"DENY HIMSELF!"

Matthew 16:24-27                             (ESV)
"24 Then JESUS told HIS disciples, "If anyone would come after ME, let him "DENY HIMSELF" and take up his cross and follow ME.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for MY sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
27 For the SON of Man is going to come with HIS angels in the glory of HIS FATHER, and then HE will repay each person according to what he has done."



As I recently stated, last week I found a statement on a Bible Study website that has, quite honestly, captivated me!  Memorization has never been a strong suit for me, and the enemy is battling me on memorizing this sentence/paragraph something fierce.  And the more I study it, the more I find out why he is battling so.  Below is the paragraph of which I refer to:

Only by choosing NOT TO BE SLAVES to our own reasonings and emotions can we win the battle for our minds and begin hearing the voice of GOD within us.

Who in their right MIND would CHOOSE TO BE A SLAVE?  But isn't that what JESUS was speaking about in he above scripture?  JESUS says in John 8:31-32 that HE will set us free! If JESUS sets us free, we must have been enSLAVED before?  What were we enSLAVED to?  It could have been "our own reasonings and emotions"!  If the paragraph above is true, our MINDS can begin "hearing the voice of GOD within us" when we CHOOSE NOT TO BE SLAVES any longer!  We have to CHOOSE not be be a slave.  My MIND goes to Joshua 24:15 where it says ".....CHOOSE this day whom you will serve....."!  There isn't an option to remain neutral, you either have to serve the Gods of your father, or the gods of the world surrounding you!

Our MINDS are a battlefield where the stakes are eternal.  The enemy tries to keep us so busy and "involved" that "we think" we don't have time to listen to "the voice of GOD within us"!  If we "DENY HIMSELF" we are CHOOSING to surrender to the ONE WHO loves us, the ONE WHO Created "this world" in the beginning for HIS glorification!  Even Saul on the road to Damascus had to CHOOSE to listen to the voice of GOD; to BE STILL, and KNOW that I AM GOD!

The thing is, we have to CHOOSE NOT TO BE SLAVES in order to "DENY HIMSELF"!  There is no in between, no middle ground!  Hearing the voice of GOD, the Creator of the Universe, is an incomparable accomplishment, and we generally have to CHOOSE to hear from HIM.  When HE "calls" us are we listening?  Or are we listening "to our own reasonings and emotions"?  When we slow down enough to "DENY HIMSELF" and the things of the flesh, our focus on HIM is a lot clearer!!!