I have been hearing rumbles regarding picking up your cross. Some seem to have the idea that it has to do with coming against your flesh. Looking at this from the flesh perspective does seem to point to suffering as Jesus suffered on the cross. This is so far from the truth. You can’t look at picking up your cross from a fleshly perspective. Remember, it was a joy for the Lord to go to the cross so pain and suffering are out of the picture. To understand picking up your cross, you have to see this from a spiritual perspective. The first thing you must do is deny yourself before picking up your cross. Your suffering still makes it about you.
Hebrews 12:2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Before you pick something up, it first must be laid down. Laying your life down for Jesus is the greatest worship a person can ever give Him. Jesus laid His life down so you can pick it up. It’s all about laying your life down, picking up Jesus’s life, and following Him. Picking up your cross is picking up Jesus’s righteousness. In picking up Jesus’s righteousness, you get to put Him on. Paul called this to the church in Ephesus, putting on the armor of God. To the Romans, Paul called it putting on the armor of light and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. My question is, why isn’t this being taught in churches? Who benefits if you don’t know this or if it’s hidden from you?
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Picking up your cross is bigger than you can ever imagine. Being born again, you have asked to be forgiven of all your sins and have invited Jesus into your heart. Jesus circumcises your heart in the spirit so you can grow in the spirit. Putting on Jesus, you signify that the outside is clean as well as the inside. Once the. This is complete you are now walking in the image of God. Jesus is the image of God. He is the first person to ever walk in the image of God. Adam only walked in God’s likeness, not His image. Nothing will be impossible for you when you walk in God’s image. God’s image is a life-giving spirit. When you preach that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, and cleansing the leper, what you are doing is giving life to all those who need it. Jesus came to give you life and you get to give life away to anyone in need. This is the great mystery that has been hidden from the beginning, Christ in you the hope of glory. Be blessed, my friends.
Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Matthew 10:7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.