Jesus Christ demands self-denial, that is, self-negation (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23), as a necessary condition of discipleship. Self-denial is a summons to submit to the authority of God as Father and of Jesus as Lord and to declare lifelong war on one's instinctive egoism. What is to be negated is not personal self or one's existence as a rational and responsible human being. Jesus does not plan to turn us into zombies, nor does he ask us to volunteer for a robot role. The required denial is of carnal self, the egocentric, self-deifying urge with which we were born and which dominates us so ruinously in our natural state. Jesus links self-denial with cross-bearing. Cross-bearing is far more than enduring this or that hardship. Carrying one's cross in Jesus' day, as we learn from the story of Jesus' own crucifixion, was required of those whom society had condemned, whose rights were forfeit, and who were now being led out to their execution. The cross they carried was the instrument of death. Jesus represents discipleship as a matter of following him, and following him as based on taking up one's cross in self-negation. Carnal self would never consent to cast us in such a role. "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die," wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was right: Accepting death to everything that carnal self wants to possess is what Christ's summons to self-denial was all about.
J.I. Packer

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BBD 07.09.14 Life Without Fear (New)

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#1 · July 9, 2014, 1:04 pm

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day”
and read the devotional there.

 

 

The Burning
Bush Devotional

 

 

07.09.14

 

 

Life Without Fear

 

 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind. - 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV.

 

 

And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the
body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom
you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into
hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! - Luke 12:4-5 NKJV.

 

 

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord
listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For
those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. - Malachi 3:16 NKJV.

 

 

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed
calves. - Malachi 4:2 NKJV.

 

 

In Russia, Valery Bochkarev and Alexander Blagov have created a
two-day course to help people to overcome their fears. The idea is to confront
people with extreme challenges and by completing those challenges their
confidence is increased and fear is reduced. The fear reducing course is a
hands-on type of thing. If you participate in this course, you will experience:
walking on burning hot coals, walking and lying down on broken glass, lying and
standing on a bed of nails, winter swimming, staged fights, stopping a falling
knife with your stomach, large bugs crawling over your body, breaking wooden
sticks with your necks, being buried alive and much more. Sounds like a lot of
fun doesn’t it? However, there was no mention of snake charming. (Prafulla.net)

 

 

Fear can be crippling, so much so, that some people will not leave
their homes (agoraphobia). It is
just one of a huge number of fears identified by psychologists and
psychiatrists called phobias. Those suffering from phobias can become
withdrawn, depressed, and socially incapacitated. Anyone suffering severe
symptoms from a phobia should seek professional help and treatment.

 

 

It is
not God’s will for us to live in fear as 2 Timothy 1:7
says believers have not been given a spirit of fear; “but
of power and of love and of a sound mind.” It is not God’s will for you
to have so much fear that you are unable to leave your home. It is not God’s
will for you to have such a great fear of germs or simply of social interaction
that you refuse to have contact with others.

 

 

How can
fear be overcome? We know that it is not God’s will for us to be fearful of our
environment, our surroundings that we live in, or of what other humans may
possibly do to us. The Bible tells us that instead of fearing these things we
should fear God. We should reverence and respect God by being obedient to Him.
The result of such reverence, respect and obedience to God will be a reduction
in the amount of abnormal fear we have toward any and everything else. You
could say that as you grow your faith in God your fears will shrink. How can
you grow your faith and reduce your fears? “So then
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Hebrews 10:17).”

 

 

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

 

 

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

 

 

 http://www.theburningbush.net

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The .org
Burning Bush website

 is being updated.

 

 

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

 

 

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

 

 

There is a translation tool on
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Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an 
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 

 

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

 

 

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the situation Iraq and Syria. Please pray
for the return of the Nigerian school girls. Please pray for Debby
Burroughs who had stage IV cancer which started out in her colon and
metastasized to her liver. She is very ill after surgery and surely needs the
prayers of many to survive and for her lungs to recover. I want to encourage
you to pray for Debby and to ask others to pray for her as well. Thank you!!! (Debby
is improving, please continue to pray…) Here is Debby’s facebook support page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Debby-Burroughs-Support-Page/197118363821211 Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush
website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests
there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

 

 

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