***And you shall know the truth. And the truth will set you free!!!***

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Mark 8:34

To be a disciple of Jesus requires you to make a threefold decision. First of all, you need to deny yourself. This means you have to humble yourself and forsake all personal, selfish ambitions. This doesn’t mean you need to take a vow of poverty or celibacy. But it does mean that you must be willing to put God’s will above your own. In desiring to do His Father’s will and purpose, Jesus emptied Himself of His glory and splendour, humbling Himself fully in obedience to God. Self denial is often a major obstacle to the talented, educated and wealthy. By their own abilities and connections, they can seemingly accomplish so much in life. Can you trust God enough to surrender all your talents and heart’s desires completely to Him in exchange for His plan and purpose for your life? Can you give Jesus all of you in exchange for all of Him?

Secondly, to be a disciple, you must be willing to take up your cross. The cross speaks of the place of sacrifice. The first time the word “love” is mentioned in the Bible, we see Abraham willingly placing his son Isaac on the alter of sacrifice (Gen 22). Love always requires sacrifice. God loves you so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for your sins. Do you love Him enough to do the same? To willingly sacrifice your time, talents, money and life for His cause?

Thirdly, to be a disciple of Jesus requires you to follow Him unreservedly. In the end-times, God is looking for those “who follow the Lamb whenever He goes” (Rev 14:4). Many people would happily follow the Good Shepherd to “lie down in green pastures, beside the still waters.” But few are willing to follow Him “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:1-4). Following Jesus requires determination, discipline, dedication and devotion.

With just 11 disciples, Christ changed the whole world. He wants to do the same with you today. Deny yourself. Take up the cross. Follow Him. Be a true disciple of Jesus.discipleship of discipleship is not tt bad... But it is how u perceive it... know that the tresure u lay here is only temporary

Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?"
Mark 9:12

It was very difficult for the disciples to grasp the idea that their Saviour would have to suffer. The Jews who studied the Old Testament prophecies expected the Messiah to be a great king like David, who would overthrow the enemy, Rome. But their vision was limited to their own time and experience. If Jesus hadn’t suffered and died, we would have died in our sins. Through His suffering, Jesus completed the work necessary for our salvation. Through His suffering, Jesus fully identified with us. We know that Jesus understands our struggles because He faced them as a human being. We can now trust Him to help us survive our trails and overcome life’s temptations.

Suffering is one of the unavoidable passages of life. Some people think that troubles are always caused by sin or lack of faith. But trails are often a part of God’s plan for believers. Jesus never promised that His followers would not suffer (Luke 21:17-19). Instead He said we will have to suffer for His sake…

Suffering brings a number of benefits: (1) It may be an opportunity for you to practice submission before God. (2) It can build in your character (James 1:2-4) and patience (Rom 5:3-5). You can’t really know the depth of your character until you see how you react under pressure. (3) You start to become sensitive toward others who may also be facing troubles (2 Cor 1:3-7). It is easy to be kind to others when everything is going well, but can you still be kind when others treat you unfairly?

God’s will is to make you mature and complete, not to keep you free from pain. Instead of complaining about your struggles, you should see them as opportunities for growth. Often, your troubles may be a sign of effective Christian living on your part.

Finally, God does not expect us to enjoy suffering. Only days after telling the disciples to pray that they might escape persecution, Jesus Himself asked God to spare Him the agonies of the cross, if that was God’s will (Luke 22:41-42). It is abnormal to want to suffer, but as Jesus’ followers, we should be willing to suffer if by doing so, we can help build God’s kingdom. We have two wonderful promises to help us persevere when we suffer: God will always be with us (Mat 28:20), and He will one day rescue us and give us eternal life (Rev 21:1-4).

As mention earlier in the previous post… This is a part of preparation for the second coming of the Lord…We have to get ourselves ready n strong for the Spiritual warfare with the devil… We have to be strong in the Spirit n Word of God… This is the price of discipleship… Why we suffer is becuz the world does not conform with the Christians… N wat we do is not to glorify ourselves but God in heaven… Knowing tt one day the Lord will reward us in all our doing… Understand tt we Christian are like all men, but the difference is tt we had a mighty God on our side, our treasure n reward are from Him n in Him… He is our strength n refuge… In our suffering we also learn to depend on the Lord more, as the more we yearn n desire of Him, He will deliver us n show us the way, and prosper us… Remember we can nva short-change God cuz he will nva short-change us…

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