Daily Bread

Daily devotion: I have been studying sanctification. It is a very interesting topic to study, and very informative.And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. -Luke 9:23
There is that word again, daily. The Bible speaks so much about today.We need to daily put ourself in it's place. If you want victory that place is in Christ. We do this by forsaking our own agenda, our own desires, and "take up the Cross." By Jesus telling us to do this on a daily basis tells us that we have a problem that must be addressed constantly. What is your "daily" problem? What one thing do you wrestle with on a regular basis? For some it is alcohol, drugs, sexual sins, food, money, etc. Some are more subtle, we don't even know about them, but prayer will bring them to the light.How do you take up our cross? You look only to Jesus for your answer, not some scheme devised by man. If you look at the church world today they seem to have so many answers for our problems, but rarely mention the word sin, or the Cross of Christ. How many christians do you know that claim to have faith in Christ yet they place their faith, their way of getting victory from different things by doing certain things. Confess this, give that, do this, do that, etc. The Bible tells us not to do anything, but to believe. Believe in what? Believe that Christ' death on the Cross is complete payment for our salvation and our victory. By grace we are saved, thru faith, not of works. It is so simple, people don't get it. They think they have to do something, when in fact, when Christ died on the Cross, it was finished. All we have to do is believe. When you truly believe, works will follow. You don't work to get something from God, you work because you love God. Will giving to God bring blessing? YES, you will reap what you sow. But giving to God is not what will deliver you from money problems. You can't buy your deliverance, Christ already paid the price. When you give your money only to reap a blessing so you can pay down your debt, (which is a result of greed, not trusting in God's provision) you are not addressing the real sin problem in your life. I would dare say that 95% of the church world would not give money to the church to further the gospel if they wasn't promised a return. Most people give in faith that they will be blessed from it. Any christian can tell you Christ died to save you from your sin, but then they can't admit they have any sin. There is no such thing as sinless perfection, so if you are breathing today, you are wrestling with something. We go from glory to glory the Bible says. It is a process called sanctification. You can look at it this way, we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. It was born into us from the fall, unfortunately. Getting saved did not take away your nature to sin. But instead of admitting that, we try all of these different ways to get our victory, instead of admitting what the true problem is. Jesus said, ye shall know the truth, and truth shall set you free.We are deceived into believing that we must "work" to get victory. I need to read so many chapters a day, or pray more, or give more money, be a better church member, etc. All of these things are good and important, but it is Christ and His death on the Cross and faith in that + nothing, that brings victory.Oh, the simplicity of the Gospel, and the deceitfulness of sin. Open our eyes Lord to the truth. Jesus is the Truth. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Yes, He is the Way, no other way, not works, not anything, just Jesus. You get this in your spirit and you will have life, and have it more abundantly.