With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without?

Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God?

We hear the Bridegroom say, "Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy. voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely."

We sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle.

What doth hinder us?

Not bringing our self-life to the cross.

Those who are determined to follow after God will not shrink from this.

They will embrace and endure the cross for the joy set before them.

They will invite the cross to do its deadly work within them.

They will prepare and arm themselves for an ordeal of suffering, knowing their Master went before them and is walking with them now.

When we talk of the cross, we are speaking in a figure, and the thought of it is almost poetical, but in actuality there is nothing pleasant about it.

It is never fun to die. To rip through the dear and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply painful. Yet this is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the cross would do to every man to set him free.

The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging their forever. There comes a moment when it's work is finished and the suffering victim dies.

After that is resurrection glory and power and the pain is forgotten for the joy of entering in actual spiritual experience the Presence of the living God.

The flesh whimpers against the rigor of taking up the cross and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal ways. It is no use.

We can listen and read about taking up the cross and dying to self all our life but still never let the cross do its deadly work.

The cross is the nitty gritty, small insignificant choices and decisions moment by moment.

The way of Christ is not easy but it's worth it.

Jesus did not save us without agony

For the joy that was set before Him
He endured the cross.

In surrender we can be confident that the Lord will take care of the outcome and will cause our lives to bear much fruit.

There is nothing like the Cross in all heaven or earth. It was through the Cross that God revealed His love for man. But for the Cross we should have remained ignorant of the Love of our Heavenly Father. For this reason God desires that all His children should bear this heavy but sweet burden of the Cross, because only through this will our love for God, and His love for us, be revealed to others.

We shall never get a second opportunity of bearing the Cross after our life on earth; for we shall never return to this life. So now is the time to bear the Cross joyfully: never again will an opportunity be given us of bearing this sweet burden.

On Sadhu Singh:

Another important aspect of his understanding of sanctification is that of life as cross bearing. True to his sanyasi state he takes the cross as an essential part of Christian life. In fact he says, “The Cross is heaven”.

To quote him once more,
To follow him and bear His cross is so sweet and precious that if I find no cross to bear in heaven I shall plead before him to send me as His missionary to bear His cross. His presence will change even hell into heaven.

We are so moored to the things of this earth that the letting go of them is indeed as if our flesh is physically being torn away. But oh the bliss of being carried forth in the arms of Faith!

It is a painful experience, as we pray for more faith, to be thrown once again on the potters wheel, but that is the only way that the air bubbles can be worked out of the clay. It is essential that the air be worked out, for otherwise the pot will explode in the fire.