Take up our Cross Daily!

And He said to them all, "if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. " Luke 9:23
Following God every day is our choice! It’s not about Following God on Wednesdays and Sundays or when we are around people. For so many years I had that all wrong. One day I woke up and said this sinless man died to take away MY sins & I worship him only on Sundays and Wednesdays! I continued to do the things I wanted and make the Plans that I wanted for my life. It's about a Real Personal Relationship with Him though. I said I followed the Lord, but He wasn’t my number one, and I didn’t really know Him personally! The Lord tells us : “'The most important one [commandment],' answered Jesus. Is this. “Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:29-30  Give Him the ownership of the Number 1 in your Life Today!!  Don't give the number 2,3,4, or 20th spot!! The Lord also Tells us, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33. We make a decision every morning to deny ourselves and Follow God or we make the decision to Follow Ourselves. It’s so easy to get up every morning & do our own agenda, work, and plan our day...I’m talking about myself also! Could you imagine what the world would be like if every day we denied ourselves and took up our Cross Daily like Jesus tells us to do?! When you decide to follow Christ, It’s not going to be easy! He tells us the cost of following Him through Scripture.  "When Jesus saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the Lake. Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said, Teacher I will follow you wherever you go.  Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nest, but the Son of Man, has nowhere to Lay His head.'" Matthew 8:18-20 So what do we do when we feel weak and weary! God makes that clear too. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. So, when things get hard, Go near to God because He promises Rest in Him!
So, what are you doing with what God has blessed you with?!? Are you using your time, Money, Talents  etc., to further the Kingdom of God. We were faced with that question just a few months ago. What are we doing? Is this what God has called US to do?!?! That’s when we decided to totally Give our Lives to God for Him to use US however He wanted, & when we made ourselves available to the Lord, He began to use us and constantly show us HIS will for our lives! WOW! It was tough, and Of course we didn’t WANT to move away from our family and sell everything! So How did we know that’s what He wanted? Staying in Close, constant prayer with the Him & then just watching the things that took place in our lives. The Lord has put so much Peace in our Lives here in Guatemala. We know that this is 100% what we are called to do. The Peace of the Lord is awesome!
My prayer for you today is that you will have 100 % peace when you ask the Lord: Am I doing what YOU want in my life? If the Answer is NO, I urge you to please stay close to God and be in prayer for what it is He wants for you!! You will be amazed at the Peace you will have in your life. If you don’t have the Peace of the Lord, then examine your life? I was just there 2 Years ago doing the same thing! When you decide to Follow Him, you will be amazed at how He will use you.  It doesn’t have to be in a Foreign Country. It can be in your home, at your church, or in a different State! So, for those of you who think, "God can never use me because I’m so weak, and I have so many hardships and difficulties in my life!" Look at when God's power is best!  "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am Weak, then I am Strong!" 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

In Christ Love, Jessica Byrd