Take up your cross and follow me!

Luke 9: 23-24 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. I’m terrible at beating myself up over things that I’ve done. Sometimes it’ll beat up my brain so much that it feels as though a soccer team has practiced with it in my head. Paying attention to it leads you to believe that you are unworthy of God’s love and grace, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Keeping our eyes fixed on God, dropping the negative thoughts, picking up your cross, and following Him leads to victory. I’m not saying that it will be an easy journey, but Matthew 19:26 says, Jesus looked at them and said, “with human beings, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The part I like most about Luke 9:23 is that it’s telling you that we need to pick up our cross “Daily,” not when we feel like it, but every morning when we wake up. Hit our knees and relinquish all doubts, worries, stresses, and fears to Him. We are pledging to God that we want to see how he sees, hear as he hears, and speak as he speaks—having only Him in our minds so that we aren’t paying attention to all the negativity that the devil is trying to place in there. If you would like to have this today, please follow me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I want to look to you today. I want to have you in my heart, mind, and soul. Help me to be who you want me to be, Lord. Mold me into what is needed in this world for you. Please help me, lead me, and guide me? In Jesus’ precious name, amen.