As Stan and I sat together at the Twelve Baskets Cafe one morning enjoying breakfast, he mentioned he’d been focusing on how God wants us to be involved with Him on a daily basis. I asked him, “You mean like asking God for our daily bread?”
“Well,” he replied, “that’s certainly one aspect of it. He wants us to come before Him each day and seek His provision for that day.”
“But it seems to me,” he continued, “there’s another daily thing God has for me to do in response to His daily provision.”
“What’s that?”
“Take up my cross,” Stan replied. “Jesus talked about that’s what I’m to do every day if I want to follow Him. That taking up is to come after I’ve denied what I want to do apart from Him.”
“What does taking up your cross look like?”
“What it looks like to me,” Stan replied, “is taking up whatever God has for me to take up. It’s whatever He knows I need to take up in order to follow as He intends.”
“In my mind,” he continued, “it’s like if I’m going to ask Him to provide my daily bread, which really is asking for whatever He knows I need for each day, it’s only fair that He ask me to take up what He knows I need to take up for Him that same day! Daily bread; daily cross!”
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Bible verses to consider:
Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for giving Jesus and His finished work on the cross as the way to life with you, the life that begins here and will continue forever. Even though I know I will spend eternity in your presence, I confess that too often while I remain on this side of eternity I don’t ask for your daily provision of what you know I need. As well, I don’t take up what you know I need to take up in order to serve you and your kingdom. Please forgive that foolish approach to living the new life you’ve provided and help me follow every step of your lead in being who you can use for your every purpose. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you accepted God’s provision of life with Him through the finished work of Jesus’ cross so you can take up your own cross in serving Him? If no, why do you choose to remain separated from God both now and forever? If you are a Christian with the assurance of salvation and redemption, how are you doing with asking God for the daily provision He knows you need, along with taking up each day what He knows you need to take up? If you sense the desire for change with any of this, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you truly want? Why or why not?
The need: Since God knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), what does He know you need to not only ask Him for what He knows you need for each day, but what He knows you need to take up each day for Him and His kingdom? Spend time studying God’s word, praying, reflecting, and journaling to see what God knows you need. He will show you!
Forward: Do you know others who would or could benefit from this devotional? If so, why not forward it and open them to be part of the conversation between Stan and S. Tory Teller?