April 5, 2023 - Matthew‬ ‭16:24-25‬

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life. And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep.” Matthew 16:24-25 TPT

Lord, we want to completely follow you all the days of our lives. But this can be so easy to want and so hard to live out. Help us to lay down our lives for you. Help us be willing to give up our own desires and the things that make us comfortable. Let us be willing to surrender them for your sake and for the sake of spreading the gospel.

Give us the grace to endure. Help us to remember all you sacrificed for us. I can’t even comprehend what you had to give up by leaving heaven to come here to earth for us. And your life on earth wasn’t lived in an easy kind of way. No, you chose to serve instead of being served. Then you died a terrible sinner’s death. So much self-sacrifice for our sake. Help us be willing to do the same for you.

Lord, as we do this help us discover what true life is. Anything that we are asked to lay down and surrender for you will be repaid in a better way either here on earth or in heaven. Anything that we lay down so your gospel can be proclaimed will be used to accomplish great things. Don’t let us give up on that even if we can’t immediately see the fruit of it. Lord, you are truly worthy of everything. We choose to lay our lives down today. We live our lives fully surrendered to you. Have your way.

In Jesus name, amen.