The way of the cross…

The way of the cross is always painful, it is a cross after all! The crucifix was and probably is still the most painful, most agonizing form of death that the combined minds of the entire Roman Empire and the forces of evil could dream up!

Doctors describe the death of the cross as being probably the most excruciating death a person could experience in that the pain continues for hours and even possibly days! Usually the final results is asphyxiation due to the body's weight constricting the lungs, spasm after spasm until finally the weight cannot be supported by the spikes in the feet and the muscles of the chest area cannot draw enough strength to expand the lungs with air. If one was fortunate heart failure could occur during the excruciating pain… Grollier's Encyclopedia describes it as: Crucifixion was a method of execution used by the Romans to punish slaves and foreigners. Hung from a crossbar astride an upright peg, the naked victim was allowed to hang as a public spectacle until dead. No vital organs were damaged, and death was slow agony. Prior to crucifixion, the victim was scourged and made to carry the crossbar to the execution site.

As I said before, the way of the cross by definition surely must be painful!

Prior to receiving the full indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit there must be a "cleaning", how otherwise could it be?

God is Sinless, He is Truth, Love, Justice, Mercy and a host of other attributes too many to name! He is Immutable (cannot change) and Omnipotent (all powerful), that will not change, cannot change by His indwelling us... How can the two worlds so opposite combine in the "temple" of man and co-exist? The answer, they cannot! To a lesser measure they can co-exist but His fullness cannot exist within sinful man for an extended period of time!

I’m saying that a decision to invite God in also implies our willingness to forsake our sinful ways and our giving over of our wills and thoughts to Him in trusting obedience...

Wouldn’t you agree that by not conceding the reigns of our life over to Jesus that what we are in fact doing is rejecting Him and therefore taking back what we committed to Him? (Our lives.)

Isn’t the act of demanding that our will be done and not submitting absolutely to Him an absolute contradiction to the act of giving our lives over to His Lordship? Couldn’t it be construed as a default on our behalf in keeping the contract we made with God which He signed in His blood?

Certainly we can see and understand that God does indwell the sinner! The Bible clearly states that, (John speaking to blood bought believers in 1 John 1:8 says if we say we have no sin we are liars, etc…) but His Fullness must inhabit a "temple" that’s been cleared of idols, a "temple" swept clean of human attributes carried in each of us until the time of death through crucifixion.

In each of us the depth of this cleansing in different, for some it isn’t too harsh, for others it resembles the actual act of death by crucifixion!

In every case what it entails is the dying of our wills and desires and the melting together of our being with His! Through the fusion of our wills becoming one with Him! (His will becoming ours, His nature becoming ours…)

That they (us, future believers) would be as one as We are One! Isn’t that what Jesus’ prayed in John 17? Isn't that what must be accomplished if we are to be called sons & daughters of God?

Cleansing is what must in all cases be accomplished, otherwise how could we expect God in all His glory to inhabit our sinful bodies?

What lies at the root of this act is the Lordship of our temples!

How can Jesus truly be our Lord and we remain in charge of our life? What does Lord mean to you? Lord as a definition means master, owner in fact. 1 Corinthians 6:20 states we were bought at a price, that our body is not our own but God's! Who claims ownership of your body?

What will it take for each of us to "give up", to actually concede the rights to our wills, our feelings, our outward behaviors and inward thoughts? (As well as all possessions we claim ownership of!)

We give God the right to assisting in this "clean up" when we invite Him in through faith in Jesus Christ! When the cleaning begins, do we embrace it or do we scorn it?

As I stated above, we default on our side of the contract! But God being all merciful instead of just moving on and leaving us to reap the consequences of our contractual breach looks instead on our human frailty with mercy and helps us to obtain that which we want but have no power to accomplish!

The trials and tribulations we encounter which assists us in the cleaning of our temples most often are brought by the very hand of God as a method of accomplishing that which we are powerless to accomplish. (Either directly or indirectly through His permissive will.)

Sin of course in itself can and does bring these trials but all must be allowed by Sovereign Jehovah God and He guarantees that it will work out for our good and not destruction!

For some of us only sheer desperation and the absolute loss of everything material in our lives will be what it takes for us to finally let go... (In effect the elimination of other choices!)

Nothing less will do. We cannot continue to serve two masters! (Luke 16:13)

As followers of Christ we cannot settle for less than complete abandonment to His will!

We must undergo and experience an internal death, we have to rid our hearts of that centuries old accumulation of Adamic trash and open every nook and cranny to the heavenly Guest that we’ve invited in!

When God’s waves of change crash into what we feel are our rights, our existence, whatever or wherever it might be, do we resist them or embrace them for what they are?

What these painful experiences and strippings do is cause us to remove our focus from the things of this passing world and press into God where He can effect eternal changes for our good in our lives! The truth of His word declares that through all the trials He will be with us, He will never forsake us! (Joshua 1:5, 9)

Like He was with the 3 Hebrew children so He will be in our fiery furnaces! (Daniel 3:25)

As He was with Daniel in the lion's den, so He'll be with us in ours! (Daniel 6:22)

Our feeling however is that he has left us, that we are alone... Even Jesus Himself expressed this feeling while on the cross at Calvary, (Mark 15:34) you are in good company!

But don’t despair, read on past the point when Jesus felt God forsook Him and read to where the stone was rolled away! (Matthew 28:2)

Read to where He arose to newness of life, (Matthew 28:3) read to where after a time He ascended to be seated at the right hand of God the Father! (Acts 1:9, Ephesians 1:20) Read on to where He’s called the Alpha & Omega! (Revelations 1:8, 21:6) Read on! Read to where God’s word proclaims that every knee in heaven, earth, and under the earth will bow to Him and every tongue confess that He is Lord! (Philippians 2:10,11) Read on!

The fiery furnace you now look straight into is the very process that will refine the impurities from your life! It’s not something that should bring fear (although it surely must in the fleshly humanistic realm in which we live) but it could and should bring hope and the knowledge that God loves you and is working in your life for your benefit!

How can this fiery furnace benefit you? Trust the one who created you and holds your future in His hand! He knows the end of the story! We don’t, you don’t!

The word of God declares, " Surely He shall deliver you from the hands of the fowler!" Psalms 91:3! Read Psalm 91 in its entirety! God loves you and promises to take care of you!

Read the words of the apostle Peter, who died crucified upside down on Christ's behalf!

1 Peter 4: 12 "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."

The word says don't be surprised! As such you should search for the deeper significance of the situation! What is God saying in and through the situation? You know that He is at work to accomplish something, what exactly is He trying to accomplish?

God knows what's best, can you agree that trust in Him is a good idea when in the midst of your trials? Can you agree that He is big enough to take care of the situation? Will you submit and become obedient? Will you lay down the flesh and assess the ordeal with spiritual eyes?

How can I be so sure of what I’m saying? I’ve been there! So has anyone who has made a true decision to receive Jesus as Lord of their life! Eventually if you were serious in your acceptance of Jesus as Lord of your life, you must experience some form of crucifixion! Ask Paul, Peter, Luke, Matthew, ask any of the disciples of Jesus and you’ll see that they not only had to experience the death of the cross in their lives but they had to learn how to magnify God in and through the very persecution they went through! Sound like cake walk?

It’s all His, you gave Him the Lordship of your life didn’t you? Well, did you or not?!

How can it come as a surprise when we are falsely accused or when we are forced to experience almost unfathomable tribulations? There is an enemy of your soul alive and very active wanting to stop the plan that God has for your life! We're in a battle here, our soul is at stake or the souls of those whom God has ordained to reach through us! This is no game!

Are you being falsely accused? Rest in the question Paul proposed to the Romans in 8:33, "Who can bring a charge against God’s elect?" Well, who can? We know that Satan and his minions are the accusers of the brethren and how could that surprise you that there are such terrible allegations and accusations against you right now? If there weren’t then you should be surprised! The lack of tribulation would almost surely testify to your lack of willingness to go on with God! To fail to expect tribulation is to live in a dream world! Why else does the Bible contain the words of Proverbs 3:25? "Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes." Doesn't say if IF IT COMES, it says WHEN IT COMES! Or also Ephesians 6:13? It says to put on God's whole armor to withstand in the evil day! It doesn't say that if you experience trouble to stand, it implies when we experience trouble! Not if, WHEN!

Are they true? (The accusations.) We know that there are consequences to our actions, the laws of man and God both require that, but God is merciful! Over and over His word proclaims that He is merciful! (Psalms 37:26, 100:5, 138:8, Ephesians 2:4, and on and on!)

They’re not true and whatever comes of this only God and you can decide! God because He is in absolute command and control of everything that happens to you. (He is Sovereign!)

You, because you must decide that you’ve had enough and truly submit all to God! Are you holding on to what you ‘want to keep" or are you placing limitations on what God can do through you? At this point you must let go and let God! Doesn’t His word declare that He acts on behalf of those who wait upon Him? (Isaiah 64:4) He delights to amaze His children with His grace!

What would I not do for my children? I’m but a limited man, what will God not do for His?!

What if you are called to minister in prisons? Paul lived the majority of his life in chains!

Is that out of the question? What about foreign missions to a place you couldn't fathom going to? What about just being an unseen prayer warrior that must live and breathe the word of God through hours of prayer and studying as well as eternally fasting?

Let’s examine that... If you can refuse such a calling or become enraged with any of these possibilities then what in fact you are saying is that I’ll serve You if... I'll serve You if…

We were created originally to live eternally! Flesh in fact was not intended to die, sin's consequences brought death and caused flesh to usurp our spirit's capacity as leader of our body. The body therefore does not willingly lay down and die!

God in His word already declared that it will turn out for your eternal good! (Romans 8:28!)

Satan wants to sidetrack you! Will you so easily be duped by his tricks?

If Satan can get you to: 1. turn your attention from God and 2. focus on the actual situation then what he has done is placed you in a position where God's intervention is all but impossible!

See that for the great truth it is! Our deliverance is from God, not ourselves, not man! (2 Timothy 4:18, Psalms 91:15) How now when we need God the most can we become mad at God and not run desperately to Him?

If this or any other trial could have you get mad at God and all but deny Him, what if to proclaim God meant death? You know that for some to deny Him is to live! (Cassie Bernall, et al...)

Don’t kid yourself, this is a lesson and you must scrutinize this whole ordeal and come out of it better than before you experienced it! If not then you like the Israeli children might have to go around the mountain again! When every time you go through a trial you get closer to God how long do you think it’ll be before Satan stops that tactic and tries another? Think about that!

Read Psalm 124: "If the LORD had not been on our side-- let Israel (you are Israel!) say-- if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." God in us is bigger than any problem we face! Are we believing that?

The key to the victory in this or any other trial that may come your way is reliance upon and obedience to God's Holy Spirit! TRUST IN GOD! In order to be obedient we must first ascertain His will and we can only do that by being in His presence enough time to hear what He's saying! That being through intense study of His word and intense times of prayer and probably fasting!

O.k., I'm sure you get the point until now but you might ask why?

Why do I have to go through this trial or experience these accusations in the first place?

We can return briefly to the previous question, "How can the Holy Spirit of Jehovah live in the sin-ridden flesh of mortal man?" The problem in fact is not of sin, that in fact was taken care of by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross…(Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Hebrews 1:3, etc.) The problem remains that the flesh of man is corrupted! Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 9:16, 17 where He speaks about the old and new wineskin! Wouldn't you agree that trying to put the new wine of God's Holy Spirit into the old wineskin of our fallen flesh would be futile? What do you think He says in John 12:24 - 26? He's saying unless a grain of wheat dies, unless the flesh dies… Unless we are prepared to lay down our life and actually through obedience help to slay it we will not be worthy of His kingdom! He says that if we wish to serve Him we must follow Him, and we must all remember that He went through death then resurrection! Death first, then resurrection! Why would it be any different for us? The act of physical death He did and released us from the necessity of doing but dying to our flesh and its desires is still a requirement for anyone who would desire to follow Him!

Where do I come off with saying that? Well, what does Jesus say? Read verse 25 again!

It's repeated various times throughout the gospels, anyway, look at this, "He who believes in me as Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:38 & 39)

Jesus was not yet glorified, glorified how?

He was glorified after Calvary's cross and the death of His flesh! The death of His flesh! He then became the firstborn among many brethren! (Romans 8:29)

Through the death of the flesh was He then able to be born again, raised in newness of life, resurrected from the dead, as such He was glorified!

1. We are called by God's Holy Spirit. (John 6:44, 20:16, 22:14, etc.)
2. We are justified through Jesus' atonement made at Calvary's cross and our acceptance and confession of same. (Acts 13:39, Romans 3:24, Romans 5:1, Galatians 2:16, etc.)
3. We are glorified. Glorified how?

As I said above, Jesus is our example and how was He glorified?

I said His glorification was obtained by His going to the cross and the crucifying of His flesh!

Do you get it?

When we ourselves do not through obedience and discipline put down our flesh and subject it to death through our refusal to allow it to lead our bodies, we in fact require God to do it for us!

We can do it the "easy" way or the "hard" way, the choice is really pretty much completely ours but in one method or the other we will have to go through it if our confession was/is true!

Luke 14:33 clearly states what many are reluctant to hear and deal with! It says, "…whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." What I feel He means is not so much earthly possessions (although it could include them) but more so the hold we continue to maintain on the lordship of our life! What Jesus says is required is total abandonment of any ownership rights we place over our bodies! That includes our thoughts, deeds, dreams, possessions, everything that we currently claim ownership of! Absolutely nothing is exempt!

Complete and total abandonment! Absolutely nothing else/less will suffice!

His word clearly states we cannot serve two masters! (Luke 16:13)

Wait a minute, did what I said above fly over your head?

We cannot have one without the other! (We might for a season…) Beware now of thinking that God is asking too much as His word says some sobering things about looking back! (Luke 9:62)

Keep closely in your mind that the scripture says, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

That places a requirement on us, it says we must walk in the light as we have received it! Once having read this or any other study that is inspired of God you must act upon it!

Hey, I didn't make that up! Read God's word! He requires death from us, nothing less will do!

Over and over He tells us that in order to gain our life, (eternal) we must lose it. (temporal) See once again Mark 8:34 & 35, Luke 9:23 & 24, John 12:25 and the other scriptures saying the same thing! What do you understand that to mean? Read it, it means exactly what it says!

Why tribulations? To submit our flesh to the workings of the cross.

Why accusations? To kill this flesh of ours by means of crucifixion!

Does God cause us to go through these ordeals? In most cases not directly, that's Satan's job, but God allows him to do his dirty work that we may reap heavenly benefits by going through them! The word shows us that Jesus was made perfect through sufferings! (Hebrews 2:10)

We in fact need not go through all the sufferings that Jesus did because He's gone through it already and gave us the perfect guide (the Holy Bible) to growing in Him if we can manage to read, assimilate, and work into our lives the instructions contained therein!

Do we take the "easy" road? Some of us do, to an extent anyway, but most of us don't!

Most of us do just the same way as when as kids our parents told us something to help us not have to find out the hard way but we choose to do it anyway and find out for ourselves…

Well, was I the only one who made that really stupid mistake?

Certainly for some it's easier than for others, as well some of us are brought to lower levels prior to being saved and are more obedient through our genuine appreciation for what God has done.

Others escape a lot of hardships simply because they are more disciplined persons and following orders isn't such a big deal to them. Notice I said a lot, not all!

What do I mean we "make need"? At some point all of us, to some degree or another are not capable in and of ourselves of overpowering the hold the soul and flesh has on us and we need assistance if we are to put self to death! Would any of us choose a terrible trial of our own accord? Even if we were guaranteed eternal benefits, could be discipline ourselves enough to accomplish what needed to be done? I don't think so! Would our wills not fail us? Most likely! We'd try and try to find other ways and in the end never accomplish what needed to be done! Which one of us will volunteer to be beaten, scourged, and then crucified naked? I thought so.

James sums it all up in James 1:2 through 4! The very trials we go through causes us to experience all of the necessary building blocks of our faith as outlined in 2 Peter 1:5 through 11!

(Diligence, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and brotherly love.)

All of the aforementioned attributes are indicative of a Spirit led life, they are all made evident through the trials and tribulations we go through, they are all fruit of the self life being crucified!

Need I say more?

The trial, tribulation, or accusation you now face, no matter how overwhelming it might appear to be is in fact something that God has allowed to take place in your life to benefit you eternally!

Or you brought it upon yourself through sin and the breaking of God's or man's law, either way God allowed it into your life to bring a favorable eternal outcome as a result!

When it's too big to even imagine an escape God will be the one to provide that escape!

His word promises that! 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God will always, ALWAYS provide a means of escape for you! It states that God is faithful to do so. God will not prove Himself unfaithful under any circumstances! He is God! Rest in that fact! Believe and confess the same confession Paul made in 2 Timothy 4:18, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. "

I know, I know what you're thinking! How can I ever kill this flesh man once and for all and get it over with!? Just tell me how and I'll do it, right now, once and for all…

I wish it could be that easy, I'm sorry to have to say however that it is not!

Dying daily is how Paul described it! 1Co.15:31 "I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Or, what do you think Jesus means when He says, (Luke 9:23)…Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."? Deny him-SELF, take up his cross DAILY! Dying daily is how it must be accomplished! Will we ever achieve total freedom and the complete death of our flesh bodies while we're here on earth? No, well, actually yes, WHEN WE ARE PHYSICALLY DEAD!

All we can do while alive and breathing is choose every time the choice that Christ would make given the amount of spiritual light we are at the time enlightened with. As we continue to grow in God's grace we will encounter new truths made real to us through the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God who indwells us and we must ever embrace these truths and act upon them from that time forward in every situation. Ever being changed into the likeness and image of Jesus as God through the Apostle Paul admonishes us in Romans 8:29 and the preceding verses.

We must as an act of our mind and will determine to make the choices that Jesus would make if He was in the situation! It would be ludicrous to think we are ready to conform to that quantity/quality of obedience at this stage of our walk, we are trapped in flesh bodies after all! However, we are accountable to God to be obedient to the extent of spiritual maturity and revelation knowledge that we have attained to! By our obeying the Holy Spirit, against the wishes of our flesh and joining our wills together with the will of God, we in fact crucify our flesh! In so crucifying the flesh we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us to hold fast our confession whereas we could never accomplish the same level of obedience on our own power! Much like our physical bodies and their muscles, when you exercise the muscles, they grow stronger and more capable of handling heavier loads - in the same regards our spiritual growth and capabilities grow by using and exercising them! The more we deny our flesh, the more we are able to deny it on a regular basis and the ability to deny it becomes easier, more natural in fact! With continued denial the flesh much like muscles, left on their own without exercise, will begin to grow flabby then deteriorate little by little through lack of use.

That's where we as Christians need to be! We need to have our flesh man withered and even atrophied and completely submitted to the mandates of our spirit! Then we are in the state whereby God can glorify us much the same as He did His Son! Certainly I'm not saying that we'll reach the level of glorification that Jesus attained to but herein is the place whereby the miracles Jesus spoke of in John 14:12 will come to pass! The level of our flesh's crucifixion has a direct relationship with the miracles that flow through us! Certainly there will always be isolated instances of miracles that God ordains for His glory but I'm talking about the continued working of miracles! Death, death of our flesh is the key to our walking in true victory and then there will be no trial, tribulation, or accusation that will remove our focus from God's Son!

You know, with a subject as near and dear to each of us as this it's easy to just pound it into the ground and to not risk becoming redundant in what I'm trying to get across I'll begin to close this thing down…

To try and sum up all that I've brought forth and contain it in one sentence or paragraph would not do this teaching justice so I'll not attempt to do that.

The price Jesus paid to teach all of this was so dear that I'll not try to lessen its weighty message anymore than I already quite possibly have. The meat of this teaching is contained within the Gospels and certainly doctrine regarding same is brought forth in the Epistles.

It would behoove all who avail themselves of this study to pour some time into your own study and see that the cross is not a mere symbol of Christianity but it is a measuring stick and tool for us to use in obtaining the revelation of how to walk a victorious life with God.

The real Christian walk requires Christ-likeness in and through us and if that outward attribute is not recognizable then our walk is less than what God desires and requires it to be!

Back to trials, tribulations, and accusations, they come and go as necessary to assist us in putting down the flesh, subjecting it to crucifixion, and growing us spiritually to the glory of God.

Our glorification to a large part is derived from the death such trials bring into our lives if we in fact submit to God's will in the situation and learn from it. God speaks to us through these very agonizing situations that we have to go through! If we learn to embrace them for the more important eternal teaching each and every trial brings we'll learn to not let them affect us nearly as much. We can all agree that this body we live in and the trial we face is temporary, if our body lasts 80 fruitful years on this earth we can consider ourselves fortunate. Compare that to eternity and we can see that if a trial lasts a long time (by temporal standards) and causes much pain, it is still but a blink in the time we'll spend in eternity! Saints of God, that trial, every trial, by God's promise is guaranteed to produce good fruit in us, it's well worth the suffering!

It was by His sufferings that He was made perfect! (Hebrews 2:10) Should it be different for us?

Crucifixion, a cruel and agonizing death! A place where the flesh must die…

Remember these words dear brethren, " Jesus… who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2) For the joy that was set before Him…. Which joy?

For the joy… For our redemption! His joy was freeing us from the bondage of sin and death! That's the Lord we serve! He's been there, He's done it! He can and does feel our pain with us and has mercy upon us! When it's really hard we can run to Him! You know what, you need not run for He is already with you, waiting with open arms to comfort you!

The way of the cross is painful, but as the saying goes, "no pain, no gain"!

Embrace your trial, cherish the tribulation that further crucifies your flesh and makes you just a little more like the risen Lord! They're the refining fires of Jehovah God and they were created to mold you just a bit more into the perfect image of His Son!