“Your love for Jesus can put you on your knees, but your cross will put you on your face.” This is what it did to Jesus anyway. Yes, He carried His cross, but not all the way. Simon Cyrene did.
When Jesus said to “deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him,” He didn’t mean to carry our burdens around. He didn’t! What He meant was to die to self, not self-denial, but to self and its way of thinking and living.
Stop trying to deny yourself material things and acting all righteous. It’s like, “Look at me God. Look how I’m doing.” Notice all the pronouns – me and I. We are to die to them. The moment we realize that we can’t, He can. It’s not about trying harder, but letting go of more of our thinking, our wants, our desires, our goals, our dreams, our expectations, and the list goes on.
Life change comes the moment we realize that our good enough is simply not good enough. Salvation, in this case taking something broken by sin and making it whole by Jesus, comes the moment we realize we’re weak and can’t to allow His strength to empower us.
Jesus didn’t carry His cross. He let it drive Him to the ground. And so must we.
Set Free No“W”ww

I read an interesting quote today, “He bore this burden with great dignity – not because he wanted to be somebody but, rather, because he was already a great somebody.”
How often do we as believers in Jesus do what we do, including dip into our drugs of choice, to get what we already have? Scripture tells us that Jesus “gave us the right to become children of God” the moment we put our faith in Him.
Therefore, we already have the love of a Father, why do we still seek it? We already have significance in the mere fact that we are children of the King, why search for it? We are already safely in His hands, why pursue it?
Jesus gave these to us. We didn’t earn them. It’s time to rest in the truths of who you already are in Christ rather than keep struggling to get something you already have.
“S”et Free Nowww

I read on Twitter, “Losing confidence in your willpower is progress in understanding His grace.” We can’t change ourselves; but, the Word of God, Jesus, can. The sooner we realize this truth, the sooner we’ll experience His grace (i.e. receiving something we don’t deserve) changing our lives.
We don’t deserve to be in relationship with Jesus, let alone become more like Him. Yet, this is the beauty of the resurrection. Not only is Jesus alive and living inside us, but He also gives us the same power that rose Him from the grave to make life change a reality.
I once read that if there is something you have a very difficult time succeeding at and therefore avoid and resist doing – know that this is precisely the area of your life the Spirit wants to change. Put your confidence in His ability to change your life. He’s the only One who can.
Set Free Now“W”w

This Special Forces training principle can prepare you for victory. “In our line of work it’s best to take things as they come. Hunches can be handy, but they can get you killed too. In this kind of work, you must be willing to put on blinders.”
I entered a situation much like I had many times before. I expected (aka hunch) those in the group to apply the truth of Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
This was the furthest from what happened! I faced a stiff head wind of complaints, whining, rebellion and pure selfishness. Faced this constant barrage day after day, my emotional and physical energy drained and my shield of faith went south with it. This lead to being exposed to all kinds of enemy thinking and choices.
No matter what others do, we should always expect to listen to and follow our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus. Victory comes as we let Him dictate our expectations, not our past experiences, as they are not always a good indicator for the present.
S“E”t Free Nowww

We’ve all had them. We all go through them. And the only real choice one has is to press on despite them. What am I referring to? Bad days.
On one particular day, we were visiting two sights in Israel where the wind was just horrendous. It was so bad that sand was accumulating on the side of my coffee up. We could have stayed on the bus and missed what God had for us; or, we could choose to press on despite the windy conditions.
Situations for life changing choices are never ideal. In fact, it is usually through life’s windy days that we’re pressed into the difficult choice of either going back to our drugs of choice or pressing on by faith in the truths Jesus has specifically given us.
The question we must constantly ask ourselves is, “Have my drugs ever made my life better?” The answer is no, if we’re honest. The only real choice then is to get out of the comfortable bus and head into the wind and see what the Lord has for us.
On this day, we pressed on and saw an actual grave with a stone, much like Jesus’ tomb would have been. It’s simply another validation that God’s word is accurate and can be trusted.
Each time you press on, despite life’s stormy conditions, you prove to yourself and to those around you that Jesus can be trusted. The Word of God indeed does work in everyday life.
Set Free Now“W”w