Nourishment and Refreshment for your soul.

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

Everyday, God commands us to take up our cross and follow Him. On my jewelry rack I have a variety of crosses to take up and put on – one to suit my every mood. On casual days, I take up my plain silver cross and clasp it around my neck.  If I am feeling a little trendy, I have several edgy-looking crosses to take up and sling on. When I need to look elegant, I take up and put on my crystal cross. I love how it feels as I slip its costly sterling silver chain over my head. It is beautiful; covered in crystals, in a setting of silver …

How different my collection of crosses is from the cross of Christ. Perhaps taking taking up my cross is more than just putting on an ornament. Maybe taking up my cross is really taking up His cross … walking in His steps. Sacrifice, love, obedience.

The cross of Christ. It is for every day, every situation, every challenge. The cross of Christ is a beautiful cross – plain, wooden, edgy, costly – covered in blood, in a setting of love. I must deny myself, take up His cross, and follow Him.

Action Points

1. What does it mean to deny yourself?
2. What do you need to lay down so you can have the strength and ability to take up His cross?
3. Where does Jesus want you to follow Him?

Life is sweet.

Nourishment and Refreshment for your soul.

“7 A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.” Isaiah 35:8

1. Where are you walking –  the wide road or the Cross Road?
2. If you are on the Cross Road, have taken any short-cuts or detours? How’d they work for you? (Same here.)
3. If you are headed in the wrong direction, what do you need to do to turn around? God does allow u-turns.

Life is sweet.

Nourishment and refreshment for your soul.

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved [Jesus].” Acts 4:12

We all remember taking tests in school. Fill in the dot, multiple choice (otherwise known as multiple guess), true and false, short answer, and the dreaded essay question.

If I had prepared for THE TEST, I actually liked working through the process of multiple choice questions using the “Cross Out Strategy.”

The Cross Out Strategy:

1. Know the truth.
2. Examine all the questions and search for truth.
3. Cross out the obvious wrong answers.
4. Analyze remaining answers.
5. Cross out answers that contain a bit of truth.
6. Circle remaining answer.

The key to the Cross Out Strategy is knowing the truth. Without having access to the true answers, the Cross Out Strategy is futile.

The same strategy works when looking for the answer to life’s biggest question: How may we be saved?

1. Know the truth.
2. Search for the truth.
3. Cross out wrong answers that contain a bit of truth.
4. Accept the correct answer.

The answer to our biggest question is contained in our verse above: There is no other name by which we must be saved. Jesus. It is only by accepting His sacrificial death on the cross that we are saved.

It all comes down to the cross: cross out all other answers.

Action Points:

1. Is Jesus your Savior? Have you crossed out all other options?
2. Do you depend only on Him for salvation, restoration and forgiveness?
3. Do you allow others to rest only on Jesus, or do you require others to continually pay for their sins?
4. Are you hanging on to something Jesus has already nailed to the cross?

Life is sweet.

Nourishment and refreshment for your soul.

“45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”  

Deuteronomy 32:45-47

Cross over. In the Hebrew, cross over transliterates as `abar, which means to pass through, to march over, to pass beyond, to pass over. The term Hebrew actually descends from the word `abar. The Hebrew people were those who crossed over.  Following the Ark of the Covenant, the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the Land of Promise.

Similarly, as believers, we are continuously called to cross over to our Promised Land. The cross of Jesus enables us to cross over.  At the foot of the cross, we leave the darkness and cross over into the light.  We leave self and cross over to Savior. We leave sin and cross over to righteousness. We leave hopelessness and cross over to purpose.

Action Points:

1. How is God calling you to cross over?
2. Is there a Jordan River standing between you and your Promised Land? If yes, how can you take a step of faith today and cross over?
3. Thank God for everything He has empowered you to leave behind because you crossed over to follow Him.

Life is sweet.

Nourishment and refreshment for your soul.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

When I was in elementary school, the declaration listed above was a very common promise between little girls. After sharing a vital piece of information with a best friend, we would very solemnly draw a cross on our hearts with two fingers, and then pledge to fulfill our cross my heart oath … even to the point of death. Usually these childish cross my heart pledges were made late in the night, between giggles, as we shared our secrets with one another.  I look fondly back on these childhood promises; some broken, some kept.

In the book of Deuteronomy, God calls us to make a very solemn promise: a cross your heart kind of promise. He vows to never leave us or forsake us. He takes our sin and our shame. He etches a cross upon our heart and asks us to love Him with all our strength. It is a promise never broken, always kept to the point of death … even death on a cross. Cross His heart and we have hope when we die.

Action Points.

1. Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior? If not, please click on the link below.

2. Is God not just your first priority, but your every priority?

3. What needs to shift so God can be a greater priority?

4. How do you love God with all your heart? All your soul? All your mind?

Accepting Christ

Life is sweet!

Nourishment and refreshment for your soul.

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18

I love words. When I was a child I would repeat multi-syllabic (now that’s a good word) rhyming words over and over; fascinated by the way they rolled off my tongue. Long words, archaic words, unusual words, foreign phrases, and word origins are very intriguing to me.  Because I love words, I also love crossword puzzles. For years, the only reason we subscribed to the Sunday edition of the newspaper was so I could get the crossword puzzle. Crosswords … cross words.

Cross words.

The cross is full of words also.

love … sacrifice … joy … pain … forgiveness … hope …

restoration … redemption … blood … healing … purpose

life … grace … peace.

Cross words are powerful words; foolishness to the world, but salvation to those of us who love cross words.

Action Points:

1. What cross word is most meaningful to you?
2. Pray your cross word into your life today.
3. Listen for God to speak your cross word to you through music, other people, radio messages, billboards, etc.

Life is sweet!