Deny Yourself

Daily writing promptWrite a letter to your 100-year-old self.View all responses

Desires are a fake ID
Built on subjectivity.
Ignoring reality
And true objectivity
They lead to captivity
To deep insecurity
And to false identity.

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to resist, confront, and overcome the devil’s temptations (Matthew 4:1) and Jesus faithfully stayed aligned with the will of His Heavenly Father. When you are in the wilderness and are tempted to disengage from the presence and the will of God, take up the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, (Ephesians 6:17) like Jesus did (Matthew 4:4,7,10) and “fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12)

Resist, confront, and overcome temptation. Cast down everything within you that in any way exalts itself against the knowledge of God so that you will be able to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Refuse to serve your own feelings, desires, opinions, and habits. “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10)

Resist and reject the temptations and the compulsions that try to compel you to conform to them. Refuse to applaud them and never define yourself by them.

When your thoughts, feelings, desires, and actions are aligned with the living Lord Jesus, your life will produce a huge harvest of the fruit of the Spirit. (Mark 4:20) To be unaligned with Jesus is to be aligned with chaos. Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Jesus said, “Deny yourself.” He never said to define yourself. Instead of defining your life by your desires, feelings, and opinions, begin to align everything within you with the risen Jesus and the will of God. That is called repentance, and it will revolutionize, revitalize, and reboot your life. The kingdom (inner government) of God is open to everyone who will align their heart and life with King Jesus.

To focus on self-effort and will-power is to overlook the power of God’s presence and love. Self-denial really does overcome temptation and produce a beautiful life.

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