that it is His will for everyone to sell, or give away, all their stuff. I’m just saying that you must be WILLING to do whatever He lays on your heart to do.  A friend of mine recently gave me his laptop. He didn’t have to do that but when he found out that I didn’t have one he heard the Lord telling him to give me his since he was about to buy another one anyway. Another friend of mine had just bought a really nice purse as a replacement for one that got damaged. She was told, by the Lord, to give this purse to another one of our friends. It turns out that the recipient had been asking the Lord for this type of purse.

The Lord desires obedience over sacrifice. You never know how your actions could affect someone else’s life and walk with the Lord.