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May 18th Following
Jesus "Then he said to
them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23 Jesus
spoke these words that reveal the cost of living for God.
When we place faith in Jesus and make him “Lord” of our lives, we are
choosing him as our new master instead of the sin we’d been enslaved to in the
past. Each day, we are presented with many daily choices by which
we can reconfirm that Jesus is our master and not sin. We can look at these daily choices or temptations as
opportunities to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. People
involved in sex addictions often find temptations irresistible.
They’ve been used to giving in to temptations for so long that their
spiritual defenses are weak. Indeed
When we allow sin to be our master, our spiritual walls of defense are broken
down. Proverbs 25:28 says, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down,
without walls.” The
truth is that it is possible with God’s help to regain spiritual strength and
gain victory over the temptations we face .
Through Christ, we can stop falling to those seemingly irresistible
urges. He gives us strength through
the Holy Spirit to stop responding to our sinful desires and to start obeying
Jesus. Doing so may involve some
temporary pain of self-denial, which will in turn be replaced with the joy and
peace of God (Galatians 5:22-23). Here
are some practical steps to bolstering our daily walk with Christ: 1)
Ask God to help you each day during your quiet time.
Ask him to show you how and when to resist the common temptations you
face. 2)
Steer clear of the obvious situations of temptation that you can avoid. 3)
If you are tempted, ask God for help and a way out of the temptation (1
Corinthians 10:13). Believe that
God will help you and then look for the way out.
4)
Fix your thoughts on Jesus. Following
Jesus means that things are going to have to change in our lifestyle.
We can not continue living in our worldly mindset and expect to please
God. We have to have a
Christ-centered mindset. The most
basic way to change our mindset is to load our mind with God’s Word. One of the best ways to load our mind with the Word is to
study it daily. (see
Quiet
Times) Questions
for further thought:
Prayer:
“Lord
Jesus, I desire to follow you. I
commit myself to denying my sinful desires and daily taking up my cross.
Please strengthen me by your Spirit to resist temptations and bring my
body, soul and spirit into obedience to you.
I am your servant. I praise
you and thank you. In your name I pray, Amen.” |
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