May 16, 2023 - Luke‬ ‭9:23-24

“Jesus said to all of his followers, “If you truly desire to be my disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace my ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will embark on a discovery of more and more of true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.” Luke 9:23-24 TPT

Lord, we want to lay our lives at your feet. We acknowledge that it’s in the surrender that we are truly set free, and we will gain true life. This is something that we can say we understand and say we want to do, but it can be hard to walk out. Especially when it requires us to give up something we really want or to do something that requires a lot of humility.

Holy Spirit, please teach us how to die to our selfish ways. Help us to tear down our pride and walk humbly. Open our eyes to see and understand moment by moment how to surrender to your ways. We want to be your disciples. We want to live a life that brings joy to your heart.

Jesus, just as you picked up your cross and literally gave your life up so that we can walk in freedom, help us to learn what it means to bear our cross for you. We want to surrender to your Lordship and walk in the same manner you did. You came to give up your life to serve others. Help us learn to live like that. Protect us from selfishly holding onto what we can’t keep in the end.

We thank you for the blessings that come from walking like you. We thank you that we don’t have to do it on our own. You walk with us and have gone before us. You will help us and show us how to do it. You are such an amazing God. You don’t demand things from us that you haven’t done yourself. It is truly an honor to serve you, Lord.

In Jesus name, amen.