Die Daily

Jesus is an incredible leader. (When you are God, it just comes with the package.) Jesus challenged his potential followers. He wasn't afraid of rejection. And He was never afraid to challenge people to the very core. One day Jesus was praying in private with His closest followers, and He asked them who they said He was. One of the inner group, a fisherman named Peter, responded, "You are Christ, the Son of God." Wow...what a response!

Jesus then warned these disciples that He was going to be rejected and killed by the religious leaders in the very near future.

Picture yourself sitting there as one of these 12 guys. You just left your family and business behind. You just walked away. You invested all you have in following this Jesus guy. You bought in to the vision and Kingdom Jesus has been proclaiming. Then Jesus drops this bomb...He is about to be rejected, suffer, and be killed. Where would that leave these followers? But Jesus wasn't done yet. He finished that sentence with the real bomb, "and on the third day I will be raised to life."

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. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it," Luke 9:23-24.

Jesus is The Leader. It's His job as God. He is leading those who will follow to die daily, so that He can live His life in us. Die to self-sufficiency, to self-leadership. To surrender self-leadership and Trust in the One who was willing to surrender His very life for our sake, Jesus!

In this season of difficulty in my life, I need to remember that self is not sufficient. Only Jesus is sufficient for my every need. If I forget this for a day, my heart sinks and hope drains away. Our Heavenly Father, the One who didn't shrink back from sending His own Son, Jesus, to sacrifice His life so that I could live and escape the just punishment I earned, will He not continue to show His love and care for me, even through the midst of difficulty?

Yes, I can trust in Him! Jesus leads the way.

All for His Fame, jack