Tag: What the Bible says about denying ourselves

Bible Verse of The Day – 4-24-24

Exodus 3:10 (NKJV) 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Noah, build an ark.

Abraham, leave your country.

Moses, tell pharaoh to let My people go.

Jonah, go to Nineveh and preach repentance.

David, go slay Goliath, the giant.

Peter, leave your fishing nets, follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men

Saul, stop persecuting Me. You are now Paul. Bring my message to the Gentiles.

As we spend time in God’s word, and we learn about the people listed above that God has called and used over the centuries, we will begin to see a common thread that runs through their lives; their lives belonged to Him. They were not their own.

And as we learn this, we should begin to see that this is the case for each of us as well; we are not our own.

Yet, despite this, we get inundated with feel-good messages that claim God wants us to live lives of grandeur, overflowing with abundant blessings, wild popularity, and everything we desire.

Most of this is based on the perversion of a small, select handful of scriptures, which gives it the appearance of legitimacy if we fail to do our homework and find the truth ourselves.

These teachings would lead the uninformed to believe that following God is a cake walk that is centered on us and does not incur a cost.

But look at that list of people above and what God told each of them.

Doing so demonstrates clearly that their loyalty to God cost them everything they had.

This does not mean they were poor, or that they lacked what they needed in life. But there was a human cost; a toll on each of their lives.

Now, this is not to say that each of us must follow the same paths as these people.

But we must take note of what Jesus told us is required to follow Him.

Luke 9:23 (NKJV) 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

When I hear many of the teachings mentioned above, it is difficult to find one mention of denying ourselves. It is even more difficult to hear a single mention of picking up our cross.

That surely speaks volumes about what is at the core of their messages; self.

Let us run far from these kinds of teachings, sticking like glue to the truth of God’s word and to God Himself, denying ourselves when he asks us to do so and carrying our cross toward the finish line.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

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Bible Verse of The Day – 12-4-23

Luke 9:23 (NKJV) 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

This verse is one that we hear quoted often. But do we fully understand the implications of it?

Over the centuries, Christianity has become softer, more watered down. It has lost its edge, so to speak, compromising many critical truths to become more palatable to the masses.

This has resulted in a large percentage of believers who know or understand little about some of the most crucial principles of “following Jesus”.

Being a child of God is not intended to be a “cake walk”. It was never meant to be easy and convenient.

Yes, God blesses His children as we obey. He rewards the faithful.

But many of those blessings and rewards do not consist of material things.

Following Jesus has a cost.

Look at what Jesus told His disciples; “if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself”.

That doesn’t sound much like what some would call your best life now, or Friday every day, does it?

Being a child of the Most High God requires dedication, persistence, faithfulness and a willingness to make sacrifices on our part.

Are we willing to surrender some things to follow Him?

Are we ready to put ourselves last, and others first?

Are we willing to lay down our lives for our faith, denying all other gods, submitting fully to Him?

Are we willing to allow Him to change our heart, so it longs after Him and not after the things of the world?

These are hard questions.

But they are questions we must each consider and answer honestly if we wish to grow and mature as believers, and not just go with the flow.

Jesus spoke these words for a reason, so let us serve Him wholeheartedly, and with a purpose, denying ourselves and following Him wherever He leads.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-26-23

Luke 9:23 (NKJV) 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

The world is a funny place.

It will tell us lots of things to make us feel good about ourselves.

It will say that we are number one, and that we should put ourselves before anyone or anything else.

It will tell us that we’re special, and that how we feel is what matters. Everything else is secondary.

It will tell us that our feelings about ourself are important, that our self-esteem should be high so we don’t get down about our lives.

It will tell us so much more, and it all revolves around making us the center of our own lives.

Much of this has spilled over into the church. Even some pastors are repeating these things. Some might even give it a “Christian twist” to make it more palatable and appealing to followers of Christ.

But Jesus seems to have something different to say about it; “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself”.

That is a far cry from putting ourselves front and center at every possible opportunity.

Christianity isn’t supposed to be like icing on a cake… always sweet and pleasant. It will have its moments and seasons when it is very sweet. But it is not always that way.

There are things that we may have to face, and some things that we may have to endure, if we are to walk this walk as a child of God.

This doesn’t mean that our lives will always be gloom and doom, cloudy and dark. Walking with God has many, many blessings. And our joy is found in Him!

But we must live our lives knowing that there will be times when our faith costs us. And we should be willing to pay the price, no matter what that price is.

This is part of being a mature believer; a believer with Holy Spirit-inspired understanding and the willingness to sacrifice our own preferences, comfort and wants if God places us in situations that require us to.

And as we do this, as we walk this straight and narrow path, let us find our joy in knowing that He is worth every sacrifice we have to make, every trial we must endure and every hard battle that we have to fight.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

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