2023/2024 OPERATION 18-18 – (AN ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST IV)

The interesting thing about Matt. 7:19-27 is that the people actually performed wonders in the Church, they built cathedrals and rose in the ecclesiastical ladder but what was the departing point? They didn’t do all those things according to the revealed will of God; they did things their own way. Jesus said, depart from me, you workers of iniquity! Iniquity is to turn away from light, the word of God, the revealed will of God. We must be very careful. God has given us a free will, we can choose, we can say no, we can decide to impose our will, but, every decision has a price.

The greatest problem of man today is man’s will in union with the will of the snake. God didn’t want to create robots and that was why he gave man a free will. That has become the nemesis of man. Only the wise know how to surrender their will to the will of the Father. If you want to succeed like Jesus, then take his prescription. That is the connection. Anyone who runs this show his way will end nowhere. There cannot be holiness without complete obedience to the instructions of God.

Jesus’ prescription for success:

“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. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”

Luke 9:23-24, KJV

The divine prescription for comprehensive success is the cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For anyone who wants to succeed in this Christian race, the prescription from the Master is the cross. Why the cross? I had earlier mentioned that the greatest problem of man is man’s will in union with the will of the snake. Where was that matter settled? At the cross! It was at the cross that the will of God crossed with the will of man and man for the first time submitted. The cross is the meeting point between divinity and humanity.

Whenever God’s will crosses with your will, don’t argue, submit! Self denial is the price for true discipleship of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the meeting point between mercy and truth.

“All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

Psalm 25:10, KJV

The cross is the way. Carry the cross daily, don’t visit the cross, carry it and follow Jesus Christ. That is where you crucify Mr flesh. The cross is the symbol of dominion over sin, self, satan and all his works. You can always tell someone who does not carry the cross by their pomposity and arrogance. Every arrogant person is ignorant, self willed and full of self. It is only at the cross that self is crucified.

There cannot be resurrection without crucifixion. There cannot be ascension without resurrection. There cannot be sitting together without ascension. The bride’s message is the crucified way. God’s prescription for every man’s malady remains the cross. If you want to have comprehensive dominion over darkness and over everything that the snake has done, the prescription is the cross.

Pray –

• Jesus, grant me the grace to take up the cross and follow you daily.
• Help me, O God, to say like Apostle Paul, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. The life I now live in flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal.2:20). Thank you mighty God. I depend on you in Jesus’ name.

TO BE CONTINUED.