Take Up Your Cross
Hi everybody, it’s Pastor Dave at Word BY Mail. You can find out all you need to know about this verse-by-verse Bible teaching and Daily Devotion ministry at wordbymail.com. And so, If you have our Alone With God journal, grab it. If you don’t have our Alone With God journal, then you can check it out at wordbymail.com, or you can just grab your blank journal, but for sure, grab your Bible.
Get your Bible because here’s what we’re doing in this Daily Devotion guide part of the ministry. We don’t want to do your devotion for you. We want to help you. We want to nudge you. We want to give you enough leading so that you can meet God in his Word and by his Spirit according to what God wants to do in your own life. We want to help you and nudge you in that direction where you can meditate on God’s Word. You can apply God’s Word to your life. And you can respond to God’s Word. And so, that’s the “Daily Journal” ministry. I’m going to give you a chance to see it in action right now.
Open a journal, if you’re a journaler, and open your Bible – for sure – to Mark Chapter 8. Listen, we’re just going to do one verse today. And I usually do more. I usually do a section or at least a paragraph. But today, I’m going to do just one verse, and I’m going to tell you why in a second. But you open your Bible to Mark Chapter 8. We’re going to do verse 34.
And so, if you have an Alone With God journal, or if you want to get one, what we do is we break the scripture down into interactions that you have with God. They are Meditate, Apply, and Respond. And so, we want to help you meditate on God’s Word, and then we want to help you really apply it to your life. And then, we want to help you respond in a real way to God at the end of your interaction with him in your daily devotion time alone with God. That’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to do it with Mark 8:34.
This is a well-known verse. It comes after this great moment where Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Messiah. And then Jesus tells him that he’s got to go to Jerusalem and die, and Peter just acts in the flesh, and he turns in the flesh and says, “Far be it from me to allow you to die.” And Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan,” that’s just in verse 33. And then Jesus says in verse 33 (if you have your Bible open look up at it, and hopefully you do have your Bible open) to Peter, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
And guys, that interaction with Peter leads into verses 34 to 38, and really even on into the beginning of the Transfiguration. But look, Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah. And then Peter turns back to the flesh, honestly. And then Jesus “checks” him and says, “Get behind me, Satan” in verse 33 because he is seeing things from a human point of view. So, take that context and look at verse 34 with me. Just look really carefully at it.
It says, Then . . . so that connects the two events. Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, . . . So, he’s been talking to just the Twelve, but the crowd’s always there with him at this point. And so, he calls them to come on in and listen to this. And he says something that is life changing. And he says it in response to Peter both being led by God, by the Spirit, and then immediately led by the flesh. And so, here’s the verse.
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said (that’s Jesus), “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
Now, there’s so much in these verses and we can dive so deep into them. And here’s what I have experienced. When we get so deep that it becomes unimaginable for us, we tend to kind of just move on, like, “Okay. That’s for someone else. That’s more than I can take. That’s not where I’m at,” or whatever. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. And that’s why I want you to really focus on just verse 34. It’s super powerful; it gets more powerful in the verses that follow, but you can start with just 34. This is like Discipleship 101, just this verse.
Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower . . .” Look at verse 34. “If you want to be my follower, you must give up your own way . . .” So some versions say, “You must deny yourself.” You must give up your own way. Guys, listen, don’t overdo this. You and I, right now, have something in our life that we’re trying to do our own way. There’s something going on in your life right now where you’re wrestling with whether to do something your way or God’s way. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than this, at least at the beginning.
What are you doing today that you’re doing your own way? And that really you know that the Holy Spirit is convicting you that in that area of your life you’re not doing it God’s way. You’re not following God in that area. Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower, you have to give up your own way.” You have to give up your own way. I don’t know how else to say that to you or to myself. We have to give up our own way. And there’s something in our lives today that applies to this.
And next, Jesus says, in that area now that prayerfully the Holy Spirit is bringing up to you, next, Jesus says, “. . . take up your cross . . .” Take up your cross. Now, this brings a couple of pictures to mind. One is that when someone during that time was carrying the crossbeam of their cross, they were a dead man walking. Their life was over. They were just in process. And so, one illustration is to say that our lives are not our own, that we are dead to our “self” life. That Jesus calls us to crucify our own way, to crucify our “self-focus” our “self” way. And so, that’s a great illustration.
The other illustration is that people carrying the crossbeam, Rome was trying to make this statement that they are under the submission of Rome. And so, that’s a good illustration, too, that for us to take up our cross is a picture of us submitting to God’s way, submitting to the authority of our life – which is God. And so, we’ve got to give up our own way. Remember, I’m trying to help you get this one thing in your life right now that’s happening, right now, that you’re struggling with trying to do it your way. Jesus says you must give up your own way, your flesh way, your “self-focus” way, your own ideas, your own logic. And then you must take up your cross. Meaning, one, to be under the submission of your authority, that you’ve made Jesus your Lord. And two, it means to be crucifying your own way.
And then, lastly, Jesus says in verse 34, “. . . and follow me.” This is “go my way.” Do things as I do them. And this is what Jesus is doing. He is giving up his own way, and it’s going to lead to him giving his own life for your sake, to save your eternal life. He is going to take up his cross. And so, when he says and follow me, he’s saying, Listen. There’s something in your life right now that you have to give up your own way. You have to crucify your own way. You have to walk in that submission to the Lord, and that crucifying of your own life. And you have to do things God’s way. When I say “have to” it’s only if you want to be a follower. If you really want to be a Christ-follower. This doesn’t earn you anything. This is what it looks like if you really want to follow God in that specific area that you’re thinking about right now.
So, if you’ve got the journal, now is your time. Open up your Alone With God journal, and go to a “Daily Journal” page. The first step is to Meditate. It says, “What is God’s Word saying? What are the spiritual principles here?” And I just tried to share some of those with you, so write that down in your Meditate section. And you can pause this guide, and do that, and then come back.
And then the second section is Apply. And the journal says, “How does this apply to my life today, personally and specifically?” And I’ve tried to encourage you to have that in mind, so you can put that under your Apply section. You can pause the guide and come back.
And then the third step is Respond. What are you going to do about it? The journal says, “What action will I take today in response to this truth?” How are you going to handle this in that thing the Holy Spirit is challenging you about? That you’re trying to do your own way instead of God’s way? So, again, you can pause the guide and write your response.
And then, finally, Pray. Write your prayer to God about this matter. Genuinely address this circumstance or situation in your life that the Holy Spirit is poking at. Write that in your Pray section.
And when you guys do this, I promise you, if you’ll do this with intention, God will speak to you. And you’ll be challenged, and you’ll wrestle with God, and prayerfully God will win. And you will follow his way because his way is best.
So, let me pray for you, and I’ll send you off to finish.
Heavenly Father, Lord, this is as deep as it gets for us as Christ-followers, Lord. We must give up our own way. We must take up our cross. And then, we can follow you, then we can do it your way. We deny our own way, Lord. We surrender; we submit to your way, crucifying our own way. And then, we do this thing your way. Help us, Lord. Help us to do that today. In your precious name, Jesus, amen.
Alright, guys. That’s a great one verse. There’s a lot more in that paragraph that you can spend more time with God on, but I’ve taken enough of your time here. Go. Finish your devotion for the day.
And listen. Check out wordbymail.com for verse-by-verse Bible teaching and these daily devotion journal guides. And you can text us anytime. Any day. For any reason. You can text us at (877) 790-WORD. (877) 790-9673.
That’s it. God bless you guys. See you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
Get your Bible because here’s what we’re doing in this Daily Devotion guide part of the ministry. We don’t want to do your devotion for you. We want to help you. We want to nudge you. We want to give you enough leading so that you can meet God in his Word and by his Spirit according to what God wants to do in your own life. We want to help you and nudge you in that direction where you can meditate on God’s Word. You can apply God’s Word to your life. And you can respond to God’s Word. And so, that’s the “Daily Journal” ministry. I’m going to give you a chance to see it in action right now.
Open a journal, if you’re a journaler, and open your Bible – for sure – to Mark Chapter 8. Listen, we’re just going to do one verse today. And I usually do more. I usually do a section or at least a paragraph. But today, I’m going to do just one verse, and I’m going to tell you why in a second. But you open your Bible to Mark Chapter 8. We’re going to do verse 34.
And so, if you have an Alone With God journal, or if you want to get one, what we do is we break the scripture down into interactions that you have with God. They are Meditate, Apply, and Respond. And so, we want to help you meditate on God’s Word, and then we want to help you really apply it to your life. And then, we want to help you respond in a real way to God at the end of your interaction with him in your daily devotion time alone with God. That’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to do it with Mark 8:34.
This is a well-known verse. It comes after this great moment where Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Messiah. And then Jesus tells him that he’s got to go to Jerusalem and die, and Peter just acts in the flesh, and he turns in the flesh and says, “Far be it from me to allow you to die.” And Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan,” that’s just in verse 33. And then Jesus says in verse 33 (if you have your Bible open look up at it, and hopefully you do have your Bible open) to Peter, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
And guys, that interaction with Peter leads into verses 34 to 38, and really even on into the beginning of the Transfiguration. But look, Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah. And then Peter turns back to the flesh, honestly. And then Jesus “checks” him and says, “Get behind me, Satan” in verse 33 because he is seeing things from a human point of view. So, take that context and look at verse 34 with me. Just look really carefully at it.
It says, Then . . . so that connects the two events. Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, . . . So, he’s been talking to just the Twelve, but the crowd’s always there with him at this point. And so, he calls them to come on in and listen to this. And he says something that is life changing. And he says it in response to Peter both being led by God, by the Spirit, and then immediately led by the flesh. And so, here’s the verse.
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said (that’s Jesus), “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
Now, there’s so much in these verses and we can dive so deep into them. And here’s what I have experienced. When we get so deep that it becomes unimaginable for us, we tend to kind of just move on, like, “Okay. That’s for someone else. That’s more than I can take. That’s not where I’m at,” or whatever. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. And that’s why I want you to really focus on just verse 34. It’s super powerful; it gets more powerful in the verses that follow, but you can start with just 34. This is like Discipleship 101, just this verse.
Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower . . .” Look at verse 34. “If you want to be my follower, you must give up your own way . . .” So some versions say, “You must deny yourself.” You must give up your own way. Guys, listen, don’t overdo this. You and I, right now, have something in our life that we’re trying to do our own way. There’s something going on in your life right now where you’re wrestling with whether to do something your way or God’s way. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than this, at least at the beginning.
What are you doing today that you’re doing your own way? And that really you know that the Holy Spirit is convicting you that in that area of your life you’re not doing it God’s way. You’re not following God in that area. Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower, you have to give up your own way.” You have to give up your own way. I don’t know how else to say that to you or to myself. We have to give up our own way. And there’s something in our lives today that applies to this.
And next, Jesus says, in that area now that prayerfully the Holy Spirit is bringing up to you, next, Jesus says, “. . . take up your cross . . .” Take up your cross. Now, this brings a couple of pictures to mind. One is that when someone during that time was carrying the crossbeam of their cross, they were a dead man walking. Their life was over. They were just in process. And so, one illustration is to say that our lives are not our own, that we are dead to our “self” life. That Jesus calls us to crucify our own way, to crucify our “self-focus” our “self” way. And so, that’s a great illustration.
The other illustration is that people carrying the crossbeam, Rome was trying to make this statement that they are under the submission of Rome. And so, that’s a good illustration, too, that for us to take up our cross is a picture of us submitting to God’s way, submitting to the authority of our life – which is God. And so, we’ve got to give up our own way. Remember, I’m trying to help you get this one thing in your life right now that’s happening, right now, that you’re struggling with trying to do it your way. Jesus says you must give up your own way, your flesh way, your “self-focus” way, your own ideas, your own logic. And then you must take up your cross. Meaning, one, to be under the submission of your authority, that you’ve made Jesus your Lord. And two, it means to be crucifying your own way.
And then, lastly, Jesus says in verse 34, “. . . and follow me.” This is “go my way.” Do things as I do them. And this is what Jesus is doing. He is giving up his own way, and it’s going to lead to him giving his own life for your sake, to save your eternal life. He is going to take up his cross. And so, when he says and follow me, he’s saying, Listen. There’s something in your life right now that you have to give up your own way. You have to crucify your own way. You have to walk in that submission to the Lord, and that crucifying of your own life. And you have to do things God’s way. When I say “have to” it’s only if you want to be a follower. If you really want to be a Christ-follower. This doesn’t earn you anything. This is what it looks like if you really want to follow God in that specific area that you’re thinking about right now.
So, if you’ve got the journal, now is your time. Open up your Alone With God journal, and go to a “Daily Journal” page. The first step is to Meditate. It says, “What is God’s Word saying? What are the spiritual principles here?” And I just tried to share some of those with you, so write that down in your Meditate section. And you can pause this guide, and do that, and then come back.
And then the second section is Apply. And the journal says, “How does this apply to my life today, personally and specifically?” And I’ve tried to encourage you to have that in mind, so you can put that under your Apply section. You can pause the guide and come back.
And then the third step is Respond. What are you going to do about it? The journal says, “What action will I take today in response to this truth?” How are you going to handle this in that thing the Holy Spirit is challenging you about? That you’re trying to do your own way instead of God’s way? So, again, you can pause the guide and write your response.
And then, finally, Pray. Write your prayer to God about this matter. Genuinely address this circumstance or situation in your life that the Holy Spirit is poking at. Write that in your Pray section.
And when you guys do this, I promise you, if you’ll do this with intention, God will speak to you. And you’ll be challenged, and you’ll wrestle with God, and prayerfully God will win. And you will follow his way because his way is best.
So, let me pray for you, and I’ll send you off to finish.
Heavenly Father, Lord, this is as deep as it gets for us as Christ-followers, Lord. We must give up our own way. We must take up our cross. And then, we can follow you, then we can do it your way. We deny our own way, Lord. We surrender; we submit to your way, crucifying our own way. And then, we do this thing your way. Help us, Lord. Help us to do that today. In your precious name, Jesus, amen.
Alright, guys. That’s a great one verse. There’s a lot more in that paragraph that you can spend more time with God on, but I’ve taken enough of your time here. Go. Finish your devotion for the day.
And listen. Check out wordbymail.com for verse-by-verse Bible teaching and these daily devotion journal guides. And you can text us anytime. Any day. For any reason. You can text us at (877) 790-WORD. (877) 790-9673.
That’s it. God bless you guys. See you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
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