FAITH CAPSULE: The inability to deny self is to deny Jesus.

Numbers 14

Jesus repeatedly tells His disciples and the multitudes, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38) “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
Following Jesus is self-denial. The inability to deny self leads to the impossibility to follow Him fully. Coming to Christ is carrying the cross. Carrying the cross is following Him fully and it is a daily activity, not only a Sunday activity.

In following Him
In following there is no excuse; there is no distraction. When one follows Him, there has to be consistency. Consistency will build up to commitment, and then continuity will have its place. When one follows Him, there should be no reason to walk how others walk; one does not have to see like others see; one does not have to hear what they hear. Indeed, following Him fully by carrying the cross is not convenient but it is a commitment that calls for keeping one’s focus on the leading Master.
In following Him fully, there is a route of escape that delivers from dying a cheap death. When the general population is dying a cheap death, one will definitely be driving away from cheap death. It is amazing how He led some through the Red Sea in the face of their enemy. He led them through but they could not get through to their promised land because they failed to follow Him fully. Obedience should be in full compliance. Whenever obedience is short of full compliance, it becomes disobedience and hinders one from following fully. Thousands of the children of Israel followed Him but only two (Caleb and Joshua) were able to follow Him fully. Half-obedience is worse than no obedience. Half-obedience makes correction difficult. Half-obedience makes hypocrites out of those who come to the Lord, and do not follow him fully. The children of Israel, because they were not following Him fully, became trapped and died in the wilderness. God declared in Numbers14:24, “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different sprit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”

Prayer for today: Ask God to deposit in your life the spirit that makes man to follow Him fully.