Deny Yourself Daily

Whoever walks in the Lord's path will be persecuted and there is no escape from it. When you try your hardest by the grace of the Lord, you truly and genuinely wish to be with the Lord, you want to make Him your portion as long as you are following in the footprints of the Lord Jesus as up until the second coming. So when it's his first coming and you're walking in the Lord's footpath, you will 100% be persecuted.

And let me assure you and guarantee this will, will, will happen. You will be persecuted by two categories. One, your own Christians.

Secondly, the world. So not only the strangers, but those who are family members. So if you are a true follower of the Lord at home, your own family members will persecute you.

And if you are a true follower of the Lord in the church, your own church family will persecute you. They'll go against you. Why? Because the Lord says, my first coming, I gave you my salvation, but with it, it required from you patience.

Salvation from me, patience from you. Because my first coming, I did not rule completely on the whole world. Who did I rule over? Those who received me as Lord and savior from the world.

I took them out of the world and I brought them into the kingdom of heaven. So those whom I took out of the world and brought them into the kingdom of heaven, to those I gave salvation, but I said to them, you are still in the world. And as long as you're in the world, you will be persecuted because the way the world treated me, I, Jesus Christ, will treat you the same.

There is no disciple greater than his or her master. No one, no one is greater than the Lord. So whatever the Lord endured, if you're walking in his footprints, you will have to endure according to what you are capable of handling by his grace.

And this is why you need patience. You go and speak about the Lord Jesus, people will go against you within the church and outside the church. They will ridicule you.

They will say some nasty things about you. They will depose you. They will kick you, punch you, left, right and center, your own people.

Why? Because you wish to be for the Lord. Because not every Christian is for the Lord. So when you are speaking the language of the Lord in his own house and those people who are in his house that have chosen to live for themselves, not for the Lord, they will not speak with one voice.

They will not speak the same language. Because if I am in the house of the Lord and doing it my way, then I am different to Jesus Christ and I am different to every other Christian who wishes to live for Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So when I speak the Lord's language, those who chose not to live for the Lord but for themselves, they will go against me and persecute me because their language is not the Lord's.

The Lord is love. They lack love. The Lord is humility.

They lack humility. The Lord is forgiving. They lack forgiveness.

That's why they will retaliate. You are affecting us. You are giving us grief and discomfort.

You choose to live at the gutter but we choose to live in high places. How is that going to work? It's not going to work now because it's causing them a lot of problems and issues. So now they have either to try and imitate the Lord but it's very costly because they don't want to give up on this luxurious lifestyle.

So how can I give up on the limousine? How can I give up on the red carpet rolled under my feet? How can I give up on this comfort sitting behind the desk not even making my fingernail go a little bit muddy? How can I give up on this gold and linen? How can I give up on the mansion? How can I give up on the millions? Because if I truly follow the Lord, the son of man has no place to even put and lay his head on. The birds of the sky have a nest and the foxes have homes but the son of man has no place to put his head on. Do you want me to give up on all this lifestyle and luxury and prestigious way of living for the sake of Jesus? And on top of that I follow him and then be persecuted, hated, despised, kicked, punched, ridiculed by the world? No way! Let me sit with the prime minister and the president and those big caliber boys, rich people.

I need to sit with them. I need to dine with them. I need to live a life of glory.

I can't give all that up for the sake of Jesus and then be persecuted for his sake on top of that. I wish if he had made me live like a king I would have followed him but I'm not even a slave and a street beggar when I follow Jesus. I'm not giving up on all that.

So what's going to happen? Persecute everyone who wishes to live for Jesus Christ even within his own house. Now if the Christians who are supposed to be brothers in Christ are persecuting their own brother, what do you think the world is going to do to a Christian, a true Christian following Jesus? A prophet is without honor in his own town, in his own city. But the question is, who are we living for? Are we living for ourselves? Are we living for people around us or are we living for this sweetheart, the crown of glory? Let me tell you my dear friend, it matters not to me whether you love me or despise me.

It matters not to me whether you accept me or reject me. It matters not to me whether you agree or disagree with me because I was not brought into existence to make you satisfied, to please you. I was brought into existence not by you, not by me or anyone.

I was brought into existence by the love of my life. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I came to please him and if pleasing the Lord meaning means that you go against me then so be it.

But I will pray for you always, always, always. Don't ever think that I will change my way of thinking, my way of life because you are persecuting your own brother. Because my sweetheart Jesus taught me, love those who persecute you.

Love them. It is not me who is good, it's the Lord. God is good.

His name is Jesus Christ. He's my master, he's my teacher. I listen to him, not to anyone else.

So you do whatever you wish. That ain't gonna change me brother. I love you bro.

And let's put the prawns on the barbie. Relax mate. Why are you so nervous? Why are you so upset? Life is not worth it brother.

It's not worth it. Trust me. Trust the Lord.

It's not worth it. Love everyone. It's not my doings, it's the Lord's.

I can't do anything without him. Read John 15 5. The Lord says without me you cannot do anything. Without me you cannot do anything.

You cannot. So when I'm able to love someone who is persecuting me, it's the Lord. I was speaking to a beloved soul of the Lord today.

And in the conversation we mentioned what John the Beloved himself said about Jesus Christ of Nazareth when he met them at the Sea of Galilee after resurrection the third time, which is John chapter 21, the last chapter of the book of the Gospel of John or according to John. The Lord revealed himself at the Sea of Galilee the third time after resurrection. They did not recognize him at the beginning.

But then John the Beloved, when he heard the Lord Jesus saying or calling out to them and saying, oh little kids do you have any fish? They replied and said, no. All night long we've been fishing and we caught absolutely nothing. Then the Lord said, cast the net on the right hand of the boat and you will catch.

They caught. The net was so filled it was about to be ripped apart and they caught big fish 153. And John the Beloved says this stunning breathtaking statement.

It is the Lord. Let's contemplate on this for a moment. Please.

It is the Lord. This applies to every aspect of life. This applies from head to toe in every way form and shape.

It is the Lord. Today I woke up in the morning. Why did I, why was I able to wake up in the morning? Because it is the Lord.

I was able to wash my face and change the clothes and ate something to get ready to go out of the house. Why was that made possible? Because it is the Lord. I went out and I came back because it's the Lord.

I slept and I woke up because it's the Lord. I came to church and I attended the Bible preach because it is the Lord. I did everything.

It's the Lord. It is not me. It's the Lord.

It is the Lord. Amazing. If every Christian just contemplated on these four words, it is the Lord and applied this to their life, daily life, there is no problem.

I wanted to marry Rachel. I ended up marrying Elizabeth. It is the Lord.

Maybe Rachel wasn't going to be good to you. I don't know. Don't be upset.

I went into the exam and I failed. It is the Lord because maybe the Lord is trying to teach me something through my failure. Why are you upset? I tried this business and I failed.

It is the Lord. I succeeded. It's the Lord.

Don't be happy about success and don't be upset about failure. Rejoice because it's the and always and always. It's the Lord.

Now, why is it salvation and patience? Because whoever walks on the Lord's path will be persecuted by Christians and the world. Therefore, it requires patience. Imagine this.

The Lord Jesus comes to me and he says, I came to choose you. I have purchased you with my own precious blood. I am giving you in my hands.

I'm offering you salvation through those wounds. I'm offering you salvation. Will you accept? I said, yes, Lord, I accept.

I agree. Thank you so much for this salvation. I received salvation.

The Lord says, follow me. Then I started following the Lord. As I followed him one day, one month, one year, 10 years, 20, 30, 40 years along the way, people started going against me.

Imagine, after following the Lord and accepting the Lord in my life as Lord and Savior, then I became a target where people started punching me, kicking me, and ridiculing me. What am I going to do? Say to the Lord, time out, Lord. Enough is enough.

That's it. I've had enough. I'm walking away.

Where is your patience? Are you going to deny the Lord just because someone went against you and gave you hell? Not a hard time, hell. It's good to be in hell. Have you been to hell? One of those days, I'll take you with me.

You see, if you don't let the Lord take over, if you don't let the Lord be the true teacher, you'll never understand. You'll never understand. It takes hell to appreciate heaven.

And it takes darkness to appreciate the light. And it takes brokenness, failure to the core to appreciate wholesomeness and success. The Lord will allow persecution come our way for our own benefit and growth.

And without persecution, we will never ever be able to start understanding the concept of humility.