The daily cross.
Posted by appolus on December 22, 2021
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. (Mat 16:24)
An external religion, with its rules and forms, has taken the place of an inward experience with Christ. The saints of old- Abraham, Isaac, Enoch and Job- knew and experienced God inwardly in a personal and vital way. For Christ to truly reign within you, everything must be submitted to Him without reservation. There are many who oppose such a total surrender to this reign. ( Jeanne Guyon)
Madam Guyon knew well that only the cross could bring us to this place of total surrender. Yet even here, it is we who are called to take up our cross, and daily. God creates the perfect cross for each of us. The cross you bore last year is probably not the cross you bear this year, or perhaps even the cross you bore yesterday. God knows it all. It is His craftsmanship. By means of the cross He shapes you. Like a glacier that cuts through everything it its path and leaves behind mountains and valleys, so too the crosses that we bear. It shapes us in ways that only a cross could. And it is we who must pick them up, God will not do this for us.
The alternative is external religion. With external religion there is no inward experience of Christ, no picking up the cross daily, no shaping of the inward man, just the outward shell, the thing that shall return to dust. Men and women will suffer a great deal in order to stay enthroned on their own hearts. In order to take up the cross we must abdicate this throne and see Christ take His rightful place. Do not suffer as the world suffers brothers and sisters. Suffer for Christ’s sake as His Godly reign is established in your heart through the only means available, the daily cross.
bcparkison said
Maybe we as a whole are fixing to get back to this. It is in the plan I think and pray about.
appolus said
I would like to think so………………….bro Frank