Truths That Will Set You Free

I’ve learned the hard way that saying ‘yes’ to God often means saying ‘no’ to the flesh. In this short but powerful message, I share what it really looks like to carry your cross, deny yourself, and live a life set apart.

PODCAST Episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/yQDsE59FxVb

This is one I believe it will meet you right where you are. In just a few powerful moments, we’ll go deeper into what it truly means to carry your cross, deny yourself, and live in righteousness through Jesus Christ. You’ll find scripture, real-life lessons, and fresh clarity drawn from my past messages—delivered in a concise, straight-to-the-point way that speaks to both your spirit and your walk with God.

So let's begin with Jesus, and what Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 AMP:

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].

He also said in Matthew 10:39 AMP:

39 Whoever finds his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity].

What does it mean to lose your life?

For me it meant letting go of my carnal desires. The worldly foundations I built my dreams on…. money, social status, pleasure, pride, beliefs, behaviors and habits that some were good, some more destructive, and with that it also means to come into alignment with a life that puts Jesus first, in all, that we do.

To deny yourself means to say, no, to what your flesh craves and say yes, to what your spirit is calling you to. It means not spending money how you want… not sleeping around, not numbing out with food… social media… or people.

Now, again, you can spend money, you can do all these things, but there's just a twist now. There's a little bit more responsibility, a little bit more understanding to these things that you didn't know, and I can go into deeper things later, but again, I'm giving you a brief overview. We know that how we utilize money typically is to provide for selfish ambitions, goals, satisfying our desires... things of that nature.  Sometimes it could also be using that money for destructive things versus the flip side of that such as utilizing money to help uplift people… helping people out …and money spent in ways that invest in you… invest in others… build you up, and build others up.

 So again, a lot of the things that we read in the Bible, you may feel and say “I'm going to lose all these things that I used to have fun in and stuff like that. Well, a lot of those fun things we actually participated in was destructive. So you can still have fun. You can still enjoy these things, but there's just a now, a certain awareness of what is going to destroy you or destroy another person versus building you up and building up another person, it's just that the opposite right?

 You're going from destructive behaviors to constructive behaviors, you're going from things that will lead you down the wrong road in life to what leads you down the right road in life, from choices that leads you into situations you can't get yourself out of  verses you never putting yourself in that situation in the first place so you don't have to worry about getting out of it. It means honoring your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Next is carrying the cross. What did Jesus do?

He carried our burdens, he took our sins upon him, and they were nailed with him on the cross. Now we carry the cross to acknowledge the sins, the curses and the burdens that we've experienced and had through our past seasons in life and we lay them before him. Claiming victory over those sins by claiming Jesus as our Lord and our savior and by standing in faith as those sins, will be cleansed from us as we read his word, and as we be a door of his word.  As it is written in Ephesians 5:26-27 AMP:

26 so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], 27 so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless.

Where Jesus was blameless it is by reading his word, by imitating him that you too become blameless. I will eventually mention how our mind has a lot of condemning thoughts, unworthiness, rejection, and abandonment because of what has happened in our lives and that contradicts a lot of the things that we believe we can ever be. It is by reading his word… by knowing the word… by knowing who we are through Jesus and our identity that we've been adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus. You are worthy, you are loved, you are powerful, and you have authority and dominion over the things that I've held you down in life.

It's not saying that you're going to be perfect, that things will be completely wiped from your slate immediately, but it is a cleansing. It is washing of water with the word of God. So that in turn, he might present the church, which is us to himself in glorious splendor without spot or wrinkle, and that's important because when you go into the bible especially the Old Testament, when they sacrifice sheep. How you identified a clean sheep from an unclean sheet, was without spot or wriggle, we are moving from being unclean to clean unclean being sinful. Clean means that we have been washed clean and living holy and righteous lives. We're choosing to live in alignment with Gods word and we're choosing not to sin. So what is a sin? We have anger, we have rage, we have malice, we have greed, we have gluttony, we have slothfulness, we have lust, right? So, then we're spotted, we're unclean. Okay, but to clean us up it is to now live a righteous life and through Jesus, that's where you can repent and change your behaviors, change our ways of thinking, and know that through him, all things are possible. So, no matter what you've done in life, you can be cleansed and purified, and you can be blameless. Carrying the cross, isn’t just a metaphor it's real, it's a real daily battle to crucify our flesh, renew our mind, heal the brokenness from past seasons, and to be delivered from our demons as we grow and walk in the spirit.

Now, True Worship in  Romans 12:1-2 AMP

12 [a]Therefore I urge you, [b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be [c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

I want to go back up real fast where it said act of worship, so a lot of people think worship is singing songs, but it's not just singing songs. It is, truly, you dedicating your bodies, your life, the things that you do. Which is your rational making a choice with logical, intellectual choice …..Your free will as an act of worship to him….that's another form of worship, so you can still sing and praise him, but worship is actually living your life in a righteous way by your own choice, not being emotional, not being fear-based but truly a rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.

Now, as a quick insert, also I want to say that again, you're on your individual journey to carry your cross and a lot of us jump into relationships before we've dealt with carrying our cross and dealing with our past pains and past seasons of hurts and behaviors that are destructive and things  of that nature, a lot of us have done so in the past. Well carrying your cross basically is to resolve all those things, so you're cleansing yourself, you're purifying yourself by washing yourself clean and you've learned your lessons now, you can make better choices. Now you can get into a healthy relationship because you as an individual are strong, you've been carrying your cross, you know, what lessons have been learned, you know, what's not to be repeated, etc. You're standing strong and firm, and what, you know, is right what, you know is wrong, you know, what is good. You know what is evil.

Marriage

As a quick mention, is that when you marry, you know, it's not just your cross that you carry anymore, you also carry the cross with someone and their journey, their healing, their temptations, their battles. You know, your union magnifies the weight, but it also magnifies the grace. We as individuals have grace through Jesus Christ, and you know, there is also though that union, that you would have you together. You will have individual problems within that marriage that will impact you….. and the things that impact you…. will impact your partner. But then together also you're going to have those battles that you're going to face, whether that be finances, whether that be family, whether that be growing , whether that be warfare in the minds and all sorts of things in order to weather those storms and, you're going to come up against a lot of things and not just as individual. Which is why it's good for you to be as an individual to know what it means to carry your cross… to know what it means to stand your ground against the mind when you have a spiritual attack or to resist your temptations, because then you're strong and when your partner also is aware of those things, and that person is strong… so together, even though these things might come against us, and even though those things might make us weak in those times. That person is still aware and is strong enough to help you at that moment versus them not being aware and not being able to support you during that time. So, it is very important to insert that in there.

Now, fasting and deliverance, many Bible translations have unfortunately removed key pieces of instructions like fasting, but Jesus said in Matthew 17:21 AMP

21 [a][But this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.]”

Fasting starves the flesh so that your spirit can rise and strengthen. So, we've been living by the flesh, okay, our flesh is strong. You know, we've lived by our pleasures, and we've not disciplined ourselves and we've not told ourselves, no. So, I think that's the biggest thing I want to say, is about boundaries… there's so many people they talk about boundaries of setting boundaries to other people, but we've not set boundaries for ourselves. to really identify what's good and bad, what's are non-negotiables, and sometimes on those non-negotiables are not really an alignment biblically, but neither here nor there, I want to say that the biggest thing we need to have is boundaries with is within ourselves, and that's something that's very interesting that you come up against every day as you recognize, oh this is the boundary I need to set for myself….this is something I have to say, no, to. Whether that is preserving your day by saying no to people that are wanting you to do things that's not in accordance with your schedule….or maybe your mental state .. or your emotional state, and they're needing you and you're needing to say, no, I'm sorry, I'm not able to be there for you at this time…. or there's a argument and they want to deal with it right now, but maybe you need a minute. Those are examples of boundaries with others, right; but what about the boundaries for yourself?

What boundaries have you set for yourself  and stuck to and that's the biggest thing that you will first find in a way so that you can break free of the areas that you've justified sin, break free of the areas that you've compromised, break free of the areas where you self-abandoned yourself, and that will in itself strengthen you and that that's night a quick task. But it's something that will help you with during fasting, is to set that boundary and set that discipline, set that self-control and again allow your spirit to rise up and to strengthen. When you recognize you're doing this, this will help you more insight and understanding of the things you're reading in the Bible as well.

Fasting, is you fasting from food as the number one primary thing, but I also suggest during your fast from food…..to fast from social media, fast from sex, fast from negativity, fast from things that will draw your attention away from or draw your attention in order to keep you distracted or in a form of bondage, and I'll explain more about bondage, but in a form of destruction. This is a time to increase your prayers, time, and focus on God. Time in just silence; listening.

This is to be a lifestyle now, monthly or weekly put that in as a routine, and you'll begin to recognize the things that have been within you; that you are now to face and to confront.

Your mind may have racing thoughts, it may have fears urges, temptations, condemnations that may increase because it wants you to listen for a lot of different reasons.

1.      because you haven't dealt with them

2.      because they're keys to what hurt you

3.      they are keys to what you're needing to pray about, and to ask for helping and to receive deliverance in and you know, the challenges also in your external life may increase, but I ask that you do not give up persevere.

• utilize bible scriptures, that will help you to overcome

• speak the scripture out loud to strengthen you until the fear, until the worry, until the thought or whatever it is leaves.

4.      in Google, you'll just type in “scriptures to ……”

• help with anxiety, help with depression,  help with low self-esteem, help with grieving, help with anger, help with grief, help with fasting, help with loneliness, help with lust, help with financial problems

• Find scriptures for that and then speak it out

A lot of the things that have happened are rooted in fear, let's just acknowledge that real quick. So, what you will want to say is the most popular scripture out there …which is ..

God did not give me a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a sound mind.

Some scriptures, say, God did not give me a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power of love and self-discipline. It's whichever. Again, different versions, but you need to strengthen yourself in God’s word.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control]. 2 Timothy 1:7 AMP

I have mentioned another podcast; I talked about affirmations and afformations but truly Gods word is an affirmation. It is a declaration, it is a word that you need to speak of yourself because again, so many of us, including ourselves, have spoken negatively upon ourselves and upon others. And now you're needing to speak life into you. You need to speak power into you. If you speak these scriptures out that thought will eventually leave, you'll become strengthened in these things. So just again, pray, ask for help, ask for wisdom and guidance and stand in your faith.

Faith is also built up like a muscle, that's why I kept comparing it to going to the gym in other podcasts. I kept talking about dirty water and putting clean water in…in your dirty water by putting clean water in (the word of God is the clean water) you're reading the bible putting God’s word in you, praying, and everything I listed above, you’re forgiving, you’re repenting, your changing your ways to live with more moral awareness….that is spiritual muscle building and it's like a workout. You're having to apply a discipline into your life in order to become stronger, where you once were weak.

Where I mentioned about asking for wisdom. There is another scripture you can say out loud is in James 1:5 AMP “If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.”

 So, ask for wisdom, because you're seeking help, you are seeking guidance, he's the one who's going to be able to provide that answer with clarity and truth…... and then listen. If you're distracted, you're watching all these things, if you're doing all these things you're going to be distracted, and you may not receive his answer. His answer could come in so many ways you could be listening to a song in the answer comes, you can be reading a book and answer comes. You could be watching TV, and an answer comes. How do you know that?? is because your senses attune to what is being said in a way that you've never heard it before.

I've heard this once that somebody said that they went to a sermon once and they were like “I swear their pastor was talking to me.”

Well, that's because you may have asked or it may be something God's asking you to listen to. And so, if something is resonating with you a with more awareness and then maybe you ignored it the first time and you prayed again for it, well it's going to come again, maybe in a different way, but the bottom line is you becoming more aware and mindful and listening for the answers…. looking for the answers…and also, listening within too, because it doesn't mean it's always going to come externally, but it can also come internally.

Next is pulling the thorn out of your eye as it is written in Luke 6:42 AMP

“42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, allow me to take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite (play actor, pretender), first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

You can't help anyone else until you confront what's in you.. confession, repentance, forgiveness and casting up the demons that have entered through your wounds, and through the things that you've agreed to, the things that you watch, the things you listen to, the things that you participated in. You know, these things lead to by your acknowledgement,  you changing your ways with repenting are ways of inner healing, the outer distractions kept you need to from dealing with the one thing that will truly save you, which is dealing with your soul. And I've explained that's about your mind, your will and your emotions, and your emotions is your heart. You'll be amazed when you start listening to yourself. What your heart is saying…… the hurts, the anger, sometimes the perversion that's in there. And perversion is a lot of things that could be sexual perversion, but it also could be distortions of thought processes, distortions of understandings, because our hurt has shifted our perspectives of things. Our experiences have shifted our perspective of things. So you'll start hearing all these things and feeling all these things. Which all reveals the truth that sets you free. It's one of those things; a process that is very uncomfortable, but it sets you free, as long as you stick to it, and understand that that's the reason what Jesus came for, he came to deliver us and to teach us how to live our life here on earth so that we can have an eternal life in heaven….and the way to do that is by cleansing ourselves here right now. And then you might still, you know, bleed after pulling that thorn out, you know, it may not be healed immediately, but at least that thorn is finally out but, you know, Jesus is your balm. And you pray for that…. you pray for him to heal you, and the word is your medicine…. so also continue in reading in the word (bible), learn and grow in emotional intelligence, grab books, get help, seek therapy if needed and through prayer, you'll be amazed how good of a therapist God I can be… cause he's also your counsellor right? Learn and understand what deliverance is. I mentioned in another but, churches that we're doing a lot of deliverance, and the things that you would see, that can be scary. I experienced that as a child and from there, I had a negative perspective and understanding about deliverance. But again, when you read everything that Jesus did, it was to deliver you from those demons within, and it's about educating yourself, understanding what deliverance is and understand the enemy doesn't want you to even entertain understanding what deliverance is because deliverance is part of what's going to set you free.

So those negative mindsets that I had as a child where I would avoid anything, any kind of church or anything like that, where people are jumping around, and flipping, flapping and doing whichever that I have witnessed as a child as what I only I can explain….. I saw as a child. Well, I'm not a child anymore, right? and then you recognize in time that deliverance is one of those options that will set you free and you come into true understanding what that means. This includes prayer and understanding the scriptures….they all work together in healing, you.

Next is spiritual resistance.

There's a reason it's so hard to open your Bible or to show up a church or to do it consistently or to do it not just on Sunday, but everyday. The enemy doesn't want you free. And your flesh resists the spirit. But the resistance you feel is the proof of you breaking through. Is your trying to break through…where before these things (our sins) were just on automatic pilot now all of a sudden you are putting the brakes on and you're creating all this resistance and you're resisting it (the sins), and it's (the sins) are resisting your efforts to break free from them. But that is the evidence of the reason why we had self-medicated on distractions and on temporary pleasures to run from the uncomfortable feelings and the accountability to face ourselves. We have never reached the breakthrough, because we never allowed ourselves to go past that threshold of being uncomfortable. It wasn’t pleasant; it hurt, we already had enough trauma, we've already been hurt. We're now programmed in survival mode to run from that. But to face yourself in the pains within is what's going to set you free?

And that's the other thing too…when you really look at it. It's within you right. It's not a fist, it's not a yell, but that uncomfortableness feels like a physical attack.

It feels like your heart is beating and you just want to run… right, you want to run into something that is safe…into someone's arms or …...get your favorite food, or you're your favorite I don't know…... shopping or…… anything. You want to run from it and go to the nearest comfort that you can possibly find.

But the key is you're needing to find comfort in yourself; you're needing to find comfort In God and what it means for him to come on in and give you that ultimate safety that you've been seeking for and I know that doesn't sound right to you.. right now, if you're not in that place, if you're not there, that may sound really foreign to you, it may even sound scary or woohoo, but when you think about it, what did we look for??? We looked for a Savior we were looking for something to save us a person, a relationship, a food item, a shopping something that will save us from that immediate pain that we just had. That immediate fear we just had, that immediate comfort from the shame we felt, or the grief we felt from the memory that just popped up.  And we ran to all these things other than just running to God, who will actually be able to save us truly from it, you know. And if I had talked to myself in my younger years and said this, I wouldn't have got it. I wouldn't looked at you cross-eyed, rolled my eyes and turned away, and maybe not, you know, I was respectful and again, you know, I prayed to God still then too, but I didn't understand His presence, His power in my life, I didn't understand the importance of him in my life. So, I would have taken it like a as a casual remark. I may have noted it, but I would not have fully believed it.

And again, that's where I said, a lot of people will not believe, will not understand until they get to that lowest point in their lives and then seek God and then you realize oh! But I think the biggest thing for me is I would like to get to you before you get to that lowest point, because that lowest point,that means there's a lot of pain somewhere. In the midst of that, and if I can help prevent you from getting to that point, then I hope that this helps you now, but you know what, if you're coming to this podcast, blog, this particular episode because you have hit your lowest point, then I pray that you know these words, help you now.

So I want to read Galatians 5:17 AMP it is written

¹⁷ For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the ^[a]sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do.

We already experienced this everyday right? How many times have we been tempted to do something or say something or whatever, and it's like a tug-of-war inside of us, you know, part of us is like, no, don't do it, no, don't say it, and the other part is like, yeah hit them cuss her out. Or no man…I'm on a diet. You know, I'm doing so good. I've been on this diet for  3 weeks. I'm not going to do it. ………….. Man, you've been doing so, good, reward yourself, go ahead and eat it, and then you're triggered, and then you eat it and you break your diet. I'll even talk about fasting, and that can be a challenge in itself, and that's when you're going to get the biggest tug war within you. If you've ever questioned you're light or dark side of you, let yourself come up against a situation that can potentially harm yourself or another person, and that light and dark side of you shows up. But again, a lot of us, our flesh is so strong, that we will automatically succumb to that.

Also our friend group - if they're not spiritual, if they've not sought God in their lives, some might, direct you away from that, you know again, our light and our dark side, will also mirror in our friends. We're gonna have some friends that will help us be able to pull us out of those dark situations, but then we're going to friends that we'll drag us right into those dark situations, right? And again, look at your percentage of how many times you listen to the friend, that's talking you out of doing something bad and look at the percentage of the ones that talk you into doing bad, right. And who do you listen to?

That's the same thing as inside of you…..which friend are you listening to inside (within you) the majority of time? Are you listen into the dark side of yourself more, or the light side of yourself more? That's also another good indicator and that's where fasting from ALL of that outer stuff will allow you to really look at yourself, examine yourself, check the conditions of your heart and what that all says, and it is telling you.

Prayer becomes your compass. Fasting becomes your tool for warfare. And the Bible becomes your sword. And Jesus becomes your strength.

John 10:10 AMP

10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].

To give you a real life scenario based off of just an example, I just said your friend on the dark side, whether inside of you or the external friends, you have a life. That's the dark side, okay, the thief is the dark side. Okay, comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. There's many destructive things that have happened when you really only wanted to be heard. That you’ve really only just wanted to experience something or whatever that is, but if it's on the dark side of the thing, in whatever choice, that you are going to come to the conclusion with… if you agree to that dark side, it's going to be for the purpose, to kill, steal, and destroy.

However, if you listen to the light side of you or listen to the light side of your friend. That's that Jesus aspect, I came that they may have life and have it in abundance to the full till it overflows. Okay, so Jesus is all that is good. And He's within you. And we have not listened to that part of us for a long time consistently.

Okay, we've listened to it, we've taken it for granted. We put it to the side. It's time to listen to it more consistently and I just want to say, you are not here just to survive. You are here to overcome; to stand in the victory that Jesus had won on the cross. You're here to influence others to build them up. To influence people by the life you live… no longer in the destructive patterns, but in the ways that build yourself up…. that build up others. To testify of your triumph and to live righteously in your mind, in your body, and in your heart. In your soul - your mind, your will, & your emotions. This is to become your own VIP. You are worthy and now we can move forward and serve and honor God and his will… to carry your cross. To deny yourself. To live holy, it is a process, and it can be long vs instant at times but always remember you're not doing it alone.

The Holy Spirit is with you for it is written in John 14:26 AMP

26 But the [a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.