Take up your cross and follow Christ.

Man with a carrying a cross on his back at sunrise.

Written by Netsai Gawa Gava

The same way Jesus took up His cross. It started with Him asking the Father that this cup pass Him by… but in obedience, He asked that it be only the Father’s will. I too must go before the Father and ask for strength to do His will. Because it will not be an easy journey to carry my cross of shame and ignore all offences and distractions from the enemy and focus on the goal… my high calling in Christ Jesus… to live my God given purpose in Holiness and thereby, glorify His name.

On my way there, I will be spat on, people will look down on me and treat me like dirt… I will be mocked and told that I’m not good enough… that all I deserve is really just a crown of thorns. I will be beaten down and scourged, literally, spiritually and emotionally and I will bleed internally, mentally and even physically. It will sometimes be visible that I have so much pain. Others will feel pity for me and look at me with disdain and even get discouraged. Maybe they will say, “why don’t you stop pursuing this high standard of Holiness and purposeful living?”… others who once believed in it will even forsake me and say “I think we were mistaken about this, she’s just become almost like nothing after persevering all this long”… however shameful the evil one will try to present me in the eyes of those that behold, I must fix my eyes on the goal, I must be get to Golgotha like my dear Saviour. I will touch it, I will be like my Saviour, undefiled and free from sin.

For now on my journey, I will not cry for mercy, I will renounce every sin and love Holiness, I will carry my cross throughout though I be weary and tired. I will fall, but the Holy Spirit will help me to get up and keep moving up on that road to Calvary. Through Him, I will be victorious and resist the urge to answer back to anyone or curse them for their evil deeds towards me. I will have compassion on them for they do not know what they are doing. In response to their revilings, I will pray and plead that they will know one good day this journey of self denial that every soul in Christ must undertake.

The goal, the goal, it is ahead… and my eyes are fixed on the prize of my high calling. Nothing shall distract me as long as His fruit remains in me, not even self. For I have crucified daily this self with Christ. It is no longer I that lives, but Christ lives in me through the daily and moment by moment presence of the Holy Spirit.

So I journey on again today… it’s Monday October 28, 2024, and I am still on the journey and picking up my cross to continue. If I cannot conquer self, if I cannot crucify it, how will I fair should I be called to literally die a martyr’s death. Die self! Die Self!

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻


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