Deny Yourself – The Price of Eternal Life

Discipleship is not for everybody, but discipleship is the price of eternal life because if we want to have eternal life we must become part of another kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We must come under the reign of God. Jesus Christ becomes our Lord and we SERVE HIM as LORD. If we don’t want to serve Him as Lord we cannot be part of His Kingdom and He does not force anybody to obey Him or to follow Him. That is why it is not for everybody. It is for those who truly want to follow Jesus, who want to be part of His Kingdom.
That is why Jesus said:”If any man WISHES to come after Me, let him deny Himself, pick up his cross every day and come here, follow Me.” He also said that if you want to follow Him you must first figure out the cost because if you get half way and you decide you don’t want to do it any more then people will laugh at you. Following Jesus means, DENYING YOURSELF. Denying yourself means that now you become part of the Kingdom of God and you DO what Jesus wants you to do, you live a life that is pleasing to Him. If He is your Lord and your Master, you live to please Him. So how would we know what to do to be pleasing to Jesus? We need to first KNOW Him and then we need to FOLLOW HIM BY FAITH.
If you decide to follow Jesus and become part of His Kingdom then He blots out your previous sin, He forgives it, He gives you a clean slate, He makes you a new man, but then you must live in that newness. You cannot go back to your previous lifestyle because then you fall out of the kingdom of God, you go away from Jesus. It is only those who endure until the very end that will find the very narrow door to eternal life. You need to make up your mind first whether you really want to follow Jesus and be part of his Kingdom, and then you go on your knees and you ask Him to accept you into His Kingdom and to forgive your past sins, to blot it out, to make you a child of God and then by faith, you follow Him every day. He will write His laws in your heart, telling you what He wants you to do. He will give you His Holy Spirit to guide you, inside of you. Because you believe in Jesus, you LISTEN to the Spirit of God inside of you and you obey. You ask Him for His guidance and He will guide you in everything. The first thing is to turn away from sin, turn away from the things of the world because you don’t belong to the kingdom of the world any more, you belong to the Kingdom of God and now you are interested in the Kingdom of God and not in this world.
You need to be led by the Holy Spirit or else you will be led by your mind, it will take you back into the world. Your mind must be set on Christ and on pleasing Him and then you will be led by the Holy spirit, YOU WILL NOT SIN because you are focused on Jesus and His Spirit will guide you into that which is pleasing to Him. You cannot be part of the world and have worldly aspirations and plans, you need to set your mind on Christ, deny yourself every day, not follow your own mind but pray and ask Jesus what He, the King, wants you to do today and you live your life that way until the very end. That is what it means to be a disciple. Its not taking on religion. That is what it means to walk by faith, it means that you set your sight on Jesus and you get your guidance from His Holy Spirit, and if you do not have the Holy Spirit then you cannot follow Jesus and if you do not LISTEN to the Holy Spirit and OBEY the Holy Spirit, YOUR FAITH IS DEAD. Its useless, its no good because you are not believing, you are not LIVING UNDER THE GUIDANCE of the Holy Spirit. If you go on like everybody else goes on in this world, you cannot be part of the Kingdom of God.
You need to get your focus on Jesus, pray all the time, seek your guidance from Him, every day of your life and live a life that is pleasing to Him. It is not living according to a book or to a set of rules. It is BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. If we do not have the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, we DO NOT BELONG TO HIM! We must be led by the Holy Spirit, deny ourselves every day, deny your own mind, your own thinking, your common sense, and listen to the Holy Spirit and He will guide you into all truth, but you need to DENY YOURSELF WILLFULLY. You turn away from it, it is not TAKEN away from you. You have made up your mind before you started following Jesus:”Lord I want to follow You, I will not go after my own desires. I want to be part of Your Kingdom, I want to serve You.” The more you trust Jesus, the more you seek Him, the more real He becomes to you. He becomes your life, becomes your reality, He becomes your King, you become part of the Kingdom of God. That is what discipleship means, a spiritual real relationship with your King, your Lord and your Master where you DO what is pleasing to Him.
May Jesus bless you.