A Call To The Remnant

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

How deep the love that cries “forgive them Father?” How dead to the flesh a man must be to cry “hold not this charge against them.” How transformed must his flesh be that he has a vision in the midst of being stoned by his countrymen? And brother Stephen was taken home loving those who bore the stones.

Would I respond in such a manner?? I pray that I would. I pray that every trial and tribulation I now suffer is a mile run by one who trains for a marathon. Can I see my trials as blessings? Can I walk counter to modern Christendom and count my trials as I count my blessings? This is the deeper life brothers and sisters. This is the counter-culture. This is the way of the cross.This is the narrow path. Can we arrive at such a place as to rejoice in our sufferings? How can a man rejoice in his sufferings? Well, a man cannot, only a saint empowered by the Holy Spirit can.

There is no key or magic wand on how to rejoice in the depths of suffering. There is only encounter, there is only desire, there is only that thirst spoken of by David when he spoke of the deer that panteth after the waterbrooks. Make no mistake brothers and sisters, this place, this walk of the saints, this place of peace that surpasses all understanding is born out of fire. We have to encounter the Lord Jesus in the depths of the fiery furnace.

Is there another way? No. It’s the narrow path, it’s the taking up of the cross, it’s the decision made in the garden of Gethsemane and even that is not it, there is still the death, even the death of the cross. Many men will die for the cause but how many are willing to die for the cross?