As Christians, our goal is to continually grow in our spiritual walk with God. We should always be focused on walking in deeper levels of understanding and revelation. We crave this, we pray for this, yet often we resist and rebel when God tries to take us to that new place with Him.
What? Resist and rebel? Why would we do that?
The truth of the matter is, in order to walk at a deeper level with God, we have to die daily to self. The Bible refers to this as denying ourselves. Self does not readily give up its [perceived] control and tries to avoid discomfort and inconvenience at all costs. This is where we frequently resist and rebel… in an attempt to persevere comfort and convenience.
Luke 9:23-25 “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. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
If you find yourself in seasons of discomfort or inconvenience, or have instances of this occurring frequently in your day to day life, you may want to prayerfully consider the source:
1) Are you in disobedience to God? Being in disobedience will cause feelings of discomfort. The conviction of the Holy Spirit will not allow us to stay comfortable if we are not in the will of the Father. Disobedience can be intentional sin, or it can be subconscious resistance to denying self. God may well have orchestrated your difficult, inconvenient situation to do an inward work in you, and your resistance prolongs the discomfort. Take a prayerful look and see if God may be trying to teach you:
- How to love the unlovely
- How to sacrificially give (time, money, resources, etc)
- How to submit to authority
- How to lay down your own selfish desires
- How to be humble
(just to name a few)
2) Perhaps you are not in disobedience, but simply experiencing discomfort as a result of cooperating with this inward work that is being done in you. Death to self is a PROCESS. It can be painful even when you understand what is happening. But the Holy Spirit will comfort you in your time of need.
My prayer is that you would desire to know God so much more deeply, and that you would be willing to give up any and everything necessary to do so.
We make adjustments and sacrifices all day long to please “self.”
Why not make adjustments and sacrifices for that which can truly satisfy?
Stop running from the pain of the inward work and PRESS INTO IT instead…. And die, that you may truly live.
Luke 14:33 “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
Isa 55:2-3 “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.”
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING….