This morning I was reading the Daily Bread about being born again to see the kingdom of God (John 3:1-17). I just thought, "If don't die how to 'be born again'?"
After that I was reading other verses from the Scripture about dying to self, living in Christ. I had told God many times that I would live for Him, please use me for His glory; And had sung about "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain...". So what does it mean to die?
A friend was like telling me, that he finds it incredulous that Christians let Christ "control" every single aspect their lives. Say, do you want God to BLESS every single aspect of your life?
From John 12:24-28, Jesus said:
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds ... Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"
Jesus is not unfamiliar to death. It was precisely for that reason He came. He came so that we can have abundant life. An act that is marked in history. Undisputable.
Oh the wonderful Cross, bids me to come and die and find that I may truly live. Father I pray that You teach me how to die to live. Empower me to take up the Cross daily. I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. In Jesus name. Amen.
Many thanks to Eleen, Joshua, Jeremiah and Guest for your concern. Thanks Jeremiah for the sharing of the verses from 2 Cor 12. They indeed strike a chord in my spirit. :)
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Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
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2 comments:
Hi girl. Been following your blog on and off, and really enjoy your sharing. Many times I also felt that you are expressing the exact sentiments I have and you are bringing back a lot of poignant memories for me, especially where friendship and forgiveness are concerned. Guess we also go through similar struggles: The dearer the person, the deeper the pain, and hence it seems harder to forgive. When we can't release ourselves from these snares of unforgiveness, we can only look to God for help. As we are going through this together, surrendering our hurts to Him, I pray that healing would be done to our hearts, in Jesus's name.
When I was younger, I had trouble understanding what it meant to die in order to live. Over time, God has made me understand better, and I'm still learning. Sometimes I may also forget what it means, but your post has reminded me of what I've learnt. My ex-cgl has often taught me by example to "die to myself" (surrender to God in obedience) and take up my cross. Not an easy thing to do. But I guess that is the price of following Jesus, true discipleship.
Many times I also told God, "God, the Cross is really not easy to carry." And that often makes me so grateful to Him for carrying that heavy Cross of Calvary AND willingly die on it some more. Indeed, we can never carry our own cross by ourselves, we need His empowerment. But most of all, we can thank God that through Jesus's death on the Cross, He has defeated death and brought victory over our sin :) God bless you, my dear! And see you tomorrow for rehearsal at TCT :)
Luv,
Crystal.
PS: Oh btw, I notice your posts are often done very early in the morning like 7-plus. How did you manage to do that hah? You wake up very early to blog from home? Or do you go to office extra early (at unearthly hours??) to post your entries? ;p
Yo Crystal!
Thanks for your sharing and encouragement! hee .. I ven't really sat thru' with the Lord to "re-visit" certain episodes that welled up till this day.
But for today's worship service, I told God that I'm willing to trade all my sorrows and pain for His JOY, lay all my burdens at the Cross, to give Him all the worship He deserves, and of course, to lead others to worship Him as well.
Not sure if you are reading before service today. Anyway, I will see you later .. :)
Lynn
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